John Mellencamp’s Battle Heads to Facebook

Rolling Stone posted an article which explained a deal made between John Mellencamp and his son, Speck. According to RS, if Speck can get at least 1,000,000 people to join the group John Cougar will quit his habit. Apparently, the man has already cut his habit down a bit from 4 packs a day to an unspecified number less. As of now, about 300,000 people have joined the fight against John Mellencamp’s freedom to get cancer.

I’m not sure why, but this whole thing makes me laugh. I thought there were far too many Facebook groups as it is, now there’s one for the well-being of John Mellencamp’s throat. To me it’s a bit ridiculous. At fist I thought, “People need to be free to do what they want. It’s legal, so why can’t he smoke in peace without all of Facebook hassling him and giving their two cents.” But then I thought, “This guy agreed to it, he’s asking for it. Hell, he could have even planned it all with his publicist.”

And what happens if they do get a million people to join and John reneges on his promise to quit lighting up? It’s very possible. In fact, 80% of people that use stop smoking aids to quit will start smoking again in the next year. Think of the disappointment his child might feel for a father that can’t even quit smoking for him, let alone one million fans. Will all these “so-called” supporters turn their backs on him once he lets them down?

So what do you think, is it just a publicity stunt? a young boys cry for help? a waste of server space? or is that the beauty of social networking sites that YOU can have a say as to what happens to John Mellencamp’s lungs?

Post your comments below.

-Keaton

John Mellencamp’s Battle Heads to Facebook

Social Networkers Have a Responsibility as News Sources

Pete Cashmore of Mashable wrote an article for CNN predicting the top ten web trends to watch for in 2010.  Some of them are predictable.  He writes to expect several Twitter-copycats as people strive for even more real-time interaction with their world and the people in it.  Cashmore also says with the widespread use of smartphones and apps to expect even more convergence in our devices - for example, Tom Tom's and other GPS devices will likely go out of style and instead they will be sold as apps on iPhones, or even become an included feature.  He also says to watch for the increase in "cloud computing," like Apple's MobileMe, where data is no longer stored on one desktop, but instead stored on a server (or cloud) accessible to multiple devices at once. 

Possibly Cashmore's prediction with the most interesting consequences is the continuance of our news coming to us through our social network instead of a direct news source.  Practically every website, blog, and article have icons to post what you're looking at directly to your Facebook or Twitter account with one click.  With the "information overload" of today's internet, people are getting to know their world more and more through their friends.  This trend is extremely useful for sharing information with your entire social network instantly, but it also has interesting side effects. For example, if people are only paying attention to things that are shared with them through their social network they may be missing out on other relevant information that's not of interest to their social networking "friends".  Having shared interests is a good thing, but this could create a new kind of ignorance and uniform thinking.

In the past, people were concerned with news organizations merging together to create information powerhouses.  The fear was if one news organization controls too many outlets then the same information will be distributed through several channels giving people less choice and variety.  The thought is that it is better to have many different organizations with different agendas and different voices.  Well, now that news organizations are changing with the rapid use of social media I think the new concern in the next decade will be keeping variety in the content that people choose to share with their network.  This new system could work great as long as there is a healthy balance of people participating with new content and different interests.  If too many people become passive observers instead of contributors all we'll ever know about are trending Twitter topics and funny YouTube videos posted to our Facebook pages.  If people participate actively and intelligently the benefits can be very exciting. In my opinion, this should be a trend to strive for in 2010.

-Erin

Social Networkers Have a Responsibility as News Sources

Facebook is Your "Get Out of Jail Free" Card

Your Facebook status can be an alibi to keep your butt out of jail. Rodney Bradford's status proved to be a reliable alibi when he was accused and jailed for robbery. It was the time stamp and location of where the status was updated that proved it was impossible for him to have been at the scene of the crime.

I guess it's cool that something simple like that can keep you from getting wrongly convicted of a crime, but are we losing our right to privacy in the process? I understand that yes if you put something on the internet it is basically out there forever for the world to see and use as it so pleases, but it kind of sucks too.

We use the internet for everything even though we know that it's not really safe to do so. We pay our bills online, check our bank accounts online, shop online, read up on celebrity gossip, and chat with friends on Facebook. It kind of makes you think, what did our grandparents and those before them do without advanced technology? Today, WE ARE our computers, our iPods, and our cell phones. If one breaks we feel like a part of us is missing, but if it keeps me out of jail I guess I can live with that.

-Rachel

Facebook is Your "Get Out of Jail Free" Card

New Regulations on Tweets

How many times have you read something on Twitter, on Facebook, or even under the reviews for products on sites like Amazon and thought it sounded a lot like they were trying to sell you on something. Well, those days are over.

Starting December 1, 2009 bloggers are required to clearly state any connection to an advertiser. This meaning that anyone making a post anywhere in the social media world must disclose payments for an endorsement. Furthermore, they can be held accountable if the statements made about the product are false.

No longer can celebrities get paid for commenting about products and influencing our decisions without explicitly stating that they are getting paid to do so. It’s the first time that rules are being placed in the blogosphere about what can be said. Previous to Twitter and Facebook endorsements were made through the actually ad firms in forms of testimonials or television ads, but it has become increasingly popular to pay individuals to post their “personal experiences” in hopes of creating buzz.

Izea is a social media marketing company that specializes in sponsored tweets and sponsored conversations in blogs. Their purpose is to create buzz and drive traffic. Some might say this is the end of Twitter. What if every post made on twitter was for advertising? That would take away the purpose of spreading ideas and engaging in conversation that twitter holds, and turn it into an advertising frenzy.

But now with these New Guidelines bloggers must disclose that they are getting paid to make the statement. FTC regulations might have just saved twitter!

-Annie H.

New Regulations on Tweets

Capitalize on photo sharing via Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace: Visual endorsement; the new way of advertising?

Much of product placement research concludes that when the product and the plot of the scene are congruent then memory is affected along with attitude change. But there is also a negative effect if the product and the plot seem to be unrelated. Then the consumer will detect the product as being out of place and discredit the product. More times than not, consumers can detect product placements leaving them thinking negatively about the product.

“It’s like people only do things because they get paid, and that’s really sad.”

Check out this clip from Wayne’s World exploiting product placement:



In this example of Wayne’s World, Wayne doesn’t want to harm the reputation of his show by adding a segment in about his sponsor. He then continues to mock product placement by showing how obvious it really is.

Marketers have been using product placement since the 80’s to reach their audience, and now consumers can endorse the products, services, and people they believe-in by putting their own credibility on the line to do so then brands can pay them for their contribution. New start-up companies such as Udorse are capitalizing on visual endorsement by connecting brands and Facebook. Here is how it works, from Facebook you click on your picture and endorse an item, a service, or a new favorite band. If your friends then take action, such as visiting the endorsed products’ website, then the brand will pay you.

Whether Udorse is exploiting social media sites or creating a web version of word of mouth advertising, it is in deed another phenomena to the social media world.

-Annie H.

Capitalize on photo sharing via Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace: Visual endorsement; the new way of advertising?

Interesting news from the world of Facebook, Twitter and the FCC.

I read a story saying that Facebook has a value of $10 Billion dollars. That is crazy! The site we use everyday for putting off homework or just to stalk people we don't know (don't lie we all have done it) is worth $10 billion dollars!

In Twitter news, there has been rumors going around that the social networking site will try and create a TV show to go and find celebrities. Isn't that called stalking? Just think what the world would be if the paparazzi would follow celebs around by their twitter. That would be insane and really creepy to say the least. But, the biggest tweeter of them all, Ashton Kutcher, said that he would be against it and his better half Demi Moore would stop twittering as well.

In closing, I was watching TV the other day and they mentioned that due to a really old law the FCC has power to go into your house and search your belongings. The reason for that is due to the that fact that cell phones transmit radio waves. So, if you are transmitting radio waves it gives them the right to search your house and if you have anything illegal then say goodbye to it. I am in the process of finding a link for the FCC story. When I get it I will post it.

Let me know what you think.

-Will

Interesting news from the world of Facebook, Twitter and the FCC.

MySpace is Dead? (2): Rich's Rebuttal

At least this graph is more credible than the last one Rich sent me:


Yes, obviously Facebook is winning the race, but this actually shows that for the most part traffic has stayed steady on MySpace over the last year. Mere fluctuations. For MySpace to die they'd have to experience a little more dramatic drop in its 60 million (!!!) monthly visitors.

Besides, of course Facebook is leaving MySpace in the dust. Everyone and their grandma has started joining. Seriously, someone's grandma added me the other day!
Love you Rich.

-Tooth

MySpace is Dead? (2): Rich's Rebuttal

MySpace is Dead?

My friend and I had an intense argument the other night (somewhat alcohol induced) about MySpace . He thinks it’s “dead” and I felt he had no support for this claim, so he sent me this overview of the site's users today:

The picture it paints is sort of funny and only partially true, but I still hold that MS is in the top 3 (far from dead) behind YouTube and Facebook as far as social sites that intro people to new music. So Rich, quit hatin:) Thoughts?

-Tooth

MySpace is Dead?

Why Myspace is Still Essential

Alright so I have a lot of artists who come to me, and ask if they still need Myspace. Some come to me and ask if they still need any physical distribution of their music. Personally, I say why not do both, but just like in college have a major and minor. Figure out which one you will devote 80% of your time/money, and 20% to the other. Going in 50/50 has gotten a lot of people fucked (excuse the language, but its just the truth). Going 100% in one direction is no good either for your losing revenue from a potential of millions. A potential because it all depends on talents and consumers' tastes.

Now comes Myspace. This to me seems a little low, but all the statistics are from January 2008. Myspace has over 110 million users around the globe, with an average of 300,000 new people a day. There has been over 14 billion comments, and more than 8 million artists.

How do you stand out with 8 million artists? Easy, be better than them. Have the 7 second rule for your starting song, if the song just doesn't catch my interest within 7 seconds I move on. There has been a few successes, but do not use your Myspace as the only selling tool for your album. You can promote it, but don't have people buy off Myspace. Instead you should link them to your official page. Myspace is really a promotion site for your artists, not generally a selling tool. Every artist I have seen selling off their Myspace using Snocap or something else doesn't know of the better tools like Nimbit, Reverbnation, or even Amazon. Plus why should I be interested in your music if the artists themselves do not invest the time/money into their art? I mean doing a little research can be great. You can find so much great stuff that can be essential to an artist's career, but not too many people do that. Why? They think "talent" alone can get you a deal and make you money. Wrong! You need sites like Myspace/Facebook and other social networking websites to network and get your music in the ears of listeners.

Myspace is so over saturated that every time I get a band's request now on my personal page I just decline it unless they have a cool name or profile page looks legit. On my business page, I accept everybody but rarely check their music unless the friend request is followed up with a comment or a message. This shows you're interested in every fan. Mass friend adds is so "last year". Now you have to express personality with the message. Anybody can copy and paste to make it personal, but what if you search for… let me say a random artist, Jay-Z. Lets say I still hate Jay from the studio beef between him and Nas, so in my favorite artists section I put, "Nas is the best, fuck Jay-z" (excuse the profanity again, that was taken from somebodies profile as is.). Now you do a search of profiles for Jay-Z fans, and my name pops up, and you say Hey, saw your a fan of Jay, I sound similar check me out. I would probably delete and report spam just because your trying to be personal and your not.

So pretty much, use myspace for a marketing tool to promote your music/shows and have links to pages where fans can purchase music/tickets. Merchandise is in the same boat. If you do all of the above and you still are not getting a piece of those 14 billion comments from your fans now "friends", than check your style of music, the way you added people, your quality, or just the people you send the request to. Be smart with your Myspace, and Myspace will pay you back. Be dumb with your Myspace, and your one of the people who still think it doesn't matter. It's just a tool, use it, don't live it.

From the mind of

Keveeno

**Based on stats found HERE

Why Myspace is Still Essential