December 09, 2009
Virtual Astroturfing...Fake Money Buys Real Support
U.S. Health insurers have been exchanging fake money with Facebook gamers in return for anti-reform letters.
BusinessInsider.com reports that health insurance industry trade group "Get Health Reform Right" is paying Facebook gamers fake money called "virtual currency" if they submit a form to their Congressional representative protesting President Obama's health care reform bill.
In order for a Facebook gamer to rapidly progress inside a game, they must buy "virtual goods", such as a machine gun for "Mafia Wars", with virtual currency. BusinessInsider gives the three ways a gamer can gain virtual currency:
- Winning it playing the games
- Paying for it with real money
- By accepting offers from third-parties -- usually companies like online movie rentals service Netflix -- who agree to give the gamer virtual currency so long as that gamer agrees to try a product or service. This is done through an "offers" provider -- a middleman that brings the companies like Netflix, the Facebook gamemakers, and the Facebook gamemaker's users together.
It is the third method that is being used by "Get Health Reform Right". The anti-reform group prompts gamers to complete a survey and immediately sends the following email to their representative:
"I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have."
Posted by Buzz Webster at December 9, 2009 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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