KING 5 Covers the MySpace/McCain Prank (Video)

March 29th, 2007

Since the Newsvine server farm is getting pounded into submission today (still!), I’ll post a link to this here. The Seattle NBC affiliate, KING 5, dropped by Newsvine global headquarters today to find out more about the MySpace/John McCain prank. The video of the segment — just aired on the 10pm and 11pm news — is available at the following KING 5 link:

Kudos to the McCain camp for playing this cool. Being a good sport goes a long way. Daily Show, Colbert Report, Countdown? Where are you?

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33 Responses:

Phil Wilks says:

A nice ending to a very nice prank. Well done Mike!

#1 - March 29th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Devon Shaw says:

*standing ovation*

I still think you didn’t actually change his views at all. :)

#2 - March 29th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Mike D. says:

By the way, I misspoke slightly towards the end of the video. It was actually me who “friended” McCain first today and then he “friended” me back. Still BFFs though! Like OMFG! ROTFLMAO!

And also, the McCain camp is now properly crediting me on their page. Good on them!

#3 - March 29th, 2007 at 1:56 am
gb says:

Soooo… you’ve been touching your server again, eh, Mike?

#4 - March 29th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Ryan Guill says:

I have been watching this story since it first came on newsvine, and it just keeps getting better and better. I can’t believe you got a reporter to say “two passionate females” on the air. Priceless. I really wish this would get picked up by a national news outlet though. An interview on nightly news or a cnn story would be great.

#5 - March 29th, 2007 at 5:04 am
Ryan Guill says:

Oh, and you saying BFF, also priceless. The only thing that would have made that better would have been for the reporter to explain what BFF was…

#6 - March 29th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Marc Rullo says:

This has all the markings of a PR stroke of genius. I’m not saying that someone is pulling all the strings on this, but imagine if there were. Upstart web company meets presidential campaign and hatches brilliant web stunt to gain relatively innocuous, free national public exposure. Just maybe this happy accident spawns a few brainstorming sessions in PR departments and campaign headquarters around the nation…or not.
In any case, I’m just noting that creativity has no limits and is bound to nothing. And congratulations, Mike, on a situation well handled. You just stepped up to the next level as a promising young corporate leader.

#7 - March 29th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Sectim42 says:

Daily Show, Colbert Report, Countdown? Where are you?

Seriously! I am a huge DS/CR fan and I figured they would totally pick up on this. This is right up their alley.

Glad to see McCain had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. Props again to you for your creativity.

#8 - March 29th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Kris Gosser says:

Did you notice the subtitle by the news site, though, Mike?

A Seattle CEO of a news Web site shows the true power of the Internet after setting a trap for Senator John McCain.

Did you really set a trap for him? Seems more like you just played a joke. Darn media, haha.

BTW, will you be my BFF?

#9 - March 29th, 2007 at 6:44 am
Kevin Tamura says:

Very nice Mike.

#10 - March 29th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Sean Hills says:

Funniest thing I have seen in a long ass time lmao

#11 - March 29th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Nathan Logan says:

The BFF’s part in the video was hilarious – I love that they didn’t edit that out. But setting a trap? If so, you’re the craftiest, most subversive hacker I’ve ever heard of.

#12 - March 29th, 2007 at 8:31 am
DocDave says:

Kudos Mike! You handled this whole event like everyone wishes they could. I especially like the BFFs comment. Priceless.

I have to agree you local news media got a little liberal with the title of the news story. A trap? Really? Taught a lesson is more like it.

#13 - March 29th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Brian White says:

Mike, what is going on with the Newsvine servers? I haven’t been able to get to Newsvine for 2 days except for intermittently getting an error page. Could you perhaps post a blog entry on whatever the issue is?

#14 - March 29th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Ryan says:

Newsvine is on overload from all this new exposure. I’ve taken to logging on only in the middle of the night to get good response time.

#15 - March 29th, 2007 at 9:32 am
jessica~ says:

Oh, this was great! The BFF at the end was a nice touch!

#16 - March 29th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Sherwin Techico says:

Haha … the FoWA! =)

#17 - March 29th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Nick says:

Oh man you could’ve at least gotten your hair cut for your KING 5 debut.

Good joke though!

#18 - March 29th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Jason says:

Too cool! Although you must in some small way wish they would append the “template provided by…” with “(but we ruined it)” :)

#19 - March 29th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Rian says:

Has anyone found the video on YouTube or some such site? I cannot get KING 5’s wmv player to work. It apparently doesn’t cooperate with Flip4Mac’s quicktime plugin.

#20 - March 29th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Corey Spring says:

The line about BFF’s is priceless

#21 - March 29th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Jack says:

My my, first a CEO and now you’re making BFF’s in high places.

You are really on your way to becoming a media mogul, Mike.

#22 - March 29th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
melissa says:

What a hoot! Well done :)

Cheers

#23 - March 29th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Jermayn Parker says:

So how you voting for???? John??

#24 - March 29th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Andy Borgmann says:

YOU MADE THE DAILY SHOW TONIGHT!!!

#25 - March 29th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Lance Hayden says:

Daily show gives some love tonight!

#26 - March 29th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Jason Campbell says:

I was a little dissapointed that they didn’t pick up on the fact that his team was pulling the image straight from your server through the intratubes. I’m not sure if calling it a hack really does the story justice, but their spin on it did make me giggle.

#27 - March 29th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Aine says:

We need that Daily Show segment on YouTube, so we can blog it! *grin*

Fan-farging-tastic. *dance, dance, dance*

#28 - March 29th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Ian Lloyd says:

Daily Show you say? Top work, Mike. Been following this and loving it … you cheeky little monkey!

#29 - March 30th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Mike D. says:

Thanks for the heads-up everyone! I was in a big conference room when these comments started pouring in and I about lost it.

#30 - March 30th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Mike Stickel says:

I’m with Rian, the King5 site keeps crashing Safari and won’t work for me in FF on a Mac.

On the flip side, congrats on the coverage Mike. Definitely a huge boost for Newsvine :)

#31 - March 31st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Bryce says:

Bravo for a great prank and sticking to your guns on the rules of the information highway. Obviously John didn’t build the MySpace page himself…some lacky probably did it without his knowledge of what he was doing…but still…gota love politics!

#32 - April 1st, 2007 at 8:37 am
Marcus says:

It jarrs me every time I see your face, Mike. I’ve always imagined you to look like that dude, the MILF Hunter dot com guy, always on the road and sleeping with naÃ¯ve, red-head mothers across america.

It’s kind of like when Elijah Wood played Frodo. But in a sexual way.

Anyway, it was a great prank. Thanks for doing it! I laughed out loud…

#33 - April 5th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

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