Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

 

I remember a local retailer who allegedly hired dozens of people to line-up in front of his store hours before it opened to take advantage of an advertised bargain. This technique of creating false excitement wasn’t new; folks who ran carnivals and circuses have been using “shills” for years.

 

Then came social media with the promise of democratizing communications. It bragged that the content of messages would flow from the desks of a few to the smart phones of the masses. Yet, if recent uses by politicians and celebrities are a sign of things to come, the pendulum may be swinging back towards traditional marketing.

 

Lots of public figures use social media from US President Barack Obama to Pope Benedict XVI, to communicate, sway and influence the masses. Surely it’s not a great stretch of the imagination to assume, with no disrespect to Obama or the Pope, that world and business leaders might post their own comments to create a false sense of support for an issue.

 

The exhibition industry has adopted social media as an important part of the communication strategy, yet many remain skeptical as to its real impact. Are your followers also suffering from this same skepticism? If there is a real possibility that e-shills could affect the integrity of the social media,  what else could go wrong? It’s quite conceivable that social media can easily fall into the hands of less than scrupulous users who are bent on manipulating public perception. If social media has the ability of helping our businesses grow, which I believe it does, is it time for some sort of code of ethics that will protect its integrity?