AlterNet: MediaCulture: Have You Been Tricked by Viral Marketing? Join the Crowd

AlterNet: MediaCulture: Have You Been Tricked by Viral Marketing? Join the Crowd: "The process is customized for each product and company, but the standard procedure goes something like this: recruit influential people within a specialty or social network, allow them to familiarize themselves with a product, give them the means by which they can relay their product assessments to other people (over the Internet or by some other channel) and provide them rewards for reporting back on how the product was received and criticized by their peers."