Online Identities (A)1
Tina was a senior in college when the economy took a nosedive. Her father could no longer afford to
pay her bills, but he made too much money for her to qualify for student loans. In January, Tina found
herself officially on her own--and without a job. She took out her last available loan in December and
began sending out her resumes rapid-fire to anyone and everyone who might be hiring. Whether it was a
highly sought after internship that she could use to build her resume or just a receptionist position that
would pay the bills, Tina applied for everything.
Tina was a finalist for several attractive internships in January and February, but none came through. By
the final week of February, she had only enough money to pay her March rent, and still she had no job
and no prospects. When she checked her e-mail a few days later, she discovered that a publishing
company that she had sent her resume to in December needed another intern for the semester and
wondered if she would be able to come in and interview. She immediately scheduled an interview. She
loved to read and had always wanted a job like this one.
Tina was elated to learn that she had gotten the job—and unbelievably relieved. Her first day was great!
She loved the place, the people, the other five interns, and most of all, the work. At the end of the day,
Tina’s boss called her into her office to train her on Amazon Optimization. The marketing manager who
hired Tina had mentioned during the interview that she would be doing some search engine optimization
on Amazon. Tina was pleased with this aspect of the job because she had done something similar the
previous summer while working for a chemical company and had really enjoyed it. She reasoned that if
she had enjoyed optimizing chemicals, she would certainly enjoy optimizing books since reading had
always been a passion of hers.
Little did Tina know, she would not be the one optimizing the books—not technically, anyway. The
boss explained that Tina would create various pseudonyms, and they would be the optimizers—
pseudonyms with fake interests, fake Master’s Degrees, fake marriages, and fake kids. Tina would have
to go online and tag books with keywords and search suggestions and then create lists and guides,
recommending books she had never read based on qualifications and interests that did not exist.
1
This case was prepared by Paige Kimball with guidance from Professor Minette Drumwright, University of Texas- Austin.
This case was inspired by interviews and observations of actual experiences but names and other situational details have
been changed for confidentiality and teaching purposes