An anonymous poster dropped a bomb the other day on Reddit when he or she claimed to know another Redditor who was a paid propagandist for the Republican Party. The incendiary claim quickly gained more than 3,300 points, which, if you’re unfamiliar with Reddit, is a freaking boat load.
Here’s the claim:
In the comment section, the anonymous Redditor blames the conspiracy on word of mouth marketers, particularly members of a trade association called WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association). He said these groups get paid to troll Reddit, Digg and other social media sites. He also claimed to have a list of 1,400 usernames used by the clandestine manipulators.
It’s an awesome conspiracy theory, especially since WOMMA’s member list includes such notables as WalMart, The New York Times, Conde Nast, AARP, and even the Cheesecake Factory. (I knew their cheesecake was too good to be true.)
Now, I’m not one to dismiss an anonymous source on the Internet. I think the anonymous use of the web is an important part of free society. On the other hand, I’m not stupid either, so I checked it out.
As you can imagine, it wasn’t hard to reach a group called the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. They’re on Twitter, Facebook, and a number of other social media sites. I went the extra mile, however, and gave them an old-fashioned telephone call.
When I told a representative of WOMMA about the claims, she said, “That is totally against our ethics code. A member company that can be identified as being in violation of the ethics code, will have to go through a review process.”
She went on to say that the biggest part of WOMMA’s ethics code involves full disclosure. Since its inception in 2005, it has worked closely with the Federal Trade Commission, which has regulations about the use of testimonials and endorsements in advertising.
That made me feel a little bit better about the whole thing. If some groups are manipulating my beloved Reddit and my somewhat less beloved Digg, then at least I can take comfort knowing that those same groups could potentially get in a lot of trouble.
To that end, I sent a message to the anonymous Redditor to forward me the 1,400 usernames so I could start my own investigation. No word yet, but I’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, check out the blog from the poor guy who was implicated in all of this. It has the insincere and humorous title of “The Day I Was Outed As A Republican Operative.”
Conspiracy theory or not, I maintain that social media is what we make of it. So what if the Republican Party has hired a team of Reddit monkeys to down vote any liberal stories? If you disagree, get in there an up vote it. If you don’t participate in the discussion, then you’re at least partially complicit with the conspiracy. That is, if one exists at all.