Amazon Hires Twitter Trolls To Tweet Nice Things About Its Warehouses

by stockboardasset

Here is some more creepy Orwellian Bullshit from Amazon. 

Over the past month, an army of Amazon workers was discovered on social media defending their employer after numerous reports surfaced of the terrible working conditions at the company’s fulfillment centers.

The Twitter accounts, which were believed by some to be social bots, are paid by Amazon to regain control of the narrative lost this summer after multiple stories revealed workplace safety issues.

TechCrunch first reported the accounts Friday after Twitter user @bornwithatail_ on Thursday found numerous accounts posting similar messages. The report specified that only 15 public accounts were found, all displaying similar characteristics. As shown below, each account uses the same Amazon smile logo as its Twitter banner (all banners perfectly sized), have “FC Ambassador” plus a unique name as the handle, and accounts are all backlinked to Amazon’s fulfillment center tour website.

“After Flamboyant Shoes Guy called out the phenomenon, I found 15 accounts (please don’t abuse them — they get enough of that already). All with “Amazon smiles” as their backgrounds and several with animals as profile pictures. All have the same biostructure: “(Job titles) @(warehouse shorthand location). (Duration) Amazonian. (2- or 3-item list of things they like.)” All have “FC Ambassador” in their name. All have links to an Amazon warehouse tour service,” said TechCrunch.

Here is a snapshot of Amazon’s army of Twitter trolls 

TechCrunch said FC Ambassadors mostly replied to Twitter users who criticized Amazon working conditions. The tweets all seem scripted to some extent and are presented in a manner that does not fit the profile of a low skill/wage worker.

TechCrunch points out that ambassadors do not receive compensation for social media postings; it is a “totally optional role.” But they also raise the question of how ambassadors find the time to research social media for negative posts, then counter the arguments, all at the same time of working long hours at the warehouse.

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One Twitter user was successful at triggering an Amazon troll.

 

Then two Amazon trolls showed up in the conversation.

One of the most embarrassing conversation topics that ambassadors magically pop up in are the reports about Amazon workers peeing in bottles and trash cans.

What are people saying on Twitter?

Amazon told TechCrunch that these “FC ambassadors are employees who have experience working in our fulfillment centers. It’s important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the fulfilment center tours we provide.”

Judging by the posting history, it seems as the program to repair Amazon’s image on social media via Twitter trolls started earlier this month.

A former ambassador and three-year warehouse Amazon veteran Chris Grantham spilled the beans to Yahoo Finance’s Krystal Hu, who shared the information with TechCrunch:

“When I was there they just got an extra paid day off and a gift card after Peak [pre-holiday season]. This is what I got. A paid day off (that expired in 3 weeks lol) and a $50 Amazon gift card. Plus, they gave us lunch. Coldcuts and sandwich bread. I absolutely did not get paid more to train people.

 

Ambassador isn’t a ‘job’ you do every day, its just something you are trained to do. You go to a 4 hour class and they teach you how to teach others to tie a knot using a set of instructions. This is how new hires a supposed to be taught. You are supposed to teach them right from a script using a set protocol. Becoming an ambassador was a way to get out of loading trucks, or packing boxes for 10 to 12 hrs. You may ambassador 1 day then unload trucks for the next 3.

 

I stopped doing it after the first year I was there because it didn’t pay more. It’s voluntary. Your manager picks them. Generally speaking ambassadors are the “kiss asses” of the department.”

As for the weird Twitter army of Amazon trolls cheerfully defending warehouse tasks, well, it is an Orwellian maneuver by the company to take control of the narrative after the world recently found out about the horrible working conditions in its facilities. In doing so, it seems Amazon could be offering gift cards and Coldcut sandwiches to its employees for the ambassador role. Personally, it is more or less a media PR firm running the show.

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