So this will be a dull post with links and thoughts but I would love to hear how plausible you think it is.
We all know that someone (cumber tweets) was editing wikipedia on a massive scale: with over 80 accounts, the wiki mod said 3 accounts spring up in place of the 1 banned account in a never ending cycle.
Persona management software may be used so that each paid poster can manage five to seventy convincing online personas without getting them confused.
• Companies now use “persona management software”, which multiplies the efforts of each astroturfer, creating the impression that there’s major support for what a corporation or government is trying to do. • This software creates all the online furniture a real person would possess: a name, email accounts, web pages and social media. In other words, it automatically generates what look like authentic profiles, making it hard to tell the difference between a virtual robot and a real commentator. • Fake accounts can be kept updated by automatically reposting or linking to content generated elsewhere, reinforcing the impression that the account holders are real and active. • Human astroturfers can then be assigned these “pre-aged” accounts to create a back story, suggesting that they’ve been busy linking and retweeting for months. No one would suspect that they came onto the scene for the first time a moment ago, for the sole purpose of attacking an article on climate science or arguing against new controls on salt in junk food. • With some clever use of social media, astroturfers can, in the security firm’s words, “make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise … There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to fictitious personas.”
Companies to supply it with persona management software, which will perform the following tasks: a. Create “10 personas per user, replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent … Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms.” b. Automatically provide its astroturfers with “randomly selected IP addresses through which they can access the internet” (an IP address is the number which identifies someone’s computer), and these are to be changed every day, “hiding the existence of the operation”. The software should also mix up the astroturfers’ web traffic with “traffic from multitudes of users from outside the organisation. This traffic blending provides excellent cover and powerful deniability.” c. Create “static IP addresses” for each persona, enabling different astroturfers “to look like the same person over time”. It should also allow “organisations that frequent same site/service often to easily switch IP addresses to look like ordinary users as opposed to one organisation.”
On another note this sounds like AnythingCumberBatch.
Undercover marketing (also known as “stealth marketing”, or, by its detractors, “roach baiting”) is where consumers do not realize they are being marketed to. Buzz campaigns can reach consumers isolated from all other media, and unlike conventional media, consumers tend to trust it more often, as it is usually coming from a friend or acquaintance. Overall, the person doing the marketing must look and sound like a peer of their target audience, without any signs of an ulterior motive for endorsing the item.
ETA: I’m asking because it mentions the tobacco industry and USAF in the article – they’ve got millions to spend. I’m wondering if it’s priced so PR firms can afford it.
The software is not new however it definitely takes professional approach to go with it. We are talking money. The question is who has the benefit? … and brw this reminds me on opinion control 😉
Just reblogging to add in the prices offered by the only company I see that lists prices online.
Ballsy: Yep, there you have it. If you have the $$$ and the need – this is
do-able. The Tweet/Deletes have been
bugging us for a while, and here’s the way it can be done. I think we’re all pretty sure ATCB isn’t a
regular “fan” despite their pathetic attempts at damage
control, and the same definitely goes for all the So-So shilling
accounts. So, a PR Team? Paid for “bots”? More
fakery, more lies, more deception.
