Wanting to see highlights from the MTV Movie Awards last night, I went online to check out what I missed — the fashion, the drama, and the video clips.

Not surprisingly, I noticed a familiar message on some of my favorite blogs when trying to click on clips of most talked about moments, including Tom Cruise channeling Len Grossman.

Every video I tried to play on sites other than MTV.com was interrupted by a message saying the content was removed by Viacom.

Following my earlier rant after the MTV Video Music Awards when MTV removed any and all clips of Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, Viacom has been actively removing clips and content where they see it posted. Forums, message boards, UGC sites and blogs all had clips that had to be removed or wouldn’t play.

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A few weeks ago, I was asked by Lisa Lacy on behalf of ClickZ why MTV’s Jersey Shore has become so popular through social media and conditions for the “perfect storm”.

‘Jersey Shore’ Builds Momentum with Social Apps

By Lisa Lacy, ClickZ, Jan 20, 2010

When actor Michael Cera got his hair blown out by Jersey Shore’s DJ Pauly D in a cross-promotional effort for Cera’s new film, Youth in Revolt, it was a new high for MTV’s hit reality show.

The show’s basic premise is similar to over 20 preceding seasons in MTV’s Real World franchise, yet Snooki, Vinny and the rest of the gang have reached an unprecedented level of cultural saturation. According to Nielsen, 1.4 million viewers tuned in to the premiere on December 4. And numbers have steadily risen since then, culminating in 3.6 million viewers tuning in on January 14.

That’s thanks in part to MTV’s efforts to harness organic buzz and create branded content. The company has launched a Twitter integration, exclusive online videos, and is preparing new features such as a character generator and an iPhone app.

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In the era of internet marketing, in order for a social media campaign to be successful, it’s a given that it must move beyond traditional media (print, broadcast, radio) channels to include a consumer driven online PR and social strategy.

The question now isn’t whether the social media component is necessary for a campaign, but rather:

How can online and offline entities work together to effectively promote a campaign and build word of mouth marketing?

From my experience, having worked on both sides, one of the most important factors in ensuring the success of an integrated campaign is the need for traditional and interactive campaigns to be launched simultaneously.

It’s important for managers on both sides to coordinate a launch date for the campaign and make sure both traditional and digital media fronts are mobilized by this date in order to maximize exposure and build on momentum.

Case and point, the integrated publicity campaign for the premiere of the third installment of the New Moon trailer on the MTV Video Music Awards this week:

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Last Sunday night, I noticed multiple posts on Facebook about Kanye West’s inappropriate actions at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech.

Since the program was delayed on the West Coast where I live, I naturally went to social media to see what the fuss was about.

To my surprise, every video I tried to play was interrupted by a message saying the content was removed by Viacom.

Much has been discussed the past few days about Viacom’s decision to make VMA-related content available only on MTV or MTV.com. Viacom has been actively removing clips and content where they see it posted. Forums, message boards, UGC sites and blogs all had clips that had to be removed or wouldn’t play.

While Viacom is still engaged in a lawsuit with Youtube, my guess is their actions are as much about controlling content as driving traffic to their site and advertising supported video player.

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