Manufactured buzz doesn't work
Steven Levitt (coauthor of Freakonomics) commented on faking user-generated content (which I discussed here). Found via Emergence Marketing:
One conclusion which Steven Levitt at Freakonomics comes to when answering the question “what does or does not make Internet buzz translate into commercial success” is “One reasonable answer to that question may be that when the buzz is faked/manufactured, commercial success will not follow.”
Whether intentional or not, “manufactured buzz,” along with other viral “gaming-the-system” marketing strategies are just another threat to the future credibility of word of mouth marketing – another one being the lack of disclosure policy which some companies refuse to endorse.