The Power of the Internet Blog’s Effectiveness and Deceptiveness As day goes by, technology companies led the way into business blogging and companies learn how to use blogs well. Edelman said that "If you don't talk with your employees and your customers in a way that lets them in on things, you're missing out on the game.” The Power of the using Internet for the straightforward marketing of a product is very obvious. However, via the Internet, market products in ways designed to be not clear. Even though some schemes can compromise computer users' security, marketers can easily conceal their identity and seek out inexperienced or hasty users who willingly give up their e-mail addresses and other identification. According to Richard W. Easley, professor of Internet marketing at Baylor University, "This is happening across industries when someone wants to get a buzz," said "It's a strategy that a lot companies are using, but unfortunately, it's clearly deceptive." According to article, Sony's fake PSP blog comes on the heels of another wellpublicized fake blog incident. In October, retail giant Wal-Mart and its PR agency, Edelman, were found to have been promoting the brand with a fake travel blog. Edelman, which was responsible for the blogs, was urged by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association--where it holds a seat on the board--to overhaul its blogging strategy. Jim Nail, chief strategy and marketing officer for buzz-measurement firm Cymfony, said that marketers need to realize that deceptive advertising is a bad bet. "The blog world is a very open, self-policing and pretty unforgiving world when you try to trick them with things like this," he said. "I don't understand why marketers, after all the different examples of this, don't get the message that you can't get away with faking these kinds of blogs." The MySpace hack is the latest front in social networking site and authorities who have criticized it for enabling easy communication between underage teens and sex offenders. In addition to setting up stronger security on underage users' profiles, MySpace responded to the criticism by naming a "security czar" to oversee security and privacy, and better police underage users of the site. But Rupert Murdoch's new media cornerstone took another hit when a 14-year-old girl sued MySpace for $30 million after she alleged she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old she met on the site. It was after the suit was announced that MySpace instituted the privacy protections for underage users that ended up being hacked. Although MySpace could be held culpable for not instituting better security measures in a timely fashion, observers also remarked on how common sense is sorely lacking when it comes to posting private information online. According to the FTC, after signing up for the service, children often posted personal information on their blogs. In reaction to complaints, MySpace changed its policy to prevent adults from contacting children, and vice versa. Still, child safety experts weren't satisfied by the move, as members can easily lie about their age when they sign up. And despite MySpace's policy of not allowing children under the 14 to join the service, kids who lie about their age can easily skirt that prohibition. Xanga also has changed its technology to screen for appropriate birthday, Engle said, and has enhanced other mechanisms designed to keep young children off the site.