The Dangers of the Internet

The Dangers of the Internet

• Wal-Mart blogs that were supposed to be set-up for employees and their families were actually controlled by Edelman public relations representatives.

• Bigger companies are beginning to put up blogs. In some cases, they are a great success (Sun Microsystems) and in others they can lead to crisis (Wal-mart and Edelman). Overall, there is no one, right way to blog except to be honest and candid.

• With the use of fabricated personas and unrelated spokespeople, companies are slyly and secretly promoting through viral buzz and internet advertising to reckless and unsuspecting internet users.

• Zipatoni public relations company created a fake blog to promote Sony’s Playstation Portable. Using a fake hip-hop artist persona named Charlie, the blog created a story based on Charlie’s cousin Pete who yearned for a Sony PSP for Christmas.

• In the beginning stages of an AOL research site, search data from subscribers was accidentally released to the public.

The Dangers of the Internet• A security problem occurred with MySpace when private comments and

photos were able to be viewed by other users. Before MySpace was able to fix the problem, blogs and articles all over the internet described how to perform the specific hack to obtain the private information.

• The FTC recently fined the website Xanga for using a loop hole to allow children under the age of thirteen to create Xanga accounts without parental permission. The underage accounts included postings of personal information, which goes against the FTC standards.

• Popular food companies Hershey Foods and Mrs. Fields Cookies had trouble with the FTC when they were fined for collecting personal information from children without parental consent.

• When contestants were encouraged to send in videos for a Malibu Caribbean Rum contest, a winner was named without even announcing finalists. Contrary reports from the Malibu Rum company confused customers and led to complaints that the contest may have been rigged.

• In another commercial contest with the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, many contestants sent in anti-Chevrolet advertisements to the contest website.

The Dangers of the Internet

• In today’s society, we find that the internet is becoming more and more contaminated with false identities, information spills, and blogging incidents. The articles assigned to read reiterate the dangers of the internet and what could happen to users.

• Companies such as Wal-Mart and Sony have had problems with blogs they had set up, resulting in public relations disasters.

• However, in some cases, company blogs can be hugely successful. Sun Microsystems has created an accomplished blog with honesty and candidness.

• Not only are companies using blogs to promote products and companies, but false identities are helping corporations break into internet endorsements.

The Dangers of the Internet

• Promotions aren’t the only aspects that are causing trouble on the internet. Companies who have acquired important and valuable consumer information must also be careful of who is able to obtain this information.

• Due to all of the internet problems and leaks of private information, the Federal Trade Commission has creates many rules and regulations to protect users and keep companies and advertisers under control.

• Even when the company attempts to give internet users more power and control within advertising and promotions, problems can arise that can escalate to a public relations crisis.

• In the end we can see that although internet promotions and advertising are largely growing and successful fields, they have also led to public disasters requiring immediate attention and action.