Shelfari was a social cataloging website. Shelfari users built virtual bookshelves of the titles they owned or had read, and could rate, review, tag , and discuss their books. Users could also create groups that other members could join, create discussions, and talk about books, or other topics. Recommendations could be sent to friends on the site for what books to read.
102-510: Shelfari was launched on October 11, 2006. In February 2007, Amazon invested $ 1 million in Shelfari, and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008. In January 2016, it was announced that Shelfari was being merged into Goodreads . As of June 2016, the site was decommissioned (all links redirect to Goodreads' website). There were user complaints that not all features were moved. Shelfari
204-752: A physical retailer . Amazon also distributes a variety of downloadable and streaming content through its Amazon Prime Video , MGM+ , Amazon Music , Twitch, Audible and Wondery units. It publishes books through its publishing arm, Amazon Publishing , film and television content through Amazon MGM Studios , including the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, which was acquired in March 2022, and owns Brilliance Audio and Audible, which produce and distribute audiobooks, respectively. Amazon also produces consumer electronics —most notably, Kindle e-readers , Echo devices, Fire tablets , and Fire TVs . Amazon has
306-475: A "set of human-looking bot accounts" used to post political content, which was able to operate automatically for fourteen days (and make 1,586 posts) before being detected and suspended by Twitter. Twitter trends are often targeted by astroturfing as they are used as a proxy for popularity. A study conducted by researchers at EPFL reported that 20% of the global Twitter trends in 2019 were fake, created automatically using fake and compromised accounts which tweet in
408-492: A 10-year agreement with Amazon, valued at $ 50 million per year plus a cut of sales, under which Toys "R" Us would be the exclusive supplier of toys and baby products on the service, and the chain's website would redirect to Amazon's Toys & Games category. In 2004, Toys "R" Us sued Amazon, claiming that because of a perceived lack of variety in Toys "R" Us stock, Amazon had knowingly allowed third-party sellers to offer items on
510-540: A 5 to 10 percent cut of resultant sales. There were plans to allow cataloging for CDs and DVDs. Once Shelfari received its first equity fund raise in early 2007 the company grew to five employees, including software developer Kevin Durdle, designer Timothy Gray, and VP of marketing Dave Hanley. New features were introduced to Shelfari in December 2007, with books in bookshelves given realistic book covers. In August 2008,
612-492: A P/R firm Schandwick International, to create a national coalition of patient advocacy groups promoting Schering's Rebotron, a treatment for Hepatitis C . The groups pushed increased testing as a way to manufacture cases and lobbied state legislatures to cover the $ 18,000 treatment. The groups also hosted telephone "information lines" with scripts written by the drug company and distributed "patient information" pamphlets promoting drug therapies over other alternatives and overstating
714-494: A co-branded service. Borders pulled out of the arrangement in 2007, with plans to also launch its own online store. On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman , Batman , Green Lantern , The Sandman , and Watchmen . The partnership has caused well-known bookstores like Barnes & Noble to remove these titles from their shelves. In November 2013, Amazon announced
816-590: A coalition of oil and gas company executives grouped under the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also initiated a series of Canadian actions to advocate for the oil and gas industry in Canada through mainstream and social media, and using online campaigning to generate public support for fossil fuel energy projects. In 2006, two Edelman employees created a blog called "Wal-Marting Across America" about two people traveling to Wal-Marts across
918-455: A commercial or political interest. Some political movements have provided incentives for members of the public to send a letter to the editor at their local paper, often using a copy and paste form letter that is published in dozens of newspapers verbatim. Another technique is the use of sockpuppets , where a single person creates multiple identities online to give the appearance of grassroots support. Sockpuppets may post positive reviews about
1020-755: A coordinated way to mimic grassroots organizing of regular Twitter users. Many countries have laws that prohibit more overt astroturfing practices. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may send cease-and-desist orders or require a fine of $ 16,000 per day for those that violate its "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising". The FTC's guides were updated in 2009 to address social media and word-of-mouth marketing. According to an article in
1122-505: A fixed price. Publishers can sign up as affiliates and receive a commission for referring customers to Amazon by placing links to Amazon on their websites if the referral results in a sale. Worldwide, Amazon has "over 900,000 members" in its affiliate programs. In the middle of 2014, the Amazon Affiliate Program is used by 1.2% of all websites and it is the second most popular advertising network after Google Ads . It
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#17327803089931224-527: A global chat on the livestream. In 2019 Amazon launched an integrated platform into the Amazon website and application . In 2023 roughly a billion total viewers watch Amazon Live across the United States and India. The platform has also been integrated into Amazon Freevee and Amazon Prime Video . Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on
1326-692: A group creator, which allows members to create group threads within which to talk, play, or discuss books. Shelfari received bad press for its "Invite Friends" page. Jesse Wegman, writing in The New York Observer in October 2007, complained that because he had "accidentally failed to uncheck the approximately 1,500 names in my Gmail address book that Shelfari had helpfully pre-checked", the system caused invitations to be sent, contrary to his intentions but "ostensibly" from his own address, to his entire network of contacts. In November 2007, Shelfari
1428-564: A guide of general interest for the customer and not definitive sales information for publishers—we assume you have this information regularly from your distribution sources In November 2015, Amazon opened a physical Amazon Books store in University Village in Seattle . The store was 5,500 square feet and prices for all products matched those on its website. Amazon opened its tenth physical book store in 2017; media speculation at
1530-525: A letter to a politician. Paid online commentators in China are purportedly paid 50 cents for each online post that is not removed by moderators, leading to the nickname of the " 50-cent party ". The New York Times reported that a business selling fake online book reviews charged $ 999 for 50 reviews and made $ 28,000 a month shortly after opening. According to the Financial Times , astroturfing
1632-466: A metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide distributed computing processing capacity and software tools via AWS server farms . As of 2021 Q4, AWS has 33% market share for cloud infrastructure while the next two competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have 21%, and 10% respectively, according to Synergy Group. Audible is a seller and producer of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming on
1734-565: A network of Facebook groups with the overall aim to promote the Russian president Vladimir Putin as a hero standing up to the West with overwhelming international support. Members, activities, and interrelations in 10 pro-Putin public groups with more than 650,000 members between them in the time of writing, boasting names such as Vladimir Putin - Leader of the Free World , were analyzed. Over
1836-869: A notification if it detects something unusual. In January 2023, Amazon announced the launch of RXPass, a prescription drug delivery service. It allows U.S. Amazon Prime members to pay a $ 5 monthly fee for access to 60 medications. The service was launched immediately after the announcement except in states with specific prescription delivery requirements. Beneficiaries of government healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid will not be able to sign up for RXPass. Amazon owns over 100 subsidiaries, including Amazon Web Services , Audible , Diapers.com, Goodreads , IMDb , Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics ), One Medical , Shopbop , Teachstreet, Twitch , Zappos , and Zoox . Bezos separately owns The Washington Post (through Nash Holdings, LLC), Blue Origin , Bezos Expeditions , Altos Labs , and other companies. Amazon Live
1938-429: A number of different online persons from the same workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries. Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms..." The $ 2.6 million contract was awarded to Ntrepid for astroturfing software the military would use to spread pro-American propaganda in
2040-617: A partnership with the United States Postal Service to begin delivering orders on Sundays. The service, included in Amazon's standard shipping rates, initiated in metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and New York because of the high-volume and inability to deliver in a timely way, with plans to expand into Dallas , Houston , New Orleans and Phoenix by 2014. In June 2017, Nike agreed to sell products through Amazon in exchange for better policing of counterfeit goods. This proved unsuccessful and Nike withdrew from
2142-961: A plan was adopted for Jeff Bezos to sell approximately 50 million shares of the company over the next year (the deadline for the entire sales plan is January 31, 2025). The first step was the sale of 12 million shares for about $ 2 billion. On February 26, 2024, Amazon became a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Amazon.com is an e-commerce platform that sells many product lines, including media ( books , movies, music, and software), apparel, baby products, consumer electronics , beauty products , gourmet food, groceries, health and personal care products, industrial & scientific supplies, kitchen items, jewelry , watches, lawn and garden items, musical instruments, sporting goods , tools, automotive items, toys and games, and farm supplies and consulting services . Amazon websites are country-specific (for example, amazon.com for
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#17327803089932244-450: A product, attack participants that criticize the organization, or post negative reviews and comments about competitors, under fake identities. Astroturfing businesses may pay staff based on the number of posts they make that are not flagged by moderators. Persona management software may be used so that each paid poster can manage five to seventy convincing online personas without getting them confused. Online astroturfing using sockpuppets
2346-401: A range of Booths branded products for home delivery in selected areas. In November 2018, Amazon reached an agreement with Apple Inc. to sell selected products through the service, via the company and selected Apple Authorized Resellers. As a result of this partnership, only Apple Authorized Resellers may sell Apple products on Amazon effective January 4, 2019. On November 7, 2024 Amazon
2448-429: A reputation as a disruptor of industries through technological innovation and aggressive reinvestment of profits into capital expenditures. As of 2023 , it is the world's largest online retailer and marketplace , smart speaker provider, cloud computing service through AWS, live-streaming service through Twitch, and Internet company as measured by revenue and market share . In 2021, it surpassed Walmart as
2550-427: A settlement with 19 companies to prevent astroturfing. "'Astroturfing' is the 21st century's version of false advertising, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to put an end to it," said Scheiderman. The companies paid $ 350,000 to settle the matter, but the settlement opened the way for private suits as well. "Every state has some version of the statutes New York used," according to lawyer Kelly H. Kolb. "What
2652-570: A single entry or add new titles not found in the catalog. Similar to books, author pages could be edited or created. In addition to general catalog maintenance, users were encouraged to contribute reviews, descriptions, lists of characters and settings, author biographies, categories, and descriptive tags. Most books in the Shelfari catalog came from the large Amazon catalog, including Amazon Marketplace listings added by independent resellers. These books linked back to Amazon and displayed pricing and links to AbeBooks for used book sales. Shelfari had
2754-762: Is "commonplace" in American politics, but was "revolutionary" in Europe when it was exposed that the European Privacy Association , an anti-privacy "think-tank", was actually sponsored by technology companies. Although the term "astroturfing" was not yet developed, an early example of the practice was in Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare 's play Julius Caesar . In the play, Gaius Cassius Longinus writes fake letters from "the public" to convince Brutus to assassinate Julius Caesar . The term "astroturfing"
2856-570: Is Lehigh Valley region's third-largest employer. In August 2019, Amazon applied to have a liquor store in San Francisco , as a means to ship beer and alcohol within the city. In 2020, Amazon Fresh opened several physical stores in the U.S. and the United Kingdom . Amazon has a number of products and services available, including its digital assistant Alexa , Amazon Music , and Prime Video for music and videos respectively,
2958-524: Is a " social cataloging " website founded in December 2006 and launched in January 2007 by Otis Chandler, a software engineer, and entrepreneur, and Elizabeth Khuri. The website allows individuals to freely search Goodreads' extensive user-populated database of books, annotations, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. They can also create their groups of book suggestions and discussions. In December 2007,
3060-639: Is a form of Sybil attack against distributed systems. Pharmaceutical companies may sponsor patient support groups and simultaneously push them to help market their products. Bloggers who receive free products, paid travel or other accommodations may also be considered astroturfing if those gifts are not disclosed to the reader. Analysts could be considered astroturfing, since they often cover their own clients without disclosing their financial connection. To avoid astroturfing, many organizations and press have policies about gifts, accommodations and disclosures. Persona management software can age accounts and simulate
3162-489: Is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce , cloud computing , online advertising , digital streaming , and artificial intelligence . Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington , the company originally started as an online marketplace for books but gradually expanded its offerings to include a wide range of product categories, referred to as "The Everything Store". Today, Amazon
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3264-438: Is an American video e-commerce live-streaming service created by Amazon Inc. to compete with live-streaming services. The service allows users to stream live videos promoting or sponsoring products. Users (mainly celebrities or Internet influencers ) have the option to livestream on Amazon and add tags to additionally add context to the products they're selling or promoting. Other users can join in and type in messages to send to
3366-492: Is basic politics." According to a Porter/Novelli executive, "There will be times when the position you advocate, no matter how well framed and supported, will not be accepted by the public simply because you are who you are." Data-mining expert Bing Liu ( University of Illinois Chicago ) estimated that one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake. According to The New York Times , this has made it hard to tell
3468-664: Is considered one of the Big Five American technology companies, the other four being Alphabet , Apple , Meta , and Microsoft . The company has multiple subsidiaries , including Amazon Web Services , providing cloud computing; Zoox , a self-driving car division; Kuiper Systems , a satellite Internet provider; and Amazon Lab126 , a computer hardware R&D provider. Other subsidiaries include Ring , Twitch , IMDb , and Whole Foods Market . Its acquisition of Whole Foods in August 2017 for US$ 13.4 billion substantially increased its market share and presence as
3570-492: Is frequently used by websites and non-profits to provide a way for supporters to earn them a commission. Associates can access the Amazon catalog directly on their websites by using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) XML service. A new affiliate product, aStore, allows Associates to embed a subset of Amazon products within another website, or linked to another website. In June 2010, Amazon Seller Product Suggestions
3672-506: Is none. Astroturfing is the use of fake grassroots efforts that primarily focus on influencing public opinion and typically are funded by corporations and political entities to form opinions. On the internet, astroturfers use software to hide their identity. Sometimes one individual operates through many personas to give the impression of widespread support for their client's agenda. Some studies suggest astroturfing can alter public viewpoints and create enough doubt to inhibit action. In
3774-498: Is one astroturfing technique. These groups typically present themselves as serving the public interest, while actually working on behalf of a corporate or political sponsor. Front groups may resist legislation and scientific consensus that is damaging to the sponsor's business by emphasizing minority viewpoints, instilling doubt and publishing counterclaims by corporate-sponsored experts. Fake blogs can also be created that appear to be written by consumers, while actually being operated by
3876-777: Is regulated by Section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law , which broadly prohibits "misleading and deceptive conduct". According to the Journal of Consumer Policy , Australia's laws, which were introduced in 1975, are more vague. In most cases, they are enforced through lawsuits from competitors, rather than the regulatory body, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission . There is also an International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN). Legal regulations are primarily targeted towards testimonials, endorsements and statements as to
3978-583: Is reportedly discussing a second multi-billion dollar investment in AI startup Anthropic, following its initial $ 4 billion investment. Amazon sells many products under its own brand names , including phone chargers, batteries, and diaper wipes. The AmazonBasics brand was introduced in 2009, and now features hundreds of product lines, including smartphone cases, computer mice, batteries, dumbbells, and dog crates. Amazon owned 34 private-label brands as of 2019. These brands account for 0.15% of Amazon's global sales, whereas
4080-435: Is the deceptive practice of hiding the sponsors of an orchestrated message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious, or public relations ) to make it appear as though it originates from, and is supported by, unsolicited grassroots participants. It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations credibility by withholding information about the source's financial backers. The implication behind
4182-661: The Journal of Consumer Policy , the FTC's guides holds advertisers responsible for ensuring bloggers or product endorsers comply with the guides, and any product endorsers with a material connection are required to provide honest reviews. In the European Union , the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive requires that paid-for editorial content in the media provide a clear disclosure that
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4284-463: The 2010 U.S. midterm elections and account suspensions on the social media platform. The study cited a limited number of examples, all promoting conservative policies and candidates. In 2003, GOPTeamLeader.com offered the site's users "points" that could be redeemed for products if they signed a form letter promoting George Bush and got a local paper to publish it as a letter to the editor . More than 100 newspapers published an identical letter to
4386-411: The 2018 Wisconsin gubernatorial election . In 2018, a website called "Jexodus" claiming to be by "proud Jewish Millennials tired of living in bondage to leftist politics" was set up by Jeff Ballabon , a Republican operative in his mid-50s. The website was denounced as "likely a clumsy astroturf effort rather than an actual grassroots movement". The website was registered November 5, 2018, before
4488-538: The Amazon Appstore for Android apps, the Kindle line of eink e-readers, Fire and Fire HD color LCD tablets. Audible provides audiobooks for purchase and listening. In September 2021, Amazon announced the launch of Astro , its first household robot, powered by its Alexa smart home technology. This can be remote-controlled when not at home, to check on pets, people, or home security. It will send owners
4590-619: The Israeli administration was kept secret. In 2008, an expert on Chinese affairs, Rebecca MacKinnon , estimated the Chinese government employed 280,000 people in a government-sponsored astroturfing operation to post pro-government propaganda on social media and drown out voices of dissent. In June 2010, the United States Air Force solicited for "persona management" software that would "enable an operator to exercise
4692-539: The Nielsen BookScan service to verified authors. While the ASR has been the source of much speculation by publishers, manufacturers, and marketers, Amazon itself does not release the details of its sales rank calculation algorithm. Some companies have analyzed Amazon sales data to generate sales estimates based on the ASR, though Amazon states: Please keep in mind that our sales rank figures are simply meant to be
4794-540: The Tea Party movement have been accused of being astroturfed. In October and November 2018, conservative marketing firm Rally Forge created what The New Yorker described as "a phony left-wing front group, America Progress Now, which promoted Green Party candidates online in 2018, apparently to hurt Democrats in several races." Its ads on Facebook used socialist memes and slogans to attack Democrats and urge third-party protest voting in several tight races, including
4896-525: The Whole Foods Market supermarket chain in 2017. It is the leading e-retailer in the United States with approximately US$ 178 billion net sales in 2017. It has over 300 million active customer accounts globally. Amazon saw large growth during the COVID-19 pandemic , hiring more than 100,000 staff in the United States and Canada. Some Amazon workers in the U.S., France, and Italy protested
4998-636: The Alexa Web Information Service. AWS later shifted toward providing enterprise services with Simple Storage Service (S3) in 2006, and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in 2008, allowing companies to rent data storage and computing power from Amazon. In 2006, Amazon also launched the Fulfillment by Amazon program, which allowed individuals and small companies (called "third-party sellers") to sell products through Amazon's warehouses and fulfillment infrastructure. Amazon purchased
5100-447: The Amazon website and this may lead to an increase in sales. In particular, products that experience large jumps (up or down) in their sales ranks may be included within Amazon's lists of "movers and shakers"; such a listing provides additional exposure that might lead to an increase in sales. For competitive reasons, Amazon does not release actual sales figures to the public. However, Amazon has now begun to release point of sale data via
5202-705: The Federal Trade Commission rarely enforces its astroturfing laws. Operations are frequently detected if their profile images are recognized or if they are identified through the usage patterns of their accounts. Filippo Menczer 's group at Indiana University developed software in 2010 that detects astroturfing on Twitter by recognizing behavioral patterns. According to an article in the Journal of Consumer Policy , academics disagree on how prolific astroturfing is. According to Nancy Clark from Precision Communications, grass-roots specialists charge $ 25 to $ 75 for each constituent they convince to send
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#17327803089935304-437: The Internet made astroturfing more economical and prolific in the late 1990s. In 2001, as Microsoft was defending itself against an antitrust lawsuit, Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL), a group heavily funded by Microsoft, initiated a letter-writing campaign. ATL contacted constituents under the guise of conducting a poll and sent pro-Microsoft consumers form and sample letters to send to involved lawmakers. The effort
5406-429: The Internet. Audible sells digital audiobooks , radio and television programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers. Through its production arm, Audible Studios, Audible has also become the world's largest producer of downloadable audiobooks. On January 31, 2008, Amazon announced it would buy Audible for about $ 300 million. The deal closed in March 2008 and Audible became a subsidiary of Amazon. Goodreads
5508-485: The Middle East, and disrupt extremist propaganda and recruitment. The contract is thought to have been awarded as part of a program called Operation Earnest Voice , which was first developed as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of groups ranged against coalition forces. On April 11, 2022, seven weeks into the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , BBC published the results of investigation of
5610-646: The New York attorney general has done is, perhaps, to have given private lawyers a road map to file suit." An Al Jazeera TV series The Lobby documented Israel 's attempt to promote more friendly, pro-Israel rhetoric to influence the attitudes of British youth, partly through influencing already established political bodies, such as the National Union of Students and the Labour Party , but also by creating new pro-Israel groups whose affiliation with
5712-569: The Seattle area for its abundance of technical talent from Microsoft and the University of Washington , as well as its smaller population for sales tax purposes and the proximity to a major book distribution warehouse in Roseburg, Oregon . Bezos also considered several other options, including Portland, Oregon , and Boulder, Colorado . The company, originally named Cadabra, was founded in
5814-509: The U.S. and amazon.co.uk for UK) though some offer international shipping. Visits to amazon.com grew from 615 million annual visitors in 2008, to more than 2 billion per month in 2022. The e-commerce platform is the 12th most visited website in the world. In February, 2024, Amazon announced its first chatbot was first “Rufus” in the US and in July, it was widely available to all customers in
5916-655: The US, Philip Morris , Burson-Marsteller and other tobacco interests created the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) in 1993. The NSA and other tobacco interests initiated an aggressive public relations campaign from 1994 to 1999 in an effort to exaggerate the appearance of grassroots support for smoker's rights. According to an article in the Journal of Health Communication , the NSA had mixed success at defeating bills that were damaging revenues of tobacco interests. Email, automated phone calls, form letters, and
6018-565: The US. “Rufus” is now available in the US, India and the UK which helps the shoppers get product recommendations, get shopping list advice, compare products and see what other customers have responded to their specific questions. Results generated by Amazon's search engine are partly determined by promotional fees. The company's localized storefronts, which differ in selection and prices, are differentiated by top-level domain and country code : In 2000, US toy retailer Toys "R" Us entered into
6120-532: The United States. Amazon is also the global leader in research and development spending, with R&D expenditure of US$ 73 billion in 2022. Amazon has been criticized on various grounds, including but not limited to customer data collection practices, a toxic work culture , censorship , tax avoidance , and anti-competitive practices . Amazon was founded on July 5, 1994, by Jeff Bezos after he relocated from New York City to Bellevue, Washington , near Seattle , to operate an online bookstore. Bezos chose
6222-548: The activity of attending a conference automatically to make it more convincing that they are genuine. At HBGary , employees were given separate thumb drives that contain online accounts for individual identities and visual cues to remind the employee which identity they are using at the time. Mass letters may be printed on personalized stationery using different typefaces, colors and words to make them appear personal. According to an article in The New York Times ,
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#17327803089936324-564: The advertising industry in the UK has adopted many voluntary policies, such as the Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sale, Promotion and Direct Marketing. A trade association, the Advertising Standards Authority , investigates complaints of breaches. The policy requires that marketing professionals not mislead their audience, including by omitting a disclosure of their material connection. In Australia , astroturfing
6426-595: The average for other large retailers is 18%. Other Amazon retail brands include Presto!, Mama Bear, and Amazon Essentials. Amazon derives many of its sales (around 40% in 2008) from third-party sellers who sell products on Amazon. Some other large e-commerce sellers use Amazon to sell their products in addition to selling them through their websites. The sales are processed through Amazon.com and end up at individual sellers for processing and order fulfillment and Amazon leases space for these retailers. Small sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace to offer goods at
6528-490: The book Grassroots for Hire: Public Affairs Consultants in American Democracy, Edward Walker defines "astroturfing" as public participation that is perceived as heavily incented, as fraudulent (claims are attributed to those who did not make such statements), or as an elite campaign masquerading as a mass movement. Although not all campaigns by professional grassroots lobbying consultants meet this definition,
6630-434: The book finds that the elite-sponsored grassroots campaigns often fail when they are not transparent about their sources of sponsorship and/or fail to develop partnerships with constituencies that have an independent interest in the issue. Walker highlights the case of Working Families for Wal-Mart , in which the campaign's lack of transparency led to its demise. A study published in the Journal of Business Ethics examined
6732-399: The city of West Plains expanding their broadband network, and advocated for the end of municipal broadband on the basis that it was too risky. Days later, Fidelity released a letter admitting to sponsoring the campaign. In 2009–2010, an Indiana University research study developed a software system to detect astroturfing on Twitter due to the sensitivity of the topic in the run up to
6834-481: The comments feature on customer reviews was rarely used ." The remaining review response options are to indicate whether the reader finds the review helpful or to report that it violates Amazon policies (abuse). If a review is given enough "helpful" hits, it appears on the front page of the product. In 2010, Amazon was reported as being the largest single source of Internet consumer reviews. When publishers asked Bezos why Amazon would publish negative reviews, he defended
6936-521: The commercial Internet." Some organizations feel that their business is threatened by negative comments, so they may engage in astroturfing to drown them out. Online comments from astroturfing employees can also sway the discussion through the influence of groupthink . Some astroturfing operatives defend their practice. Regarding "movements that have organized aggressively to exaggerate their sway", author Ryan Sager said that this "isn't cheating. Doing everything in your power to get your people to show up
7038-527: The company was acquired by Amazon.com. After it was acquired, Josh Hug remained CEO of the company. The team was integrated into the book technology group. After the purchase by Amazon, an Amazon account was required in 2012 to log into Shelfari. Shelfari continued to function as an independent book social network within the Amazon.com family of sites until January 2016, when Amazon announced on Shelfari.com that it would be merging Shelfari with Goodreads and closing down Shelfari. To prepare Shelfari members for
7140-653: The company's decision to "run normal shifts" due to COVID-19's ease of spread in warehouses. In Spain, the company faced legal complaints over its policies, while a group of US Senators wrote an open letter to Bezos expressing concerns about workplace safety. On February 2, 2021, Bezos announced that he would step down as CEO to become executive chair of Amazon's board. The transition officially took place on July 5, 2021, with former CEO of AWS Andy Jassy replacing him as CEO. In January 2023, Amazon cut over 18,000 jobs, primarily in consumer retail and its human resources division in an attempt to cut costs. On November 8, 2023,
7242-405: The congressional election, and before those representatives accused of antisemitism had even been voted in. This website was later cited by Donald Trump as though it were an authentic movement. In January 2021, a team led by Mohsen Mosleh conducted a politically oriented astroturfing campaign on Twitter , using "a set of human-looking bot accounts"; each bot would search for users posting links
7344-479: The content is a sponsored advertisement. Additionally, it prohibits those with a material connection from misleading readers into thinking they are a regular consumer. The United Kingdom has the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations , which prohibits "Falsely representing oneself as a consumer." They allow for up to two years in prison and unlimited fines for breaches. Additionally,
7446-600: The converted garage of Bezos's house for symbolic reasons and was renamed to Amazon in November 1994. The Amazon website launched for public sales on July 16, 1995, and initially sourced its books directly from wholesalers and publishers. Amazon went public in May 1997. It began selling music and videos in 1998, and began international operations by acquiring online sellers of books in the United Kingdom and Germany. In
7548-422: The country. The blog gave the appearance of being operated by spontaneous consumers, but was actually operated on behalf of Working Families for Walmart , a group funded by Wal-Mart . In 2007, Ask.com deployed an anti- Google advertising campaign portraying Google as an "information monopoly" that was damaging the Internet. The ad was designed to give the appearance of a popular movement and did not disclose it
7650-441: The danger of the medical condition. Manufacturers of AIDS drugs commonly fund LGBTQ organizations, which in turn, lobby to advance policies that increase AIDS drug sales. In 2019, the communications director of AIDS United, a Washington DC–based coalition of AIDS service organizations, resigned, stating such funding creates conflicts of interest among gay rights activists. In response to the passage of tobacco control legislation in
7752-557: The difference between "popular sentiment" and "manufactured public opinion". According to an article in the Journal of Business Ethics , astroturfing threatens the legitimacy of genuine grassroots movements. The authors argued that astroturfing that is "purposefully designed to fulfill corporate agendas, manipulate public opinion and harm scientific research represents a serious lapse in ethical conduct." A 2011 report found that often paid posters from competing companies are attacking each other in forums and overwhelming regular participants in
7854-570: The editor from the site with different signatures on it. Similar campaigns were used by GeorgeWBush.com, and by MoveOn.org to promote Michael Moore 's film Fahrenheit 9/11 . The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget 's "Fix the Debt" campaign advocated to reduce government debt without disclosing that its members were lobbyists or high-ranking employees at corporations that aim to reduce federal spending. It also sent op-eds to various students that were published as-is. Some organizations in
7956-462: The effects of websites operated by front groups on students. It found that astroturfing was effective at creating uncertainty and lowering trust about claims, thereby changing perceptions that tend to favor the business interests behind the astroturfing effort. The New York Times reported that "consumer" reviews are more effective, because "they purport to be testimonials of real people, even though some are bought and sold just like everything else on
8058-426: The first systematic study of astroturfing in the United States, Oxford Professor Philip N. Howard argued that the internet was making it much easier for powerful lobbyists and political movements to activate small groups of aggrieved citizens to have an exaggerated importance in public policy debates. Astroturfed accounts on social media do not always require humans to write their posts; one January 2021 study detailed
8160-840: The move, Amazon posted on Shelfari.com a prominent announcement stating, "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Shelfari is merging with Goodreads. Learn More", as well as links to a page titled "Read the FAQ", instructions to "Download your data in a CSV file" (whose linked page is titled "Export Everything"), and instructions to "Move to Goodreads" (whose linked page is titled "Export Invitation"), along with two months to migrate their Shelfari content to Goodreads. Although Shelfari discussion threads will not be migrated (as Amazon would need permission from all conversants in order to do so), users were advised: "you may save your own data for your own records". Shelfari promoted its "virtual bookshelf" as one of its main features. The virtual bookshelf displayed covers of books which
8262-484: The partnership in November 2019. Companies including IKEA and Birkenstock also stopped selling through Amazon around the same time, citing similar frustrations over business practices and counterfeit goods. In September 2017, Amazon ventured with one of its sellers JV Appario Retail owned by Patni Group which has recorded a total income of US$ 104.44 million ( ₹ 759 crore ) in financial year 2017–2018. As of October 11, 2017 , AmazonFresh sold
8364-615: The performance or quality of a product. Employees of an organization may be considered acting as customers if their actions are not guided by authority within the company. In October 2018, after denying that they had paid for people to show up in support of a controversial power plant development project in New Orleans, Entergy was fined five million dollars for using astroturf firm The Hawthorn Group to provide actors to prevent real community members' voices from being counted at city council meetings and show false grassroots support. In
8466-423: The popularity of a product sold on any Amazon locale. It is a relative indicator of popularity that is updated hourly. Effectively, it is a "best sellers list" for the millions of products stocked by Amazon. While the ASR has no direct effect on the sales of a product, it is used by Amazon to determine which products to include in its bestsellers lists. Products that appear in these lists enjoy additional exposure on
8568-432: The practice by claiming that Amazon.com was "taking a different approach ... we want to make every book available—the good, the bad and the ugly ... to let truth loose". There have been cases of positive reviews being written and posted by public relations companies on behalf of their clients and instances of writers using pseudonyms to leave negative reviews of their rivals' works. The Amazon sales rank (ASR) indicates
8670-536: The process. George Monbiot said that persona-management software supporting astroturfing "could destroy the Internet as a forum for constructive debate". An article in the Journal of Consumer Policy said that regulators and policy makers needed to be more aggressive about astroturfing. The author said that it undermines the public's ability to inform potential customers of sub-standard products or inappropriate business practices, but also noted that fake reviews were difficult to detect. Use of one or more front groups
8772-411: The real name of the reviewer (based on confirmation of a credit card account) or which indicates that the reviewer is one of the top reviewers by popularity. As of December 16, 2020, Amazon removed the ability of sellers and customers to comment on product reviews and purged their websites of all posted product review comments. In an email to sellers Amazon gave its rationale for removing this feature: "...
8874-478: The researchers considered to be fake news , and "tweet a public reply message to the user's tweet that contained the link to the false story". 1,586 spam replies were made over the course of fourteen days, until Twitter detected and suspended all of the bot accounts. The Koch brothers started a public advocacy group to prevent the development of wind turbines offshore in Massachusetts. The Kennedy family
8976-405: The service in categories that Toys "R" Us had been granted exclusivity. In 2006, a court ruled in favor of Toys "R" Us, giving it the right to unwind its agreement with Amazon and establish its independent e-commerce website. The company was later awarded $ 51 million in damages. In 2001, Amazon entered into a similar agreement with Borders Group , under which Amazon would comanage Borders.com as
9078-399: The site had over 650,000 members, and over a million books had been added. Amazon bought the company in March 2013. Ring is a home automation company founded by Jamie Siminoff in 2013. It is primarily known for its WiFi powered smart doorbells , but manufactures other devices such as security cameras. Amazon bought Ring for US$ 1 billion in 2018. Astroturfing Astroturfing
9180-454: The subsequent year, it initiated the sale of a diverse range of products, including music, video games, consumer electronics, home improvement items, software, games, and toys. In 2002, it launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), which initially focused on providing APIs for web developers to build web applications on top of Amazon's ecommerce platform. In 2004, AWS was expanded to provide website popularity statistics and web crawler data from
9282-554: The time suggested that Amazon planned to eventually roll out 300 to 400 bookstores around the country. All of its locations were closed in 2022 along with other retail locations under the "Amazon 4-Star" brand. In July 2016, the company announced that it was opening a 1,100,000 ft (335,280.0 m) square foot facility in Palmer Township in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania . As of 2024, Amazon
9384-425: The use of the term is that instead of a "true" or "natural" grassroots effort behind the activity in question, there is a "fake" or "artificial" appearance of support. In political science , it is defined as the process of seeking electoral victory or legislative relief for grievances by helping political actors find and mobilize a sympathetic public, and is designed to create the image of public consensus where there
9486-643: The user has entered, with popups to show the user's book information (review, rating, and tags). Sorting by author, title, date, rating, or review was available to the viewer of the shelf. Users could organize books into different shelves, including already read, currently reading, planning to read, wish list, currently owned, and favorites. The Shelfari catalog could be edited by users, though some changes had to be approved by Shelfari "librarians". Using wiki functionality users could edit each book's authors, title, publication data, table of contents, first sentence, and series. Users could also combine redundant books into
9588-490: The world's largest retailer outside of China, driven in large part by its paid subscription plan, Amazon Prime , which has close to 200 million subscribers worldwide. It is the second-largest private employer in the United States and the second-largest company in the World and in the U.S. by revenue as of 2024. As of October 2024, Amazon is the 12th-most visited website in the world and 84% of its traffic comes from
9690-565: Was accused of astroturfing by Tim Spalding, the creator of LibraryThing , a competing social networking book site. In a comment on another blog critical of Shelfari (primarily criticizing the "invitations" system), Josh Hug, the CEO, blamed the astroturfing on an intern not knowing better, and said that it had stopped. Amazon (company) Amazon.com, Inc. , doing business as Amazon ( / ˈ æ m ə z ɒ n / , AM -ə-zon ; UK also / ˈ æ m ə z ə n / , AM -ə-zən ),
9792-524: Was also involved. Corporate efforts to mobilize the public against environmental regulation accelerated in the US following the election of president Barack Obama . In 2014, the Toronto Sun conservative media organization has published an article accusing Russia of using astroturf tactics to drum up anti- fracking sentiment across Europe and the West , supposedly in order to maintain dominance in oil exports through Ukraine . In Canada,
9894-535: Was designed to make it appear as though there was public support for a sympathetic ruling in the antitrust lawsuit. In January 2018, YouTube user Isaac Protiva uploaded a video alleging that internet service provider Fidelity Communications was behind an initiative called "Stop City-Funded Internet", based on how some images on the Stop City-Funded Internet website had "Fidelity" in their file names. The campaign appeared to be in response to
9996-423: Was first coined in 1985 by Texas Democratic Party senator Lloyd Bentsen when he said, "a fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grass roots and AstroTurf... this is generated mail." Bentsen was describing a "mountain of cards and letters" sent to his office to promote insurance industry interests. Patient advocacy groups funded by biopharmaceutical companies are common. In 1997, Schering Plough paid
10098-624: Was founded by RealNetworks alumni Josh Hug and Kevin Beukelman (both software developers ), and Mark Williamson (who never joined the company full-time) under the name Tastemakers, Inc., along with designer Ian Patterson. Tastemakers sought to create a social networking service that met the needs of avid readers. This strategy may have mirrored a trend during this time period of creating niche social networks such as social movie site Flixster . Shelfari launched in October 2006. It allowed books to be searched by title, author, ISBN, or subject. It
10200-438: Was free, unlike LibraryThing , regardless of how many books had been collected in lists. Shelfari also allowed for the creation of user groups by users, which each group given a "common shelf" where users could contribute titles, with an attached forum for discussion and an introductory page. The website first went live on October 10, 2006. At the time, it planned on earning money by passing leads on to online booksellers and taking
10302-646: Was funded by a competitor. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission settled a complaint with Reverb Communications, who was using interns to post favorable product reviews in Apple's iTunes store for clients. In September 2012, one of the first major identified cases of astroturfing in Finland involved criticisms about the cost of a €1.8 billion patient information system, which was defended by fake online identities operated by involved vendors. In September 2013, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced
10404-402: Was launched to provide more transparency to sellers by recommending specific products to third-party sellers to sell on Amazon. Products suggested are based on customers' browsing history. Amazon allows users to submit reviews to the web page of each product. Reviewers must rate the product on a rating scale from one to five stars. Amazon provides a badging option for reviewers which indicates
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