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mccain-space.png Which presidential candidate is winning on the Internet? Let the numbers tell the story.
The vast majority of forum discussions on McCain Space, the candidate's social network, have fewer than 10 replies, and most have none as of 3 pm today. Most of the groups have 50 members or less, and less than 50 user-made videos have been uploaded to the site, where the most popular video, with 470 votes is " some random rifle spinning" by a Texas supporter who never says a word. The McCain Blog's posts have about half the number of comments as the Obama Blog. McCain News on Twitter is following 119 and has 1,686 followers.
Comments on Obama Blog posts range from 450 to 1200+ per post. Obama has 496,701 friends on MySpace, 1,662,290 supporters on Facebook, Obama's campaign is following 75,287 people on Twitter, where he has 72,367 followers. Following others is a key indicator that a person using Twitter in actually participating in the community.
alexa.png Politicians have been using the Internet to reach confirmed and potential supporters for more than a decade. But once the Obama campaign won MoveOn.org's support, it became able to use the web to build a two-way conversation and recruit MoveOn's remarkably organized members to quick, strong action and donations.
The proof is in the numbers, says ITbusiness.
On Web traffic-tracking site Alexa, BrackObama.com ranks 535 and JohnMcCain.com 4,497 out of all Web pages, as of Aug. 29. That stark contrast wasn't heightened by the timing of the Democratic convention – over the past several months, Obama's site has ranked an average of 7,000 positions higher than his opponent's site.
Beaudoin.png Can you make a career out of winning video contests? Here are two young men who think so.
In the past 18 months, Michael Beaudoin, a 2006 UMass graduate, has made $60,000 dollars entering and winning a series of online advertising contests run by companies including Snickers and Tic-Tac. “I’d really like to escape my cubicle,” he said. “You gotta follow the dream.”
And Daniel Janis is a three-time (at least) runner up for his entries in contests sponsored by People.com, Honda, Pepto Bismol, and others. Lots of others. "One day I want to be on TV as a talk-show host," not an Alex Trebek, Charlie Rose or John McLaughlin, but "the fun, late night TV variety," Janis says.
Related:
- Video Contests: Can All These Dogs Hunt?
- How to Make a Video Contest Succeed - or Suck
- Denny's Contest Has No Entries. Dear Denny's: We Won't Work for Food.
- No nuns on catwalk, priest stops "beauty contest"
rooster.png This rooster lives in the basement of a tenament building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan - the same building where Barak Obama lived in 1992. I know about the rooster because I called 311, New York City's non-emergency number when I happened to see him limping down the street yesterday. And in a city where children are often abused to death, the care and concern exhibited toward this chicken was pretty damn remarkable - and more than a little unsettling.
The 311 operator put me through to a very nice lady at Animal Care and Control who said they would send someone to get the bird when they could, within a few hours. We said goodbye and a few minutes later, she called back because she forgot to get my name. I was standing around talking with some other people who were concerned about the rooster, and we offered it a rice cake one of us had in a pocket. It ate it.
Continue reading...Love them or hate them, (and I hate them) Sarah Palin’s views are transparent. What’s not transparent is the race issue, and Barak Obama needs to address it now.
Then we can move on to the real issues, without the whispering. Otherwise, the GOP puppet masters will find a way to poison the well of hope, and we can’t let that happen again.
Race is the whispered undercurrent of this campaign. Friends ask each other: “Do you really think a black man can win?” “Is America really ready for a black president?” And in their private conversations, people say things that no politician or pundit would dare to utter in public, like “Black people will think they can do whatever they want if he’s elected” (This from a liberal professor at a New York City University.)
If I was on the marketing team, I'd advise Obama to come out and say “I know race is the whispered issue, but we need to talk about it. I’m what happens when – no matter where you come from – you work hard, you dream big and you never give up. And I’m here to tell you that if you worry about the color of my skin, you are worrying about the wrong issue.”
I'd tell him to do it on YouTube, in blog advertising, in email, in text messages to his supporters, content sponsorship, and on his website. Bypass mainstream media and let them get the news online where millions turn instead of TV or newspapers.
The race issue may be over in tennis and golf, but it’s not over around dining room tables across the country, in gated communities or in the projects. It needs to be discussed on a national stage, because until it is, we’re stuck in the past. Posted by B.L. Ochman
I guarantee this video can relieve stress. You might not need it today, but you'll need it one day, so bookmark it now.
first_swim_4_06_1.jpg
Benny and I have gone to the beach til Tuesday, September 2nd.
No Computer. No email. No Twitter.
Just a glorious unplugged break to re-charge body, mind and soul.
Have a wonderful week. See you soon.
Love,
B.L.
summons.png Leslie Richard, owner of the small home-based eco-fashion business, is being sued for $20 million over a blog post.
Richard was contacted by Vision Media Television, a production company based in Boca Raton, FL, who said they wanted to include her and her clothing store in a segment on eco fashion. It would be seen, they told her, by 84 million people, on PBS, CNN, and all over Europe.
It all sounded great until VMT asked for almost $26,000 to cover production fees and travel costs for filming. Richard thought it sounded fishy, and she started doing some investigating.
She learned that they're not affiliated with PBS or CNN. In fact, PBS includes a disclaimer in the FAQs on their website that reads in part: "PBS wishes to clarify that it is not associated with and does not endorse, distribute programming for, review underwriting for or otherwise have any business relationship with the following production companies: VM Television, Vision Media Television..."
In a post titled Scam Taking Advantage of Green Businesses, Richard detailed what had happened, and included some of the emails that had been exchanged. In July, Vision Media responded with a lawsuit. They objected to her use of the word “scam.”
A major issue the case brings up is that bloggers First Amendment rights are not as clear as those of mainstream media. A bully like Vision Media counts on a lone blogger not having the resources to fight a lawsuit, even a frivolous one like this one.
The posts of many bloggers are shedding light on the situation, and that always helps because bullies count on having their victims turn tail and run.
Over the past several years, Media Bloggers Association has offered legal support and successfully resolved scores of similar cases. MBA's website says it soon will offer affordable liability insurance to its members, along with media law training.
piersunset.jpg
Sunset at the River Flicks showing of "The Blues Brothers" on Hudson River Park's Pier 54 at 14th Street in Manhattan was another great reason to love New York.
The Blues Brothers, Jake and Elwood Blues with Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles, still mad crazy after all these years. Seen with good friends and pleasant strangers, on a perfect late summer night, after a magnificent sunset; a bright moon blazing in the starry sky and free popcorn. Really, what more could you want?!
"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
penny.png Sometimes, the conversation in comments about a post shouldn't be left below the folds. This is one of them.
I praised the the terrific OfficeMax Penny Pranks campaign, but called out the agency because the headline of each video begins "HILARIOUS HIDDEN CAMERA PENNY PRANK" and that's heavy-handed.
Vinny Warren, creative director at The Escape Pod, the agency that created the campaign wrote in comments
"... when you're fighting for clicks on youtube you find that subtlety is what closes on saturday night. you have become a programmer, not an advertiser. so funny becomes HILARIOUS. and interesting becomes FASCINATING.And that used to be true.
You can't dictate what people will find funny by labeling it "hilarious". People have brains and are smart enough to figure out what they like without being hit over the head. Labels like "hilarious video" or "viral video" that are not created by viewers are bogus.
You don't tell us what's hilarious or viral. We tell you.
Escape Pod did a great job on the campaign. People are talking: the videos have already had more than two million views. But it's not because the word hilarious is in the headline. It's the content and the concept that matter. No overkill required.
What do you think?
Ad agency hype word of the moment - "hilarious" - rears its head in an email pitch from Cornerstone, whose own home page is a disaster. They're the agency promoting the new HBO animated series, "The Life and Times of Tim", premiering September 28th.
Just yesterday, the agency for OfficeMax called its videos for the new Penny Pranks Campaign "hilarious." And today, in comments on my post about Penny Pranks, someone from that agency defended the use of the word as an SEO technique. Umm, nope, that won't help.
The "Tim" series is created by Steve Dildarian - the Clio-winning ad man behind Budweiser's 'Lizards' campaign. It follows an everyday working guy from one awkward moment in his life to the next. The preview videos don't seem exactly hilarious, but it does look like Tim might be good, snarky fun.
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