Amazon's Social Monitoring Strategy: Fake Profiles, Bots, and Anti-Union Trolls

    Amazon has consistently been in the news for having terrible workers' conditions in their facilities, but their latest strategy to fight this image is very strange. Fake accounts on Twitter claiming to be Amazon workers and praising Amazon's working conditions have gained a lot of attention this past week. These accounts all have similar handles, like "@AmazonFCGary", touting anti-union sentiments and pro-Amazon workers' conditions. According to the BBC, "Twitter has now suspended many of the accounts, and Amazon has confirmed at least one is fake. Most of the accounts were made just a few days ago, often with only a few tweets, all related to Amazon." The BBC states that "votes are currently being counted in Alabama to decide whether Amazon warehouse workers will form a union," and this may be some sort of strategy to influence how the public will view unionization of the Amazon workforce. 

    In Chapter 5 of Karen J. Freberg's Social Media for Strategic Communication, she describes Social Monitoring and Social Listening. Aspects of Social Listening include "observing people's feedback, comments, questions, and inquiries in order to capitalize on emerging and innovative opportunities" and "using data insights to spark ideas and creative executive for content and message strategies." The public and online perception of Amazon's workers' conditions has been getting worse over the last several years, and much of that dismay has been voiced on social media. Amazon's strategy of using bots impersonating fake employees in order to tout good work conditions and anti-union rhetoric seems like a botched strategy of using social listening. Instead of actually improving work conditions at its facilities, Amazon chose to use obviously fake accounts to try and change their public perception, arguably making the situation worse than if they said nothing at all.