曾经滚动过Twitter并思考

我们喜欢认为我们可以控制在线消费的东西。但事实是，大多数病毒的故事 - 是否是政治丑闻

Ever scroll through Twitter and thought, Wow, everyone’s talking about this. It must be important? Yeah, you’ve been played.

曾经浏览Twitter并思考，哇，每个人都在谈论这个。一定很重要吗？是的，你一直在玩。

We like to think we’re in control of what we consume online. But the truth is, most viral stories – whether it’s a political scandal, a brand controversy, or some influencer “exposé” – didn’t just happen. They were engineered to grab your attention.

我们喜欢认为我们可以控制在线消费的东西。但事实是，大多数病毒式故事 - 无论是政治丑闻，品牌争议，还是一些影响者的“Exposé” - 不仅发生。他们经过精心设计，以吸引您的注意力。

It is famously known as a media hack: a strategic stunt that can manipulate news cycles, game social media algorithms, and control public perception. And it’s been happening for way longer than you think.

它被称为媒体黑客：一种战略特技，可以操纵新闻周期，游戏社交媒体算法并控制公众的看法。它的发生时间比您想象的要长。

What Exactly is a Media Hack?

媒体黑客到底是什么？

A media hack is when someone manufactures a viral moment. You may also know it as a PR stunt, social engineering, viral manipulation, outrage baiting, and guerrilla marketing.

媒体黑客是某人制造病毒时刻的时候。您可能还知道它是公关特技，社会工程，病毒操纵，愤怒诱饵和游击营销。

Whether it’s real, exaggerated, or completely staged, the goal is the same: to shift attention in their favor. Personalities like Douglas Rushkoff and John Borthwick popularized the term in the early 2000s.

无论是真实的，夸张的还是完全上演的，目标都是相同的：转移注意力的关注。道格拉斯·拉什科夫（Douglas Rushkoff）和约翰·博特威克（John Borthwick）等人物在2000年代初期普及了这个词。

Back in the day, it was fake celebrity scandals to sell magazines. Now, it’s influencers exposing brands while conveniently plugging a competitor. It’s companies pretending their ad could not run on TV due to a ban. Moreover, it isn’t just marketing; it happens in politics, social activism, business, and personal branding.

过去，出售杂志是假的名人丑闻。现在，有影响力的人在方便地插入竞争对手的同时，揭露品牌。由于禁令，这是假装广告无法在电视上运行的公司。而且，这不仅仅是营销；它发生在政治，社会行动主义，商业和个人品牌中。

The goal? Outrage, hype, and, most importantly,

目标？愤怒，炒作，最重要的是

.

。

Media hacks are so effective because they exploit two major human tendencies: our love for drama and our instinct to take sides. Controversy naturally draws people, especially when it feels like there’s a villain and a hero. When a brand or influencer crafts a viral scandal, they know that outrage will keep people engaged far longer than something neutral or positive ever would.

媒体骇客之所以如此有效，是因为它们利用了两个主要的人类倾向：我们对戏剧的热爱和我们的本能。争议自然会吸引人们，尤其是当感觉到有恶棍和英雄时。当品牌或有影响力的人制作病毒丑闻时，他们知道愤怒将使人们的参与度比中性或积极的东西更长。

Social media has built an empire on this effect. Science shows that people respond to anger, so algorithms make sure it’s anger-inducing stories they get. True or false, it doesn’t matter – it all comes down to clicks, comments, and shares. The more heated the conversation, the more visibility the story gets. This is why media hackers focus less on facts and more on emotions – they’re not trying to inform you; they’re trying to trigger a reaction.

社交媒体已经建立了这一影响的帝国。科学表明人们对愤怒做出反应，因此算法确保这是引起愤怒的故事。是或错，没关系 - 这一切都取决于点击，评论和分享。对话越激烈，故事就越能看到。这就是为什么媒体黑客少专注于事实，而不是情绪上的原因 - 他们并不是要通知您；他们正在试图触发反应。

Media Hacks That Actually Worked

实际上有效的媒体骇客

Not all media hacks are evil. Some are just brilliant marketing moves. Here are a few that nailed it:

并非所有的媒体黑客都是邪恶的。有些只是出色的营销动作。这是一些钉住它的人：

When Media Hacks Backfire – Badly

当媒体入侵适得其反时 - 严重

For every smart media hack, there’s a disastrous attempt that blows up in someone’s face.

对于每个智能媒体的黑客，都有一种灾难性的尝试在某人的脸上吹来。

Crypto Media Hacks We All Loved to Hate

我们都喜欢讨厌的加密媒体骇客

Crypto is basically the Wild West of media hacks – a space where meme coins, fake scandals, and influencer hype can turn nobodies into millionaires (or billionaires!) overnight – or drain wallets just as fast. Some of these stunts were hilarious, some were straight-up criminal, but all of them could manipulate attention and money.

Crypto基本上是媒体骇客的狂野西部 - 一个模因硬币，假丑闻和有影响力的人炒作可以在一夜之间变成百万富翁（或亿万富翁！），或者很快排出钱包。其中一些特技表演很有趣，有些是直接犯罪的罪犯，但所有这些都可以操纵注意力和金钱。

Hawk Tuah Coin – The Fastest Cash Grab in Meme Coin History

霍克·塔阿（Hawk Tuah）硬币 - 模因硬币历史上最快的现金抢购

The internet gave us the Hawk Tuah Girl, and she gave us Hawk Tuah Coin ($TUAH). It followed the classic formula:

互联网给了我们霍克·图阿（Hawk Tuah）的女孩，她给了我们霍克·图阿（Hawk Tuah Coin）（$ tuah）。它遵循经典公式：

The coin soared as meme traders piled in, but predictably, it crashed just as fast, proving once again that if your investment strategy is based on a viral TikTok soundbite, you might want to rethink your life choices.

随着模因贸易商堆积的速度，硬币飙升，但可以预见的是，它崩溃的速度也一样快，再次证明，如果您的投资策略是基于病毒的Tiktok Soundbite，您可能需要重新考虑生活选择。

Squid Game Token—The “Play-to-Earn” That Played Everyone

鱿鱼游戏令牌 - 玩每个人

Back in 2021, some scammers saw Squid Game dominating pop culture and thought, What if we made a token that had absolutely nothing to do with the show but used its name anyway?The plan worked – $SQUID skyrocketed over 83,000% in a few days. Then? The devs cashed out, and investors had only worthless tokens. It was the perfect example of a media hack that preyed on hype and FOMO, proving once again that just because something sounds exciting doesn’t mean it’s legit.

早在2021年，一些骗子就看到了鱿鱼游戏在流行文化和思想中占主导地位，如果我们制作了一个与演出完全无关的代币，但无论如何都使用了它的名字？该计划奏效了 - $ squid在几天内就超过了83,000％。然后？开发人员兑现了，投资者只有毫无价值的代币。这是一个媒体黑客炒作炒作和FOMO的完美例子，再次证明，仅仅因为听起来令人兴奋并不意味着它是合法的。

Save the Kids – The FaZe Clan Crypto Rugpull

拯救孩子们 - 陷入困境的Cran Crypto Rugpull

What’s worse than a shady meme coin? A shady meme coin pretending to be for charity.FaZe Clan members hyped up Save the Kids ($KIDS) as a token to “help underprivileged children.” Turns out, the only thing it helped was insiders getting rich before dumping their holdings. The public backlash was brutal; FaZe members got suspended, and the whole thing became a textbook case of influencer-driven media manipulation.

有什么比阴暗的模因硬币还糟？一枚假装慈善的阴暗模因硬币。Faze氏族成员大肆宣传救助孩子们（$儿童）作为“帮助贫困儿童”的代币。事实证明，它唯一帮助的是内部人在倾倒股份之前变得富有。公众反弹是残酷的。 Faze成员被暂停，整个事情成为了由影响者驱动的媒体操纵的教科书案例。

How to Avoid Getting Played

如何避免玩

The best way to avoid falling for a media hack is to take a step back before reacting. If a story spreads unusually fast and seems tailor-made to provoke outrage, it’s worth questioning why.

避免陷入媒体黑客攻击的最佳方法是在做出反应之前退后一步。如果一个故事异常传播，并且似乎量身定制以激发愤怒，那么值得质疑为什么。

If the person “exposing” something is promoting a competitor or pushing a political agenda, they might not be as unbiased

如果“暴露”某事正在促进竞争对手或推动政治议程，那么他们可能不会公正