Ratemyprofessors Target Audience

Students perceptions at the university are getting more inclined to the view that professors are service providers. Currently there is a proliferation of web based informal instructor evaluation at public forums where students can rate them their instructors. Ratemyprofessors.com was founded by John Swapceinski in 1999. The website was originally named teacherratings.com but rebranded ratemyprofessor.com. The website has transferred ownership twice. In 2005 it was bought by Patrick Nagle and William Desantis who resold it to Viacom in 2007. It is run by Viacom’s subsidiary company, MTV-U. The website is currently the largest online student rating site with over 7000 schools, 1.4 million professors and over 14million ratings. The site has an average of 800,000 visitors monthly and is a popular destination for students. Students evaluate their professors by rating them on easiness, quality, and hotness. The ratings and subsequent comments have an informal tone. Prospective students are known to use the website as a primary source of information when selecting courses and professors to join class. (Kindred & Mohammed, 2005)
Ratemyprofessors.com has received a number of recognitions. In 2008, it was voted among the top 50 websites on Time Magazine. The Forbes
Search engines spread assist to spread the comments faster than they can be countered. MTV-U claims that it has put in place a team of monitors to peruse randomly through over 3,000 daily posts on ratemyprofessors. Aggrieved professors generally feel that the ratings are not accurate and libelous (Caleb Daniloff, 2009). Prospective students seeking for information on the website can take the information at face value while selecting whose professors and the classes they desire to