Today I take on the Age of Disinformation. That actually goes back several years to the early 1900s and Edward Bernays. I take on several myths and tricks online. And you are again reminded how writing about anything online can make you an authority.. And is why you need to be creating content. Inoculate yourself from the propaganda online with a healthy dose of skepticism. Or lose at marketing and your budget to nonsense.
WE take on Myths like "quality linking", polls surveyed unscientifically, blogging as an authority without expertise, and bounce rates as a measure of poor SEO.
In this video I mentioned the story of Edward Bernays. Bernays is single handidly responsible for the notion of consumerism to patriotism and freedom. You can thank such American staples as Bacon and Eggs and increased cigarrette consumption to Bernays To thirld world countries being tied to Soviet Moscow and a disintegration of our ethics in promotion.
Some information on Bernays from Wikipedia:
Bernays felt that the public's democratic judgment was "not to be relied upon" and he feared that "they [the American public] could very easily vote for the wrong man or want the wrong thing, so that they had to be guided from above". Bernays argued that the manipulation of public opinion was a necessary part of democracy. The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.....Bernays held that human beings are fundamentally irrational and untrustworthy, and that it's the duty of social programmers to manipulate the herd for their own good.
Bernays, Carl Byoir and John Price Jones worked together to influence public opinion towards supporting American participation in World War I. One of Bernays' favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of "third party authorities" to plead his clients' causes. "If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway", he said.
Do you remember President Bush telling us to get back to business of America. This was very Bernaysian. Tying Patriotism to consumerism. Bernays, working for Tobacco industry got young women to parade into the streets with what he called "torches of freedom". Thus, demonstrating their liberation.
