A fake blog (sometimes shortened to flog or referred to as a flack blog) is an electronic communication in the blog format that appears to originate from a credible, non-biased and independent source, but which in fact is created by a company or organization for the purpose of marketing a product, service, or political viewpoint.[1][2] The purpose of a fake blog is to inspire viral marketing or create an internet meme that generates traffic and interest in a product, much the same as astroturfing (a "fake grassroots" campaign).[3]
A fake blog is akin to industry-supported "astroturf" efforts that pose as legitimate grassroots activity. Fake blogs are corrupted forms of public relations, which as a discipline demands transparency and honesty, according to the Public Relations Society of America's code of ethics and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's code of ethics. Authenticity and transparency are important in social networking and blogging, as these codes of ethics attest. The UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations' social media guidelines cite the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and state that both astroturfing and fake blogs are not permitted.[4]
As social networking tools gain in popularity, corporations and special-interest groups legitimately use their own blogs to promote company agendas without cloaking their identities (one such example is Southwest Airlines Blog,[5] a blog sponsored by Southwest Airlines and written by its employees). Southwest's blog is a place where the public can find information on what is happening within the Southwest community. It is about applications to apply to work there or the drives they host to support others.[6]
One notorious example of identity cloaking, resulting in a fake blog, was exposed when Edelman, an international public relations firm, created a fake blog in 2006 called Walmarting Across America.[7] It was purportedly written by two Wal-Mart "enthusiasts" who decided to journey across the United States in an RV, blogging about the experience as they visited Wal-Marts along the way. While two people actually did travel across the United States in an RV, the publicity stunt was revealed to be paid for by Wal-Mart, a client of Edelman.
The act of writing fake blogs, or the commercial, strategy behind it, has been referred to as "flogging",[8][3]
^Dariusz Jemielniak; Aleksandra Przegalinska (18 February 2020). Collaborative Society. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-35645-9.
^Yang, Sung-Un; Lim, Joon Soo (29 May 2009). "The Effects of Blog-Mediated Public Relations (BMPR) on Relational Trust". Journal of Public Relations Research. 21 (3): 341–359. doi:10.1080/10627260802640773. ISSN 1062-726X. S2CID 144483794.
^ abMaurya, Mohit (June 2011). "Evolution of Blogs as a Credible Marketing Communication Tool". Journal of Case Research. 2 (1): 71–90.
^Chartered Institute of Public Relations (2009) CIPR Social Media Guidelines (updated January 2009), p.4 - available at http://www.cipr.co.uk/sites/default/files/Social%20Media%20Guidelines.pdf - accessed 9 August 2010.
^"Southwest Airlines Blog". 30 December 2006. Archived from the original on 30 December 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
^"Blog | The Southwest Airlines Community". community.southwest.com. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
^Gogoi, Pallavi (9 October 2006). "Wal-Mart's Jim and Laura: The Real Story". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 17 November 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
^Janet Giltrow; Dieter Stein (28 October 2009). Genres in the Internet: Issues in the theory of genre. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 49. ISBN 978-90-272-8938-4.
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