Posts Tagged "Media"
Everyone’s a celebrity: 10 pop culture trends that defined the decade
Celebrity is no longer reserved for the select few that walk red carpet and get stalked by paparazzi. The era of social celebrity is here and continues to draw attention. A recent CBC News post by Greig Dymond highlighted 10 terrific examples of this trend — where, thanks to social media, anyone among us can reach celebrity status.
This was the decade when everyone became a celebrity. Well, almost everyone.
The past 10 years didn’t invent the concept of celebrity; they just broadened the definition of the term to a ridiculous extent. More people than ever have achieved some minor level of notoriety. As the film The Truman Show shrewdly predicted back in 1998, voyeurism and technology are the twin engines that propelled this shift.
Just ask Richard Heene, now-famous (and infamous) father of the “balloon boy.” His story — a twisted amalgam of reality TV, fame-whoring, all-news channel coverage and breathless tweets — couldn’t have happened in quite the same way 10 years ago. The lines between entertainment, personal narrative and news have become irrevocably blurred.
Here are what he lists as the 10 pop culture trends that shaped the decade.
1. Reality TV
2. YouTube and the art of the viral video
3. Celebrity gawking, 21st-century style
4. The iPod killed the CD star
5. Newspapers in jeopardy
6. Auto-Tune
7. Twitter, Facebook and the explosion of social media
8. The rise of U.S. cable dramas
9. Guitar Hero/Rock Band
10. The rise of “fake news”
Check our the complete descriptions of each trend by reading the full article. Some video clips for each trend can be found here:
Reality TV
YouTube and the art of the viral video
The iPod killed the CD star
Auto-Tune
Guitar Hero/Rock Band
Read MoreFacebook Adding Half a Million New Users Every Day!
In a recent Mashable article, Ben Parr writes about the staggering growth of Facebook. It makes you wonder about the future of the web as we know it — will people stop building websites and focus on building facebook pages? What does this mean for the future of the web and the way that brands interact and think about their communication strategies? The numbers are staggering — and very real. The reality that brands are faced with is a dramatic change in control — from a one way “broadcasting” strategy that they used to own, to a “listening” and “engagement” strategy that requires them to provide relevant and meaningful content in order to get consumers interested in what they have to say. Without this shift in strategy they will be left without visibility and without meaning in a socially dominated world that has turned the value chain on its head.
Read MoreIt’s no secret that Facebook is humongous: 300 million users humongous. Yet it still shocks us that it keeps on finding new users to fuel its ascent into the social media stratosphere.
A little over a year ago (August 2008), Facebook (Facebook) reached 100 million users. And now according to AllFacebook, that number is now a staggering 325+ million users.
So just how fast is Facebook’s userbase growing? We sat down and did the math. First, here are Facebook’s major growth milestones, starting from when it reached 100 million users:
– August 26th, 2008: 100 million users
– January 7th, 2009: 150 million users
– April 8th, 2009: 200 million users
– July 15th, 2009: 250 million users
– September 15th, 2009: 300 million users
– Friday, November 6th, 2009: 325 million usersHalf a Million New Users. Every Single Day.
So let’s do the math. From September 15th to November 6th, Facebook grew by 25 million users. That’s 53 days, if we include the start and end days. Divide that by 25 million and you get a daily growth rate of 471,698 users per day for Facebook. That’s a small city joining Facebook every single day.
Even more shocking is that the number used to be higher. Between July 15th and September 15th, 63 days, Facebook grew by 50 million users. If we do the math, Facebook was growing at a clip of 793,650 users per day. We’re barely able to come up with the words to describe this type of growth.
The Facebook train has to eventually slow down; there are only so many people on planet Earth with an Internet connection (yes, that’s how big their potential audience is), and it seems to be already slowing. However, if you consider half a million users per day “slowing,” then you know you’ve done something right.
This train’s going towards the sky for a good, long time.
CNBC Video: Pete Blackshaw on the Future of Advertising
Following Nielsen’s presence at ad:tech, Nielsen’s Pete Blackshaw discussed the power of social media as it relates to the future of advertising and marketing.
Pete is a co-founder of the 2004 Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), and presently sits on its board and co-chairs its ethics committee. He presently authors a bi-weekly column on digital marketingpetepic5 strategy targeted to Chief Marketing Officers for the ClickZ marketing network. He’s frequently quoted in major publications, and he authors several work and personal blogs, including Hybridbuzz and parenting centered blog Dosbebes. On Facebook, Pete manages the Consumer Generated Media , Digital Cincinnati ,and Web 2.0 Dads groups.
Read MorebeUNSTOPPABLE… Big Fuel connects Opti-Free with music fans via Social Media
To promote Alcon’s Opti-Free Replenish Contact Lens Solution, Big Fuel worked with about 20 emerging artist to create branded experiences for OFR. Each band or artist created a video blog in which they shared with their fans an experience where they needed OFR while they were on tour. Each video created original, authentic content for their fans and a natural integration point for the product. These videos and free music were placed numerous branded widgets on independent bands’ Myspace pages and syndicated on the web. All content in the widget is “brought to you by OFR” and is fully trackable and can be analyzied and optimized for ultimate performance.
Once within the widget, users are prompted to answer one simple question, “Do you wear contact lenses?”. After the question is answered, the widget than acts as a music and video player allowing users to interact with the content.
Upon downloading free music or video, users are prompted to provide their information. In this case, name, email, birthday, gender and zip code, but can ask them anything. In addition to the branded engagements delivered over the course of this campaign and downloaded branded songs that live on past the promotion on users’ computers, multiple banners are displayed within the widget promoting a digital coupon.
Read MoreNew & Coming Soon! Our New Original Series “Friending…”
A Big Fuel & DM2 original series invites you to ‘friend’ some of the most stimulating people in marketing today. In each episode, host Avi Savar (Founder & CEO of Big Fuel Communications) will add a new ‘Friend’ to his social network — experts who have helped redefine the space and are ready to discuss how the changing economic landscape will mold a new way of marketing.
‘Friending…’ will bring you insights from today’s marketing, advertising and entertainment leaders on the subject of consumer engagement, branded content, social media and communications in today’s new media landscape.
Tags: Big Fuel, DM2, Friending, Avi Savar, digital advertising, digital marketing, social media”
The first series of interviews will be shot on October 27th at The Digital Advertising and Publishing Conference (DPAC) in New York and we very excited by the list of high level executive who are lined up to participate.
Read MoreAbout Me
Proud father, devoted husband, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Big Fuel, a full-service marketing and communications company based in New York that takes brands from Content To Commerce.
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