In the pre-internet days, astroturfing was limited to politics. The phrase refers to the practice of paying people to create fake grassroots (hence the pun) sentiment. Politicians would hire ordinary citizens to trash their opponents.
But in China’s online sector, astroturfing has become a media issue, with reports of students hired to feed messages on bulletin boards (BBS), social networks, blogs, even Twitter.
Unsurprisingly, given that this technique can appear underhand, marketers are unwilling to admit this is something they use, and there is no data relating to it. But off-the-record several marketers in China claim first-hand encounters with astroturfing. Some have used it to protect their reputation online; others have been on the receiving end of attacks from representatives of rival companies. As the technique spreads, how seriously should brands be taking this?
1 The rise of online astroturfing reflects Chinese internet culture, and in particular the popularity of BBS. BBS are heavily trafficked (98 million users visit them, according to the China Network Information Center) and discussions that take place in this environment can be key in driving online opinion. In the past year, the BBS community has mobilised boycotts against Carrefour, Nike and Sharon Stone. What’s more, BBS posts dominate search results on Baidu, meaning that for brands, encouraging favourable BBS posts is one method of search marketing.
2 One of the biggest astroturfers is the Chinese Government, which has built up an army of blogging students (known as 50 Centers, as the typical price for their services is 50 cents per post) to fend off what they see as hostile forces on the web. These pounce on online discussions that touch on sensitive issues and neutralise them, sometimes through on-message posts, other times by rendering the discussion meaningless through banal posts.
3 As a defensive ploy for brands, this can seem an easy, cheap and tangible ‘solution’ to the threat of Chinese netizens. “Most brands do it because they don’t know how else to handle the online barrage of commentary,” says David Wolf, CEO of consultancy Wolf Media Asia. “They see it as a legitimate defensive measure.”
4 It is also becoming a way to attack rivals. Edelman Digital manager Adam Schokora believes clients should be “very” concerned about this. “It’s a growing, widespread problem,” he says, pointing out that several of his clients have been attacked by astroturfers. Some online platform administrators are even making it a money-spinner. “Most platforms have systems to remove commercial messages,” Schokora says. “But this clean-up process is often followed up by administrators soliciting fees from the original poster to repost messages in more prominent positions.”
4 Astroturfing can be risky. If a brand gets caught, both it and the platform on which the dialogue takes place could suffer a backlash. “All it takes is for one disgruntled astroturfer to call a journalist and ‘out’ his employee,” says Wolf. “There have been occasional outcries from the community, but not in a big way yet. I think it’s just a matter of time.”
No ‘official’ code of online ethics exists in China yet, as it does to some degree in the West. In the US, for example, Wal-Mart was roundly attacked for paying bloggers without disclosing it. “The problem is that inauthentic communications methods are so engrained into the culture of the Chinese internet,” says Schokora.
5 However, Sam Flemming, CEO of online word-of-mouth consultancy CIC, argues that the sheer number of messages posted on the web makes it hard to make a real difference through astroturfing. “There are so many conversations out there that it’s hard for any group of humans to have a significant impact.”
6 Brands should listen to netizens rather than try to control their dialogue, says Flemming. He points to Dell (one of the earliest foreign companies to face the wrath of Chinese netizens) as one company which “found its online voice” through its two-year-old CEO blog. “You don’t have to go out and write positive messages about your product, you can create a word-of-mouth strategy that will galvanise rather than deceive or shout at your consumers.”
What it means for...
MARKETERS
- Avoid temptation. “Run, not walk, from agencies who suggest doing this,” says Wolf. The repercussions of being ‘outed’ are far worse than the value of hiring astroturfers.
- Be aware of what’s being carried out online under your name. Is your PR agency hiring another vendor to hire astroturfers as part of its ‘online strategy’?
- The solution for brands wanting to dabble online is simple, Schokora says - add value, not spam. “There is nothing a netizen hates more than blatantly commercial or artificial messages interfering with their online experience.”
PR PRACTITIONERS
- Want to weed out astroturfing? Start at your own agency by instilling a code of transparency for all online communications. The industry needs to practise what it preaches.
- Rather than avoid BBS, study its conversations. “The most important thing to do is listen. You have to understand what consumers are talking about, what they like and don’t like,” says Flemming.
