Thursday, February 14, 2019

Smashbomb, A Great Social Network For Reviews

When I first found Smashbomb, I believe it was via a Facebook ad. I admit I was skeptical of it at first, but I decided to check them out. As I read their statement on what they were about, I found myself intrigued. Basically Smashbomb pointed out that fake reviews are a growing problem and that it is far too easy to engineer false positive reviews. Smashbomb stated that they are a social platform that allows its users to research and discover things based on recommendations from people they know, trust, and respect rather than anonymous reviews from people who may not be trustworthy. So Smashbomb is a social site where you can rate anything such as video games, movies, books, and more.


It is free to sign up for Smashbomb and the site itself is completely free to use. The layout design for Smashbomb is nice and simple making it easy to navigate. There is little to no loading times between pages and items are easy to find. You can easily find categories that you are looking for and there is even a help page with several helpful articles for any questions you may have such as getting started or how ratings work. Speaking of ratings, the rating system on Smashbomb is easy to understand and is rather clever. If a person rates something a 7 or higher it is a smash which is great, but if they rate it lower than a 7 it is a bomb which means it is not good. It is not difficult at all to add a rating for whatever you're reviewing. There are two ways to do this. You can click on the Rate It button on the item's page itself which will bring up a  bomb icons scale (there are 10 in all) and click where you want your rating to be whether it is a "smash" or a "bomb" on the scale. The second way to review an item is to click on the rating scale and add what is good or bad about it as well as write a full review if you wish. It's completely optional. Just a note about writing a review; you can't just write a couple of sentences. It is important to write a clear and concise review offering nuanced viewpoints about why you loved a product or why you didn't like it. This allows others from the Smashbomb community to get a better idea about why they should check out a book, play a video game, or see a movie or why they should avoid it.


If you don't see an item you're looking for in your search category or get a message that the item does not exist, you can add it easily via Smashbomb's create button. When you do this a window will pop up where you can add the title, description, and year it was released. Smashbomb's admins will check it manually and if they approve it, the item is added. It doesn't take long for them to check at all. I myself have added a few books and video games that did not show up in a search. When a person likes your review they can give you kudos points. You can also earn kudos points by contributing to the site in a positive way such as giving quality reviews. Kudos points are good for unlocking badges, entering giveaways, and unlocking certain admin features to name a few things. Higher kudos points offer great things like qualifying for better giveaways.


You can follow people on Smashbomb as well. Why follow people on Smashbomb? Following people on Smashbomb is a great way to discover people who have interests similar to yours and if you really like their reviews, following them allows you to see their activity when they review something. This is also a fantastic way to gain some followers because in general most people will follow you back. There are also social groups on Smashbomb called Orbs. Orbs are communities for people with similar interests and anyone on Smashbomb can create an Orb. For example, if you are passionate about books and would love to discuss them with others you can create a book lovers Orb and invite people like your followers to join.


Smashbomb also has a fantastic app that you can get on iOS and Android phones. The app is just as easy to use and navigate as the website. I find myself using it pretty often when I'm out and about because it is so great to use. The fact that Smashbomb itself is incredibly user friendly on all fronts is a big plus with me. Smashbomb overall is a great social network for reviews. It is refreshing to see a company that truly understands the meaning of community and the importance of full transparency. You can also give them feedback about things on the website and the app whether it is good or bad. You can follow them on social media and they are quick to respond and interact with everyone. The Smashbomb team does a great job of listening to everyone in the community. I think Smashbomb is amazing because of all of this. I have been using Smashbomb for two years now and I love it. It is a wonderful community that is very welcoming with a great team of people running it. Be sure to check out Smashbomb for yourself and sign up for free here: https://smashbomb.com/
Thanks for reading. See you at the next adventure!



*I stream the games I love on Twitch. Come say hi! https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer



No comments:

Post a Comment