Meaning:

    “水” means “water,” and “军” means “army.” Chinese netizens use the term “灌水” (literally, pour water) to refer to the action of submitting a lot of non-original posts online. Therefore, “水军” means “an army of those who submit non-original posts online.” Usually, these people are hired by online publicity firms to promote brands and products or help resolve crises. It’s said that there are more than 700 online publicity companies based in Beijing, who pay people between 0.3 and 0.5 yuan for each post submitted.

    Example:

    A: 我想找点兼职赚钱，你觉得可以干什么？

    Wǒ xiǎng zhǎo diǎn jiānzhí zhuànqián, nǐ juédé kěyǐ gàn shénme?

    I want to find some kind of part-time job to earn some extra money. What do you suggest?

    B: 最简单就是网络水军。就是先在各论坛和网站注册大量用户名，接下来就可以接任务发帖顶帖赚钱了。

    Zuì jiǎndān jìushì wǎngluò shuǐjūn。Jìushì xiān zài gè lùntán hé wǎngzhàn zhùcè dàliàng yònghùmíng, jiēxiàlái jìu kěyǐ jiē rènwù fātiě dǐngtiě zhuànqián le。

    The simplest is to get hired to submit posts online. First you have to register a lot of user names at websites and forums, then you can earn money by sending posts and liking other people’s posts.