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Technology issues that affect your business

Spamming, Shilling, Astroturfing, Evangelists, and Other Internet Predators

Lots of people with lots of ways to hurt your business.

by PC Smart (March 7, 2005)

Can you spot Internet fraud? I am not talking about the kind you find in your inbox that reads, "I am the honorary such & such and I have inherited 25 million dollars," or the obvious body-part-enhancing offers. I am referring to the guerilla marketing tactics that are currently being practiced on the Internet. These tactics can make or break a product in the retail world and they are coming to a craft site near you.

As part of my job as a Creative Tech Diva (I think I like that title better than nerd or geek, don�t you?), I cruise company sites and message boards. I surf the web for obscure references to well known craft products and wade through all sorts of craft related spam. I think the next few paragraphs might be enlightening and maybe a bit shocking for those not yet jaded by the immense power of the Internet.

Last year, a popular scrapbook company had its site hacked by a true hacker. When you logged onto the site, a horrific image of a demon appeared on your screen with a tag (hacker signature). This was only temporary and the company had the site back up and running in a matter of hours.

There was a lot of buzz on the message boards as to why this particular site was hacked. Personally, I believe it was the company name that drew the hackers. It was not really a scrapbook-themed name and it may have come up in a search.

Spam. We all get it, we all delete it (at least you should be deleting it). It is usually trying to sell us something borderline illegal or appeal to our gullibility with a sob story.

Sometimes things will appear in your inbox which do not at first glance seem like spam. They are craft related and resemble email blasts received after signing up for more info at a trade show or seminar. You just assume you signed up with the company and after all, we see so many at the shows it is impossible to keep track of it all.

What if I told you that you may not have signed up for anything? That your info was gleaned from another source? Possibly hacked out of another site�s registration files? This has happened in the scrapbook industry where one site hacked into a rival site�s registration list and "spammed" the entire list with an email blast about a "great new site." Those who received this email just assumed they were chosen to receive it because of their interest in the topic. The majority of people never questioned it, visited the new site, and may have even purchased from it.

Oh well, that is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.

Last fall there was a series of viruses going around whose subject lines were obviously targeted toward scrapbook designers who submit their work to magazines. Where did the senders get the names of these designers? They were probably hacked from another site or the result of spyware/data mining on legitimate sites. There was even a magazine editor who was hit more than once by this debilitating virus. It shut her down for weeks, disrupting editorial schedules. You have to wonder who would be behind such a scheme; I highly doubt it was some teenage kid looking to joy ride on the net.

Shilling is one of the oldest games in sales. Have someone pose as a satisfied customer in order to lure new business or discredit your competition. Unfortunately, in the very personal world of crafting, it is more difficult to tell who is shilling and who is just an enthusiastic product user or dissatisfied customer.

Ours is the world of telling two friends, who tell two friends (and so on). Word of mouth is often more powerful than paid advertising, especially in networked crafts like scrapping, stamping, or quilting where women tend to gather together and talk about their passion. So when someone pops up on a message board with a positive or negative remark about a product, it isn�t always seen as suspicious. If they are new to the board, they may be treated cautiously, but unless they are touting the same products over and over, they are seen as one of the gang. This is where things get murky and we enter the territory of Astroturfing.

Astroturfing gets its name from the term, Grassroots Movement. It is a manufactured grassroots movement that is often seen on the world wide web. This practice is gaining popularity in the craft world and while not really illegal, it dances on the ethics line.

Many companies will have "Design Teams" that work with them. As a part of being on the team, you are asked to post on message boards and also add your DT title to your signature line. This is to promote the company outside of its own site. Some sites have rules in their Terms of Use (TOU) sections prohibiting this type of posting. Along the same lines, many companies will hold contests for prizes or DT positions. Obviously, the buzz about the contest will far surpass the site where it originated, and the company benefits from the good press generated. Again, this is not illegal. It is actually shrewd marketing.

The one term that may seem a bit confusing to non-tech geeks is Evangelist. Evangelists are like groupies, or sports fans. They spread the word everywhere they travel on the net. You will see them pop up on discussion boards, product review sites, and blogs (web logs or diaries).

The majority of evangelists are not paid directly by the companies they support and do not profit from their preaching in any way. They can sometimes form groups devoted to a particular product, such as a software program, and will create chat rooms and info sites devoted to the product's wonderful attributes. Unfortunately, if they choose to post on sites where the population is hungry for real information, they can use their product knowledge to sway sales.

I encountered one such evangelist on a site recently. When I asked her about her affiliation with the company she promoted, she denied any ties or profit goal. After a simple Google search, it turned out she taught classes for the company and was active in speaking at seminars about this company and its products. There were even posts where she spoke negatively about the competition. Unfortunately for her, she seemed to use the same screen name on all sites she visited and was "outed" a few times as a shill.

The other side to the evangelist story is that there are also negative posters. If you type in "(product name) sucks" into your browser, you may find websites devoted to the trashing of that product. Some companies were smart enough to purchase such domain names before an unscrupulous person could register them.

Domain hassles.

Domain names are a tricky thing. There was a case where a for-profit organization purchased the domain names of up-and-coming designers and linked them to their site. The designers were unaware of the purchase or the link until it was brought up in a message board discussion.

You can imagine the outrage. When some of the designers confronted the company about the practice, the organization transferred the domain name to the designer at no cost to her (as opposed to holding it hostage as has been done in the entertainment industry). There is still some discontent on the message boards as to why the company did this. (They stated it was to protect the designers from having their names taken by an unethical source who would not be so accommodating.).

The other question is why would they link their own site to these names? The designers in question had no affiliation with the organization and some are saying it was very misleading. Since this is a very recent event, I cannot offer you a conclusion or resolution; it is ongoing.

Reasons why.

Why are these practices so common in the creative industry? I have my theories. One is that many crafters are home based � the Internet is their tie to the outside world. They may not have any other stampers in their neighborhood, but they can log on and chat with others all about the latest products and techniques.

Another is that since this is a mostly female demographic, there is a tendency to trust what others are telling you. We want to believe the person on the other end is telling the truth. We tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. And as women, we group ourselves together and get excited about our experiences and want to share them. So we assume the evangelists and shills are just like us.

When deceptions are discovered, the only thing I can say is: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Boycotts will pop up on the message boards and angry threads will go on for pages. Women have long memories when it comes to things like this. Any husband can verify this statement.

The same conditions that make our industry so successful are the ones that can also wreak havoc on the bottom line. Once again, I invite you to surf the net, do some searching, and investigate your target audience, your fans, and your critics. Is your web presence an overall positive one? Consider the Internet another facet of your companies image and work to keep it polished and free of blemishes.

(Note: PC Smart writes for art/craft industry consumer and trade publications in addition to being a marketing consultant and designer. In her previous, non-creative life, she was a database systems designer for a pharmaceutical company. Her main goal in writing about technology has been the marriage of computers and traditional art/crafts. Specializing in consumer level designs, Pamela focuses on the use of graphics software, scanners, and printers to help the average crafter use their computer for more than an expensive email machine. She believes that technology should be used as a tool in creativity and not necessarily the final output. To read previous columns, click on the titles in the right-hand column.)

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