aggregate-review-examples

The Problem

There are various services that provide aggregate ratings and reviews on the Web. How should this information be presented in microformat form? hReview is oriented towards individual reviews with ratings; can it also be used for presenting data from aggregate reviews?

Participants

• John Panzer
• Kavi Goel

Real-World Examples

Links to public web pages, either popular or insightful

Amazon

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FA1NFA/
• Aggregation of user reviews for a product. Up to 10 reviews per page
• Includes 1-5 stars average rating and the total number of reviews
• Also includes number of reviews for each score (1-5)

Bizrate

• Aggregation of user reviews for a product. Up to 10 reviews per page
• Includes 1-5 stars average rating and the total number of reviews

Citysearch

• http://siliconvalley.citysearch.com/profile/11636582/mountain_view_ca/vive_sol.html
• Shows 1-5 stars average rating and the total number of reviews on the "business info" page
• On the "reviews" page, it also includes the number of reviews for each score (1-5) and some themes from the reviews (i.e. "Prompt seating", "Romantic", "Good for groups")

CNet Reviews

• http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/garmin-nuvi-880/4505-3430_7-32815498.html
• Shows both editors rating (1-5 stars as well as a word describing the rating, i.e. "Excellent") and the average user rating (1-5 stars) and total number of user reviews
• Only shows editor's review and 3 user reviews on first page for a product.
• Clicking through shows 5 reviews per page.

Download.com

• http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2008/3000-8022_4-10045910.html
• Shows both editors rating (1-5 stars) and the average user rating (1-5 stars) and total number of votes
• 5 user reviews shown per page

Rotten Tomatoes

• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/quantum_of_solace/
• Shows percentage of positive reviews from users (in this case, users = movie critics) and number of reviews
• An average rating (between 1 and 10) is also shown, but this data is de-emphasized on the Rotten Tomatoes movies pages.

Yelp

• http://www.yelp.com/biz/vive-sol-restaurant-mountain-view
• Shows 1-5 stars average rating and the total number of reviews
• Also includes number of reviews for each score (1-5)
• The site highlights recurring themes from reviews (i.e. "The food is delicious - love the chicken mole.") and the number of reviews where such comments were made.

Existing Practices

• Summary of common patterns discovered
• Other attempts to solve The Problem

Proposal

• Early drafts
• Link to related pages as they become available
• I think that this page from email discussion actually is a non-example: http://webcenter.polls.aol.com/poll?view=69043&pollId=69096 ; it's actually aggregate rankings with numerical weightings, which might lead to an interesting hRanking microformat but I think is out of bounds for an 'aggregate review' discussion.
  • -brainstorming
  • - proposal
  • -microformat

See Also

• Aggregate review: formats - brainstorming
• review-examples for examples of individual reviews
• hReview
• Normative references for tags used