Barack Obama Uses Google to Combat Vicious Rumors

[Kire]

Barack Obama Uses Google to Combat Vicious Rumors
Searches for some of the most pervasive Internet rumors often turn up links to his campaign website
By Kevin Whitelaw
Posted September 17, 2008

Barack Obama is waging an quiet battle in the Googlesphere to combat damaging rumors, as well as his opponent, John McCain.

Specifically, Obama's campaign has waded into online auctions for Google search terms to snap up not only obvious phrases like "Barack Obama" but also potentially negative ones like "Barack Obama birth certificate" or "Barack Obama as a Muslim," according to Hitwise, an Internet audience monitoring firm.

This means that, as of Wednesday morning, Google searches for Obama being a Muslim (a false but pervasive Web rumor) often turn up a prominent "sponsored" link at the top of the results page that connects to a page on Obama's campaign website that debunks the myth and details his Christian faith. Searches for Obama's birth certificate produce a link to a page showing the official document.

It's not clear how many Web surfers are being driven to his site through these search ads. Data from Hitwise suggest the numbers are relatively low.

Whether or not people visit the Obama site, the Google search results page displays, underneath the link, text that denies the specific rumor, such as "Barack Obama is a Christian. Get the facts at his official site."

More: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/09/17/barack-obama-uses-google-to-combat-vicious-rumors.html

Meanwhile, John McCain is playing marbles with his mouse ball.

[Indiana_Dem]

1. Wow! That's awesome! Genius! nt

[silverojo]

2. Meanwhile, John McCan't is too stupid to use a computer

War injuries, my ass...even profoundly handicapped and paralyzed people use computers nowadays, with all the technology that exists to help them.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Smart! VERY smart!!

[4lbs]

4. This is an excellent way for the Obama campaign to nix rumours before they can virally spread.

Good job!