An experiment on the weakness of reputation algorithms used in professional social networks: the case of Naymz

This paper is part of an ongoing research on web reputation, and presents an evaluation of the method used by the professional social network site Naymz to assess the online reputation of its members. By creating six ad-hoc professional communities with different profiles of users and network topologies, it was found that the highest level of online reputation can be easily achieved by engaging a small social group of nine persons or less who connect with each other, providing positive feedbacks and reciprocal endorsements.