The Web and Blogs:
Danger Zone
The World Wide Web is a world full of opportunities, fantasies, and danger. Recently, companies have been using the Internet for marketing products and other communication tactics to get ahead in business. There have been millions of blogs created on the web for countless interests, focus groups, and more. Blogs are web spaces in which web consumers share their thoughts and feelings on similar interests or provide information for other consumers like themselves. The headlines in the news have been filled with privacy issues and breaches on numerous social networks and blogs. Although these companies promise full privacy, nothing should ever be assumed nor trusted with these websites. The fact that ten yearolds are putting up profiles on web social networks like myspace and facebook is extremely frightening. Ten year olds let alone seventeen year olds do not need to publicize themselves to an Internet full of predators, liars, and cheaters. Companies such as Facebook, General Motors, Verizon, McDonald’s, Wells Fargo, Malibu, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, and many more have been struck with bad luck with blogs and online privacy. The companies previously mentioned and thousands more have been publicly acknowledged for a security breach, privacy issues, and other dangerous activities that have threatened the security and safety of their patrons. I feel as though the Internet is an extremely deep ocean of danger
because of all the web entails. When marketing and public relation firms decide to take their strategies to the next level with guerilla advertising on the web, they don’t think about the risks they are taking. Wal-mart, a corporate giant, has been caught red-handed. Wal-mart has two main blogs on the Internet. Their blogs, Working Families for Wal-mart and Paid Critics, has faulty information on them. The public relations firm, Edelman, which represents the Wal-mart Corporation, was caught posting blogs on these blogging sites to make Walmart appear better. Edelman did apologize for their actions and took full responsibility. This is one of many examples of how the web can be false and the reader would not even know it. This example shows how the Internet is used in such ways that portray the opposite of truth. Wal-mart, an American Corporation that has a favorable reputation, put it on the line through their PR firm which is supposed to positively represent the company. The web can lead to negative outcomes which were not wanted from the beginning. Blogs are the craze of marketing for Corporations such as Wal-mart. Recent tallies show that over three dozen of the Fortune 500 companies have blogs. That is a lot of risk taking on these companies behalves. Blogs are best if they are open, honest, and authentic. Blogs are all about information. Companies such as Dell, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, GM, and more have blogs currently. Another company that fell through a web loophole is Sony. During the holiday season, Sony and their media company, Zipatoni, created a flog (fake-blog) for marketing tactics. Alliantforxmasisapsp.com was created by Zipatoni for Sony PSP to create a “blog” to get consumers excited about receiving a PSP for the
holidays. This blog was fake and Sony and Zipatoni admitted to the creation of the flog for marketing purposes. Fake blogs can be deceiving to the consumers and for this, consumers must be wary. Another example of consumer danger is an example from Malibu Rum. Malibu put out a contest to create a video for the company. The consumers put up videos, but the company kept changing the rules. User generated content is very tricky. Many consumers believed the contest to be rigged when they noticed the winning videos were extremely comparable to actual Malibu commercials. The company provided information that contradicted the rules and this led many loyal Malibu consumers astray. One last example of consumers and the Internet deals with Chevy. Chevy put out a contest for consumers to create their own advertisements about the Chevy Tahoe. The matter of the fact is that the company did not think this would backfire on them. Other companies successfully rolled out similar contests. Converse is one of the successful companies to roll out a consumer created contest. With the Chevy situation, consumers posted commercials featuring bad information about the Tahoe and how it is a bad vehicle with low gas-mileage. The company was hoping for the rise in interest for the Tahoe, but most of the consumers attacked the sports utility vehicle. Consumer generated material is the luck of the draw. The web produces many security questions. Companies, social networking pages, and more have to deal with security breaches on a daily basis but when the number of members affected is on the rise, the public is aware, and chaos is created. Companies like Hershey’s and Mrs. Field’s cookies have a page on their website that let’s children enter their birthdays so that they get a coupon in the mail on their birthday.
The sites did not ask for adult supervision and for this, the COPPA fined the companies well over $185,000 combined. These companies violated children’s privacy and this is no laughing matter. The two most popular social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook, have been criticized for security breaches. On Facebook, meat puppets, also known as sock puppets, erupted. A meat puppet is a fake member of a website that is supposed to represent a real human being. Facebook caught a company that made a fake profile to receive the email addresses of over 300,000 members. These sites are not safe and are often used for marketing schemes and tactics. On MySpace, there was a security breach where there was access to all MySpace members pictures, even if they had them on private locks. Also, this breach had another incident; 18 year old had access to the 16 year olds and under profiles. This is a privacy rule stated by MySpace, and they breached their own rule. These sites are not safe at all. Another example of a security breach deals with AOL. AOL developed a research tools page and by accident this page released the names of over 650,000 members. There was a huge privacy concern with this incident because AOL never discloses names because their system identifies members with PIN numbers and screenames. AOL is the oldest social network and is still having security problems. What does this make you think of the newest and hottest social networking sites on the web? In conclusion, the World Wide Web is a hot zone for all kinds of problems that deal with everyday consumer protection such as privacy and false information. Basically, the Internet is a breeding ground for issues and concerns.