Video Marketing Is Becoming More And More Popular

Most ordinary people are no better at detecting deception than they’d be if they flipped a coin. The reasons electronic deception is generally so easy to pull off aren’t difficult to apprehend. As mentioned above, the Internet encourages anonymity, or at least its possibility. This information is as easy to falsify as it is to post online. Obviously, we all hope that at least some of the details of our lives will be protected online. And the checks that guarantee such privacy function as checks against verification, too. Finally, there is the simple fact that lies are hard to detect in any context. The ease of executing an Internet lie helps explain, in part at least, the ubiquity of online deception. Thus far, we have focused on digital impersonation, such as Essjay’s or Debbie Swenson’s. Yet this is far from the only form of online fraud. Online, lies can travel quickly and widely. We should not overlook, either, our own role in spreading Internet lies in this regard.

Courage Doesn't Always Roar

With a click of a button we can become party to dishonesty about this or that candidate’s beliefs, background, or personal life. And while we may not take such forwards seriously, there is no guarantee that everyone on an exponentially expanding chain of recipients shares this view. Just because we don’t write an Internet falsehood does not mean we don’t participate in it. Deception on the Internet does not have to be exclusively textual, either. Only later did viewers learn that the clip was created digitally as part of a viral marketing campaign for a new brand of Nike shoes. This sort of viral video marketing is becoming more and more popular with advertisers, as they turn to deceit to capture the attention of increasingly savvy consumers. Why concoct a digital tragedy? This act of digital deceit occurred on the forums. These forums were used primarily by those in the information technology industry to discuss issues of software and memory and so forth, but as with most online forums, there was also an Off Topic section, where members could post messages unrelated to the tech industry. It was primarily in the Off Topic section that a user named began to post. It was nearly a year and a half before the other shoe dropped. I had never expected the grief that overcame this community. It even overcame me and I sobbed for three days as if she had been real.

As Right As Rain

When seeking to understand Internet deception, it’s perhaps too easy to become overly focused on the Internet itself. The Internet allows the deception to victimize more people, more quickly, but its fundamental motivation may be no different online or off. Such individuals often assume the role of someone with societal standing. This allows them to reap the psychological benefits of being treated with respect and admiration by their peers, something that is often particularly tempting for those who suffer from feelings of insignificance or societal contempt. Yet by the same token, while the dynamics of the Internet may not provide a comprehensive explanation for online deceit, those dynamics clearly have some influence. Internet users may not lie because they’re online. But being online just might make deception more likely. The pressure to impress another person and to come off a particular way, even if we aren’t consciously aware of it, often takes precedence over an adherence to the truth. I was curious about what the effect the Internet had on interpersonal honesty. The setup for the study was very simple. Also, in all three conditions, the interactions were recorded. After the interactions were completed, I asked the participants to review the video or transcript of the conversation, and to note any instances in which they deviated from the truth.

Slight Discrepancies

As I approached this investigation into Internet deceit, I mulled over two alternative explanations for what I might find. The first was what might be called the Deterrent Hypothesis. The Deterrent Hypothesis holds that Internet users, aware of the digital record their interaction generates, will be less likely to lie. For instance, when an individual enjoys a degree of anonymity, the concept of deindividuation suggests, his or her behavior can become more spontaneous, less regulated by conventional norms. The Deindividuation Hypothesis for this study holds that Internet users lie more online because their communication is conveyed not personally but by way of electronics. The digital filter creates a level of personal detachment, and so makes users more likely to ignore conventional restraints against deceit. This further layer of deindividuation should make the prohibitions against dishonesty even weaker, and hence lying more likely. The results of the study showed, as one might guess by now, that participants in every situation lied to each other. Again, though, the question was not whether the participants would lie. The crucial element of the study was how they would lie in the different situations. The results of my study show that when it comes to using the Internet, the dynamics of deindividuation trump the deterrence of the digital record. Examining the content of the participants’ lies sheds some light as to why they ignored the permanent record of their deceit. It may be that, in fact, they did not wholly ignore this record. The lies told on the Internet more often related to the participants’ inner lives. The deception involved what the liar thought or felt. On the other hand, a statement about whether or not the participant loves wild animals is much more difficult to verify, regardless of the form it takes. Regardless of the particular content of the lies, though, my study suggests that when we use a computer, our standards for honesty are weakened. Bear in mind, too, that they are probably not all that strong to begin with. If looking someone in the eye doesn’t do much to discourage deceit, looking into a computer monitor does even less. There is another aspect of deindividuation that is also relevant to a discussion of Internet deceit.