While we haven’t always agreed with Seth Godin in the past, in this case we think he’s spot on.

In a recent post, he comments on a misleading NY Times post on the Kindle’s declining satisfaction. In summary, he noted…

  • People can provide reviews even without owning the device
  • Only people who are passionate (positive or negative) will take time to review (see a previous post from us on a similar topic here)
  • Opinions will vary depending on the type of customer and the product life cycle stage

While user feedback and comments are key in a user-based, participation web, it is hard, if not impossible, to draw meaningful statistics that can be projected onto all users from these comments (at best you can only say, “X% of PEOPLE WHO COMMENTED, said Y”). And looking at the bigger picture through more insightful analysis (e.g. what are possible reasons behind the numbers?) should always be done to prevent the numbers from leading you astray.

For another interesting story on the Kindle, see this recent Mashable post.