Internet trend: Talkbacks for sale

Politicians, companies hire 'professional respondents' to boost their image
online
Dudi Goldman
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3189520,00.html

Almost all Internet users are familiar with talkbacks, the list of reader
responses appearing at the bottom of an article that allows surfers to offer
their views on the item they just read.

Some readers praise the feature, while others are not so impressed, yet as
it turns out, not all responses are as innocent as they initially
appear. Indeed, some talkbacks are written by "professional respondents"
hired to that end by companies and politicians.

Limor, 23, (not her real name,) is a 23-year-old sociology student from
northern Israel who is making a living from a new profession: Writing "fake"
talkbacks on Israel's large news websites. The young woman in fact works for
a "talkback company" but refuses to reveal any details about the company's
name or its clients.

"I work three to five hours every day from my computer at home and make NIS
2,700-3,400 (about USD 600 - 700) per month," she says. "If I'll reveal who
my company's clients are, I'll be sent packing in no time."

"But I can tell you there isn't one politician or party that do not purchase
talkback services," she says. "It starts with people who compete in party
primaries.and of course the largest companies are using our services."

Indeed, it is no secret that Israeli phone provider Bezeq, airlines, food
manufacturers, and importers have been using the services of talkback
companies for a while now.

Right-wingers first to realize potential

Politicians, meanwhile, have discovered the new weapons relatively recently.
The first ones to realize the immense potential inherent in talkback-kingdom
were right-wing anti-pullout activists, who swamped the Web in the framework
of their battle against the disengagement.

"They 'raided' every possible forum on the Internet and every large website
and wrote responses against the disengagement," says a talkback company
owner who declined to be named. "To their credit we can say most of them did
it without being paid."

Another owner of a talkback company, Guy Pore of Redhead, says the services
he provides are worth the investment.

"Every company and every politician knows it's effective. It creates a buzz,
which is much more effective than an ad," he says.

However, officials in charge of protecting consumers in the Ministry of
Industry are less impressed with the phenomenon. Attorney Yitzhak Kimhi says
"there are clear laws in Israel to protect consumers that ban the misleading
of consumers, in this case Internet surfers. The public should know there
are interested parties who want to divert attention through responses on the
Internet."

Large websites fight back

Meanwhile, large news websites in Israel are already aware of the problem
and are attempting to combat the phenomenon.

Ynet Editor-in-Chief Jon Feder says "talkbacks were born as part of an
Internet ideology that wishes to provide surfers with an opportunity to
express themselves, but those with commercial and political interests
realized the potential."

"From our point of view, the commercial use of talkbacks is malicious. The
moment we realized it's commercial, we started removing them. We weren't
always able to do it on time, but every time we suspected this was the case,
we made an effort to delete," Feder says.

Ynet, just like other large Israeli websites, is already developing
technological means that would combat such talkbacks. The tools are designed
to recognize the computer where the talkback was sent from in a bid to
identify whether it was sent by a legitimate reader or by a company or
political body.

(12.24.05, 19:58)