Guerrilla Marketing

This is not entirely a security related matter in the traditional sense. Guerrilla Marketing is a less then honest form of online marketing. Guerrilla Marketing involves people creating many accounts and posting to online blogs, forums, websites, etc. from each of these accounts, acting as if they are in fact, different people. Many tech and non-tech people are unaware that this even exists. Some times it is a person or small group of people orchestrating the Guerrilla Marketing. Other times, massive efforts are fueled by PR firms. Much like when phishing[1] first hit the internet and caught many people off guard. To this day, some tech savvy people still get fooled as phishers become cleverer in their wording and targeting. In the way phishing relies on using a false identity to obtain information about the target. Guerrilla Marketing relies on many false identities to present information to targets to create the illusion that is has mass appeal or being shared with the community from a small group of "average users" who just are really excited about the new site/product/service.

I must note that not all Guerrilla Marketing is bad. From Wikipedia, Guerrilla Marketing is described as "an unconventional way of performing promotional activities on a very low budget. Such promotions are sometimes designed so that the target audience is left unaware they have been marketed to and may therefore be a form of undercover marketing (also called stealth marketing)." The basic premise of it is the same. Though many internet users still dislike the fact they are being tricked into thinking one thing and then realize they have been "marketed to". Though Guerrilla Marketing in it self is not bad. Though how it is used and implemented can determine if it crosses any ethical lines.

This post on Penny Arcade was from earlier this year. It by no means is a new concept. I was reminded of it while having a discussion about digg.com[2] and looking over some scary posting trends on digg. Anyway, if the concept is new to you, it's an interesting (short) read.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/show/21589


Foot Notes:

1. Phishing - In computing, phising is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out using email or an instant message, although phone contact has been used as well

2. Digg.com - (From Digg's site) Digg is a user driven social content website. Ok, so what the heck does that mean? Well, everything on digg is submitted by the digg user community (that would be you). After you submit content, other digg users read your submission and digg what they like best. If your story rocks and receives enough diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of digg visitors to see.