One of the major difficulties I am facing is how to write a longer form article on astroturfing that touches on all the elements we have discovered about it. We need to place astroturfing inside a Web 2.0 context: issues of authenticity online as well as Lessing's culture of sharing. We also need to explore it's relevance to the field of PR: While some suggest it is just part and parcel of tactical PR, others suggest it is entirely unethical. Finally we need concrete examples, and most importantly, an interview or two with people who have astroturfed.
Geoffrey Emerson from agency The Prosperty Principle offers a service called Trusted Avatar.
He's also the man who was interviewed on ABC Radio National, and will be the first person we approach to contact for a more positive perspective on astroturfing.
Finally, the feedback from our presentation was to determine exactly who would host our web feature.
I feel that Mumbrella is the most appropriate platform. As I discussed last week, it has a history of catching out astroturfers in its comments. It's style is democratic and accessible, yet the audience is largely media literate. This would also improve our social media interactions through gaining exposure for the project.
One other suggestion was Triple J Hack. However, since they are mostly radio-based, I feel that the astroturfing topic won't translate as well online without evidence and the ability to link directly to other web pages. I'd like to aim for the tone of Crikey and UTS's joint project, Spinning the Media. This project is hosted by Crikey and is entirely self contained. It includes longer form articles, key interviews and findings from investigative research. These three content approaches position Spinning the Media as a useful project upon which we can base our project
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