Video saved the radio star

I was really pitying music videos last year. MTV doesn’t run them anymore, focusing instead on the never-ending status update that is teenage reality tv. Spike Jonze is off doing feature length puppeteering, and the golden age of the 4 minute short film known as “the music video” seemed doomed to the scrap heap of audio history with the Sony Walkman, cds, and shopping at actual music stores.

Enter the freakin’ comeback. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé would like you to watch their new video Telephone, please, and rest assured you will, for it is epic. In the age of YouTube, broadband, and “share” buttons, music videos are big again. I first heard of Jonas Åkerlund’s gritty, Tarantinoey, hot gay sexy video on Twitter. The next day, a friend posted it on Facebook. So I clicked through and checked it out on YouTube, where it’s being banner-added copiously on everything even faintly relevant and has, I’m not kidding, 10 million hits in 2 days. So viral*, it’s sickening. Oh, & the song is about mobile technology, for Pete (Cashmore‘s) sake—a rebel yell at the privacy invasion of constant connectedness.

The video itself is also peppered, nay rife, nay fraught with good ole‘ fashion tivo-busting product placements. You must endure a Jennifer Aniston commerical before playback. Team Gaga are nailing every conceivable marketing opportunity, like you might as well do when you‘re getting that many eyeballs.

Kudos, social media, for inserting Gaga & Beyoncé’s single into my life. I don’t even listen to Gaga or Beyoncé. And that is the power of word of mouth through social media.

The other power will unfold as I get massive website hits for including the words “hot gay sexy” in this article. Let’s see if Media Temple can withstand the onslaught.

*Viral quality in direct proportion to ta-ta count.

Viral gone wild: Girls flash their Facebook friends for breast cancer awareness

Hooray for boobies!

It was girls gone virtually wild on Facebook yesterday, as a ‘tell us your bra colour’ meme quickly infected the rest of the world from some patient zeros in Detroit. I heard about it on a New York ladies’ forum before I saw it in action, with the rationale that it was for breast cancer awareness. When it popped up amongst my Facebook friends, the ‘awareness’ mechanism became clear: each highly descriptive, cryptic colour was like a wink, forcing you to pause a moment and picture each friend in her skivvies.

So how does that steamy little moment promote breast cancer awareness? Jaded females wondered if they were being pwned by the internet and giving up the goods for free. But think about it: there are a couple approaches to marketing a cause*. Show people the disaster that looms without their support, or make them think about the great thing they already have & threaten to take it away. In the case of boobs, you’ve got a great product to call to mind! Taking a moment (or several, depending on the size of friends list) to reflect on the glory of boobs certainly makes you appreciate them. You’d hate to see any lost to breast cancer. Read the rest of this entry »