Last December, VICE published a viral story on TripAdvisor's fake reviews that pushed the fake London restaurant The Shed At Dulwich to be #1 top rated restaurant.
Well, it was mostly a fake story; yep :)
Why?
REASON #1
According to Whois.com records, the website domain of the fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich was purchased on October 27th, only 40 days before the story was published!
In other words, the fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich website was never existed before October 27th.
While VICE reporter Oobah Butler claims his fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich was ranked the top #156 restaurant in London last August, it doesn't make sense for a business to reach such high ranking without a website and with an inactive Facebook page.
REASON#2
The first and only post on the Facebook page for the fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich was published on June 30th, 2017 mentioning Outlook email address. Then, it was edited on November 2nd to replace the Outlook account with an official email account on the domain that was purchased 5 days ago (at that time).
From our experience as a social media agency since 2011, having inactive social media presence negatively affects the likability and credibility of your brand. So, it doesn't make sense for a business with inactive social media presence to make it to top of any thing.
REASON#3
VICE has taken out some screen shots from the report few hours after publishing it. Read their interesting justifications below where it is clear something is wrong there, whether against TripAdvisor, or about a lazy reporter may be:
New Egypt Consulting is a social media & digital marketing agency based in Cairo since 2011.
Company Profile: http://bit.ly/2lO7sNS
Website: http://newegyptconsulting.com
Email: info@newegyptconsulting.com
Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/newegyptconsulting
Well, it was mostly a fake story; yep :)
Why?
REASON #1
According to Whois.com records, the website domain of the fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich was purchased on October 27th, only 40 days before the story was published!
In other words, the fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich website was never existed before October 27th.
While VICE reporter Oobah Butler claims his fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich was ranked the top #156 restaurant in London last August, it doesn't make sense for a business to reach such high ranking without a website and with an inactive Facebook page.
REASON#2
The first and only post on the Facebook page for the fake restaurant The Shed At Dulwich was published on June 30th, 2017 mentioning Outlook email address. Then, it was edited on November 2nd to replace the Outlook account with an official email account on the domain that was purchased 5 days ago (at that time).
From our experience as a social media agency since 2011, having inactive social media presence negatively affects the likability and credibility of your brand. So, it doesn't make sense for a business with inactive social media presence to make it to top of any thing.
REASON#3
VICE has taken out some screen shots from the report few hours after publishing it. Read their interesting justifications below where it is clear something is wrong there, whether against TripAdvisor, or about a lazy reporter may be:
New Egypt Consulting is a social media & digital marketing agency based in Cairo since 2011.
Company Profile: http://bit.ly/2lO7sNS
Website: http://newegyptconsulting.com
Email: info@newegyptconsulting.com
Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/newegyptconsulting
