"I’m paid to post dis-information online."
That’s what he said to us. And he said it with the sneer that can only come from the curled lip of a teenager proud of doing something kind of "bad."
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen some ugliness play out on DKos based on false identities and false assumptions. I shared my own experience with a few people, who asked me to diary it.
So here we go: please do know that I’ve changed a few ID’ing details (locations, etc.) so as to protect my own while I share "How I Spent My Christmas Vacation."
My family headed out of town for some much needed R&R. The place where we were staying had a nice lounge, complete with bar, restaurant, and lots of indoor activities (games, computer room, etc.) to help those stuck indoors to pass the time.
One afternoon we were hanging out in the hotel’s "Rec Room" (for lack of a better word), minding our own business with a couple of cocktails. He obviously saw us before we saw him, because suddenly he was upon us with a bunch of commentary/questions about Christmas, vacation, activities. He was a man-child, and he really, really wanted to talk (mostly about himself). My first thought when I saw him was "Lonely Kid." (This happens to us frequently in public. I’ve been told before that we are too "friendly," and "approachable." :))
We exchanged pleasantries, talked about the holiday week, and what we’d be doing during our time off. The new TRON movie was coming out. We were thinking about going, but worried that the theatres would be too crowded. He responded "That’s why I’m giving the movie bad reviews on my blogs. Maybe it will help the turnout to be low, so we can see the movie without crowds."
(Okay, Mr. Grandiose sense of self-importance.)
Being polite, making conversation, I asked him about his blogs. (Yes, yes, I know. :) That's a recipe for getting sucked into a black hole. But I’m a mom and am in the habit of encouraging young people to talk about themselves.)
I said "So is that what you do for a living?" (He was over 18.)
That’s when the lip curl appeared. He said proudly "I get paid to post DIS-information online." And he said it like that too. "DIS-information." Emphasis on the "DIS."
Well, that sparked my interest. I started asking a million questions. "What? Like posting bad movie reviews and stuff?"
He nodded. "Sometimes. I have over 100 blogs, and some of them are actually making money now, because I’ve had them going for years."
I said "Oh, are you getting enough traffic to sell ad space?" He replied "Sometimes, but mostly, I’m paid to post things. I started my first blog years ago to review different games. Most of my blogs are about different games or movies."
"So who are your biggest customers, then?"
"Mostly political parties."
"Oh yeah? Wow!! That’s really interesting!! Anyone we might have heard of?"
"I’m not allowed to say specific people. But mostly for conservative groups, and recently some Tea Party groups. But the Tea Party doesn’t pay as good." (LOL!!!!!)
I’m not going to relay the entire conversation here word-for-word, because you would know wayyyy too much about his opinions on the latest vampire trend and motocross. Needless to say, I asked him a million questions about himself and let him ramble so I could find out more about his black hat blogging activities.
My background is in marketing. Having been at it for a long time, I’m under no illusion about the fact that a lot of online posts and information are paid for. So I knew enough about his line of work to ask a bunch of questions, but never told him (he never asked) about my job. This is what I was able to glean from him in about a 1-hour conversation:
• Most of the work he is hired to do is helping someone with SEO.
For instance, his clients would give him talking points and a link to post. I asked "So they give you articles to post?" He said "No of course not! I write my own articles, in my own words. But they give me message points and a link." (i.e., search engine optimization for specific memes or articles that the client wants to go viral and / or push up the Google search engine results.)
• He is one of many.
Despite his sense of self-importance, it was obvious from his answers that he is a worker bee, probably part of a loose structure of people with talking points who fan out over the Internet to post information. (and mis-information)
• He’s not making enough money to support himself.
I don’t think the work he is doing could sustain a living. He was under the age of 21 and living with his family. This was more of a hobby that had eventually turned into some paid work.
• He is doing both white hat and black hat work.
Some of the work he does is with his own name and his own writing. But he supplements (and likely "freelances") this work by posting under assumed identities.
• His work, at least what was assigned to him, was not coming directly from political parties.
Rather from different "interest" groups. He clearly didn’t understand the difference between an established political party and "The Tea Party," which he kept referring to as a monolithic entity. As in "The Tea Party paid me more than $5,000 this last election cycle to post articles for them."
• Liberals are doing it, too.
Of course they are. Let’s not be naïve about this. But the impression I had – at least from Lonely Kid - was that it wasn’t as prevalent. And Lonely Kid refused personally to post any paid articles from liberals / Democrats, because according to him "Their numbers didn’t add up." Now, this is the one time where I couldn’t help myself, and I chimed in "But you already said you’re paid to post dis-information, so who cares who is paying you?" His facial expression read "Does. Not. Compute."
• He was a poorly informed "bot" and it was easy to see through his false claims by asking 1-2 follow up questions.
For instance, he believed that the Democrats had won barely any of the 2010 elections. He bragged was that "A newly elected Congressman" liked him and might start working with him to post some articles on his blogs. (I confirmed he meant a new House Republican.) He was especially impressed by this because to Lonely Kid it meant he was "going to be working with someone who has actual power. Especially since the Republicans are so powerful now in Congress, since the Democrats hardly won ANY elections in November." At this point, I just couldn’t help myself because the combined hubris/ignorance was giving me the giggles. "Really? Hardly no elections?" I asked. "I thought the Republicans won a couple hundred seats and the Democrats won a couple hundred seats." He seemed confused – really that surprised me but I guess it shouldn’t.
So I guess this is my overall point. Although we all know it to be true, we need to be reminded from time to time that you don’t really know who you are talking to online. Advertising is everywhere, but with the Internet it has become more murky and insidious.
And there’s something else: for every "paid" blogger out there, I’m sure there are just as many unpaid bloggers and commenters posting dis-information or at least mis-information.
Why do people do this? Why do people do a lot of things? Prestige? Sociopathy? Loneliness?
When I was in high school, there was a student who convinced kids that she had written a story that was being turned into a movie, and that she was going to start receiving royalties. She kept this going for over a year before someone finally called her out on it and she was exposed. We can’t really know/understand the prevalence of this type of behavior online.
The recent diaries here by Deoliver47, MinistryOfTruth, and blue jersey mom(and their comments sections) have also pointed out the fact that some people spread DIS-information online because they LIKE it. ( i.e., you don't necessarily have to pay someone for them to behave this way.)
I'm sure there are sociopathic, and sometimes just plain bored, people out there who invent "personas" and post a load of b.s. online to support their own weird conspiracy theories and hypotheses. Visit any comments section on a Fox News or Anchorage Daily News article about Sarah Palin and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
UPDATE
So what can we do about it?????
I’m not really sure there is a solution for this. I, for one, would rather have the security of online anonymity, and live with dis-information as the downside. IMO, the best things we can do to improve this situation at DKos are 1) to acknowledge that these trolls exist, and we likely interact with a false persona everyday online and 2) to not accept things un-critically just because they confirm our world view.
But after reading responses in the comments, it reminds me to speak up as a marketing professional. There ARE things we can do to counter both mis-information and dis-information.
Many people see "marketing" and "PR" and immediately think "lies." But the information you receive comes down to the intelligence and intentions of the messenger. There are just as many people out there trying to make sure that real, helpful information sees the light of day.
You will see more counters to mis-information here at DKOS because of the higher proportion of well-informed readers. When there is an organized / coordinated effort to get out REAL, SOURCED message points and citations, we can all benefit.
Some liberal groups / organizations already do this. For instance, the Obama Administration (and campaign, prior to that) have made some efforts to correct mis-information. Fact checking sites do the same. It is up to us to actually KNOW the correct information and utilize it in order to counter false claims. This can be difficult, not to mention time consuming.