Microcelebrities and Online Astroturfing in Spain. The Case of #Pentatrillones

Abstract

The consolidation of social networking sites has allowed the appearance of new figures of prescription as microcelebrities. This new kind of intermediary is increasingly valuated by brands in order to connect with consumers in a closer way. Besides, the mediated character of communication in these platforms has proved to be a source of opportunities for the flourishing of new practices of astroturfing. Astroturfing is an illegitimate form of public relations that seeks to distort the perception of groups of consumers/voters/citizens about what is the main opinion about a particular subject. Methodologically, it is combined in this paper the case study method and the digital ethnographic observation to analyse how the commercial brand Amstel added the practice of astroturfing on Twitter to the launch of a new product (Amstel Radler) in August 2014 in Spain. This astroturfing campaign in Twitter was developed by several microcelebrities who were paid to spread online the label #Pentatrillones and to encourage other users to generate content under this hashtag. However, when a user revealed that it was a media campaign orchestrated by Amstel, a debate among users about the legitimacy and limits of these new practices was opened between users and microcelebrities what is also discussed in this paper. This reaction demonstrated the distributed character of communication in these platforms, but it also showed the fragile position of these prescriptors, since the majority of critical comments were addressed to them and not to the action promoters (the brand and the ad agency).