The mysterious internet marketing of SocialVEVO

THEY are the mysterious people who duped thousands of Family Guy fans. And while their hoaxes are always eventually exposed, it doesn't matter. By then you've already clicked.

SocialVEVO created a hoax website after Brian from Family Guy was killed off.

THEY are the mysterious people who make viral videos go viral.

They hijack branding from big companies and use it to drive up traffic.

And while their hoaxes are always eventually exposed, it doesn't matter. By then you've already clicked.

The secretive company SocialVEVO specialises in fake viral marketing campaigns.

The group started off by faking YouTube hits using a practice called "botting", the Daily Dot reports.

Botting allows people to buy thousands of fake views for their videos. This means the videos generate more advertising revenue and are likely to genuinely go viral.

But YouTube recently cracked down on botting, so SocialVEVO had to find a new way to make money.

Their answer: fake viral marketing campaigns.

The campaigns usually capitalise on events that are already of major interest.

Recently the group jumped on Family Guy fans' outrage after character Brian Griffin was killed off.

They started a countdown website called briansannouncement.com, and upset fans visited it in droves. It looked legitimate, had related social media accounts and was reported on by media outlets including Time, Gawker and CNN.

But there was no announcement.

Fox released a statement saying: "The producers have confirmed that the 'special announcement from Brian' website is a hoax and was not created by anyone connected to the show, studio or network."

But by this time the website had already served its purpose.

In October SocialVEVO used a similar method to target NASA. It was during the US shutdown and government employees - including those of NASA - were unable to work.

On October 1 the URL rememberthe13th.com was registered, and a site was set up featuring the NASA logo, social media links and a countdown to November 13. It promised "the biggest discovery that will shake the Earth".

It was being shared far and wide on Twitter and Facebook but NASA could not step in to expose it as a hoax because of the shutdown.

Thankfully media outlets and bloggers did pick up on the hoax, reporting that it was a phishing campaign aimed at collecting email addresses in order to send more spam in the future.

A basic investigation revealed the site was registered in Panama. The IP address was linked to other dodgy sites - one pushing a fake Miley Cyrus sex tape and another pushing a bogus Grand Theft Auto 5 announcement.

These hoax sites are eventually pulled down once they are noticed by the companies they are exploiting.

But that is no problem for SocialVEVO. They just move on to their next campaign.

###