"10 Best" lists and most-read reviews rankings?

eplovejoy · #1 01-07-2003, 06:15 PM

My apologies if this has been discussed ad nauseum but I couldn't find a thread that covers it.

In the Movies category, many of the reviews on Epinions' list of the most-read reviews are "10 Best" pieces. Of the 100 movie reviews that Epinions ranks as its most popular, 55 are "10 Best" lists. Such reviews take seven of the top 10 spots.

It doesn't seem that these pop up easily on Google or other search engines. Is there some other reason that lists of "The 10 Best Movies of All Time" or "The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies" or whatever would fill so many slots?

Also: Why is there no correlation between the most-read reviews and the most profitable? ("Profitable" is, of course, relative. The most profitable movie reviews earned about $2 each in December.) The movie review that has generated the most revenue has been read 389 times (the second most profitable has been read 639), but the most-read review has more than 24,000 hits.

I promise my interest in this is harmless. I'm so far away from making any of these lists that it would not be worth the time and effort to try to scam my way onto them, even if I knew how.

Edited to add statistics, the question about money and the pledge that I won't use the information for devious purposes.

**MrsNormanMaine**[$] · #2 01-07-2003, 07:14 PM

Peter -

I have no idea what causes things to be read or to make money. Most of my reviews top out about 150-200 reads. The occasional review, and I know not why, takes off and gets over 1000. I've tried various search engines and linking searches to determine why and have had no luck at all.

There seems to be no correlation between number of reads and what a review earns. Film reviews make very little in general - and the ones where I make more than about $2 seem to be reviews of newer films that haven't been reviewed by that many people.

I've only written one '10 best' column on musicals - and that seems to have been read about as frequently as my other reviews.

I long ago ceased to worry about pennies or numbers of hits. I write to amuse myself - and if others are amused by MNM's antics as well, good for them.

MNM

eplovejoy · #3 01-09-2003, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrsNormanMaine

I have no idea what causes things to be read or to make money.

Thanks, MNM. I guess these questions are among those fated to remain unanswered: Why are "Ten Best" reviews so popular? What is the meaning of life? Why do Chris O'Donnell and Leelee Sobieski have movie careers?

jsgoddess · #4 01-09-2003, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by eplovejoy
Why do Chris O'Donnell and Leelee Sobieski have movie careers?

Because Leelee looks like Helen Hunt.

Um, that doesn't really answer that question, does it?

Julie

CurtisEdmonds · #5 01-09-2003, 06:06 PM

1. Leelee Sobieski does look like Helen Hunt.

2. It is not clear why Helen Hunt has a movie career, much less an Oscar.

3. The last time I checked, my top-ten for 2002 at txreviews.com had the most hits this month (75 in about a week).

4. People just like top ten lists.

5. People like top ten lists because they are shorter than reading an actual movie review.

6. People like top ten lists because they can choose movies to rent or watch and stuff that they ordinarily might never have heard of.

7. From my point of view, if just one person reads my Top Ten list for 2002 and sees The Rookie who otherwise might not have, that would be fine.

8. It would be even better if they used my website to buy it from Amazon.

9. Of course, many top ten lists have items that are silly and worthless, put in just to pad the list itself.

10. Like this one.

quasar · #6 01-09-2003, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrsNormanMaine
I've only written one '10 best' column on musicals - and that seems to have been read about as frequently as my other reviews.

Interesting. I've also only written one "10 best" article and it was also on musicals. I've gotten significantly more hits on it than anything else I've posted in movies and it's among my top 5 in all of media. It has 8xx hits. Go figure.

Janice

eplovejoy · #7 01-09-2003, 06:25 PM

Give them a chance to answer "What is the meaning of life?" and Julie and Curtis instead chime in on blonde movie stars who lack charisma. Where is that "Off Topic" button?

_____

About the wealth of Top Ten lists on the Epinions list of most popular movie reviews: It doesn't seem that search engines give an advantage.

If you ask Google for "10 Best Movies of All Time", you do indeed get directed to Epinions. But that search does not take you to Epinions' list of its 100 most-read reviews or even to the reviews that top that list. Instead, it directs you to two reviews that are not on the list of the most-read reviews.

If the search engine route helped, wouldn't the two reviews at the top of the Google page be among the most popular?

Also: Epinions publicizes lists of its most popular writers based on the numbers of page hits. Shouldn't such a list also reflect whether the writers have senses of humor, good hygiene and willingness to pick up the check when they take other Epinions writers out to eat?

_____

Edited because it should be "blonde" to refer to women. I knew that, but apparently I think about blonds too much.

CurtisEdmonds · #8 01-09-2003, 06:46 PM

The answer to the question of the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42. I thought you knew that.

I get next-to-zero hits at Eps nowadays, there not being that many continental breakfast fanciers in the world. When I was writing reviews at Eps for pay, the only one that ever got substantial hits was the review for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and that was because it was the first one. (I'd seen it at the Austin Film Festival.)

How people get hits on Eps anymore is a mystery to me. if it's not attributable to search engines, I don't know what to tell you. (Certainly it's not a category where you would expect a lot of online sales.)

WilliamJones · #9 01-09-2003, 08:40 PM

Peter:

I like doing these top 10 lists because they seem to garner a little more attention within the Epinions community than many of my other Epinions (you recently rated my Top 10 from the 90's, for example).

They also seem to get me more outside hits. I think this has to do with the fact that there's a link to them right off the "Movies" tab. So folks can get to them through a LINK once on Epinions vs. a search that requires actual typing or, as you mention, through a search engine.

How much they actually earn is a different issue and I can't say I've made much so far&#151but there's always hope, right?

Bill

kidnykid · #10 01-09-2003, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CurtisEdmonds
The answer to the question of the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42. I thought you knew that.

(snip)

How people get hits on Eps anymore is a mystery to me. if it's not attributable to search engines, I don't know what to tell you. (Certainly it's not a category where you would expect a lot of online sales.)

Well, there are a lot of read 'em and rate 'em circles out there, and some of the people I'm familiar with go to them to increase hits on their stuff. But, it's work - a lot of people don't like to do the read-and-rate circles.

Robin Peters

Grouch · #11 01-15-2003, 05:25 PM

Hell, I'm just waiting for Books to get its act together and give us a yearly "10 Best" category.

Harumph.