You know the Web can be really nasty. One minute you’re expecting that pretty girl in the Chatroulette window to take her top off and show you all kinds of goodness only to be faced with a neck twisting lunatic.

As it turns out it is a great advertising gimmick for the movie The Last Exorcism and I loved it.

via Gizmodo

That pretty Chatroulette girl taking her clothes off — She’s a wild one is a post from: The Inquisitr

Actually, if you recall, we totally called it.

The tale of the sassy assistant who bested her boss was not only totally fake, but the hoax’s creators indicate that the whole stunt was arranged to mock blogs that post up the latest viral trend with no skepticism or investigation. Of course, we were suspicious, but BoingBoing did some digging. They turned up a casting call that fit the description of “Jenny.” All Things D posted a pretty thorough “we call bullshit” screed, and the brothers behind pic site The Chive fessed up pretty much immediately. They tried to imply “Jenny” was real, but cracked under like six seconds of intense questioning:

Jay Leno wants Jenny on his show, Leo Resig says. “Good Morning America” wants her, too. He’s not sure the best way to proceed, because “we’re trying to be respectful of that girl.”

But don’t worry, Leo says. The brothers plan on identifying Jenny “tomorrow morning around 10 am. We’re not exactly sure who or how we’re going to release it. Obviously it will be on thechive.com as well.”

Okay. But you’re the same guys who gave us the Donald Trump story, and that was fake. Is this one different?

Pause. “Good homework. That was a good time.”

Ah. So is Jenny’s story real, then? “This one is to be determined. People are kind of making up their own stories.”

We go on this vein for a bit. Since Leo won’t tell me the story is real, and the Trump story definitely wasn’t, I’ll assume that this one is make-believe, too. “If you want to assume that, you can. We have a track record.”

So who is Jenny? As I’d suspected yesterday, Jenny actually is the type of model who you might see in a sidebar t-shirt ad. Her real name is Elyse Porterfield, and she tweeted confirmation of her role in the hoax. So there you have it, beleaguered assistants of the world- the bitchy resignation via white board you’ve dreamed about living vicariously through has not yet occurred.

Shocker: Viral HOPA girl totally a hoax! is a post from: The Inquisitr

A series of photos posted today on The Chive has gone seriously viral, involving a supposedly pissed-off assistant (who appears to have walked into the frame directly from a “Snorg Tees” ad) that quit her job due to a boss that she says she caught calling her a “HOPA” or a “HPOA.” (Which apparently both stand for “hot piece of ass.”)

The internet is having a pretty big circle jerk over it, and everyone seems greatly amused that Jenny’s big reveal is that Spencer spends nearly 20 hours a week playing on FarmVille. (Versus a supposed fewer than 5 hour weekly average on Scotttrade, presumably the company with which both were employed.) While the mention of a specific company name seems to indicate “Jenny” may just be a brassed off assistant, a lot of the pics seem to trip the fake-o-meter. (Also, the glasses are very prop-y looking when contrasted with her “casual” look at the end.)

Below are some highlights of the 33 pics that comprise “Jenny’s” very public resignation- what’s your vote, real or fake?

Did this HOPA really quit on a white board in front of the whole internet? is a post from: The Inquisitr

I just came across this and while I might not be the biggest fan of companies trying to play in the Social Media playground this effort by Coca- Cola has all the right ingredients of an idea going viral.

What Coke did was place a special vending machine in a campus common area and went about delivering happiness along with a bottle of Coke … or two … or three.

Thanks to BL Ochman for sharing this little gem.

Coke: Spreading happiness one college machine at a time is a post from: The Inquisitr

Anyone whoas been around the web for any length of time will have at some point come across those great videos by Common Craft that explain the common, and yet confusing, aspects of the Web using great diagrams and whiteboard drawing. You can be almost assured that any new video from them will be an almost instant hit finding itself being embedded on blogs all around the blogosphere.

Well according to a post over at Techdirt the other day the folks behind these great video are know wanting to start charging people for the right to embed those great videos on blogs

Like most viral video efforts, the videos are hosted on YouTube, which makes them easy to embed and share. Except, apparently, that’s not working within Common Craft’s business model. An anonymous reader sent over a story about how the company has set up a new licensing scheme for embedding its videos on websites, and the fees get pretty high pretty quickly. Digital Inspiration notes that embedding one of those videos on a popular website or blog could cost thousands, since the prices are based on views.

As Michael Masnick at Techdirt quite right points out this is really a difficult move to see actually working.

I’m sure some companies will pay, but on the whole, it seems to break the value chain here. Common Craft could, instead, offer up the ability to make custom videos for companies, but on its website, it says that they’d rather just focus on their own videos — and points anyone who wants custom videos to a series of other video producers. The thing is, if you want your video to be viral, you can’t also charge for it.

That’s the thing about viral videos – it is the easy ability to share – on a global basis – a cool video that then others can share in the same fashion, hence the term viral.

What Common Craft is doing is literally chopping their faithful and passionate viewers right off at the knees. In effect they are killing off the very thing that makes anything go viral on the web – the freedom to share with no or very little cost.

This isn’t going to end well.

Common Craft seems to forget what makes viral videos … well viral is a post from: The Inquisitr

I know, hilarious Wii-related “accidents” are terribly 2007, but this was one of the better examples I’ve seen. It’s totally fake, obviously (the title and the constant eating of chips suggests a viral ad from Pringles), but it’s still amusing and well-executed, so it gets some time in the spotlight here.

[Via YouTube]

[VIDEO] Fake ‘Wii fail’ video is fake is a post from: The Inquisitr

Like all other car manufacturers Audi is pushing its move to greener cars but they definitely aren’t too pleased about a video circulating through the Internet depicting a man trying, and failing, to commit suicide using one of their new cars.

Audi spokesman Christian Bokich made it quite plain in a press release sent to several car related blogs and online news agencies that Audio in no way “commissioned, funded or produced by any any Audi organization worldwide”.

Now I realize that car companies can produce some mind-numbing ads but somehow I don’t seem them getting behind one that shows a man trying to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning as the most brilliant way to advertise their new Audi A5 TDI’s clean diesel technology.

hat tip to Insideline.com

Audi discovers the Streisand Effect over suicide ad [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

9-year-old Oliver Wahlstrom of Maine can add “viral video star” to his list of accomplishments.

Oliver, a forward for the Portland Junior Pirates, scored a goal this weekend at the TD Bank’s Mini 1-on-1 Challenge that would make NHL players envious.

Check out Oliver’s impressive score, below:

[Source]

9 year old’s hockey goal becomes viral hit is a post from: The Inquisitr

Talk about adding insult to injury.

Not only did Matt Holiday take a careening baseball to the nads, but the 9th inning error lead to a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers.

Video of Matt Holiday’s error, below:

[Source]

Video: Cardinals’ Matt Holiday catches line drive with his crotch is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Lakers’ Shannon Brown pulled off an impressive play on the Warriors’ Mikki Moore during last night’s game.

A fan shouted down from the stands to Moore “you got dunked on!”

Moore replied, “it happens.”

Video: Shannon Brown dunk on Mikki Moore is a post from: The Inquisitr

If there is one iconic brand name for scotch it has to be Johnny Walker. This video is the story behind Johnny Walker and its never changing square bottle or diagonal label. The question is why the square shape and why is the label set at 24° exactly?

Well follow along with Robert Caryle as he tells the true tale of Johnny Walker.

Oh and by the way the video was shot in one single shoot – mind you it took 40 attempts.

hat tip Steve Clayton

So why does Johnny Walker come in a square bottle? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Political commentator and beacon of fair, balanced journalism Bill O’Reilly has got his panties in a real bunch over a viral advert for Guitar Hero 5, which features what he terms “nudity.”

The O’Reilly Factor host described the ad as “shameless promotion,” and dubbed the female models “pinheads.” Publisher Activision is yet to comment, so allow us to do that for them: “LOL.” Here’s O’Reilly flapping his gums and replaying the “shameless” advert in question on his own show. You know, just so his viewers are informed. Way to take a stand, Bill.

Even by O’Reilly’s dazzling standards, this is crazy talk. For one, you’d see more flesh if the girls were wearing bikinis, while Bill is happy to overlook the “naked” guy who arrives shortly after, quickly becoming the focus of the advert. Conveniently, the producers cut that part out. Here’s the advert in full:

So I think we all know the biggest question raised by this, and that is: is O’Reilly actually on Activision’s payroll? Because this is the second Guitar Hero ad that’s enjoyed publicity from bleating Billy.

[Via GamePro]

LOGICAL: Bill O’Reilly on Guitar Hero ad’s “nudity” is a post from: The Inquisitr

Twitter gets used for a lot of different things but this one from the marketing department behind the summer movie Terminator Salvation have come up with something new. Using a combination of Twitter and a website Sony has launched a game called Resistance 2018 that involves users on Twitter joining different resistance squadrons to fight the Terminators.

To play the game you first need to follow @Resistance2018 on Twitter and then head over to Resistance2018.com and sign in with your Twitter ID in order to read the instructions for the game. The idea being that you follow orders that are tweeted out and gain points by doing so. The more points you get the more opportunities you have to join special squadrons.

Some of the tweets posted about the various assignments and such will come with different coding

RA (Resistance Assignments)
WM (Word Mix)
TR (Trivia)
PT (Partial Transmission)
SW (SkyNet Warnings
plus more……

As Alex Billington noted on FirstShowing.net this is the first time anyone has tried anything like this so it should be really interesting to see how it fairs.

[hat tip to FirstShowing.net / graphic courtesy of FirstShowing.nhttp://www.firstshowing.net/2009/04/20/sony-launches-terminator-salvation-twitter-viral-game/et]

Terminator Salvation launches Twitter game is a post from: The Inquisitr

Viral marketing is the nirvana that just about every company is looking to achieve these days. There are some good attempts and then there are some that drop with a dull thud. Usually they involve websites related in some fashion to the product trying to gain market share or some cutesy video that generally just wants to make you gag.

Terminator Salvation though look to have raised the stakes in their marketing campaign that they have been building on slowly in the lead up to the movie’s release. The most recent move in this campaign according to Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net has been the release of the Skynet Distributed Computing Platform (DCP).

Yup you heard that right – you can now download an application that will link in with every other computer in the world running the DCP. The application is located on the Warner Brothers servers (probably due to legalities) and you have to agree to the terms of service that come with the application, so as Alex suggests this might not be something to do at work.

Alex as well has a bit of a lowdown on what exactly the DCP does at this point which really doesn’t seem to be all that much

Once you launch the application, it shows you two primary views, one of the entire world with little yellow dots indicating where each computer that is connected to Skynet’s DCP is located. You can also click on the odd yellow/green graph in the lower left corner and it brings up another new display with more information. Also found in the lower right corner a section that says "Input Code" and a space for 9 characters. We’re guessing there is some code that can be entered here, but I have no clue where to find this or what’ll happen when you put it in. Any ideas? If you’re into this viral, I’d suggest you download this right away!

It’s interesting to see just how far some of these marketing folks will go to get our attention but given that the movie is already going to be insanely popular one has to wonder if all this extra stuff is worth the time and effort.

[picture of DCP courtesy of FirstShowing.net]

Terminator Salvation expands Skynet to your desktop is a post from: The Inquisitr

Two stories have gone completely viral in the blogosphere this month; one I played a part in, and one I didn’t. The first was the story of Dell’s application to trademark the term cloud computing, a trademark that was all but a done deal until the blogosphere errupted in a righteous fury over a company taking advantage. From the first post on Google Groups to its coverage on Elastic Vapor and onward, the story spread like wildfire, finally culminating in a preliminary denial of the trademark that Dell may or may not appeal. If I were to guess, I’d assume Dell would drop the application, not wanting to incite the anger of the tech community, nor let its competitors gain press for what’s certain to be an almost instantaneous protest of an appeal.

In the case of Dell, the outcome seems clear: Dell lost, the tech industry won, and the blogs and forums that pushed the story along certainly played a part. But what happens with a viral story that has no real winners?

The Bigfoot story may be that story. Since it’s first coverage (some of it here on The Inquisitr), it’s another story that spread at lightning speed, with one site after another either claiming the “find” was real, or expressing cynicism. By now, we all know that the story was a hoax, but there seems to be no winner. One of the individuals involved has lost his job as a Clayton County police officer due to his involvement. All three individuals are now known worldwide as liars. There seems to be no good that came out of the story.

Odds are that those involved in the Bigfoot hoax really had no idea how fast a story can spread. What seemed like a simple press release that might have gained a bit of local coverage snowballed, and the perpetrators of the hoax may simply have lost control of it. The idea of “going viral” is the dream of every entrepreneur, PR person, and blogger. It just may not have a good outcome.

Guest author Cyndy Aleo-Carreira is a contributing editor at The Industry Standard. She also writes about tech and start-up issues as well as freelance writing at Shakespeare I Ain’t, and does a weekly podcast with The Inquisitr’s own Duncan Riley at Things You Can’t Say About the Internet on Talkshoe.

Going Viral: Does It Help or Hurt? is a post from: The Inquisitr