Posts Tagged "Technology"
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 MoreIntel CMO on Future of Web and Media
This video discusses the changing face of media, technology, TV and what future consumers will see because of the innovation that companies like Intel and others are creating today. Matt Kelly caught Sean Maloney, chief sales and marketing officer for Intel. (Watch this video and read the full article on HowStuffWorks.com)
Read MoreSocial Media, Web 2.0 And Internet Stats
I came across a terrific post from Adam Singer listing some mind-blowing statistics. These numbers tell a very powerful story about the power of Social Media.
As our digital and physical lives blur further, the internet has become the information hub where people spend a majority of their time learning, playing and communicating with others globally.
Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of just how staggering the numbers are of people collaborating, researching, and interacting on the web.
Google search stats:
1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) - approximate number of unique URLs in Google’s index (source)
2,000,000,000 (two billion) – very rough number of Google searches daily (source)
$110,000,000 – approximately amount of money lost by Google annually due to the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button (source)
24,400 – number of people employed by Google (December, 2008)
68,000,000 – the average number of times people Googled the word Google each month for the last year (source: keyword tool)
$39.96 - the average cost per click for the phrase “consolidation of school loans” in AdWords (source: keyword tool)
1,430,000 - the number of Google results for “Robert Scoble”
136,000 - the number of Google results for “Admiral Ackbar”
Wikipedia stats
2,695,205 - the number of articles in English on Wikipedia
684,000,000 – the number of visitors to Wikipedia in the last year
75,000 - the number of active contributors to Wikipedia
10,000,000 – the number of total articles in Wikipedia in all languages
260 – the number of languages articles have been written in on Wikipedia
(source)
YouTube stats
70,000,000 – number of total videos on YouTube (March 2008)
200,000 – number of video publishers on YouTube (March 2008)
100,000,000 – number of YouTube videos viewed per day (this stat from 2006 is the most recent I could locate)
112,486,327 – number of views the most viewed video on YouTube has (January, 2009)
2 minutes 46.17 seconds – average length of video
412.3 years – length in time it would take to view all content on YouTube (March 2008)
26.57 - average age of uploader
13 hours – amount of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
US $1.65 billion in Google stock – amount Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for in October 2006
$1,000,000 – YouTube’s estimated bandwidth costs per day
Blogosphere stats
133,000,000 – number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002
346,000,000 – number of people globally who read blogs (comScore March 2008)
900,000 – average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period
1,750,000 – number of RSS subscribers to TechCrunch, the most popular Technology blog (January 2009)
77% - percentage of active Internet users who read blogs
55% – percentage of the blogosphere that drinks more than 2 cups of coffee per day (source)
81 - number of languages represented in the blogosphere
59% – percentage of bloggers who have been blogging for at least 2 years
Twitter stats
1,111,991,000 – number of Tweets to date (see an up to the minute count here)
3,000,000 – number of Tweets/day(March 2008) (from TechCrunch)
165,414 - number of followers of the most popular Twitter user (@BarackObama) – but he’s not active
86,078 – number of followers of the most active Twitter user (@kevinrose)
63% – percentage of Twitter users that are male (from Time)
Facebook stats
200,000,000 – number of active users
100,000,000 - number of users who log on to Facebook at least once each day
170 - number of countries/territories that use Facebook
35 - number of different languages used on Facebook
2,600,000,000 – number of minutes global users in aggregate spend on Facebook daily
100 – number of friends the average user has
700,000,000 – number of photos added to Facebook monthly
52,000 – number of applications currently available on Facebook
140 - number of new applications added per day
Digg stats
236,000,000 – number of visitors attracted annually by 2008 (according to a Compete survey)
56% - percentage of Digg’s frontpage content allegedly controlled by top 100 users
124,340 - number of stories MrBabyMan, the number one user, has Dugg (see updated number here)
612 - number of stories from Cracked.com that have made page 1 of Digg (see all 41 pages of them here)
36,925 – number of Diggs the most popular story in the last 365 days has received (see story here)
Read MoreGoogle Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Platform For A New Web.
With the web advancing in a new direction, Google is seizing the opportunity to create a new way to communicate via the web called Google Wave. Google Wave is thought of as modern-day email that will satisfy web browsers in today’s world, where an abundance of information is available at an individual’s fingertips. This new development is claimed to put traditional instant messaging and email to shame, as it provides for easy navigation and use while communicating. The Wave includes a navigation sidebar and underneath that provides the user’s Google contacts. However, the inbox dominates the screen with pictures of the user’s friends who participate in threads and notifications alerting to any type of new content in those threads. Replying to threads and messages have never been easier, according to Google. The user may respond below a friend’s comment whether they are online available to chat or not. Heck, he or she can take it one step farther and respond to only one part of the message by replying straight under that section. It’s not taking advantage, if Google‘s asking for it! They also make adding friends or coworkers a fun feature, by providing the ability to drag their pictures into the thread. But, won’t the newly added friend be lost as to what is occurring in the thread? Not with “playback”: a feature that allows the friend to see all that they have missed. But, where does instant messaging come in? If two people in one thread are online, they are able to instant message and click “Draft” to prevent the other person from seeing that they are typing, if they prefer. However, if a one-on-one conversation is desired while multiple people are online, private conversations can be held within the context of the rest of The Wave. Another feature that students and other individuals fascinated by the wiki will love, allows group-editing, outlining the name of the person who is editing at the moment to prevent confusion. Pictures, GoogleMaps, invitations, and games can also be included by dragging them into the wave box if a browser with Gears is installed. However, this feature is what prevents the wave from fully operating with modern technology (it is not able to interact with other web browsers used today without add-ons).
Google encourages people to use waves across all sites on the internet, not just one. Developers play a huge part in this, as Google is hoping that they will be able to enhance the wave, creating gadgets, sites, and so on all revolving around the concept of the wave. Hey, this is the new thing! It deserves to be the center of attention. In order for waves to be interactive, Google is attempting to make it an open source. They want people to build and expand on the whole idea of the wave. Their point is creating a new communication platform used by individuals and companies all over the internet.
However, although already combining tons of communication and technology and advancing what is already present, a lot of work is still needs to be done to get this new method of communication on it’s feet and up and running.
Wow, I would say that it is surprising that Google has managed to create such a diverse communication platform brimming with new ideas and combining traditional ideas in order to enhance them, when there is already so much modern technology out there. You would think that they run out of steam and brainpower. However, how can one be surprised? Apple, Google, IBM, you name it, they are out there constantly imposing new ideas on consumers and thrusting them out in the world to be played with. Surprising? No. Impressive and slightly exhausting, yes. I believe that they make the world of communication a better place. Communicating via technology is not as personal as physical contact, but it allows one to expand his or her horizons. It allows people to keep in touch, transcending time and space in order to do it. If anything, it certainly keeps interaction exciting, interesting, and constantly changing and advancing.
This new communication platform will probably be huge, engulfing teens, companies, and new adults as they discover this new method of communication. After learning about new technologies, people are more eager to find something simpler…the next new thing. Google Wave?
Written by, Alexandra Vojdany, Big Fuel Communications
Click here for the article on TechCrunch.com
Read MoreBig Fuel Names Holly Pavlika as Executive Creative Director
Award-winning Creative Visionary Joins Top Consumer Engagement Agency
NEW YORK, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ — Big Fuel, the consumer engagement agency, today announced that noted marketing industry guru Holly Pavlika has joined the company as its executive creative director. She’ll work closely with Big Fuel President Ian Baer and company Founder and CEO Avi Savar, as well as the rest of the creative team to develop consumer engagement programs that take brands from Content to Commerce.
As Big Fuel’s first-ever executive creative director, Pavlika will both set the vision and drive the process for creative concept development and execution at the agency. Pavlika will also utilize her passion and enthusiasm for her work and her team by playing a critical role in new business and mentoring others within the creative department. A well-known and accomplished creative director in the industry, Pavlika brings her award-winning creative style and builds on Big Fuel’s solid foundation of audience-driven strategic leadership, brilliant project execution across the whole media spectrum and the ability to cost-effectively deliver content to the audiences that demand it.
“Having known Ian from within the industry for a number of years, I was excited at the prospect of finally being able to work with him, and after meeting the rest of the partners at Big Fuel, I felt like I’d entered creative heaven,” Pavlika said. “This agency really is all about the big idea, and everything the company does reflects that. The energy, enthusiasm and drive at Big Fuel are contagious, and I can’t wait to be a part of the team.”
Among her creative notches, Pavlika has developed campaigns for leading brands like Xerox, Kraft, Crown Royal, BMW MINI, 3M, Sotheby’s, Bloomberg Radio, SunTrust, JPMorgan Chase, Bloomingdales and Rite Aid. Prior to joining Big Fuel, Pavlika served as the executive vice president and executive creative director at G2 Direct & Digital, where she managed a 45-person creative team and oversaw the agency’s new business team and production department. During her time at G2, Pavlika was also directly responsible for developing and building the pharmaceutical practice and creating award-winning campaigns for companies like Proctor & Gamble, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer.
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.
My Networks
