The power of the forum - Can it be hijacked?

norks27 · 08-11-2009, 11:12 AM

A few thoughts:

As far as I am aware the likes of this forum have become increasingly powerful in terms of potentially directing the 'consumer' to a particular product. In my own experience it has been incredibly valuable in cutting through the PR of a product and finding out, 'for real', if it lives up to that PR hype.

e.g. You are looking for a new TV, you think you find the model that fits the bill. You then research the product and find real users on a forum, they slate it. All of a sudden you realise that you'd better think again.

This sort of influence can not have gone unoticed by the vendors, the large corporations.

If I where some 'evil' corporate dude I'd look at this sort of forum and think - hmm time to infiltrate and swing opinion my way.

The reason for these thoughts?

On another forum I noticed a post that completely went for the jugular of a particular bit of kit, it was a tirade of childish abuse and clearly not to be taken seriously, and no one on the forum did take it seriously. However where it to be written with care and more intelligence there is a real possibility that those considering the product would be sufficiently swayed into turning their attention to a competitors product.

AV Forums is a very large community, a huge potential audience for any corporate to infiltrate. Pay a few employers to register and maintain a presence, posting glowing reviews and negative comments about the competition.

I wonder what others think of this as a possibility?

Does this happen?

Richard

Deadringers · 08-11-2009, 11:24 AM

yep thats me...
im employed by onky, Mordaunt Short, Asus, Hazro oh and samsung

(dont buy anything else)

Ayub · 08-11-2009, 11:26 AM

If they send me a new led tv then i'm sure i will blow their trumpet

bribe me plz

shahedz · 08-11-2009, 11:31 AM

I think the nature of forums is you have more posters who visit to fix a problem- so most posts ( not just reviews) of problems probably slating a product then ones posting glowing reviews.

Badger0-0 · 08-11-2009, 11:32 AM

Quote:

maintain a presence, posting glowing reviews and negative comments about the competition.

I think it already is happening.
Fortunately it tends to get seen through, imo.
If a product is good, many people will say so, not just a few.

GBDG1 · 08-11-2009, 11:42 AM

This type of marketing is illegal in the uk, if you represent a company on something like a forum you legally have to declair your interest. There was a lot of fuss around the time of the ps3 launch when Sony were paying armies of people to represent them on forums/blogs etc.

Although, companies running biased forums would just be a return to av mags where companies who advertise in the mag may recieve preference.

weetsie · 08-11-2009, 11:48 AM

manufacturers dont need to pay anyone when fanboys do it for free.

shahedz · 08-11-2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lawrenzini

This type of marketing is illegal in the uk, if you represent a company on something like a forum you legally have to declair your interest. There was a lot of fuss around the time of the ps3 launch when Sony were paying armies of people to represent them on forums/blogs etc.

Although, companies running biased forums would just be a return to av mags where companies who advertise in the mag may recieve preference.

illegal! Never knew it was so serious!

deckingman · 08-11-2009, 11:59 AM

Anything you read on the internet, including individual posts on this forum, is just one person's opinion - and it's often biased for one reason or another. The same can be said about magazine reviews. The only way to make the right choice is to audition the kit yourself. There is a very recent thread whereby someone is recommending a particular speaker for £300, comparing it with speakers which cost £1,000. It turns out that he made his buying choice based solely on other reviews. Not only that, he admits that he did not audition any other speakers, even in the same price range, let alone any which were three times that price. Yet he still recommends these speakers. IMO, anyone who makes purchase decisions based purely on heresay and what they read in on the internet, deserves what they get.

ROBIN50N · 08-11-2009, 1:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayub

If they send me a new led tv then i'm sure i will blow their trumpet

bribe me plz

kinky

**IronGiant** · 08-11-2009, 2:51 PM

We occasionally oust the odd company employee posing as a genuine member of the public, but it generally becomes fairly obvious to anyone if someone is overtly promoting one brand to the exclusion of all others. You only have to visit other sites (or even threads here

) to see that AVF is often accused of favouring its advertisers.

Dave

Jay · 08-11-2009, 2:55 PM

It already happens.

Some are obvious employees, and others are fanboys.

Head over to the lcd section and you'll see some Sony lovers promoting nothing but sony, or plasma lovers promoting anything with panasonic on the front.

There is even one game employee on these forums that jumps to their defence if anything negative is said about them.

I can name you 5 people on this forum right now that promote products that aren't even good due to the name of the badge to many who don't know anybetter.

**IronGiant** · 08-11-2009, 3:21 PM

Name and Shame...

actually don't as I'd probably have to infract you for slander

Dave

Ian J · 08-11-2009, 3:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by norks27

AV Forums is a very large community, a huge potential audience for any corporate to infiltrate. Pay a few employers to register and maintain a presence, posting glowing reviews and negative comments about the competition.

I wonder what others think of this as a possibility?

Does this happen?

It happens quite regularly but hopefully we catch most of them and either delete the posts and ban them or in many instances I don't delete the posts but I ridicule the company instead

**Greg** · 08-11-2009, 5:42 PM

Back when the HD-DVD and Blu-ray war was in full swing, there was a forum on a certain blu-ray website that was so biased it was a source of great amusement. AVF used to get moaned at constantly due to our fair moderation and not favouring either format. In fact a ton of blu-ray fanboys were banned here and went to moan about us on that website. It was most amusing at the time. Obviously blu-ray won in the end, but that forum was not helpful to anyone at the time.

The power of a forum can be hijacked, but AVF can not. The moderators here keep everything fair and stop a particular company promoting their wares underhandedly or by pretending to be a normal member but constantly promoting a particular product.

norks27 · 09-11-2009, 8:54 AM

Thanks for the responses.

To know that a good level of vigilance is being used by the moderators to ensure nefarious tactics are nulled, thus maintaining the integrity of these forums, is reassuring.

Richard

CraigofScotland · 09-11-2009, 10:39 AM

I think someone joining would need to work very slowly over months not saying anything really advertismenty.

THen to reccomend a few tvs . . not really worth it in a cost of staffs time / products sold. To make their money back they would need to be really obvious in what they are doing.

The best bet would be to offer "fourm users" a discount or something free like delivery. (some examples already exist).