ME exec editor Tim Green doesn't trust anyone, least of all user recommendations...
Ten years ago, when the internet was first getting going, I read an article by a journalist investigating the new world of chat rooms.
He described how he sat in on a session with a net-savvy colleague. Quickly he realised that his workmate was genuinely in love with one of his new online friends - and that his passion was reciprocated.
That surprised him: the lovers had never met. But what was weirder was that his male colleague was signed in as a woman: he was effectively being a lesbian. Then he had another thought. What if his sapphic lover was also a man signed in as female?
Yes, a lesbian love affair being conducted by two straight male IT professionals. Craaaazy eh?
Predictably, the shifting world of online identity has become ever more confusing as the web has evolved.
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This week a group of DJs bulk purchased their new track from iTunes (with dodgy credit cards, I might add) in order to artificially inflate its chart position and then get 'real' people to buy it.
I suppose there's not much difference between this and record companies sending people out to buy seven inch singles in the old days (a common practice, I believe). But in the virtual world, it's that much easier to do.
Generally, it's getting harder to know what and who to believe. Who among us hasn't looked on IMDB only to see Weekend At Bernie's 2 described as a 'towering moment in the cinematic arts' and wondered if the review was posted by a genuine 'civilian' and not the director's mum?
This, it seems to me, is the great flaw in the promise made by so many mobile and online social media services. How can we trust app store reviews? How do we know the person recommending the restaurant isn't the person running the restaurant? This kind of subterfuge is everywhere.
Indeed, now that marketers have fully embraced crowd sourcing, tipping points and trend seeding, I'm hearing about bins being stuffed with newly launched fizzy drink cans and even actors being sent out to read and discuss hot new books loudly in trains.
I don't know what to believe. But I do know that when we introduce review ratings for "The World According to ME" each and every one of them will be bloody brilliant.
* Did you spot the movie reference? My headline is a quote from one of the great forgotten films of the 80s, The Stepfather. Check it out if you can find it.
