The backlash against fake corporate bloggers continues, with brands being ‘named and shamed’ if they try to generate interest online by posting fake ‘personal’ comments on blogs and forums.

At the start of Jan, Wikipedia warned PR agencies that it would be taking steps to stop them writing about companies they represent in the popular online encyclopaedia. Now The Times has reported that new UK laws (to come in force from next December) will be brought in to ‘name and shame’ PR agencies/brands posing as innocent bloggers.

The new regulations also will apply to authors who praise their own books under a fake identity on websites such as Amazon. See the below article for more details and some interesting case studies - like the owner of a restaurant/hotel near Loch Ness who got caught out littering travel blogs with over flattering reviews of his business under a fake alias!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1361968.ece

There seems to be some sort of desperation going on where brands make a scramble to try to control everything that's said about them online, instead of spending their time creating genuinely new and interesting online content.