"The PR industry must condemn massive, automated sock-puppetry"

[TomCADem]

Ever wonder why you sometimes visit blogs and notice that comments are filled with dozens of inane posts spouting right wing slogans of questionable relevance to the topic? Or, how anti-Democratic posts sometimes get kicked and recommended to the greatest threads on liberal websites while anti-Republican or anti-corporate posts sink into obscurity? In a post Citizens United universe, will dialogue and discussion get swamped in a flood of auto-generated, anti-Democratic spam funded by corporate interests as part of a guerilla propaganda campaign?

http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the_pr_industry_must_condemn_massive_automated_sock-puppetry/

The use of software to automate the deployment of armies of fake social media accounts is, to me, the most disturbing trend in the social space. It’s disturbing on its face but even moreso because public affairs organizations are among the most likely to supply these services. And few would be surprised to find PR practitioners behind such dubious efforts.

I don’t personally know a single public relations practitioner who would support such a tactic. But it’s a big industry that requires no licensing and is bound by few regulations. That makes it easy for those who are lazy, corrupt, unprofessional or just downright evil to make big money from clients looking for quick results without regard to the means by which they were achieved.

* * *
At the Daily Kos, the concern is that such practices will be employed by right-leaning institutions against “labor unions, progressive organizations, journalists, and progressive bloggers.” As for me, I don’t care who uses it against whom. Manipulating consensus is wrong, unethical, unprofessional and the very antitheses of the transparency and responsibility that are at the heart of the changes sweeping business today.

And, of course, when it’s uncovered (and it will be uncovered), the blame will fall at the PR profession’s feet. As The Kos article so bluntly put it, “This is just one little company of assholes. I can’t believe there aren’t others doing this already. From oil companies, political campaigns, PR firms, you name it. Public opinion means big bucks. And let’s face it, what these guys are talking about is easy.”

[The Doctor.]

1. The value of a thing decreases in inverse proportion to it's proliferation.

I believe that is very much the case with 'sock-puppetry' for very good reason;

"The more the bullshit is spread around, the more obvious it will become that it is bullshit"


Right now, the 'right' is still preoccupied with keeping the bubble inflated and running around patching the holes. They are aware, at some level, that their 'side' is absolutely full of shit. I see it almost every day. The last bastion of rationale left to them is "The OTHER side does it too!".

It is only a matter of time before they realize at some point of critical mass that their efforts are doing them no good whatsoever.

This new tactic will be seen for what it is, eventually.

Sure, this is hope speaking. I hope that the working-class 'right' wakes the hell up before the corporations destroy us all, but these machinations will reach a point of fallure. The only question is; Will that point of fallure be achieved before or after the failure of our economy?

[Mark Baker]

4. Yes, but then what have we lost?

I agree that, in time, people will realise what's going on.

But will online discussion places still be useful at that point? If not, that itself will be a win for corporate interests.

[TomCADem]

6. The Goal Of These Corporate Sock Puppet Campaigns Is To Suppress Discussion and Encourage Discord

All you have to do systamatically recommend posts that attack Democrats, kick them with one line posts that lack any discussion, which also attack Democrats. Or, you post one line irrelevant posts to attack Democrats in order to hijack a thread, and turn it into a flame war in which no discussion is taking place.

I once recommended that DU adopt a "REPUBLICAN WATCH" discussion folder that would be dedicated to holding Republicans accountable to avoid some of the extreme bashing of Democrats that appears on DU, with many folks giving Republicans a free pass. It is systematic, and as this article illustrates, the PR firms that engage in such tactics are not accountable.

Indeed, in the era of social media following Citizens United, there ia great threat of abuse by unscrupulous candidates who want to sow dissent among the supporters of Democratic candidates by spamming liberal blogs with critical attacks from the left.

My point is that we have to be more vigilent then ever, and not assume that every post on a liberal website actually represents a liberal viewpoint, particularly if that post attacks a Democrat, but gives the Republican a free pass.

[snot]

2. The use of sock puppetry and other p.r. tactics has increased because they work.

Yes, people are becoming a little more aware of them. But the good ones aren't so obvious, and they're being improved all the time.

[kristopher]

3. Yes, I agree. k&r

[Ignis]

5. K&R

It's out of hand.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. And to think, back in the day, it was just one crazy with too much time on his/her/its hands.

You're a trendsetter, ***** ******! Yes, you are!

http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/impostor.htm

All of you!