Microsoft "Up-Voting" Positive Comments on Reddit?
Microsoft may have hired a PR firm to manage its reputation on Reddit in light of the Xbox One console.
Business Insider reports that representatives of Microsoft are trolling through Reddit in search of comments about the upcoming Xbox One console. They are reportedly voting up positive comments and voting down the negative ones, and adding pro-Xbox One comments of their own.
News of Microsoft artificially inflating hype over the Xbox One stems from a Reddit user named "Misty Silver". This individual claims he/she works for a marketing firm in Redmond that has a contract with Microsoft. The individual didn’t specify what division the firm works with (many Microsoft divisions are handled by several PR firms ugh), but did confirm his/her PR firm does not work with the Xbox team.
However while at Microsoft for a meeting, Misty Silver overheard talk and saw several Microsoft employees lurking on Reddit. On one employee screen in particular, the Microsoft worker "was mass-down-voting a ton of posts and comments, and he kept switching to other tabs to make posts and comments of his own."
"I couldn't make out exactly what he was posting, but I presumed he was doing RM (reputation management) and asked my boss about it later," Misty Silver added. "According to my boss, MS have[sic] just brought in a huge sweep of SMM managers to handle reputation management for the Xbox One."
Social media marketers who pose as "happy customers" on social media sites are labeled as reputation managers. Their job is to up-vote, down-vote and make positive comments. According to Misty Silver, Reddit has become a prime target of reputation management as of late. However Reddit clearly states that this type of behavior – to pretend to be someone else or to create mass down-vote or up-vote campaigns – is strictly against the rules, and can even get entire companies banned in extreme cases.
Business Insider reports that some Reddit users are taking notice to the inflated and deflated votes. It seems that one Reddit account was even created the day after Microsoft revealed the Xbox One console, and began posting Microsoft-positive links and comments using a Nokia Lumia 900 phone. "Check this douchebag's post history. He is a Microsoft rep. Every single one of his posts is to defend MS," one Reddit user said.
Currently Microsoft has not responded to the accusations.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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Spooderman Who gives a dead moose's last shit? I love Microsoft for all they've done for us, but they're digging their own grave with the Xbox One.Reply -
hrhuffnpuff Well they cancelled there post-E3 interviews, I wonder what else is going on at corp. HQ. Tragedy, after recent news, It seems to be PC, PS4 (and 3) and WiiU for my gaming as of now and the future.Reply -
Soda-88 If you let reddit decide for you what piece of tech to buy, then you deserve to get empty box in the mail regardless of the product it is that you're buying.Reply -
stevejnb While this is certainly a sketchy practice at best, I have trouble getting outraged over it/ect ect over this after hearing dozens of cases of it from a dozen companies over the past few years, and those are only the ones we know about. Small potatos at worst.Reply -
Vyrisus Well now let's see, If the XBox One didn't have such terrible design ideas, they wouldn't need to do so much damage control in the first place.Reply -
Vyrisus Well now let's see, If the XBox One didn't have such terrible design ideas, they wouldn't need to do so much damage control in the first place.Reply