CASE 2: SONY AND THE JK WEDDING DANCE
1. What is the problem or issue discussed in the case? What are some of the challenges that
Jeff Dodes faces? Why is the issue under investigation relevant for marketers?
2. Do you think the success of this video was natural or there was some engineering going
on behind the scenes? Support your decision based on the factors that Jonah Berger states
as necessary for content to become contagious and go viral.
3. Assuming that this video success was engineered (I’m not implying that this is the case),
what type of “stuff” can this video be considered? What could be Sony’s goals in this
situation? And Chris Brown’s?
4. Based on the characteristics of great content and compelling stories listed by Vaynerchuk
in Ch. 2, Can the JK Wedding Dance video be considered to be great content and an
example of a compelling story?
5. Why does Gary Vaynerchuck argue that storytelling is like boxing? Do you think “The
JK Wedding Dance” video could be considered the right hook? (Ch. 1)
6. What social media zones and specific platforms (or vehicles) do you think were most
likely used for the propagation of the video? Justify your answer.
7. Firms may use social media to promote their products. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of using in-stream advertising platforms such as Ad.ly (http://adly.com/)?
Read the WSJ article “Inside a Twitter Robot Factory” posted on Bb, under cases. How
the issue highlighted in the article would affect platforms such as Ad.ly? What are the
implications for companies contracting in-stream advertising services?
CASE EVALUATION CRITERIA
Case write-ups will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. How well/completely your paper answers the proposed questions
2. How thoughtfully organized the paper is
3. Use of class concepts
4. Quality of recommendations
a. Are they insightful and thorough?
b. Do they build on the case information?
c. Are the recommendations specific, actionable, and reasonable?
d. Do they make business sense?
5. Quality and amount of research done (primary and secondary) and its usefulness to
support your answers
Inside a Twitter Robot Factory - WSJ.com
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http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240527023046071045792...
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TECHNOLOGY
Fake Activity, Often Bought for Publicity Purposes, Influences Trending Topics
By JEFF ELDER
Nov. 24, 2013 6:25 p.m. ET
Bruno Mallart
One day earlier this month, Jim Vidmar bought 1,000 fake Twitter accounts for $58 from an online vendor in Pakistan.
He then programmed the accounts to "follow" the Twitter account of rapper Dave Murrell, who calls himself Fyrare and pays Mr.
Vidmar to boost his standing on the social network. Mr. Vidmar's fake accounts also rebroadcast Mr. Murrell's tweets, amplifying
his Twitter voice.
Mr. Murrell says he sometimes buys Twitter ads to raise his profile, "but you'll get
more with Jim." He says many Twitter users try to make their followings look bigger
than they are. "If you're not padding your numbers, you're not doing it right," he
says. "It's part of the game."
Fake accounts are thriving on Twitter and are used to
make celebrities and trending topics appear more
popular than they are. There is also a robust black
market for buying such accounts, Jeff Elder reports.
Photo: twitter.com/Fyrare.
Mr. Vidmar offers a window into the shadowy world of false accounts and
computerized robots on Twitter, one of the world's largest social networks.
Surrounded by a dozen computers at his home overlooking a golf course near the
Las Vegas Strip, Mr. Vidmar has been buying fake accounts and unleashing them
on Twitter for six years.
Today, he says he manages 10,000 robots for roughly 50 clients, who pay Mr.
Vidmar to make them appear more popular and influential.
His are among millions of fake accounts on Twitter. Mr. Vidmar and other owners manage them to simulate Twitter users: they
tweet; retweet, or forward, other tweets; send and reply to messages; and follow and unfollow other Twitter accounts, among
other actions.
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Inside a Twitter Robot Factory - WSJ.com
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Jeff Elder discusses his story with WSJ’s Dan
Loney.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240527023046071045792...
Some entertainers pay for fake followers. But false accounts can be political tools
as well. In 2011, thousands of fake accounts disrupted anti-Kremlin protesters on
Twitter.
00:00 |
08:59
The fake accounts remain a cloud over Twitter Inc. in the wake of its successful
initial public offering. "Twitter is where many people get news," says Sherry Turkle,
director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. "If what is trending on Twitter
is being faked by robots, people need to know that. This will and should undermine trust."
Fake accounts thrive on Twitter in part because, unlike Facebook, Twitter doesn't limit users to a single account, or require them
to use their real names.
Twitter's terms of service prohibit "mass account creation," and the buying or selling of accounts or followers. Last spring, Twitter
helped a research team apply a filter that, for a time, blocked 95% of new fake accounts.
A Twitter spokesman wouldn't disclose whether the company has continued to use the researchers' technique to identify and
block suspect accounts.
While conceding that fakes are "a difficult problem, the Twitter spokesman said, "We have a variety of automated and manual
controls in place to detect, flag, and suspend accounts created solely for spam purposes."
On Friday the company posted a job opening ad on its site for an anti-spam product manager position.
Mr. Vidmar says Facebook has suspended his accounts and threatened legal action for pursuing similar activities on that
network. Twitter hasn't contacted or reprimanded him, he says, though it has suspended or deleted several personal accounts
he has used to pitch his business.
In securities filings, Twitter says it believes fake accounts represent fewer than 5% of its 230 million active users. Independent
researchers believe the number is higher.
Italian security researchers Andrea Stroppa and Carlo De Micheli say they found 20 million fake accounts for sale on Twitter this
summer. That would amount to nearly 9% of Twitter's monthly active users. The Italian researchers also found software for sale
that allows spammers to create unlimited fake accounts. The researchers decoded robot-programming software to reveal how
easy it is for spammers to control the convincing fakes.
Twitter declined to discuss specific findings.
Jason Ding, a researcher at Barracuda Labs who has studied fake Twitter followers for more than a year, also thinks Twitter
underestimates the prevalence of fake accounts on the network. Mr. Ding says users don't understand how active and realistic
the fakes can appear.
For 10 months in 2012 and 2013, a team of researchers from the University of California Berkeley and George Mason University
worked with Twitter's security department to help identify fake accounts and minimize robot activity.
The team bought fake accounts on the black market, identified common characteristics, and developed a filter that would block
roughly 95% of such accounts. Twitter's previous system caught about 8% of fake accounts, the researchers said. They
presented the results at an academic conference.
In April, Twitter and the researchers applied the filter. Mr. Vidmar says he remembers the day, because most of his fake accounts
were deleted, and he couldn't create new ones. "They cleaned house," he says.
But Mr. Vidmar and others say the underground market quickly adapted. The researchers' system flagged accounts with
incomplete profiles, no pictures, and little activity. In response, Mr. Vidmar says suppliers now fill out more account details, add
pictures, and tweet from the accounts before selling them.
That drove up the cost of fake accounts. But marketers and researchers say the black market is again thriving.
Just two weeks after the crackdown, Twitter caught only about half the suspicious accounts being offered by merchants
previously identified as selling fake accounts, according to the Berkeley researchers.
Mr. Vidmar says one of his suppliers is offering 150,000 fake accounts for sale. "I could go buy fake accounts from about 20
different sources right now," he says.
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Mr. Ding, the Barracuda Labs researcher, says the fake-account market is "going very strong." He and other researchers say
Twitter doesn't appear to be applying the Berkeley researchers' techniques to root out other fake accounts.
Mr. Vidmar's robots have helped make his clients "trending topics" on Twitter, giving them special mention on Twitter users'
home pages. The trending topics appear just below the "promoted trend" that the company sells for as much as $200,000 a day.
The trending topics aren't marked as "sponsored," so they appear more genuine.
Rapper Tony Benson says hiring Mr. Vidmar to promote his account on Twitter is "the best decision I ever made." Mr. Vidmar's
robots made the rapper, known as Philly Chase, a trending topic so often around Philadelphia that he attracted attention from
local newspapers. Prominence on Twitter led to gigs, fans and ways to promote his videos, Mr. Benson says.
Mr. Vidmar uses software to follow tens of thousands of accounts for his clients, another tactic Twitter prohibits. Being followed
prompts many Twitter users to return the favor, and follow his clients.
In September, Mr. Vidmar used software to follow more than 100,000 Twitter users in a week for the Australian rock band The
Contagious; that boosted the band's following by 20,000.
The band has a "verified" account, meaning it has taken extra steps to prove to Twitter that the account is real.
Write to Jeff Elder at jeff.elder@wsj.com
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