Geoff Livingston, whose PR practice inside the beltway is primarily for technology clients talks about astroturfing and ther slimey practices of political PR practtitoners inside the Washington DC beltway.
For you youngsters out there, astroturfing is a term coined by one Charles Colson who worked in the White House for Richard Nixon. Whenever a newspaper or broadcast station said something unfavorable about the President, the news organization would be inundated with calls and letters in defense of the president--all produced by a small handful of paid Colson Lieutenants.
Colson called it "astroturfing." The campaign looked like grassroots, but in fact it was artificial like the stuff at the Houston Astrodome.
Geoff reports that the practice remains widespread among DC PR practitioners, news that I find far from shocking, but still depressing. To date politicians have used social media to get the word out and to get money in. Some day, I hope they learn about its conversational value.
Sacrificing results for integrity is always in the end a lose-lose proposition. Thanks, Shel, for the link love!
Posted by: Geoff Livingston | January 14, 2008 at 09:05 AM
I did a recent post for media bullseye on the pols, and saw a lot of social media use, but it seemed more directed at revenue generation. I was not sure that a whole lot of engagement was going on. I read your post and wondered if we are going to see more cases of social media use backfiring?
Or is your reference to PR practitioners only related to lobbyists?
Posted by: John Cass | January 14, 2008 at 02:26 PM