Wherever there is a source of information, there is a PR person trying to manipulate it. In a comment to a news article on Poynter.org, Robert Niles writes about his theme park website and how he tracks the IP addresses of all comments.
“…it’s telling to see how many comments from supposed tourists were actually coming from inside the corporate network at Disney.”
Robert discovered that he was manipulated, but what about all the other cases when PR people are just a fraction more intelligent and post their “under cover” comments from home? I’m sure it happens all over the web already. Then again it could be an internal communications issue, it might not be the works of the PR departement at all. It could just be employees of your own organisation out on the web posing as something they’re not.
Either way, you get badwill.