I love to use the Internet to search for weekend getaways and international destinations. One of the most useful sites to track down decent accommodation is TripAdvisor. The reason I go back every time is because they have honest recommendations by people that recently visited the destinations. That way you get the ‘real’ picture and not the pretty pictures hotels dish up on their websites.

I was shocked to learn, however, that not all comments on the Internet are written by honest people. Companies pay individuals to recommend their products or services to naive Internet surfers like me, yet they have never used it. One of my clients pointed me to the term used for these unethical marketing activities - “astroturfing”.

I’m truly horrified.

The benefit of greater access to more knowledge is now being used against us. Tapping into the experiences of other people across the globe to make better decisions now needs to be used with caution. I guess it goes to show that although the Internet lives in cyberspace it is exactly like the real world.

I came to realise the following:

1. Trust, but verify. One needs to be aware of the integrity of websites.
2. The Internet will come to our rescue after all. Read this interesting snippet on Wikipedia:

 
In August 2006, a science journalist for the Wall Street Journal revealed that a YouTube video, “Al Gore’s Penguin Army”, which was claimed to be an amateur work, in fact came from the computers of DCI Group, a Washington, D.C.-based PR firm whose client list includes ExxonMobil and General Motors. This hoax was discovered when journalist Antonio Ragalado noticed that the YouTube video was the first sponsored listing when he performed a Google search for Al Gore. The fact that someone was paid to have the alleged film promoted was in itself suspicious.

I still believe in the honesty of people and I am convinced that these so-called astroturfers will be caught and thrown out of discussion forums and the like. The Internet stays one of the most powerful information sources, but like anything else in life it needs to be validated.