corruption of digital discourse: what you need to know, why you should care

Corruption of digital discourse:

what you need to know, why you should care

David Kamerer, PhD, APR Loyola University Chicago

The online world Journalism Blogs Social media Online reviews Action plan

Communication Conversations Influence

have moved online …

As communicators, online is where we work and live

CC/flickr.com/Jeff_Werner

The Attention Crash

“We are reaching a point where the number of inputs we have as individuals is beginning to exceed what we are capable as humans of managing. The demands for our attention are becoming so great, and the problem so widespread, that it will cause people to crash and curtail these drains. Human attention does not obey Moore’s Law.”

- Steve Rubel, Edelman Digital

Infrastructure issues:

• Malware • Phishing • Hacking • insecure ecommerce • identity theft • device tracking

Decline of trust •  Unemployment •  Globalization •  Poor economy •  Housing crisis •  Banking crisis •  War

Trust – AC Nielsen study

Edelman Trust Barometer

•  the rise of a “person like yourself (up 22% from 2004 to 2012)

•  decline in trust – CEOs (-12%) and government officials (-14%)

Edelman model: media cloverleaf

The online world Journalism Blogs Social media Online reviews Action plan

What’s wrong with journalism? •  Continuous deadlines •  Multimedia/social media reporting •  Anonymous comments online •  Iterative journalism •  “Trading up the chain”

Social media sources, HARO

Gallup survey, Fall 2012:

Decline of journalism

•  $1 in new digital ad revenue for every $25 lost in print ads • http://bit.ly/R9TWPg

•  One-third to half of all banner ads – never seen • http://bit.ly/TbOomC

•  Other financial models – limited success

Pageviews rule all

Goodbye, zoning board; Hello, Kardashians

Typical response rates

Targeted email 5.00% Direct mail 3.00% Rich media 0.14% Banner ad 0.08%

The failure of outbound tactics

Source: Ad Age, 2010

Journalism

•  Financial support uncertain

•  We’ve never needed good journalism more

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Modal qualities of social media

•  Everyone can publish •  A variety of business models •  Google organizes all •  Trust/authenticity that comes from “someone like myself”

Blogs

•  The rise of hidden influencers •  Focused, long-tail content •  Often “journalistic”

How are blogs funded?

•  No funding – hobby •  Display ads •  Pay per post •  Affiliate program •  Free goods & services •  Writer for hire

Results: many revenue streams

Tracking software shows ad relationships Average of 14 tracking services on style blogs

•  Analytics •  Share buttons •  Third-party ad networks

(source: Ghostery plug-in)

At left, tracking software from the blog LoveMaegan

Disclosure of material connections

16 CFR Part 255

“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Dec. 1, 2009

• Restrictions on describing “typical” results in advertising • Guidelines for celebrity product endorsers • Guidelines for disclosing material connections between advertisers and endorsers

Examples of in-post disclosures

Not quite a disclosure: c/o (“courtesy of”)

In- post

Site State- ment

Ann Taylor FTC: it is the advertiser’s responsibility to assure disclosure, not the blogger’s

Legacy Learning Systems $5 million sales

$250,000 fine

Almost three-fourths of the sample did not disclose in-post

Site disclosures 19 percent of sites published global disclosure policies. Their average length was 237 words.

Of these, 84 percent were linked on the home page.

The policies were linked under these pages:

Disclosure (4) About (3) Editorial and advertising policies FAQs Disclaimer Advertise Questions Privacy policy

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50 Cent

+ 290% in one day $8.7 million

Other platforms for paid influence: • MyLikes.com • SponsoredTweets.com • Pay4Tweet.com • Netflix affiliate program • Amazon Affiliates

Other consumer referral programs • The Fancy • Pose • Referly

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Reviews

• an important source of (free) content • are distributed across the web • frequently anonymous or pseudonymous

Scope of reviews

•  76% of consumers use online reviews regularly or occasionally •  72% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations •  58% trust a business with positive reviews •  52% more likely to use a business with positive reviews

US Alexa ranks: 1 Google, 5 Amazon, 57 Yelp, 63 Target, 84 Bestbuy, 114 TripAdvisor, 119 Expedia, 367 Cars.com, 600 Angieslist

Reverb Communications memo: Reverb employs a small team of interns who are focused on managing online message boards, writing influential game reviews, and keeping a gauge on the online communities. Reverb uses the interns as a sounding board to understand the new mediums where consumers are learning about products, hearing about hot new games and listen to the thoughts of our targeted audience. Reverb will use these interns on Developer Y products to post game reviews (written by Reverb staff members) ensuring the majority of the reviews will have the key messaging and talking points developed by the Reverb PR/marketing team.

Reverb Communications memo: Internal User Reviews Process:

o Internal “User Reviews” ���o Pre-written by in house writers ���o Positive reviews – not over the top – but endorsing the game as a good product���o Age ranges ���+ 12 – 18���+ 19 – 25���+ 26 – 34���+ 35 – 45���+ 46+* Written from the angle of each age group including key words that resonate with each audience���* Reviews begin to go live on day of launch on the iPhone storefront

Reverb Communications

Yelp • #57 website in US •  behind Instagram, GoDaddy •  ahead of Target, Groupon, UPS, Hulu •  50 million unique visitors/month •  18 million + reviews

Economic value of Yelp reviews

UC-Berkeley study: a half-star difference in Yelp reviews can mean a 30-49 percent likelihood that a restaurant will sell out in an evening.

Online reviews “play an increasingly important role in how consumers judge the quality of goods and services.”

Yelp reviews

Yelp reviews

Yelp “filtered” reviews

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

one star two stars three stars four stars five stars

Filtered reviews: !Haus von Brader Dog Training!

Owner’s response:

•  No record of “Justin G” •  Rejected offer to buy an ad •  Justin G did not respond to query

“I can live with what he says, even though I believe it’s unjust. But allow the good ones to go on, too.”

Blowback against Yelp

• Class action lawsuit (thrown out) • Facebook pages

Yelp is a Fraud We hate Yelp

• Website yelp-sucks.com

Amazon - Cornell study

•  85% of Vine reviewers have been approached by an author/agent/publisher.

•  “… large numbers of reviews by the higher-ranked reviewers are for books they have been given free by publishers, authors, or agents.”

•  Bad reviews – leave it up to the author?

•  Alexa: #5 in US, #10 in world

Amazon.co.uk

•  47 5-star reviews in first week. •  Of the 47 reviewers, only six had ever •  written a review before •  Husband Sir Paul Ruddock net worth

estimated to be $450 million •  Current sales rank #99,085 in Books

VIPERTEK Kindle case

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?smid=pl-share

TripAdvisor

• More than 60 million reviews • 40 reviews posted/minute • Hotel experience less tangible

http://tripadvisorwatch.wordpress.com/

The case of doctors •  Sue patients who write negative reviews for libel •  SLAPP suits

Reputation.com DoctorScorecard.com Angieslist.com

The online world Journalism Blogs Social Media Online Reviews Action plan

High performance

High performance products, services High performance communication Become a transparent company

Listen to the chatter

Listening tools/RSS Identify brand champions/connect and nurture Complaint? Improve your performance Some complaints fall below the noise floor

You can’t please everyone.

Use your owned media

Your message, your frame, your branding

“Every company is a media company”

Social media

Social media

•  Prepare to play defense •  Rise of “native ad formats”

sponsored Tweet sponsored story

•  Facebook paid posts •  Commercialization is transforming social media

Disclosure

•  Always disclose, even if in doubt •  Only work with ethical influencers •  Also use a site statement, linked on home page •  Goal: to avoid consumer confusion

PRSA Code of Ethics PRSA’s Code of Ethics has a provision entitled “Disclosure of Information,” based upon the principle is that “open communication fosters informed decision making in a democratic society.” The intent is “to build trust with the public by revealing all information needed for responsible decision making.”

The code states that a member shall:

Be honest and accurate in all communications. Act promptly to correct erroneous communications for which the member is responsible. Investigate the truthfulness and accuracy of information released on behalf of those represented. Reveal the sponsors for causes and interests represented. Disclose financial interest (such as stock ownership) in a client’s organization. Avoid deceptive practices.

Microchannels: Twitter, Facebook, SMS

What about a platform like Twitter? How can I make a disclosure when my message is limited to 140 characters?

The FTC isn’t mandating the specific wording of disclosures. However, the same general principle – that people have the information they need to evaluate sponsored statements – applies across the board, regardless of the advertising medium. A hashtag like “#paid ad” uses only 8 characters. Shorter hashtags – like “#paid” and “#ad” – also might be effective.

#paid #ad #client #sponsored

Reviews

Embrace the opportunity to listen Claim your spaces:

Yelp Google Places Bing Business Portal Foursquare Verticals/hyperlocals

Use SEO to make your website more visible

Review food chain:

Top – independent professionals (Consumer Reports, journalists)

Good first steps – (real names, must be customer)

Worst – (anonymous)

Whither journalism? Media, news literacy Journalism may enjoy resurgence Direct pay model

The tragedy of the commons

For more information:

http://davidkamerer.com (search for “corruption”)

http://delicious.com/davidkamerer/disclosure http://delicious.com/davidkamerer/corruption

On Twitter: @davidkamerer

Email: david@davidkamerer.com

Thank you