Hyperhappen

The Last Superstar

This morning I pulled on my Michael Jackson t-shirt and left for work. As I walked, Michael Jackson’s music blared from buildings, truck drivers honked their horns and waved. One man even shouted ‘MJ will live in my heart forever’.

This is the death of pop as we know it. And I really believe we’ve just seen the last global superstar die.

Not just because his talent is unquestionable, but because he made the most of an age that allowed him to revolutionise pop. MTV didn’t even play black music until love for MJ forced them to.

And in living through a time when media was so powerful but also so narrow, he was able to control its weird beast in a way that nobody else ever will.

Proliferation of media, whilst ultimately good, has just killed the global superstar.

Thank you for the good times, Michael.

Posted by: Simeon at MJ time on Friday, 26th June 2009 (0)

The power of Oprah

Apparently there is no better way of ensuring your product is a success than getting a positive mention on the Oprah Winfrey show. We often talk about how there is no more powerful a recommendation than from your friends and loved ones, but it seems that in fact all those graphs we see over and over again in social media presentations are incorrect - at the top of the heap should be an Oprah recommendation (which I've never seen in a powerpoint deck above recommendation from a friend, followed by search engines).

Quite recently Oprah publicly blessed a little known web service called Twitter. In the wake of this recommendation someone at TechCrunch took it upon himself to do some math, based on shaky assumptions to estimate that Twitter gained 1.2 million registered members as a result of Oprah's golden touch.

I think she's secretly a Twitter investor, looking to drive up its potential sale price as it has been rumoured that Google are looking to buy them imminently. Either that or she just really likes Twitter.

Posted by: Ramzi at Time for MacGyver on Monday, 20th April 2009 (0)

Where are my royalties?

Franz Ferdinand pioneering PR leaves some musicians wondering where their royalties lie..

"Future Search"

Remember the jingle “‘ello tosh, gotta Toshiba?!”?

What was 80s search? The Yellow Pages? A consultation with a salesman?

20 years on... Substitute keyword for jingle, search engine for Yellow Pages [ ENTER ] and reviews for salesperson.

Well, outdoor advertising has caught up and now encourages you to plug your search query straight into Google. Yes, that device sat in the palm of your hand does the job for you and ties in your location.

There’s more. What’s with the numeric pad when the camera or handset mic does it all for you?! Mobile applications such as film recognition Kooaba and music identifier Shazam do exactly this. They deliver tailored information and provide access to sales points for that content.

It’s back to the future... search is now audiovisual.

Posted by: Rupert Ashwell at Brownie Hour on Tuesday, 31st March 2009 (0)

Grown Up Digital

A little while ago, I was asked to write a book review for the International Journal of Adveritising on Don Tapscott's latest offering, Grown Up Digital. Its a good read from the author who brought us Wikinomics, but to people who actually have grown up digital it can, at times, feel a bit obvious.

Sadly, the people who need to read this this most, probably won't. Hopefully you'll have a look at the book review, and then the book itself - and then tell people who you think should read it, to read it.

via Digital Prolixity

Posted by: Ramzi at Daylight Savings on Tuesday, 31st March 2009 (0)

Cuil's search paradox

One of the things I’ve always loved about the internet is how much it depends on people just putting stuff out there to see if it flies. But with so many talented individuals sharing genuinely worthwhile stuff, you better be pretty sure your CUIL Fail offering doesn’t suck if you’re a brand.

Unfortunately for Cuil, their ‘does it suck?’ filter wasn’t working when they launched their laughably inept search engine. In fact, so utterly useless has Cuil turned out to be that ‘Cuil Theory’ has now arisen as an entire field of research; investigating only those things that suck so badly they need a whole new definition of their own.

Posted by: Simeon at peanut butter jelly on Wednesday, 11th February 2009 (1)

There are no words. Just do it.