This document discusses the issues around digital discourse and online reviews. It notes that as communication has increasingly moved online, ensuring trust and transparency is important. Several key challenges are outlined, including the decline of traditional media due to financial pressures, the rise of social media influencers and reviews, and issues around disclosure of paid relationships. The document provides recommendations for communicators, including embracing transparency, listening to feedback, and claiming spaces for reviews to build trust and credibility.

1. Corruption of digital discourse:
what you need to know,
why you should care
David Kamerer, PhD, APR
Loyola University Chicago

2. The online world
Journalism
Blogs
Social media
Online reviews
Action plan

3. Communication
Conversations
Influence
have moved online …
As communicators, online is where we work
and live

4. CC/flickr.com/
Jeff_Werner

5. The Attention Crash
“We are reaching a point where the number of inputs
we have as individuals is beginning to exceed what
we are capable as humans of managing. The
demands for our attention are becoming so great, and
the problem so widespread, that it will cause people
to crash and curtail these drains. Human attention
does not obey Moore’s Law.”
- Steve Rubel, Edelman Digital

6. Infrastructure issues:
• Malware
• Phishing
• Hacking
• insecure ecommerce
• identity theft
• device tracking

7. Decline of trust
• Unemployment
• Globalization
• Poor economy
• Housing crisis
• Banking crisis
• War

8. Trust – AC Nielsen study

9. Edelman Trust Barometer
• the rise of a “person like yourself (up 22% from
2004 to 2012)
• decline in trust – CEOs (-12%) and government
officials (-14%)

10. Edelman model: media cloverleaf

11. The online world
Journalism
Blogs
Social media
Online reviews
Action plan

12. What’s wrong with journalism?
• Continuous deadlines
• Multimedia/social media reporting
• Anonymous comments online
• Iterative journalism
• “Trading up the chain”

13. Social media sources, HARO

14. Gallup survey, Fall 2012:

15. Decline of journalism
• $1 in new digital ad revenue for every $25 lost in
print ads
• http://bit.ly/R9TWPg
• One-third to half of all banner ads – never seen
• http://bit.ly/TbOomC
• Other financial models – limited success

17. Pageviews
rule all
Goodbye, zoning board;
Hello, Kardashians

19. The failure of outbound tactics
Typical response rates
Targeted email
5.00%
Direct mail
3.00%
Rich media
0.14%
Banner ad
0.08%
Source: Ad Age, 2010

22. Journalism
• Financial support uncertain
• We’ve never needed good journalism more

23. The online world
Journalism
Blogs
Social media
Online reviews
Action plan

24. Modal qualities of social media
• Everyone can publish
• A variety of business models
• Google organizes all
• Trust/authenticity that comes from
“someone like myself”

25. Blogs
• The rise of hidden influencers
• Focused, long-tail content
• Often “journalistic”

26. How are blogs funded?
• No funding – hobby
• Display ads
• Pay per post
• Affiliate program
• Free goods & services
• Writer for hire

27. Results: many revenue streams

28. Tracking software shows
ad relationships
Average of 14 tracking services on style blogs
• Analytics
• Share buttons
• Third-party ad networks
(source: Ghostery plug-in)
At left, tracking software from
the blog LoveMaegan

29. Disclosure of material connections
16 CFR Part 255
“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and
Testimonials in Advertising”
Dec. 1, 2009
• Restrictions on describing “typical” results in advertising
• Guidelines for celebrity product endorsers
• Guidelines for disclosing material connections between
advertisers and endorsers

30. Examples of in-post disclosures

31. Not quite a disclosure: c/o (“courtesy of”)
In-
post
Site
State-
ment

32. Ann Taylor
FTC: it is the advertiser’s
responsibility to assure
disclosure, not the
blogger’s

33. $5 million
sales
Legacy Learning Systems
$250,000
fine

34. Almost three-fourths of the sample
did not disclose in-post

35. Site disclosures
19 percent of sites published global disclosure
policies. Their average length was 237 words.
Of these, 84 percent were linked on the home page.
The policies were linked under these pages:
Disclosure (4)
About (3)
Editorial and advertising policies
FAQs
Disclaimer
Advertise
Questions
Privacy policy

39. The online world
Journalism
Blogs
Social media
Online reviews
Action plan

47. 50 Cent
+ 290% in one day
$8.7 million

51. Other platforms for paid influence:
• MyLikes.com
• SponsoredTweets.com
• Pay4Tweet.com
• Netflix affiliate program
• Amazon Affiliates

53. Other consumer referral programs
• The Fancy
• Pose
• Referly

54. The online world
Journalism
Blogs
Social Media
Online Reviews
Action plan

55. Reviews
• an important source of (free) content
• are distributed across the web
• frequently anonymous or pseudonymous

56. Scope of reviews
• 76% of consumers use online reviews regularly or occasionally
• 72% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
• 58% trust a business with positive reviews
• 52% more likely to use a business with positive reviews
US Alexa ranks:
1 Google, 5 Amazon, 57 Yelp, 63 Target, 84 Bestbuy,
114 TripAdvisor, 119 Expedia, 367 Cars.com,
600 Angieslist

57. Reverb Communications memo:
Reverb employs a small team of interns who are focused on managing
online message boards, writing influential game reviews, and keeping
a gauge on the online communities. Reverb uses the interns as a
sounding board to understand the new mediums where consumers are
learning about products, hearing about hot new games and listen to
the thoughts of our targeted audience. Reverb will use these interns
on Developer Y products to post game reviews (written by Reverb
staff members) ensuring the majority of the reviews will have the key
messaging and talking points developed by the Reverb PR/marketing
team.

58. Reverb Communications memo:
Internal User Reviews Process:
o Internal “User Reviews”
o Pre-written by in house writers
o Positive reviews – not over the top – but endorsing the game as a
good product
o Age ranges
+ 12 – 18
+ 19 – 25
+ 26 – 34
+ 35 – 45
+ 46+* Written from the angle of each age group including key words
that resonate with each audience
* Reviews begin to go live on day of launch on the iPhone storefront

59. Reverb Communications

61. Yelp
• #57 website in US
• behind Instagram, GoDaddy
• ahead of Target, Groupon, UPS, Hulu
• 50 million unique visitors/month
• 18 million + reviews

62. Economic value of Yelp reviews
UC-Berkeley study: a half-star difference in Yelp reviews can
mean a 30-49 percent likelihood that a restaurant will sell out
in an evening.
Online reviews “play an increasingly important role in how
consumers judge the quality of goods and services.”

63. Yelp reviews

64. Yelp reviews

65. Yelp “filtered” reviews
Filtered reviews: !
Haus von Brader Dog Training!
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
one star
two stars
three stars
four stars
five stars

66. Owner’s response:
• No record of “Justin G”
• Rejected offer to buy an ad
• Justin G did not respond to query
“I can live with what he says, even
though I believe it’s unjust. But
allow the good ones to go on, too.”

67. Blowback against Yelp
• Class action lawsuit (thrown out)
• Facebook pages
Yelp is a Fraud
We hate Yelp
• Website
yelp-sucks.com

68. Amazon - Cornell study
• 85% of Vine reviewers have been approached by
an author/agent/publisher.
• “… large numbers of reviews by the higher-ranked
reviewers are for books they have been given free
by publishers, authors, or agents.”
• Bad reviews – leave it up to the author?
• Alexa: #5 in US, #10 in world

69. Amazon.co.uk
• 47 5-star reviews in first week.
• Of the 47 reviewers, only six had ever
• written a review before
• Husband Sir Paul Ruddock net worth
estimated to be $450 million
• Current sales rank #99,085 in Books

70. VIPERTEK Kindle case

72. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-
reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?
smid=pl-share

73. TripAdvisor
• More than 60 million reviews
• 40 reviews posted/minute
• Hotel experience less tangible
http://tripadvisorwatch.wordpress.com/

75. The case of doctors
• Sue patients who write negative reviews for libel
• SLAPP suits
Reputation.com
DoctorScorecard.com
Angieslist.com

80. The online world
Journalism
Blogs
Social Media
Online Reviews
Action plan

81. High performance
High performance products, services
High performance communication
Become a transparent company

82. Listen to the chatter
Listening tools/RSS
Identify brand champions/connect and nurture
Complaint? Improve your performance
Some complaints fall below the noise floor
You can’t please everyone.

83. Use your owned media
Your message, your frame, your branding
“Every company is a media company”

84. Social media

85. Social media
• Prepare to play defense
• Rise of “native ad formats”
sponsored Tweet
sponsored story
• Facebook paid posts
• Commercialization is transforming social media

88. Disclosure
• Always disclose, even if in doubt
• Only work with ethical influencers
• Also use a site statement, linked on home page
• Goal: to avoid consumer confusion

89. PRSA Code of Ethics
PRSA’s Code of Ethics has a provision entitled “Disclosure of
Information,” based upon the principle is that “open
communication fosters informed decision making in a
democratic society.” The intent is “to build trust with the
public by revealing all information needed for responsible
decision making.”
The code states that a member shall:
Be honest and accurate in all communications.
Act promptly to correct erroneous communications for which
the member is responsible.
Investigate the truthfulness and accuracy of information
released on behalf of those represented.
Reveal the sponsors for causes and interests represented.
Disclose financial interest (such as stock ownership) in a
client’s organization.
Avoid deceptive practices.

90. Microchannels: Twitter, Facebook, SMS
What about a platform like Twitter? How can I make a disclosure when my message
is limited to 140 characters?
The FTC isn’t mandating the specific wording of disclosures. However, the same
general principle – that people have the information they need to evaluate sponsored
statements – applies across the board, regardless of the advertising medium. A
hashtag like “#paid ad” uses only 8 characters. Shorter hashtags – like “#paid” and
“#ad” – also might be effective.
#paid
#ad
#client
#sponsored

94. Reviews
Embrace the opportunity to listen
Claim your spaces:
Yelp
Google Places
Bing Business Portal
Foursquare
Verticals/hyperlocals
Use SEO to make your website more visible

95. Review food chain:
Top – independent professionals
(Consumer Reports, journalists)
Good first steps –
(real names, must be customer)
Worst –
(anonymous)

96. Whither journalism?
Media, news literacy
Journalism may enjoy resurgence
Direct pay model

97. The tragedy of the commons

98. For more information:
http://davidkamerer.com
(search for “corruption”)
http://delicious.com/davidkamerer/disclosure
http://delicious.com/davidkamerer/corruption
On Twitter:
@davidkamerer
Email:
david@davidkamerer.com

99. Thank you