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    Are You Astroturfing?

    November 30, 2010, 06:23 PM

    Your business has a great new product and you are anxious to get the word out to the public so you ask your employees to post on Yelp and other social media sites how much they love the product. Your employees dutifully write rave reviews on various social media sites about the product and the public is abuzz about the new product. You, however, are astroturfing. Astroturfing is the creation of an artificial buzz for a brand, product or service. You cannot prevent your employees from posting reviews on various social media sites about your great new product, but you should consider having a social media policy and giving your employees some guidelines. The Federal Trade Commission has issued guidance on social media and they contain, among other things, stricter requirements for endorsements. – Nicole J. Harrell