Could ID Theft Sink MySpace

There was an interesting piece on NPR’s Weekend Edition this morning about the growing problem of teens stealing each other’s pictures and identities.

Some dishonest users steal images of pretty girls to attract romantic attention. Others grab the photo of someone they dislike to create a fake derogatory profile that makes that person look bad. But for some teens, it’s actually a badge of honor.

While the teen reporter offered a nice range of kids’ responses to this problem, including watermarking pictures or creating supplemental videos, her own experience seemed very telling.

After being hacked herself and having to go through a whole process of reclaiming her identity with MySpace she decided it just wasn’t worth extreme tactics necessary to protect herself on MySpace and so she has cancelled her account.

Now, I am not sure if the same problems exist for Facebook but this could be a very bad sign for MySpace which has relied on it’s younger demographic to keep it relevant in the social media arena.

If a site can’t provide teens with a safe way to post and share content it will likely find itself quickly abandoned.

Benny Goodman Shows How It’s Done – 50 Songs in One Day

I was listening to 89.9 FM in NYC last night and they were playing a tribute to jazz great Benny Goodman.

In introducing the next set of songs, the DJ said something pretty amazing.  He said that the next four songs would be from “one of the most productive recording sessions in jazz history,” during which Benny Goodman and a small band including Gene Krupa on drums recorded fifty separate songs!

Now, I have not been able to confirm this online, and it was late and I wasn’t completely paying attention at first.  If you want to do some digging, I believe the DJ said the date was June 6, but I can’t remember the year, and that the session took place in New York.

Anyhow, I am going to assume it was true if only to make the point that this is how artists succeed.  There is so much discussion today about how the business of music or writing is breaking down and making it so hard for people to make a living pursuing these careers.  The truth is that it has always been hard and the ones who truly make it do so regardless of the conditions of the economy or the state of the industry in which they work.

In Benny Goodman’s time, the real money was selling recordings to both make money and build audiences for live tours.  So, what did Benny Goodman do to suceed beyond being very talented?  He recorded FIFTY SONGS IN ONE DAY! How many aspiring garage bands do you know who are willing to make that sort of investment in time and energy?

Just as another example for this weekend post, take a look at Charles Dickens, a writer I don’t much enjoy but whose success is hard to question.  Where did he get his first big audiences? Not from publishing a best seller but from what was really not much different from an earlier version of fictional blogging. He published his stories in increments, making sure to include lots of cliffhangers to keep ‘em coming back for more.  While today we might think of Dicken’s work in terms of novels read in high school, during Dicken’s time he was likely very popular bathroom reading.

And there is nothing wrong with that.  That was the best way for him, at that time, to reach his audience. He didn’t whine about the fact that people were reading his work in drips and dribbles or that they were being published in a magazine instead of a leather-bound volume (ok, maybe he did but it didn’t stop him), he wrote for his audience and he was rewarded.

As we move ever deeper into the digital age, a few things will always remain true:

1) If you are really talented and really driven you have a much better chance at reaching your goals.

2) If you think you “deserve” to be paid you will likely be disappointed in the results.

3) If you are able to give the audience what they want in a way that can be easily and affordably consumed you will probably have a hit on your hands.

Lots more will remain the same, too.

People will continue to tell stories and share them with others.  People will continue to write and record music for others to hear.  The detailed dynamics of how one is able to do this while being fed and clothed will constantly shift, but that’s just opportunity for those who are paying attention.

Gawker Slams Vice Over Journalistic Ethics. Wait. What, Now?

Gawker spent much of this week trying to wipe off the stink of a sponsorship gone horribly awry when it appeared that they allowing a blog post written and paid for by HBO (for TRUE BLOOD) to run without clearly identifying it as a paid post.

To be honest, I had never concerned myself with the journalistic intergrity of Gawker’s writers and their fierce desire to keep a strict division between advertsing and editorial.  It is striking at a time when many of the nations top newspapers and magazines are increasingly blurring that line in what may be a final attempt to stay in business and keep those ad dollars flowing.

Now, Gawker is coming out hard against Vice Magazine for their companion ad agency Virtue.

This is not just some ad sales team for the magazine and the website; they run ad campaigns for outside clients. But the twist is, they get people on the Vice editorial team, “who presumably are a microcosm of clients’ target market,” to help them do it! Vice is outside the whole paradigm of “sellout,” you see…

Now, while I respect Gawker for it’s surpringly high ethics in this matter, I wonder what all the fuss is about.  For starters, I would think that Vice’s writers would have a lot of great marketing ideas and insights into the kinds of people brands like to target.

Is there something so wrong with lending your expertise to a marketing campaign?  Is it some sort of mortal sin for a journalist to moonlight as an advertiser?  Who cares?

Is there a danger that news will be corrupted by too close a relationship between editorial and advertising?  Sure, but with the range of news sources out there I’m not worried about that.

Instead, I think the whole Virtue/Vice idea is kind of clever and Gawker is jealous that Vice continues to grow in many realms why Gawker remains a successful if somewhat creaky media blog.

In Google Versus Bing It Might Come Down to Trust

Everybody loves a good “David and Goliath” style battle, which is why it might seem like fun to root for Bing, a new search engine hoping to take some singificant market-share away from search-giant (TM?) Google.  That is until you realize that Bing is just Microsoft’s refresh of the failed LiveSearch. Then it is more like a Goliath versus Goliath battle in which rooting seems irrelevant.

While Microsoft claims that many people, while almost exclusively using Google for their search needs, are not always satisfied with the results.  This is where they see an opportunity to offer something better.

Early reports say that visually and even thematically Bing might really be on to something but the following comment fom PaidContent might just be the nail in the coffin for Bing:

But if I’m going to use one search engine more than another (i.e. make it the default in my browser), I want to be confident that I’m not missing out on results that I might find via another search engine. And after my week-long trial, I don’t have that confidence with Bing.

And that’s what everyone cares about in the end – not that their search is simple but that it is exhaustive.  Sure, any old search engine will give you movie times and trivia answers but when it comes to using a search engine for genuine research, whether for a school project or a honeymoon getaway, users want to be confident that they are not missing out.

As long as Google returns a more exhaustive set of results than their competitors they will remain securely atop the search standings.

Gillette Gets Ripped Off By Ad Agency for New YouTube Videos

I shudder to think what some big ad agency charged Gillette for the videos on their YouTube channel.

Purportedly aimed at teaching men how to shave various body parts, the animated how-to’s are really just a platform for the Gillette products which would be fine if, instead of getting legitimately useful information we were given a touch of authentic humor.

Sadly, neither is on offer.  The advice is minimal and redundant and the attempts at humor result in more cringing than grinning.  Adding insult to injury, only the link-bait‘y “How to Shave Your Groin” has attracted over 10,000 views, with the other videos languishing under 2,000.

Since the videos are neither entertaining or helpful, it is unlikely they will ever find much of a viewership.  Gillette surely isn’t going to be satisfied by these sorts of numbers but I’m sure their ad agency will convince them it had nothing to do with the crappy value of the content itself.

UPDATE: Well, thanks in large part to lots of blog mockery, the Gillette YouTube spots have “exploded” with Groin shooting up to over 140,000 views.  Still, the other videos are failing to reach 10,000.  A combined total of less that 250,000 still can’t impress Gillette.

See for yourself:

Dear RIAA, Shut Down PS22 Quick! They’re Evil Thieves!

There is a heartwarming story making it’s way around the webosphere about an adorable elementary school chorus that sings covers of pop songs, including works by Coldplay, Survivor and Fleetwood Mac:

It turns out that this particular video make it all the way to Stevie Nicks herself:

Just got word from Stevie Nicks tour manager that she was completely blown away by the PS22 Chorus rendition of her song “Landslide!” He said she asked him to replay 2 times afterwards, crying each time she watched! Talk about humbling!! And the kicker?? She invited the PS22 Chorus to sing the song at Madison Square Garden for the upcoming June 11th Fleetwood Mac show!! Holy cow!!! Thanks must go to Perez Hilton for getting our video out there and making this incredible opportunity happen for the kids! Unbelievable!! LINK

Wonderful, right?

However, this seems like a video ripe for takedown by the RIAA.  These kids did not get the rights to perform this song and they are now spreading their cover for free!  This is just the sort of activity the record industry seems to keen on stopping – whether it is a chorus of school-kids or a couple of people doing a karaoke version of the latest Beyonce tune.

Of course, the idea that this video could somehow create a direct negative impact to the sales of Fleetwood Mac songs is simply absurd.  That won’t stop groups like the RIAA from spitting out takedown notices and DMCA claims faster than you can say, “hey, that was cute.”

Admittedly, the world of copyright law is beyond complicated but we need to find a way to let people legally play with all the content released into the world.  People are going to play with it no matter what so it’s really just a question of whether or not energy is spent prosecuting people or facilitating them.  I wonder which choice would make more money in the long run.

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• Cutest Chorus Ever: PS22 Chorus Sings “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac (neatorama.com)

Lady Dior Baffles While it Entertains

Fashion firm Dior has just released the first “chapter” of Lady Dior, a series of videos starring Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard.

The video itself is lush and well-shot.  Cotillard, who gave one of the great performances ever in La Vie En Rose, isn’t asked to do much more than look gorgeous and mysterious, does just that with aplomb.

While the story is a bit vague, on purpose one would guess to keep us coming back for me, even more vague is Dior’s distribution strategy.

For starters, there is no way to embed the video elsewhere.  There are also no quick ways to share the link to Twitter, Delicious or any of the other social bookmarking services.  In fact, it appears that the only way to share the video provided on the Dior site is to email a friend the direct link.

Oh, it was also very weird that once the video begins there seems to be no way to pause or rewind.  This was strange considering most of this sort of viewing happens in an atmosphere where the need to pause and rewind can occur with frequency (like when the boss pops his head in).

It’s nice to see brands investing these sorts of resources into gorgeous video but it remains to be seen whether or not they have the ability to distribute these videos in such a way as to actually drive an increase in sales.

Let’s be honest, they’re not in it for the art.

It’s Porn Day on YouTube!

God, this is the kind of story that just makes me smile. According to ArsTechnica:

Today, May 20, has been deemed “Porn Day” by denizens of 4chan and eBaum’s World, with an organized group of users from the sites uploading video clips of explicit, adult content en masse in an attempt to overwhelm the search results. In actuality, it appears that content was prematurely uploaded on the afternoon of the 19th. YouTube has already taken some steps to fight back, but it’s disturbingly easy to find stuff you really don’t want to see, and the uploaders are changing tactics.

These sorts of mass DDoS‘esque attacks are becoming a common thing in the hyper-connected digital age.  It is now easier than ever to raise a mob (angry or otherwise) to do your bidding, especially if your bidding has a fun, subversive edge – think “No-Pants Subway Day” for instance.

I wrote about a few other versions of this DDoS-style vigilantism here.

Pandora Offers Premium Ad-Free Plan

As if they had been reading my mind (holy crap, that’s what their app really does!!) Pandora has announced a premium subscription service providing ad-free music streaming.

I had proposed that this would be a huge profit-maker for Pandora at $5/year.  Pandora is going to make it a bit more expensive with a price of $36/year.  Here is some of what that gets you in addition to no ads:

* High Quality Streaming: When listening on the web, experience 192K bits per second audio. That’s the highest quality streaming experience on the Internet.

* Skip All Day Long: With the standard ad supported version of Pandora you’re limited to 12 total skips per day. With Pandora One you’ll be able to skip as many times per day as you’d like (note you will still be limited, thanks to licensing constraints, to six skips per hour per station).

There’s some other little bits too but that’s the gist of it.

So, is it worth $36/year?  Would they have gotten enough more paid subscribers with a significantly lower price?

Agency Nil Works For What It’s Worth

A recent graduate from an advertising program found zero paying jobs for offer at the established firms so he has started his own, Agency Nil.

The question is, what does a recent college grad do to find clients willing to give him a chance?

Agency Nil will work without a set price, with the understanding that agencies or clients pay what they think it’s worth upon completion—no strings attached. For clients, that takes the risk out of the equation, theoretically, allowing Agency Nil to operate somewhere between intern and full-fledged freelancer.  LINK

While this might sound insanely risky, it’s not like the guy was passing up some wonderfully secure opportunity elsewhere.  Not only that, but if he is any good at all he will probably be able to make a living.  Not only that, but he won’t have to fight with others for promotions, favors or raises, not to mention battle creative differences.

It is a simple, put your money where your mouth is, situation and it’s hard to see how he can lose.

If he actually succeeds in any significant way the model could become a real threat to established agencies.  Why should a company fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars and hope an agency does a good job when it could wait and see what one driven individual can come up with and pay whatever they think that is worth.