10 ms·

Really? Come on. To be fair, since the immediate comparison that jumps to mind is between Samsung and Apple, let's put it right on the table: I don't think Appl

by natch 13y ago

Really? Come on. To be fair, since the immediate comparison that jumps to mind is between Samsung and Apple, let's put it right on the table: I don't think Apple does this.

ksec 13y ago
I am sorry if this comment spark off any other pointless debate and argument or offended any Apple Fan boys or Samsung Fan boys. But the truth is, pretty much every company does this.. except Apple. Ans Samsung are at the top of this game. They are number 1 in spending on advertising and they spend double the advertising budget compared to 2nd in place. ( And their Rate are pretty awesome too compared to others ) You see heavy advertising on a Newspaper from Samsung? Lots of bashing and irresponsible reporting while bending the truth on Apple. Coincidence? You should make up your own mind. Compared to all other dirty thing that Samsung does behind the scene, these things are really tips of the iceberg.
- darkchasma 13y ago
  If you don't write favorably about Apple, then they don't invite you to the press releases. So their hands are no cleaner, just far more transparent and public.
  - snom380 13y ago
    That's just silly. Pretty much the whole tech press are critical if Apple and still gets invited. The ones that don't get invited are those that buys stolen goods to be able to show off unannounced products.
    - darkchasma 13y ago
      http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-prs-dirty-little-secret/12291 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-prs-dirty-little-secre... Leo Laporte and several of the tech journalists on the TWiT network talk about it as well. I've actually heard this so frequently, I just thought it was common knowledge.
      - chrischen 13y ago
        Honestly that guy was not convincing at all. He pointed out how some journalists refused his request to ask apple about the address uploading issue and then completely speculated on the reasons why... then went on to makeup some BS reason as to why AllThingsD can criticize apple while still remaining in contact with him. After being in litigation with apple, this guy is clearly biased. If you read the comments people point out his agenda.
    - swang 13y ago
      1. It's not silly to think that. See: Game Industry and Game Blogs. 2. You rarely hear about journalists getting blacklisted from events because a. the general public rarely cares or b. if they do they call the journalist, a 'whiner'.
- rsynnott 13y ago
  Samsung _advertise_ a lot. That doesn't mean you'd expect them to astroturf; it's an illicit practice in many countries.
  - snom380 13y ago
    Based on previous cases, it's not surprising: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/samsung-taiwan-marketers-allegedly-created-astroturf-smear-campaign-against-htc/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/samsung-taiwan-market...
- vectorpush 13y ago
  But the truth is, pretty much every company does this.. except Apple. Any evidence or even subjective reasoning why I'd believe Apple is any different from any other company? In the absence of evidence I wouldn't accuse Apple of anything but only a fool would give Apple a pass on something that "every company [supposedly] does". Lots of bashing and irresponsible reporting while bending the truth on Apple. Coincidence Good point; Apple never trashes the competition, that's above them.
  - snom380 13y ago
    There's the problem, stating that "all companies do this" when some big ones get caught is wrong. Some companies do this, but not all.
  - jerf 13y ago
    "Apple never trashes the competition, that's above them." I'm a Mac, I'm a PC? Classy, well-done trashing, sure, but straight up naming-names trashing it was.
  - yuhong 13y ago
    Any evidence or even subjective reasoning why I'd believe Apple is any different from any other company? In the absence of evidence I wouldn't accuse Apple of anything but only a fool would give Apple a pass on something that "every company [supposedly] does". Except in this case I don't think this claim was true at all.
  - roc 13y ago
    > "subjective reasoning why I'd believe Apple is any different from any other company" When your customer satisfaction numbers are that high, who needs to pay for astroturf?
    - snaky 13y ago
      http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2013/07/31/samsung-smartphones-edge-apples-iphones-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2013/07/31/samsung-sma...
- yuhong 13y ago
  Most of this is not astroturfing.
6ren 13y ago
On reddit, I often see comments about upcoming games that really strike me as astroturfing... It's mainly that it makes so much sense for manufacturers to do this (word of mouth is more compelling than "advertising"), that I can't imagine them not doing it. So when a post is just emptily positive in a generic way ("Really looking forward to this!"), with no content to suggest it's not astroturfing, I assume it is. I think one way it can be given away is not from an individual comment, but in the context of all the comments on that story. But if it's done well, it's impossible to distinguish.
yuhong 13y ago
And that is not the only example.
benologist 13y ago
Anything "growth hacking" and "social media" are literally jobs where you're paid to shill and spam.

by natch 13y ago

Really? Come on. To be fair, since the immediate comparison that jumps to mind is between Samsung and Apple, let's put it right on the table: I don't think Apple does this.

ksec 13y ago

I am sorry if this comment spark off any other pointless debate and argument or offended any Apple Fan boys or Samsung Fan boys. But the truth is, pretty much every company does this.. except Apple. Ans Samsung are at the top of this game. They are number 1 in spending on advertising and they spend double the advertising budget compared to 2nd in place. ( And their Rate are pretty awesome too compared to others ) You see heavy advertising on a Newspaper from Samsung? Lots of bashing and irresponsible reporting while bending the truth on Apple. Coincidence? You should make up your own mind. Compared to all other dirty thing that Samsung does behind the scene, these things are really tips of the iceberg.

darkchasma 13y ago
If you don't write favorably about Apple, then they don't invite you to the press releases. So their hands are no cleaner, just far more transparent and public.
- snom380 13y ago
  That's just silly. Pretty much the whole tech press are critical if Apple and still gets invited. The ones that don't get invited are those that buys stolen goods to be able to show off unannounced products.
  - darkchasma 13y ago
    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-prs-dirty-little-secret/12291 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-prs-dirty-little-secre... Leo Laporte and several of the tech journalists on the TWiT network talk about it as well. I've actually heard this so frequently, I just thought it was common knowledge.
    - chrischen 13y ago
      Honestly that guy was not convincing at all. He pointed out how some journalists refused his request to ask apple about the address uploading issue and then completely speculated on the reasons why... then went on to makeup some BS reason as to why AllThingsD can criticize apple while still remaining in contact with him. After being in litigation with apple, this guy is clearly biased. If you read the comments people point out his agenda.
  - swang 13y ago
    1. It's not silly to think that. See: Game Industry and Game Blogs. 2. You rarely hear about journalists getting blacklisted from events because a. the general public rarely cares or b. if they do they call the journalist, a 'whiner'.
rsynnott 13y ago
Samsung _advertise_ a lot. That doesn't mean you'd expect them to astroturf; it's an illicit practice in many countries.
- snom380 13y ago
  Based on previous cases, it's not surprising: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/samsung-taiwan-marketers-allegedly-created-astroturf-smear-campaign-against-htc/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/samsung-taiwan-market...
vectorpush 13y ago
But the truth is, pretty much every company does this.. except Apple. Any evidence or even subjective reasoning why I'd believe Apple is any different from any other company? In the absence of evidence I wouldn't accuse Apple of anything but only a fool would give Apple a pass on something that "every company [supposedly] does". Lots of bashing and irresponsible reporting while bending the truth on Apple. Coincidence Good point; Apple never trashes the competition, that's above them.
- snom380 13y ago
  There's the problem, stating that "all companies do this" when some big ones get caught is wrong. Some companies do this, but not all.
- jerf 13y ago
  "Apple never trashes the competition, that's above them." I'm a Mac, I'm a PC? Classy, well-done trashing, sure, but straight up naming-names trashing it was.
- yuhong 13y ago
  Any evidence or even subjective reasoning why I'd believe Apple is any different from any other company? In the absence of evidence I wouldn't accuse Apple of anything but only a fool would give Apple a pass on something that "every company [supposedly] does". Except in this case I don't think this claim was true at all.
- roc 13y ago
  > "subjective reasoning why I'd believe Apple is any different from any other company" When your customer satisfaction numbers are that high, who needs to pay for astroturf?
  - snaky 13y ago
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2013/07/31/samsung-smartphones-edge-apples-iphones-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2013/07/31/samsung-sma...
yuhong 13y ago
Most of this is not astroturfing.

6ren 13y ago

On reddit, I often see comments about upcoming games that really strike me as astroturfing... It's mainly that it makes so much sense for manufacturers to do this (word of mouth is more compelling than "advertising"), that I can't imagine them not doing it. So when a post is just emptily positive in a generic way ("Really looking forward to this!"), with no content to suggest it's not astroturfing, I assume it is. I think one way it can be given away is not from an individual comment, but in the context of all the comments on that story. But if it's done well, it's impossible to distinguish.

yuhong 13y ago

And that is not the only example.

benologist 13y ago

Anything "growth hacking" and "social media" are literally jobs where you're paid to shill and spam.