Hacker News Reader

Comment by shpx | Hacker News Reader

It's just a matter of time until the "marketers" catch on. Maybe they already know and just haven't found a way to prove the business case because there's no easy way to measure how much some locked Reddit thread from a few years ago influences buying decisions.

I'm curious to see what kind of innuendo they invent for "astroturfing Reddit reviews".

View on HN

I believe we're already past that point. Search for the term "reputation management". Some companies ARE willing to pay money to rebut a negative viewpoint with a human voice, and Reddit is by no means immune to this.

I don't think the question should be "if" it is happening, but how far some companies go (behind-the-scenes) to use human voices not only defend but advance their position.

On reddit today someone asked how much karma is worth or something to that effect. It could be worth a great deal to a marketer. Someone with an early sign up date and lots of karma could easily sell them selves to a marketer.

I sense reddit is full of sock puppets and sell outs. How can it not be?

They've definitely caught on. Depending on the community, lots of bots are appearing to shill for specific brands, some better than others. Example: /r/malelivingspace has a big interest in Eames Lounge Chairs, and every time they get mentioned, a few new accounts pop up like clockwork to say how much they love their specific brand censored replica lounger. A ton of other random sites get these astroturf responses too, if they talk about it.

The worst part is that if they were a bit more skilled about it, it would be indistinguishable from an actual recommendation. Give it another few years.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com