Since the beginning of time, media revolution hoaxes have continuously put the public in “check.” Social media is centered on creating content that attracts attention; hoaxes challenge internet information integrity. Hence, Social media is a modern day catalyst for carrying out new age hoaxes. Social media hoax’s are successful because the public is gullible, credibility is trusted, and attentions boosts marketing.
Lets face it, the public is gullible. In Jimmy Kemmel’s latest stunt, he fooled two million people to believe “Twerking is dangerous.” The video was a girl performing a popular dance move accidently falling on a candle to catching on fire. The amount of comment on the “Youtube” indicated that people where concerned. When Kimmel revealed, that he played a part in the setting up a fake video, and the girl was a stunt-woman, people where genuinely surprised that they fed into the brouhaha.
Are people able to assess credibility of their media? The example, of the outraged McDonald’s drive-through costumer, story was “approved” by the Associated Press. The Associate Press is a credible source used to accredit authentic publications. However, the video was not an article. I do not think the general public knows how to tell the difference between legitimate sources. The Assciated Press would not find the language, situation, and production AP appropriate. The public so easily trusts the media, news, and journalism sources when they appear on the internet. There should be more knowledge taught to the general public of how to distinguish validity.
Lastly, marketing is all about drawing attentions. Attention draws sales. The April fools day hoax by Vimeo was clever. Appealing to pet lovers around the world, Vimeo announced they would be coming out with a new video uploading service dedicated to sharing videos of cats. The company later announced it was a joke to celebrate the day. It was one of the few hoaxes that could probably take off as a lucrative business venture. This hoax brought attention and sales to Vimeo.
In conclusion, the media sensations promoted through the inter-world may have left us feeling silly and vulnerable to internet information. It is amazing how quickly social media infuses the transfere of information, igniting virtual fire-storms. But, these hoaxes throughout time, do serve as a constant reminder to not be so gullible to all news, especially today, when the general public is not educated in finding credibility.
Just how gullible is the general public?
Jimmy Kimmel Twerkin Video
This video of a girl twerkin' for her boyfriend gone horribly wrong went viral in a matter of hours. The video, in which a girl is twerkin' on a door and gets pushed into a pit of lit candles, causing her pants to become engulfed in flames, spread among Twitter and Facebook like, well, wildfire. It wasn't until the following night when popular late night host Jimmy Kimmel revealed the full video with him masterminding the entire skit. Good one, Jimmy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HSJMoH7tnvw
April Fools, Publicity Stunt
Vimeow
What's the best way to get your video noticed and become an Internet celebrity as fast as possible? Upload a video of your cat being adorable or doing something incredibly funny. This past April Fool's, popular video sharing site Vimeo announced they would be coming out with a new video uploading service dedicated to sharing videos of cats. The company later announced it was a joke to celebrate the day, but left many people wondering why this doesn't exist already. It was one of the few hoaxes that could probably take off as a lucrative business venture.
Associated Press?
Woman freaks out over chicken nuggets at McDonald's.
An oldie but a goodie, the two minute video of a woman freaking out in a McDonald's drive thru over the lack of chicken nuggets, still holds up today. In the video, which carried an Associated Press bumper to make it look more legit, a woman is told the particular McDonald's location she was visiting ran out of chicken nuggets. If you thought you've seen people lose their minds over food before, you need to check out this video.
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/FJye229QbVs/maxresdefault.jpg
Some things never get old…
Morristown UFO hoax
The Morristown, N.J. UFO hoax was definitely one of the better pranks to be captured by cellphone cameras and spread around the Internet. The two teenagers behind the prank, Chris Russo and Joe Rudy, were not only found out to be the devious masterminds behind the hoax, but were also fined $250 by a Morristown judge. The two made a 40-minute behind-the-scenes video showing people how they created the prank which has been viewed over 20,000 times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IqcRpQ-WaQw