Pretending to game the system: Fans hoax "Girlfriend" vid to the #1 spot on YouTube.

http://www.voltagecreative.com/blog/2008/08/girlfriend-video-tops-youtube-with-viral-viral-marketing-not-a-typo/

by wmeredith • 18 years ago

89 31 18 years ago

icey• 18 years ago

I have to admit, I never thought the day would come that I would think "Wow, that Avril Lavigne fansite sure had some good strategy."

incomethax• 18 years ago

Just goes to show the power of a truly viral campaign

OneSeventeen• 18 years ago

No kidding. Great reality hack.

mynameishere2• 18 years ago

Horrible song. And why does every pop song have voice resampling these days?

j2d2• 18 years ago

I suspect the answer is similar to the same reason everything is compressed about as much as possible.

Prrometheus• 18 years ago

It's aural MSG.

nuclear_eclipse• 18 years ago

Since I don't really listen to pop, what are you meaning by 'voice resampling', and what does it do for/to the song?

mynameishere2• 18 years ago

It's "auto tune". The original idea was to correct mistakes, but it's now used as an effect, specifically the "cher effect". It's not too excessive in the above song, but it's still pretty bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Believe_(Cher_song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTREzJL83A

mrtron• 18 years ago

I heard a clip of the new girl from that 'reality' show the Hills and it sounded like the resampling was the whole voice.

They have been doing it for years...they are just way more obvious about it now. Yes, I am ashamed of the above statement.

mechanical_fish• 18 years ago

When your competition consists of a big online jukebox containing free copies of every pop song ever recorded, it pays to encourage a popular taste for sounds that have never been recorded before.

apotheon2• 18 years ago

I can't believe I let myself get tricked into watching that stupid video. Do the people who say the song is catchy, entertaining, et cetera, actually hear the lyrics? Are they just that devoid of an ear for quality, that they can't tell the lyrics are not only typical bland pop music fare, but actually more poorly composed than the usual by a wide margin? Can they not hear the droning repetitiveness of the instrumental "melody"?

No wonder I don't like listening to the radio. . . .

clay• 18 years ago

Those tech journalists that wrote those stories didn't even check out how youtube deals with these things... How obscenely lazy can you be?

astine2• 18 years ago

They're not lazy, they're looking for a good story. It's good business to spin a mundane story as sensational news. They're after the same thing as Avril Lavigne, views.

TFrancis• 18 years ago

As people generating entertainment for their readers, you're right. It was a good story. But, as "journalist" they, in my opinion, are lazy. They failed to fully research the issue and present it as clearly as possible.

sanj• 18 years ago

This reminds me of my third most favourite MIT hack:

In 1998, Bill Clinton gave MIT's commencement address.

The MIT administration discovered that a rather embarrassing hack was planned. To forestall it, a few days before commencement, a sternly worded message was emailed around:

Any students who appear at the commencement exercises wearing a black beret, a blue dress, kneepads, or any combination thereof will be denied entrance.

Needless to say, the hack itself was never intended to be performed.

boredguy84• 18 years ago

This sentence no verb.

boredguy84• 18 years ago

Funny how a comment goes down when the context changes. Calm down with the hate.

mleonhard• 18 years ago

Who were they trying to get excluded from the commencement?

zenspider• 18 years ago

Monica Lewinsky

petercooper• 18 years ago

Interesting strategy, but Girlfriend came out 18 months ago. That post reviews the song and the song as if they're something new.

ALee• 18 years ago

This effect should have a name- it would kill me if someone called it the Girlfriend Effect.

A) Hack (that fakes A). B) As media cries foul, the media causes A to happen. C) Echo chamber as bloggers find out the real story, which adds to A (not necessary, this just adds to the effect).

It's not the Streisand Effect because there is no attempt to ban, it's that the media exposure causes the hoax to become real. So, I'm sure there is a ghost story/supernatural/Greek myth parallel somewhere.

wmeredith3• 18 years ago

The wolf cry that attracted the wolf?

apotheon2• 18 years ago

I think that's called a "self-fulfilling prophecy".

beaudeal• 18 years ago

honestly, i didn't think the day would come that i would be so impressed by the ingenuity of the avril lavigne fan club in relation to viral marketing. kudos.

Pretending to game the system: Fans hoax "Girlfriend" vid to the #1 spot on YouTube.

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