Check out jobsinastroturfing.com
September 10th, 2008 |
My good friend and awesome SocialCorp intern Bukola sent me a link to a worrisome job description on socialmediajobs.com for a position described as “Participate in Software and Small Business Discussions.”
Following is a portion of the job description:
4) Every time you make a comment, you will use one of 5 comment names and a number of different URls. For example, comment name = Small Business CRM, URL address = http://www.worketc.com/…_Relationship_Management
I cannot believe that they are openly suggesting that the person they are going to hire will use an assortment of comment names!
And later on, there’s this:
4) Your comments need to reflect that you understand our software tools. A bad comment would be “WORKetc is a great tool”. A good comment is “WORKetc really helped us create more accurate invoices”. A better comment would be “At our business we managed to produce more accurate invoices using the WORKetc billing software. This not only bought us in more money, but our customers appreciated the extra details”.
The suggested comment is written as if it came from a WORKetc customer, which would obviously be deceptive. This is a brief case study in how not to get a company into the “conversation” online. To reiterate:
- Anonymous commenting intended to simulate consumer enthusiasm is called astroturfing and is unethical, and in many cases, is illegal or will soon be illegal, depending on jurisdiction.
- Authenticity is key. As soon as you “game” the system or try to find a shortcut, you’ve broken the sacred trust with consumers/customers.
- Check out the WOMMA Ethics Code or get a hold of some other ethical compass before embarking on your first social media initiative.
- Don’t try to fool people.
I have contacted WORKetc for a comment, and hope they respond. And while I certainly support free expression and no prior restraint, I wonder if social media specific job sites might advise clients like WORKetc on matters like this before they publish a listing with obvious issues.
Update, midnight PST, September 11, 2008: I clicked on the link and the posting has been deleted from socialmediajobs.com.
Tags: Astroturfing, jobsinsocialmedia.com, social media ethics, womma ethics code
| Sphere This |
I think listings like that are great. They show you exactly who not to work for.
Comment by Rick — September 10, 2008 @ 10:30 pm
WOW. that’s incredibly sad, and definitely uncool. In 100% agreement with #1. That’s a posting that I’d roundfile pronto.
Comment by John Wilker — September 11, 2008 @ 8:26 am
I’ve worked with a couple of small SEO shops who use this strategy for clients. I wonder if they decided to use this strategy on the recommendations of an SEO shop who does this not for the conversation benefits, but only to raise search engine rank. Still happens a lot.
Comment by Ghennipher — September 11, 2008 @ 8:36 am
I’m looking for a good crm tool and I ran across your post. Thanks by the way. What is your recommendation for me to find a great crm tool? I can’t determine which reviews online are legit and which are not.
please email me if you can!
Comment by Stephen — April 25, 2009 @ 11:25 am