Hoax Hacking For PR

BY

Soon after Burger King’s Twitter was hacked earlier this week, Jeep experienced the same on its feed. Now the trend has taken on another facet – the orchestrated hoax hack.

Looking to capitalize on PR around hacked Twitter accounts, Viacom properties MTV and BET went in cahoots, pretending their Twitter accounts were hack and parading as one another. To be clear about their involvement, they created the hashtag #MTVHacking.

The attempted punking may have proved that not all publicity is good publicity. Twitter’s community didn’t appreciate the hacking, with many turned off by the shenanigans.

If either brand was hoping to generate a following, it may not work to their liking.  Socialbakers reported that Burger King netted 60,000 Twitter followers after their hacking went public.  A day after experiencing the same Twitter woes, Jeep didn’t see the same spike.

Twitter has spoken up about MTV and BET’s effort too, saying it’s no laughing matter.  The social net reminded everyone that the fact that hackers compromised 250,000 accounts on February 1, which may be related to what Burger King and Jeep have experienced, is serious business.

“This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident,” Twitter said in a statement. “The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked.”

In retrospect, the events seem to prove the importance of agile marketing and the “always on” approach brands need to take with their social media presence.  Scott Monty, Ford social media director, summed it up while sympathizing with Burger King’s plight.

“It’s not about being always on during the work week anymore. It’s about always being on no matter what day it is,” said Monty.

Hack It Your Way

BY

Yesterday hackers ran amok on Burger King’s Twitter feed, rebranding the profile as rival McDonald’s. Hackers managed to change the account name, banner, and logo to make it look like the feed was an official one from McDonalds now bashing its rival, including repeated allegations of drug use by Burger King employees.

 

The social stream hijacking lasted for hours before Burger King PR rep Bryson Thorton managed to work with Twitter to have the feed shut down.

Thorton issued this statement: “We have worked directly with administrators to suspend the account until we are able to re-establish our legitimate site and authentic postings.”

While the feed is down, screen grabs of tweets from the hacked account continue to circulate.

Burger King’s competitors took to social media to sympathize.

Wendy’s social media rep, Amy Rose Brown, tweeted, “My real life nightmare is playing out” on Burger King’s twitter feed.

McDonald’s also gave their condolences while cleaning their hands of the affair, stating “We empathize with out @BurgerKing counterparts. Rest assured, we had nothing to do with the hacking.”

Amidst the fiasco, some pointed out that the hacking might actually be positive for the Burger King brand. New York Magazine reported that despite Burger King’s Twitter being locked during the hacking, followers jumped by nearly 20,000 to 105,000. Since the account has been revived, that number has continued to climb to 112,174 followers.

Afterwards Burger King tweeted, “Interesting day here at BURGER KING, but we’re back! Welcome to our new followers. Hope you all stick around!”

Burger King’s Thorton later issued a formal apology {link no longer active} for the hack, saying, “Earlier today, our official BK Twitter Account was compromised by unauthorized users. Upon learning of this incident, our social media teams immediately began working with Twitter security administrators to suspend the compromised account until we could re-establish our brand’s official Twitter page. We apologize to our loyal fans and followers, whom might have received unauthorized tweets from our account. We are pleased to announce that the account is now active again.”

While not confirmed, the affair may be related to a report that cyber attackers hacked into Twitter on February 1 and, as acknowledged by Twitter, stole user names and passwords for 250,000 users.

 

Pin It To Win It For Lara Croft

BY

Lara Croft will soon find herself shipwrecked on a mysterious island with only her wits, courage and whatever supplies she can salvage.

Head over to Pinterest to pin pics of supplies that will help Lara survive to create your own Tomb Raider Survival Board and win great prizes, including a copy of the new Tomb Raider game for Xbox 360!

 

 

 

 

Die, Drive And Play Hard

BY

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lAJhvpREpI0

Two games have been released to help promote A Good Day to Die Hard.  The first is a mobile game for iOS, Google Play and soon-to-be Kindle Fire.

Yippee-ki-yay! Welcome to Russia: are you ready to battle ruthless mobsters, elite commandos and shadowy politicians

Play as Jack McClane, the son of New York City’s most famous cop, legendary John McClane. Prove that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — blast your way out of Moscow’s mean streets and travel to the radioactive wasteland of Chernobyl, where you’ll have to overcome incredible odds to save the world from nuclear terrorism.

Combining the best of the “endless runner” genre with non-stop first-person shooter action, you now have the ability to play through one of the most popular action-movie franchises in film history! Keep moving and stay alive as long as you can!

In the film, over 132 cars were destroyed in one epic car chase which has Bruce Willis in Russia riding a Mercedes G Class SUV roughshod over cars in traffic chasing Russian bad guys.  Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, you can Drive Hard and help find the codes to disarm a nuclear missle.

 

 

 

Meteor Parodies No Funny Matter, Says Comedian

BY

Last week Twitter was an epicenter of news and video links about the massive Russian meteorite explosion.  Hours after the event, there was already one meteor-related parody account registered and pining for attention.  Of all people, a comedian stepped up and this time stopped the distasteful trend of parody usernames that take advantage of public events.

Comedian Jake Fogelnest  wagged his finger in disapproval of the first meteor masquerader, and created an account for himself to extinguish any and all momentum for future meteor-related accounts.

Fogelnest put out this statement: “I felt a responsibility to protect the public. I think it was effective in shaming them into realizing what they were doing was wrong. I hope they felt bad. They are a bad person.”

Parody accounts are no stranger to the 175 million registered users on Twitter. They often generate massive followings, but with very little interesting content to justify their existence. Marco Rubio’s infamous water bottle sip during his response to the State of Union speech sprang @rubiowaterbottle.  The account never really took off, deemed no competition to the rapid wit of the Twitter community.

Fogelnest isn’t against the idea of fake accounts, he just believes there is a time and place.  Like the Russian meteor, hearing that from a comedian just might be a once in a hundred year event.

Source BuzzFeed

YouTube, For Lovers And Haters

BY

Yesterday YouTube posted six Valentine’s Day playlists featuring 69 videos (good one, guys) that offered something for everyone, whether those gushing with romance or wallowing in misery on the lover’s holiday.

YouTube holds a special place in its virual heart for Valentine’s Day.  The platform was conceived on February 14, registering its web domain name on that day.

YouTube’s cupid for the job this year,Trends Manager Kevin Allocca, kicked things off with this quip: “Whether you’re toasting St. Valentine with champagne and long-stemmed roses or fighting off nausea at the sight of every teddy bear and heart-shaped cupcake, YouTube is the place to be. This is all rather apropos given YouTube’s roots.”

The playlists are still accessible. There are interesting information bites – wondering where the term “friend zone” came from An episode of “Friends,” actually. Curious how the brain looks like when a person is in love It’s hard to describe.

The rest of the collection offers romantic videos such as most-viewed marriage proposals and love songs along with addictive if painful compilations such as marriage proposal fails, bad pickup lines {video no longer available} and examples of how oblivious, and sometimes lame, people can be to the outside world when they’re madly in love.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tGEzbGx_XjU {video no longer available}

Source: YouTube

 

Escape For Some Alien Family Fun

BY

The 3D animated family comedy Escape From Planet Earth catapults movie goers to planet Baab where admired astronaut Scorch Supernova is a national hero to the blue alien population. A master of daring rescues, Scorch pulls off astonishing feats with the quiet aid of his nerdy, by-the-rules brother, Gary, head of mission control at BASA. When BASA’ no-nonsense chief Lena (Alba) informs the brothers of an SOS from a notoriously dangerous planet, Scorch rejects Gary’s warnings and bounds off for yet another exciting mission. But when Scorch finds himself caught in a fiendish trap set by the evil Shanker (Gandolfini), it’s up to scrawny, risk-adverse Gary to do the real rescuing. As the interplanetary stakes rise to new heights, Gary is left to save his brother, his planet, his beloved wife Kira (Parker) and their adventure hungry son Kip!

On the official website, fans can choose from multiple engagements.

Gnarlach Rescue is a platform game where alien babies must be rescued from the Gnarlachs!

 

 

Additional engagements include a top down strategy game and an alien welcome kit where fans can learn a little bit more about this strange place we call Earth.

 

 

 

 

Florida Senator Literally Thirsts For Change

BY

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio took one small sip of water during his GOP rebuttal to the State of the Union address yesterday.  It immediately sparked a deluge of tweets, memes and an infamous GIF courtesy of BuzzFeed.

There were also plenty of snarky comments.Â

Rubio showed he could laugh at himself, tweeting a photo of the now infamous Poland Spring bottle.  He told Good Morning America, “I needed water, what am I going to do?”

Continuing the joke, he pulled out a bottle of water on the show and took a sip.

“God has a funny way of reminding us we’re human,” Rubio said on the show.

Source Associated Press

Tomb Raider Launches Cross Platform Scavenger Hunt

BY

Check out the brand new Tomb Raider Scavenger Hunt live on your mobile phone, tablet or browser. Signup through the app, participate in the weekly trivia and scavenger hunt-style challenges themed around the brand new Tomb Raider and earn a chance at great prizes! You can find the Scavenger Hunt app on on mobile (iOS, Android, Windows Phone) / tablet devices and online now.

Check out the introductory video below:

The app opens access to five in-game DLC but also includes amazing prizes like TOMB RAIDER themed consoles, a life-size statue of Lara Croft, a Tomb Raider ATV and the grand prize of a trip for two to Fiji to experience true adventures just like Lara herself! The contest runs through to the release of the game March 5, 2013, and is open to U.S. and Canada.

Get more details on the official website at www.tombraider.com/hunt and join the hunt today!

To access the hunt, fans must first pre-order Tomb Raider at a participating retailer, or email a photo of your pre-order receipt to trcodes@trscavenger.com and get a Tomb Raider Scavenger Hunt access code.

Once they have registered their profile, fans will answer weekly trivia and photo challenges via the Tomb Raider Scavenger Hunt app and earn points to unlock DLC and enter into the sweepstakes.

Check out the official Tumblr to see some of the hunts and what fans have unearthed so far!

Facebook Takes Down The Internet

BY

Last week in one effortless swoop Facebook paralyzed internet mainstay websites such as CNN, BuzzFeed, Yelp and New York Magazine, among others, whose visitors were redirected to a Facebook error page.  The social network’s retort to disgruntled sites and their users seemed as brief as the redirect error message.

Facebook responded with this statement: “For a short period of time, there was a bug that redirected people logging in with Facebook from third-party sites to Facebook.com. The issue was quickly resolved, and login with Facebook is now working as usual.”

The so-called “bug” was traced back to Facebook Connect, the API that intertwines Facebook with the rest of the internet. Connect is Facebook’s universal internet credentials for users. It makes logging on to websites and comment threads seamless for anyone logged into Facebook while browsing. Last week’s issues made it more of a chore than a convenience, especially for third-party-publishers such as BuzzFeed that solely rely on Facebook “likes” to spread content across the web.

Facebook’s no stranger to privacy issues within its own network, and stories seem to pop up about it prolifically. This latest issue with Connect is an eerie reminder about the colossal internet information machine. Facebook tools such as Connect, Graph Search, and Open Graph make use out of the treasure trove of user information that the platform controls.  Major failures are eye opening instances of that, and they just might backfire with both users and third-party sites.

Source: AllThingsD