Startup Founder Plays Tech Press Like a Fiddle 135
theodp writes "Steinar Skipsnes came up with a unique way to get more women into tech. Make them up. Posing as 'Sarah Hanson,' a 19-year-old woman who claimed to have auctioned off 10% of her future income in return for $125,000 to fund her Senior Living Map startup, Skipsnes pitched the story via email to generate press coverage. It worked — VentureBeat, HuffPo, Yahoo!, AOL, GeekWire, and others took the bait. But after doubts were aired about the story, Skipsnes fessed up to concocting the too-good-to-be-true hoax about the female teen entrepreneur to appeal to the interests of the tech press. 'I started to think "what if I took the elements of what the press loves and created a story?"' Skipsnes explained. "So I did.'"
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Fraud? (Score:0, Informative)
No. He used a fake story to gain press, not solicit money or goods. If he maintained the story of imaginary investors while courting real ones then yes it would be fraud, but the only people he decieved were the media. If lying about your product and company to the news was a crime them every executive in the country would be in jail.
Re:Template (Score:5, Informative)
I keep thinking about James O'Keefe's fake video that led to the shutdown of ACORN. It's amazing how powerful this simple hoax was, it produced the intended result quickly and precisely. No fact-checking was done by anyone until well after the dust settled. Understanding the workings behind this hoax could allow individuals to wield incredible, world-changing power with nothing but common electronic gadgets and free time.
The important elements I've picked out so far are:
1. It confirmed people's fears or prejudices rather than presenting something shocking
2. It used a simple misdirection to present a false context instead of any camera trickery or hoaxed content. This helped make the video more believable.
3. Its path to the mainstream news was well-streamlined: It was media-friendly and fact-checker-unfriendly. It was sensational and people could watch and share it much faster than anyone could have called bullshit on it. Once it went viral on the web it only took one news channel with low standards to air it, and then the other mainstream news channels were practically forced to air it to stay relevant.
Re:Template (Score:4, Informative)
Nothing remotely unethical was caught in the video. The segments that apparently show the responses to the questions O'Keefe and the woman with him posed while dressed as a pimp & ho, were actually a mix of responses they received in formal wear and joking responses they received from an employee who called the police for them immediately after they left.
I know it's a comedy site but here's an overview of the hoax with good citations at #4:
http://www.cracked.com/article_20369_5-major-news-stories-that-forgot-to-tell-you-best-part.html [cracked.com]
Re:Template (Score:5, Informative)
You should not have been modded up. You are incorrect.