And after Edelman's recent blog fiascos (no link needed, just search on Edelman, blog fiasco and you'll get thousands of results) and Comcast's recent astroturfing incident , I wouldn't recommend ghostwriting a blog on behalf of a client. Note: this is the second of two guest-posts from PR guru-ess Cece Salomon-Lee on how Web 2.0 has changed the practice of PR. The first covered macro issues; this piece focuses on how PR professionals can best approach bloggers. MORE

And since Google is once bitten, twice shy over all of the times Google’s been hurt before by all those one-night stands with spammers, astroturfers, phishers, and the like, Google is looking more and more for a nice guy, a girl next door. Everybody indeed wants a shortcut. MORE

Astroturfing – Or The Art of Masquerading. + Astroturfing – Or The Art of Masquerading. The new term for this type of activity is “astroturfing,” taking its cue from the way astroturf masquerades as real grass. Table of Contents. + MORE

” or any remote hint of getting called out astroturfing or not clearly and transparently representing who you are, your true name, your true identity, and your paid-by connection or a brand, political campaign, upcoming movie, or whatever, our entire newsroom full of trolls would be commanded to stop by the our Chief Operation Office: “logout of everything you’re on right now and await further instructions!” MORE

These fake grass roots campaigns, called astroturfing, caught on about ten years ago and still haven’t died out. . All this was brought to mind when I recently did some dog food research for a client and it occurred to me that quite a few of the comments are astroturf. Well, from 2003-2006 I was in the astroturfing business. From astroturfing to shilling to DoS attacks to brute-force hacking. Photo credit: calmenda. MORE

It can authenticate app ratings and reviews from real users to prevent astroturfing. Disclosure: This is one of those rare articles on this blog that’s entangled with my work as VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. While it’s not specific to HubSpot — this is an issue and a framework that I believe are broadly applicable across all SaaS platforms — I want to be transparent that I do have a stake in how these dynamics play out in our industry. MORE

This is known as astroturfing and State Attorney Generals are cracking down and enforcing these laws, so you want everything you do to be above board. From Facebook to Twitter , businesses brand themselves by using social media sites and digital marketing. While social media may seem like all fun and games and can be on a personal level, it can land you in hot water when you’re branding a business. Hot water that could land you in court with legal issues. MORE