John McCain Encourages Spamming
In an effort to get elected President of the United States, John McCain is now encouraging supporters to spam blogs and web sites with comments about how great he is. According to the Washington Post:
On McCain’s Web site, visitors are invited to “Spread the Word” about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor’s screen name. The site offers sample comments (”John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .”) and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into “conservative,” “liberal,” “moderate” and “other” categories. Just cut and paste.
P.S. you get “reward points” for posting these comments that you can trade in for gifts. So, if you’re not willing to do it because you like him, maybe you’re willing to do it for free crap.
Give me a break. I don’t know what McCain’s campaign people are thinking. This is not only insincere, it’s unethical. I totally understand that drumming up support and positive discussion is important for a political campaign, but spamming blogs and web sites with bogus (perhaps I should say “guided) comments is B.S.
As an Search Marketing Professional, I totally understand the importance of links and social media presence, and I have always encouraged clients that want more search visibility to get involved in the blogging community. But, the one piece of advice I am always most adamant about is that “You must participate sincerely in order to get the most benefit out of it.” If you’re participating just to get links or improve rankings, you’re cluttering up good content and you’ll eventually get bored. Actually participate and add to the conversation. There is enough useless crap on the Internet as it is.
Am I being ridiculous. Am I the only one that sees this as a bad SEM practice that’s conceivably black hat?
August 7th, 2008 - Posted in SEO Industry | |
