Top 10 Conferencing Providers
Congratulations to ACT Conferencing! We have recently been named to the list of Top 10 Conferencing Providers by the Telecom Association. See the Top 10 Conferencing Providers press release.
Interestingly, this brings up an ethical issue. We did not pay to be included in this survey, and we didn't offer any money to make the top ten. The Telecom Association simply polls its members on a variety of categories, and the good companies get recognized. I think that's the way it should be.
But if you search around the web for "best" or "top 10" anything ("best conferencing companies", for example), you are bound to run across a handful of lists. Some are reputable, some are not. Many so-called "impartial" websites offer lists of who they think are the best companies in certain categories. What some don't tell you is that they a) accepted a fee to consider particular companies, b) were paid outright for listings (more money = higher ranking), or the most likely scenario, c) are getting a referral fee for every person who clicks through to the companies on the list.
Options A and B are obviously wrong, at least when the list is being presented as an unbiased report. Option C, however, tries to toe the line. Even if the list creator made every effort to be impartial, wouldn't he face at least some pressure to rank the companies with the best referral payouts first? And would he not have incentive to keep those companies on the list even if they are no longer legitimately among the best?
I haven't seen any other articles on this recently, though I'm sure they exist. People should be a little more outraged. As we do more and more research online, we need to know who is unbiased and who isn't. But in the legally nebulous world of the internet, anyone can say anything (they even let me talk occasionally), and nobody is required to write out their motives.
I'm happy for our win, and I'm more happy that we won the right way.