individuals reaching millions

This week's discussion on the networked information technology got me thinking...how much do we think we really know about the whole "individual reaching millions" thing? For example...my brother's friend works for a real estate company. He earns his salary by doing one thing: going onto the internet and creating fake user names to post positive things about the company. Because we are so duped into thinking the opinions of people online are genuine, how much on the internet is actually companies attempting to fool their consumers? Someone's blog that gets thousands of hits a day could be the product of a company's scheme to influence the unsuspecting public into believing a certain perspective. However, I believe a majority of the junk that's floating around the internet is genuine...and that of individual users simply trying to get their idea or product out there. But, after my brother's friend explained his job to me...I got a little skeptical.

Going on the concept of "individuals reaching millions"...the Internet has also taken a lot of power out of the hands of corporations and governments and given a voice to individuals. Now...almost anyone can create their own blog and rant about their experiences within their everyday life. Whether their blog gets thousand of hits or zero...they are still putting their own slice of individuality into the public sphere...which was something that was limited before the popularity of internet social networking sites.