In the trade, we call this “astroturfing.” Astroturf is a fake plastic grass, from which this practice gets its name. A swelling tide of public opinion is called a grassroots movement. So astroturf, then, is a fake grassroots campaign, made to look like genuine opinion but actually it’s a paid advertisement. You have to start wondering about that comment on Slashdot, that story submitted to Digg, or that tweet from a follower recommending some product – are they really who they say they are?

In a three-part series, tech blogger Penguin Pete explains just how much of what we read online is astroturf. It’s a shocking revelation when you consider just how much business is going on out there. The next time you’re on Facebook and you have a friend there complaining about Google, consider that they just might be part of a “whisper campaign.” And don’t be naive enough to think that Google doesn’t probably do the same thing back!

Peter Brittain

Proposition One: Nobody owes you an answer.
When you have a question, you are imposing on another person to do you a favor. There is no law, nor moral obligation, for anyone else to answer your question. That’s at all, whether Google exists or not, whether you can find the answer on Google or not. Both Google and people are going out of their way to help you for free.

Proposition two: The only motivation people have to answer your question is to do something kind.
That’s it. Invisible-hand-of-the-marketplace or not, every time a human answers another human’s question for free, they are practicing altruism. It might have the secondary assumption that you’ll “pay it forward” and help other people, or the feeling of obligation that the answerer is paying it forward, or because helping the questioner helps the answerer indirectly, and so on. But all answers start with a desire to help.

Proposition three: Brain power is a scarce resource.
Try answering a series of questions from a crowd as fast as you can, such as at a press conference. And not walk away after awhile with “no comment.” You ran out of brain power, see? People who know the answers to the hardest questions are rare, and they are becoming rarer. Their time is more valuable than the time of the people asking questions.

Proposition four: Search engines were created for a reason.
And that is to fill the gap between knowledge providers and knowledge seekers. Instead of having to answer the same question twice (no question should ever have to be answered twice), you can put it online and other people can find it.

Our conclusion is “All questions should be Googled first.” Regardless. Even if it doesn’t make sense. Google it first anyway. You’d be surprised. The video called “Google fail” is a troll. “Suggest” is not the answer. And, to follow Alexia Tsotsis’ flawed logic, if “How do you think Google got all that information in the first place?” is reason to bother a human instead of Google, then it’s also a reason to call Google’s failures human failures, since Google-suggest is based on what people type in!

But when most people think of the fairy-tale dream start-up story, they think of YouTube. Founded in February of 2005, sold to Google in November of 2006 for $1.65 billion USD. Start your site, and twenty-one months later, you’re a millionaire. Wouldn’t that be nice?

The difference is, it takes an innovative, forward-thinking company to recognize and acquire an innovative start-up. Google itself was an overnight success story, pushed through to greatness mostly by the sheer stubbornness of its founders. Having run that gauntlet themselves, they know how to recognize a good idea headed by a tough entrepreneur. This is a skill that Old Guard companies like Microsoft fail to grasp – so much so that bloggers all over the web are asking whether Microsoft is doomed, and has prompted Paul Graham himself to pronounce Microsoft dead.

Microsoft… dead. Imagine what a huge gap that would leave. Like the huge multinational banks in the United States which are getting bailed out during their economic turmoil, Microsoft seems almost too big to fail. If they did, there would not be another Microsoft. Their niche instead would rapidly be filled with the New Guard: smart, innovative, small companies that think fast and take risks… and know how to cooperate with the competition!

Peter Brittain

#2 – Make a Google gadget. Google has opened their gadget platform to the public, and even has a simple kit to get started. You can always compose a feed for your blog, a photo stream for your images, or a simple service like a calendar or a horoscope. Then your gadget can get published and be hosted on blogs, desktops, and user’s iGoogle pages.

#3 – Build your own search engine. While we’re on Google, Google also offers a service to let you create your own Google-based search engine. This could be posted on your site, and offer visitors a search experience tailored to your niche market. This is a great way to hook many affiliated web businesses under one canopy.

#4 – Start your own YouTube channel. By joining YouTube, you get the opportunity to become one of their channel producers. Many websites are jumping on this bandwagon; it pulls in viewers who otherwise wouldn’t take the time to read an article, and there’s always the possibility that one of your videos could go viral.

#5 – Sell branded merchandise. This, again, is easier than you’d think! Sites like CafePress allow you to upload your own content and have it printed onto shirts, hats, mugs, calendars, and more. Then sell them from the sidebar on your blog. You never know until you try it – your site might be more popular than you thought it was! And for that matter, why not give out your own custom calendar to your friends next Christmas, or send your kid to school in a shirt with your website’s logo one day?

#6 – Publish an ebook. Like CafePress, the site Lulu lets you upload an ebook in digital format, which it can then sell in either ebook or print form. If you’ve had a blog for a few years, you might be in a position to publish a “best-of”. Or you can draw on your expertise in your field to produce an ebook on your chosen niche topic. Books and blogs go well together, as one promotes the other.

Peter Brittain