The Potential Consequences of Poor Internet Usage Why Public Relations Professionals Should Be Cautious

Blogging Some companies, such as Wal-Mart, have been known to hire people to talk up the companies and their products by blogging on the different websites. However, marketers can’t get away with using fake blogs because most people find out, and when this happens it can hurt the company. Corporate blogging does have an upside if done right. Blogs can give people a sense of the issues facing the company and the people who run it, which gives a face to a company and makes it seem more personable.

Online Marketing Jim Nail, a chief strategy and marketing officer said that “the blog world is a very open, self-policing and pretty unforgiving world when you try to trick them with things like this.” Marketers need to understand that they can’t get away with using fake blogs. Online marketing can also be deceiving. For example, Ruckus Network Inc. created a fictional person on Facebook to attract potential customers to their website for college students to download and share music and movies. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are using these types of deceptive strategies that are commonly known as “meat-puppeting” and “sock-puppeting.”

Internet Privacy Another important issue when dealing with the internet is privacy. MySpace, a social networking website, faced a security breach that allowed users to view other users’ pictures and postings. The hack allowed for users over the age of 18 to look at the personal profiles of users under the age of 16, which are supposed to be private by default. These social networking sites are bringing about new internet troubles because of teenagers sharing too much information about themselves and adults being able to contact them.

User-Generated Data One of the latest advertising trends is user-generated advertising, but this can be tricky. For example, Malibu Caribbean Rum had a contest asking consumers to create videos for the rum based on the Banana Boat song. Prizes of either $25,000 or a banana grove in a tropical location were offered. But instead of making their contestant happy, they became upset when a winner was named without the finalists being publicly named, and the loosing consumers began claiming that the contest was rigged. Because of this many of the company’s customers were left with negative feelings, which is not good for business.