Disney has a secret army...

[momof2n2]

So the question is... are there plants here on the DIS? Whom do I rely on here?

NO! NO! NO! I am not asking posters to go McCarthy on here and suggest other posters!!!
It's rhetorical.
But it does confirm at least SOME sites have a PR team...

 

[Mikie]

I'm surprised if anyone didn't know about this. I have an aquaintance who blogs and then really got into "promoting herself". It upped her on-line visibility , resulting in paid ads and now lots of posts like this Disney stuff. Now she rarely posts *truly* random stories of experiences. It's always a day out with her kids that ends up describing some new amazing picnic backpack full of foods and toys that you, too, can buy at XYZ! There is always a comment at the bottom that the company did give her the item for free in exchange for her blogging and her insistence that she's allowed to review freely (and she does include constructive criticism).

Because those do at least end with "ps the company gave me a freebie", I get tired of reading her stuff but am not bothered by it bring "sneaky".

Some folks are implying that people here on the DIS who don't do to cool kid thing and criticize everything Disney does, they must be secretly paid or receiving freebies. I think that's just plain rude dismissiveness of others' opinions, but I admit I could be wrong and I would agree that such behavior would be underhanded, if occurring.

 

[JimmyV]

They are required to mention in their blogs if Disney has paid their way to whatever it is they are reviewing. Not shady at all. Nothing secret about it.

?? If a member of the "Disney Propaganda Corp" (or whatever they call themselves) comes to this Board and posts: "My family loved using Magic Bands and FP+. They are the best!!", there would be no requirement that they disclose that Disney paid their way for a trip firstly, because the trip to which they are referring may not have been the subsidized trip in May discussed in the article; and secondly, because such a post would not count as a "review" of the event in question. As a reminder, here is what the article says about disclosure:

Disney reminds attendees of government requirements that they disclose the benefits they received when writing about the event.

As long as one is not posting about "the event", there is no need for them to disclose anything. So yes, there is secrecy involved. Put quite simply, there is a 100% chance that members of the Propaganda Corp have posted to this Board. There is no way that the most active social media "moms" in the world could all, without exception, missed the fact this Board exists and all, without exception, failed or refused to participate here. That would be like the world's biggest football fans never having watched a Super Bowl on TV. So with that in mind, ask yourself how many times you have read a post that disclosed that the person was a member of the Propaganda Corp. I'm thinking of a round number......0. Shady and secretive? Yeah. I'd say that when one increases their chances of getting perks from Disney by being a prolific media poster with overwhelmingly positive things to say about Disney and fails to disclose their association with Disney, I'd say that it is both of those things.

 

[JimmyV]

So the question is... are there plants here on the DIS? Whom do I rely on here?

NO! NO! NO! I am not asking posters to go McCarthy on here and suggest other posters!!!
It's rhetorical.
But it does confirm at least SOME sites have a PR team...

Well, if you want a homework assignment, examine the "signatures" of prolific posters who list their past trips and where they stayed. Find the ones who have gone to WDW in May 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and/or 2015 and who stayed at the Yacht Club. That would be a start.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

This is not a Disney thing, this is a corporate America in 2015 thing. This is Marketing 101 in the social media age. Every major television network "employs" these people. Large follower count, high visibility per post count, you will be solicited to say things like "OMG did you guys see Blacklist last night? Sooo Good" The difference is where Disney is offering deep discounts, most corporations offer direct compensation.

 

[lugnut33]

Hey Disney, listen up, I can be bought. PM me your offer now!!

 

[ammag]

This has never been a secret and it has to be mentioned in yn blog that they received anyhting for their review or post. If a blogger isn't doing this then stop reading them.

 

[ammag]

Also there are different programs or levels to this. The number of bloggers who get the discounted rates are low. Most of them get things like disney on ice tickets, movie premiers and maybe products. I write for one of these blogs, there's nothing wierd about it at all! The bloggers are giving their trusted readers opinions and usually the readers get a chance to win the products or tickets as well. It's all very upfront.

 

[Lucius Best]

Hey Disney, listen up, I can be bought. PM me your offer now!!

I always look at wait times through out the day and I just shake my head in disgust when I look at DHS. What a terrible park that has turned in to.

I'm sorry @lugnut33 but I don't think you're off to a great start as a new Disney Social Media Mom. Maybe try to be a little more positive?

 

[Ambear]

Some folks are implying that people here on the DIS who don't do to cool kid thing and criticize everything Disney does, they must be secretly paid or receiving freebies. I think that's just plain rude dismissiveness of others' opinions, but I admit I could be wrong and I would agree that such behavior would be underhanded, if occurring.

Exactly, it's an easy way to dismiss opinions you don't like. It's easier to say that someone is just getting money/perks to believe certain things instead of admitting they may actually TRULY believe those things lol.

Anyway this isn't so surprising. These people are the hardcore fans who would be posting all these great things about disney regardless of whether they got compensation. Now disney knows they can make them advertise even harder with perks. It's like when people promote hashtags on twitter or link to their kickstarter and give perks for being one of the first supporters. Like other posters said, it's just smart.

 

[PantherPete]

I'd like to take this opportunity to let Disney management know that I am completely willing to speak glowingly about everything Disney. For a 5% discount on my November trip, I would be willing to post here that ice cream at Disney tastes better than any other ice cream in the world. For a 10% discount, I'd be willing to post that Big Thunder Mountain is way better than the Woody Woodpecker coaster at Universal. And for 30%, I'd be willing to say that Journey with Figment is a world class amusement park attraction. And finally, for a 50% discount, I'd say that Maelstrom stunk and that Disney made a fantastic decision to replace it with a Frozen ride. Disney execs, please feel free to private message me. I can be bought.

 

[Mikie]

I'd like to take this opportunity to let Disney management know that I am completely willing to speak glowingly about everything Disney. For a 5% discount on my November trip, I would be willing to post here that ice cream at Disney tastes better than any other ice cream in the world. For a 10% discount, I'd be willing to post that Big Thunder Mountain is way better than the Woody Woodpecker coaster at Universal. And for 30%, I'd be willing to say that Journey with Figment is a world class amusement park attraction. And finally, for a 50% discount, I'd say that Maelstrom stunk and that Disney made a fantastic decision to replace it with a Frozen ride. Disney execs, please feel free to private message me. I can be bought.

I like your price tiering!

 

[ArwenMarie]

If someone is getting perks they are going to be affected by that. Human nature and journalism rule #1.

If they write negative stuff (which may be the truth) they won't be on the perk list for long. That goes for any company not just TWDC. But as long as it's disclosed, the reader can decide for themselves.

 

[grimley1968]

I'm not a fan of it, but I'll admit it doesn't surprise me, and Disney is far from the only brand that uses social media in this way.

I have a cousin who friended me on FB recently, and I gladly accepted her friend request, because she was one of the few cousins I have who seemed resistant to it, and it is a decent way to keep up with non-immediate family I'd never otherwise hear about. However, I soon realized that the only reason she seemed to be on there is to post sort of faux testimonials about the greatness of a product. She'll post one word and a blurry photo of big life moments (kids' graduations, etc.), and a day later will post a 3 paragraph story of how this product made her headache go away. I am sadly about this close (holding fingers very close together) to unfriending her. She definitely does not disclose that she's being paid in those posts, but I've seen other posts by some of her other friends who tag her and describe how well she's doing attracting other "salespeople" to the product (classic pyramid scheme - and not subtle about it).

To be honest, unless I'm naive I haven't noticed too much of that about Disney on this site. Yes, there are the apologists who seem to think Disney can do no wrong, but it also seems there are "nattering nabobs of negativism" (I love that phrase) in re Disney who seem to think Disney can do nothing right. I don't think most of those people are being paid (in cash or in discounts) to promote or trash Disney. I just think it's a bit of closed-mindedness in both extremes.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This is nothing new and as noted the people are offering their own opinion s, Disney is not telling them what to say.

Other companies are doing similar programs....no biggie.

Welcome to mass marketing 2015.


AKK

 

[JanaDee]

Also there are different programs or levels to this. The number of bloggers who get the discounted rates are low. Most of them get things like disney on ice tickets, movie premiers and maybe products. I write for one of these blogs, there's nothing wierd about it at all! The bloggers are giving their trusted readers opinions and usually the readers get a chance to win the products or tickets as well. It's all very upfront.

As soon as I read on a blog "I received this product for free in return for writing about it", I stop reading and won't visit that site again. I'm not interested in bloggers opinions that are bought.

ETA The same goes for resort stays, book reviews, etc.

 

[Planogirl]

As soon as I read on a blog "I received this product for free in return for writing about it", I stop reading and won't visit that site again. I'm not interested in bloggers opinions that are bought.

ETA The same goes for resort stays, book reviews, etc.

ITA. I always hope to find unbiased opinions so I can weigh those in my decision making. People being bought doesn't really help anyone IMO.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

The main point - these were all Disneyphiles long before they were invited to join this group. Years of positive social media postings and blogs got them here. I seriously doubt that this discounted trip is going to change that. They have been hooked and landed already. Future posts and blogs will resemble past posts and blogs in that they will continue to show a serious love for all things Disney.

Now, if Disney were recruiting people who were on the fence and getting them to change their content - that would be deceitful and worth comment.

 

[Jennasis]

Forget Disney apologists, now we have to deal with Disney lobbyists!

 

[ArwenMarie]

As soon as I read on a blog "I received this product for free in return for writing about it", I stop reading and won't visit that site again. I'm not interested in bloggers opinions that are bought.

ETA The same goes for resort stays, book reviews, etc.

ITA. I always hope to find unbiased opinions so I can weight those in my decision making. People being bought doesn't really help anyone IMO.

So true. Even outside of Disney, I'm always looking for reviews of offsite hotels in Orlando, other than Tripadvisor. It's amazing how many "mommy travel blogs" are out there where the blogger basically just gets free rooms for their family's trips and in return writes (usually glowing) reviews. It's so useless to me as soon as they reveal that they were comped the stay. Once in a while they'll write one slightly negative thing to try to look unbiased, like the "free chocolate chip cookies weren't as warm as they should have been" lol.