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

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?

Mog

Have you heard about Mog? It's a site for die hard music lovers! A friend of mine from a previous work life told me about it in early 2007 and I kept putting off joining until about a month ago. Now I can't stop! I comment on everybody's blog posts, blog myself and generally read their music updates religiously. Check it out!
--Mistress AMG

Mog

The Music Investor

I have read about several websites that have this idea of investing into the artists music, and I have written something about it awhile ago that I have actually removed by accident. I will say it again that it's almost like the entertainment stock market. You find a artist you like, and you put money into them hoping they can do something with it that could possibly get you money as well. It's all good until you realize the state of the industry and the fact that this artist is working on art…NOT a business. Music is a business, but most artists do not see it as such, and dissipate after awhile for steady income jobs elsewhere. Lets say you have a favorite artist and you invest a large amount, lets say $20,000. The artist goes to the studio and records a nice EP that is fully mastered, has a great marketing plan, and the album goes on iTunes and sells under 5,000 single sale copies, with a few hundred album copies. Lets say the artist we'll call, The Electric Italiano, makes around $2-3000 in a month. Thats a good months salary and now you want your money back. You make just under a grand back with a $-19,000 mark in your checkbook. Now what?

I have been blogging, talking about how the major industry is going to shit and indies are the future, individual artists are coming through tough times, and there is a future for music yet. I have worked out a few idea's than and out, but now I want to do something as well. I won't get into detail, but I would like to make a social networking site (waiting for gasps as something so revolutionary as that), but instead of joining networks, you join artists. We allow artists for a one time fee to build a full fan site with different levels and we put a price on the levels. Fans can join for free for the basic, but for different prices or "investments" they can receive benefits such such as a free concert tickets, free cd's, free posters, tee's, and more. This is a new idea to my head that has probably been done, but I will do more research.

If a fan who enjoys an artist's music so much that they purchase an album, why can't they get to know the artist more? Know why the artist wrote each song, the background of the artist past their bio, a chance to speak to the artist such as The Electric Italiano (a combination of The Electric Fetus (a record store here), and Italiano Coffee… words that I randomly saw on the wall here), and possibly a chance to meet up with other fans of the artist. I want to bring fan interaction to a whole new level, but set it up as a template like a social networking site that would literally be for networking instead of picking up underage kids by the likes of copycat Michael Jackson (myspace). I will have a full blueprint that I will work on, and hope nobody takes this idea because it is only partial on what I have an idea for in the back of my head.

Remember music is a way to express your soul, and it can get to be expensive. Most fall out the game because of money problems, but those who stick it out and call music a career and not a hobby will prosper. It's a matter of patience and perseverance, for outlasting this depression in the music industry will be difficult, but if we can find a way to settle differences we can do this. Music will once again be a source of enjoyment instead of stress soon. We just have to work together.

From the mind of

Keveeno Reeverts

The Music Investor