Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Turns out what we call shilling has a politically correct, scientific-sounding name: viral marketing. So, Harriet Klausner, Morris, Gunny, W.Boudville, et al. are not shills, they're viral marketeers. OK. There's a curious article in the Financial Times, Advertisers brace for online viral marketing curbs, check it out:

Advertisers in the US are bracing themselves for regulatory changes that they fear will curtail their efforts to tap into the fast-growing online social media phenomenon.

Revised guidelines on endorsements and testimonials by the Federal Trade Commission, now under review and expected to be adopted, would hold companies liable for untruthful statements made by bloggers and users of social networking sites who receive samples of their products.

The guidelines would also hold bloggers liable for the statements they make about products.

If a blogger received a free sample of skin lotion and then incorrectly claimed the product cured eczema, the FTC could sue the company for making false or unsubstantiated statements. The blogger could be sued for making false representations. [...]

Advertisers have significantly increased spending on social media and word-of-mouth campaigns, even during the recession. Through blogs and services such as Facebook and Twitter, companies are able to communicate more directly with consumers. Spending on social media marketing [read: shilling] reached $1.35bn in 2007 and is expected to reach $3.7bn by 2011, according to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

The advertising industry has argued that the revised regulations are too stringent and would stifle innovation in the emerging field of social media. It remains in favour of self-regulation. [yeah right] [...]

“The guides needed to be updated to address not only the changes in technology, but also the consequences of new marketing practices,” said Richard Cleland, assistant director for the FTC’s division of advertising practices. “Word-of-mouth marketing is not exempt from the laws of truthful advertising.” [tell this to Jeff Bezos]

The main target of the new guidelines appears to be the widespread practice of viral marketing in which companies recruit non- employees to talk up products in exchange for samples or promotions. [See our list of Our Friends Top Reviewers below]

Companies regularly offer free samples and concert tickets to bloggers and journalists, in the hope of generating press. However, determining which bloggers are acting as an agent of a company may prove difficult.[no kidding! They "forget" to mention themselves, and how would you know otherwise? LE Cantrell likes to push this point.]

Mandy wrote:Yeah

The point of that article, though, is that if you're a shill for someone you've got to state that you're getting paid for the review. If KJA is paying people with swag for reviews then they should have to say so.

The above "review" was written by a member of the KJA Special Forces website (www.kjasf.com), where fans of KJA are asked, among other activities, to "post reviews on Amazon.com and other sites", and therefore may have been posted in expectation of receiving "exclusive member benefits" and "rewards".

Daniel MacCurdy Burnet's profile
"TheOmnius"

SandChigger wrote:

The above "review" was written by a member of the KJA Special Forces website (http://www.kjasf.com), where fans of KJA are asked, among other activities, to "post reviews on Amazon.com and other sites", and therefore may have been posted in expectation of receiving "exclusive member benefits" and "rewards".

The above "review" was written by a member of the KJA Special Forces website (www.kjasf.com), where fans of KJA are asked, among other activities, to "post reviews on Amazon.com and other sites", and therefore may have been posted in expectation of receiving "exclusive member benefits" and "rewards".

This particular member posted 23 "reviews" (most just a few lines) of KJA products on April 25; 3 on April 24; and 28 on April 23. Before that he had posted only one review (of a New Jedi Order book by Sean Williams) back in 2003.

The prequels and sequels written by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert have some notable differences in style and pacing, but the story and characters remain true, thanks to extensive notes on the books written by Brian Herbert and numerous conversations had with him while Brian Herbert was growing up.

SandChigger wrote:

The prequels and sequels written by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert have some notable differences in style and pacing, but the story and characters remain true, thanks to extensive notes on the books written by Brian Herbert and numerous conversations had with him while Brian Herbert was growing up.

This one's a real brain trust.

Bijaz wrote:http://WWW.KJASF.COM
WWW.Kevin's Jack AsS Fans.Com
WWW.Kevin's Jack Ass Stupid Fans.Com

DuneFishUK wrote:

Bijaz wrote:http://WWW.KJASF.COM
WWW.Kevin's Jack AsS Fans.Com
WWW.Kevin's Jack Ass Stupid Fans.Com

www.Kevin just administers sexual favours.com

As the release date for The Winds of Dune approaches, there has been a development which I think the Dune Community on Amazon should be made aware of.

Last month, Kevin J. Anderson started up a special, membership-by-invitation-only website called "KJA Special Forces" (www.kjasf.com). KJA fans who join are expressly asked, among other activities, to "post reviews on Amazon.com and other sites", in return for which they are promised various "exclusive member benefits" and "rewards".

I can't see how this can be viewed as anything other than a deliberate attempt to recruit shills to post overly favorable "reviews" of KJA's Dune and other books and unfairly manipulate the results of the customer review system here. With the deletion of many unfavorable, honest reviews of the newer Dune books that has taken place here in the last two years (while single-or-few-line, five-star "reviews" were left stand), many of us have suspected shill activity. Now we have apparent proof of it.

One member of the KJASF site has already gone on a "review rampage" here, posting 54 "reviews" (many consisting of just a few lines) of KJA books over a three-day period at the end of April.

If you value the integrity of the customer review system at all, especially as it pertains to the Dune books sold here, please help watch for suspicious activity in the reviews.

SandChigger wrote:... so you gotta wonder if we should call him RaidKillsBugsDead ...