How a Garden Shed Became the #1 Restaurant on TripAdvisor

The first rule of marketing: Don’t

The Internet has distorted reality to the point we can’t even trust real-life experiences (Michael Gaida/freepik)

Oobah Butler had a nontraditional side hustle. For $13, he’d write fake reviews for restaurants on TripAdvisor.

Many of these businesses had been destroyed by a few disgruntled customers. Butler would write several reviews and publish them slowly. Within a few weeks, their ratings…