Just in Time For Thanksgiving Football, Astroturfing.

There is a burgeoning controversy happening on the top gadget sites about a shill for Motorola haplessly blathering on about the qualities of the Motorola Krave.

It's happening on BoingBoing.

It's happening on Crunchgear.

And it's happening on many other places as well.

Posting as a shill in the comment sections of blogs is a practice commonly referred to as astroturfing. And blog readers are too smart to let it go unnoticed.

Here's an example of what's been going on:

I’m so glad my boss isn’t like that! I’m working with Motorola right now, and became a huge fan of the Krave (motorola.com/krave). I especially like the full touch screen display and html web browser. It’s awesome!

And:

Oh man this looks awesome! I hope they release a version for the Krave by Motorola. Ever since I started working with Motorola I have became a huge fan of the phone (motorola.com/krave). With a full list of features, like a full touch screen, I can’t stop obsessing over it.

This is a PR fiasco for Motorola, at a time when they can't really afford one. Their PR firm (or employee) made the client look bad, which is a big no-no.

Learn a lesson here. Don't astroturf. And don't listen to anyone that makes those kinds of tactics part of their 'social media strategy'. You will get found out in a moment, and it will work against you. Ironically, I mentioned this in the very first post I ever made on this blog.

Full circle. Gotta love it.

Comments

[Alan Wolk]

You would think, Ian, that a reasonably competent PR person would be able to Astrotruf far more discreetly. I mean you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a phrase like "the Krave by Motorola" is marketing-speak-- who posts like that?

They're about as incognito as the Trix rabbit.

I wonder if any brand will get savvy enough to accurately mimic the style of posters and thus pass under the radar undetected.

[Ian Schafer]

It's amazing that this still happens. How do you defend this to your client? Hopefully a 'mea culpa' is enough, for their sake.

[jp harris]

wow interesting artcle,
almost as interesting as the krave by motorola. ever since i started working for motorola i can't stop obsessing with it....;.
Haha just kidding

[watch friends]

I loved the type ad commenting system very clean and very efficient.

Love to read more from you on the topic above