What can we believe on the World Wide Web??

Marc Krauss

mk155806@ohio.edu

In this very tech savvy time period, people everywhere basically use the Internet for all kinds of things. If I am hungry I can look up reviews on restaurants around me. If I am bored I can head to YouTube and amuse myself for a while. If I need to do homework, I can research pretty much anything I can think of. The Internet allows us the chance to do anything we want, and that is usually a pretty good thing. But not everything on the Internet is worth taking at face value, since we have people trying to influence others by falsifying information.

Astroturfing is a new term that has come to be known in the marketing world in the 21st century. It is when a company or organization chooses to put out a “fake grassroots” campaign to make it seem to outsiders that their products work or campaigns are successful. It seems like a lot of work to fake having success, but that is the level that some companies and organizations have stooped to so that they may prosper. For some information on how to easier spot astroturfing, check this out. 

Real people? Real reviews? Are we sure?

As if writing fake reviews and comments to put your company or organization in a good light wasn’t enough, even social media is being attacked. I don’t know about you, but I feel that Twitter is all that is good about technology and the power of people. It has allowed for so many people to voice their opinions and ideas, which can sometimes be a bit much. However, luckily my timeline is full of information I want and people that deliver in to me in real time. That to me is pretty awesome. 

But now I can’t even trust some of my “tweeps” anymore. The fact that paid advertising exists over Twitter does not surprise me, since the social medium is so largely popular today, but it does disturb me a bit. I guess I understand the fact that it is just like a celebrity getting paid to do a commercial, and I can not blame anyone for trying to make some extra money. The fact that I can usually spot a paid ad by a celeb from a mile away almost make it backfire. People don’t want Twitter to be full of ads, which is one reason I feel that Facebook has fallen out of favor with people. In my opinion, celebs should beware of selling their tweets out to companies, because followers will get tired of them trying to sell them things.