Weird Wild Web | Internet Marketing Blog

Thoughts from our social media session

So much was covered that it would take a week to explore all the issues raised, but I thought I'd just note some of the key thoughts from the event...

by Craig Hanna 05 November 2007 15:16pm 2 comments

MySpace founder 'fibbed about age'

Tom Anderson, the co-founder and public face of MySpace, has been rumbled for lying about his age in his profile – he’s apparently four years older than he claims.

But besides showing how far he was prepared to go to appear in touch with MySpace's yoof audience, and being pretty embarrassing, is this a big deal?

by Richard Maven 30 October 2007 08:27am 1 comment

Australian government caught editing Wikipedia

The Australian government has become the latest organisation to face embarrassment over editing of Wikipedia entries.

Thousands of changes by employees at the Defence Department and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have been discovered by tracking site WikiScanner, including some rather obscure contributions. One simply stated: “Poo bum dicky wee wee”.

by Richard Maven 24 August 2007 12:03pm 0 comments

Rapper sues over internet ad

Online ad firm Traffix is being sued by 50 Cent over a promotional game called Shoot the Rapper.

The musician, himself a shooting victim, alleges that the game illegally uses his image and encourages users to target him.

by Richard Maven 23 July 2007 11:09am 2 comments

Whole Foods chief apologises over forum postings

Whole Foods Market boss John Mackey has apologised for the renegade online PR campaign he conducted to boost his company’s image on financial messageboards.

In a statement, Mackey asked for shareholders’ forgiveness over his anonymous postings, which were uncovered last week and are now being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission:

by Richard Maven 18 July 2007 09:49am 2 comments

Whole Foods boss rumbled for anonymous postings

The boss of Whole Foods Market, the organic food retailer that launched a huge store in London last month, has been caught using Yahoo!’s stock market forum to criticise a competitor, which he then proceeded to buy.

John Mackey, chief executive of Whole Foods, used the moniker 'Rahodeb' to make postings about rival Wild Oats over several years, according to a filing from the Federal Trade Commission.

by Richard Maven 12 July 2007 13:22pm 2 comments

Pot Noodle launches UGC ad campaign on YouTube

Pot Noodle has launched a user-generated advertising campaign hosted on YouTube.

Owner Unilever has invited users to submit videos of themselves eating the snack in unusual places - for each video submitted, the company will send out 12 Pot Noodles.

by Robert Andrews 10 July 2007 11:25am 0 comments