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February 15, 2009
The Dangers of Astroturfing
By Ann Stofflet
Last month, a Belkin employee wrote a blog post offering $0.65 to those willing to write positive Belkin reviews on Amazon.com. When people took him up on the offer and started gushing about products they had never used, a blogger exposed the scam.
Of course, the media ran with the story, and the offer was not only taken down from the blog, but the president of Belkin was quick to apologize for the “Astroturfing.” Astroturfing is the naughty marketing practice of companies who orchestrate phony grassroots enthusiasm for products or services, sometimes resulting in a public relations nightmare.
Read the full story here.
Posted by staff at February 15, 2009 12:36 PM
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Comments
Thanks for sharing this story. I think it is important for all businesses to be transparent on and offline, and understand the consequences of astroturfing. Astroturfing not only turns out bad for the company doing it, but now because companies are using social media outlets for astroturfing, the credibility of social media could be at stake.
Posted by: Marla Federman at March 12, 2009 02:20 AM
Thank you for posting this. I'm really surprised that the Belkin employee thought this would be a good idea. Uninformed people don't make good advocates! Hopefully companies will start using social media for productive and ethical promotion of their products rather than using bribery for the sake of reviews.
Posted by: Ruth at March 17, 2009 12:01 PM
