Now, this might sound a little like communism but Business Week’s most recent issue discussed how Chinese firms are controlling bloggers freedom of speech, hiring PR firms to combat bloggers making negative comments about their clients corporations.

Toyota, “Nike, (NKE) PepsiCo (PEP), McDonald’s (MCD), French cosmetics maker L’Oréal (LRLCY)” have all worked with Chinese PR companies to combat negative comments….”PR outfits hire students to write postings that boost certain brands and criticize the competition, says a staffer at a Western PR firm in Beijing.”

While some of these PR firms tactics help the consumer Ie: alerting companies when there is a problem and advising the company to fix it ASAP, there is a serious problem with companies skewing feedback by paying students 1.5 cents per positive post.

Many American’s have revolted when Walmart paid a undercover PR firm to pose as tourists and blog about their journey going coast to coast in an RV, sleeping in Walmart parking lots every night–all the posts were incredibly positive about Walmart, and they were soon found to be a fraud.

This type of trickery and the deceitful comments posted by PR firms is using social media in exactly the wrong way. Social media is suppossed to better inform the consumer, sites like www.epinions.com give everyone a Consumer Reports-like-voice, companies can no longer get away with sub par preformances. If your product or service is poor, Joe from Oklahoma will spread the word and effect purchasing decisions of consumers in Maine.

Of course companies can benefit from a social media interaction with their customers in the following ways:

• Bloggers leaving positive posts
• Positive ratings on Amazon and epinions
• Fan Pages and Groups on Facebook (See Recent story re: More companies screwing up social media)
• Collaborating with customers online for ads, product development and customer service
• Monitoring blog posts, but not creating faux comments
• Nike’s running club and other engagement tools
• Social Media Press Releases
• Viral YouTube commercials, even better if they are made by the customer
• Feel free to comment on more!

If your company is doing things right, then you’ll capitalize, but in the social media world there is no hiding from the truth!