"What Fresh Hell Is This?" Internet Pass Notes

Crib notes for the digital age. Trends, technology, behaviour, memes, and entertaining stuff from the internet. Written by Claire Coady. http://clairecoady.tumblr.com

[internetpassnotes]

4 April 2013 - Grumpy Cat Turns One

Grumpy Cat turns one today! H̶a̶p̶p̶y̶ Birthday #grumpycat

April 4, 2013

Um, golf clap, but - seriously - why are we talking about a cat's birthday?

This isn't just any cat - this is Grumpy Cat. The Morose Mouser. The kitteny Overlord of Redditors. And today she turned one.

What exactly does Grumpy Cat do? Grumpy Cat is grumpy, ok? She looks pouty and she's adorable and tiny and fluffy and you just want to give her a million kisses... *ahem* I mean, she has a grumpy looking face and became something of a Muse for Sarcasmos everywhere.

So what you're saying is this cat doesn't do anything. So tell me again why this is important.

Six months ago, Grumpy Cat's owner posted a picture of Her Grumpiness on Reddit. This one post has morphed into levels of cat fandom previously known only by the Cheezburger Empire. 

Dude. Maru. I know, I know. But Grumpy Cat is different - because Grumpy Cat has cross-channel fandom. Maru is famous and beloved for being Maru, the YouTube Cat Who Loves Boxes. Grumpy Cat embodies the spirit of sarcastic grumptitude, and lives through expressions of this spirit across channels. In just three months, Grumpy Cat already had one of the most popular YouTube channels and one of the most popular Tumblrs. Her Facebook page is nothing to sniff at. She's even made an appearance on Anderson Cooper.

So why do we in advertising care? In this case, it's the principle. Grumpy Cat's owners provided fodder across a huge number of channels - fodder which her fans turned into the even more famous Grumpy Cat memes we see now.

I need to start me a cat blog. Me too.

[internetpassnotes]

25 March 2013 - Buzzfeed launches in the UK

Buzzfeed launches in the UK; Arianna Huffington quaking over her cornflakes (or so we’ve been told by The Wall)

Buzzfeed, your number one destination for enlightening fare such as ‘How Obama Won the Internet’ and ‘Cat Photos Taken at Just the Right Moment’ has quietly set up an office of four editorial employees in the UK.

“But aren’t all cat photos just, well, cat photos? How can this possibly pose a threat to the Mail juggernaut?” Good question, my friend. Firstly, Buzzfeed has invested heavily in their editorial content, as I referenced back in September when pontificating on Reddit. Investing in their own content, including opening a Washington DC office during the US elections last year, has taken their platform from social bookmarking site to a content destination. The editorial model has allowed Buzzfeed to expand from low-value, low profit and low return banner advertising to a far more profitable sponsored content model . The Buzzfeed bet is that localising this content for the UK will expand their audience and legitimise their claim to global impact. Realistically, Buzzfeed already have a global audience, but it is hard for advertisers to believe this claim with only US offices.

So why do I care about this, again? Because Buzzfeed’s success or failure in the UK will be watched not only by other large US entertainment sites (*cough* TMZ *cough*), but also by established UK media owners like The Guardian and The Mail Online. They will be watching the sponsored content model with particular interest, but also the social algorithm underpinning the site layout.

[internetpassnotes]

"It's a tough question that's not unlike asking what's the best planet to live on not named Earth or the best thing to breathe not named air."

'What's the Best RSS Reader not Named Google Reader?' - Gawker

[internetpassnotes]

30 Oct 2012 - What is a social network; Joss Whedon and Zomneys

TL;DR: We've been working on a model where we talk about 'social' as platforms, or technologies; but it's actually behaviour replicated in an online environment. The surge in popularity and awareness of social content networks, like Reddit or Buzzfeed, has brought a change to the online social network landscape. Increasingly, social content networks are having to choose between a focus on contributing to the content, or focus on nurturing the community. Both will have a place in the future landscape, but these battle lines force us (marketers, human beings, sometimes both) to think about how we behave online and off. In other words, humans are social, online and off.

Onwards.

What's a social network anyway?

Here is Facebook (or LinkedIn, for funsies):

So - when my cousin's wife decides (for funsies!) to follow me, she has to request my approval. And I give approval, largely because I am afraid of the consequences of not accepting her friend request. So while the motives are not always clear-cut, the fact remains that symmetrical networks like Facebook are digital platforms on which existing human relationship networks are replicated in an online way. Make sense?

(for the pedantically minded here, the obvious exception to this is Facebook Pages, where the relationship is asymmetric. But that's for another day).

Here is Twitter (or Tumblr or Google+,  for funsies)

Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google+ are inherently different to networks like Facebook and LinkedIn in one immediately obvious way - connections are not reciprocal, meaning that different kinds of networks (and relationships) are built on these networks. Asymmetric networks built on services like Twitter help transmit stories and build networks of passion or interests.

Take this example: Those of you who attended the School of Digital Twitter presentation (thank you) will know that I have a bit of a thing for The Apprentice. Subsequently, I follow the real Nick Hewer and, also, the Fake Nick Hewer. However, neither real or fake Nick Hewer follow me back - which is probably to be recommended. But that's ok. I'm not offended. Because that's not what it's about. 

At least that's what I tell myself to get through the night. WHATEVER WORKS.

  It's about me and the very small group of people who are get utterly batshit crazy excited by the prospect of fifteen people being set up to fail by a man who thinks your computer watches you. TRUFAX.

Which brings me to social content networks and bookmarking sites, like Buzzfeed and Reddit:

So. Two weeks ago, I droned on at length about the magic/misery of Reddit. This applies to other kinds of social sharing sites, where social and gaming mechanics are built onto the network to reward users for exhibiting social (or, shall we say, human, for the love of Jaffa Cakes) behaviours.

People generally don't connect on these networks in a longer term way (i.e. following). They can on some, but often don't - the connections are often made around the content or topics. So, for example, on Reddit, one might follow sub-Reddits (remember those?) on politics, and another one on fluffy kittens. Whatever.

Content - and ideas - travel out from these networks and often end up on Facebook and Twitter (that's how I know when something is big - when it's being posted on Facebook). 

The networks as a body are influential, because the best (or very worst - see Rebecca Black) content is subject to the scrutiny and approval of the community.  So previously we might have talked about 'seeding with influential bloggers', and sometimes that holds true, but now we see far more influential communities or bodies in these networks - so the  approval of a Mumsnet community, or Redditors, etc.

  Okay. So why am I banging on about this now?

  These sites have grown enormously in importance, but they have also struggled to build a business proposition. They have vast numbers of users, lots of time spent on them, and incredible engagement - but they can't always figure out how. Now we're starting to see some definition, and it largely falls into two camps:

Invest in nurturing community: or, more specifically, fine-tuning community management networks. Reddit is currently grappling with resolving their community management issues (as  I touched on a couple of weeks ago), but are continuing to invest in a top tier of fully fledged full time community managers that nurture the communities building on Reddit. 

Reddit's advertising proposition is geared towards display and the community. And quite a lot of their revenue comes from paying users - users who give Reddit money to have different levels of access to the site. Kind of ingenious. 

    Invest in distinctive editorial: and in developing content. Buzzfeed are pushing the boundaries on this now - from what was essentially a social content aggregation site to a fully-fledged content network, complete with a Washington DC based political editorial staff. Buzzfeed have broken some stories this year, while continuing to feed the masses who flock to Buzzfeed for pictures of fluffy kittens. 

Buzzfeed's advertising proposition follows the sponsored content and advertorial model we see on news sites. Buzzfeed are also starting to take sponsored political posts that seamlessly blend with the Buzzfeed user experience. Obviously, they've started with Obama. 

  Ok, that's over.

  VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK - Joss Whedon on Romney: "Paid for by the Committee to Learn Parkour Really Soon, Like Maybe Take a Class or Something." 1.8m views in oen day. Not bad.

  More viral videos via our partners at Unruly here: http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com/all

  Guess what? E'rebody loves Iron Man. FACT.

[internetpassnotes]

17 October 2012 - Reddit Special, Bodyform

As part of this special, I am introducing a Reddit convention to the Zeitgeist emails. TL;DR stands for 'Too long, didn't read' - like an abstract or summary. We'll add these every week, highlighted at the bottom of the email. They will contain the most important piece of information in the Zeitgeist. Hope these help.

Onwards.

  REDDIT: the most influential community(ies) on the interwebs. 

Reddit is owned by Conde Nast and affiliated to Wired. Wired sez, "Reddit is a personalized source for what’s new and popular on the web. Your votes on what you like or dislike train a filter that will recommend links geared to your tastes. All of the content on Reddit is submitted and voted on by users."

  So, to Wired, Reddit is TiVo for internet news. This is no bad thing - I swear TiVo knows me better than I know myself. TiVO suggested I might like Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents and Great British Bake-Off and, boy, was it EVER right.

    For committed Reddit users, though, it's something more than internet TiVo. "Reddit is a great example of a site that has become far more than simply a social-networking or link-sharing utility and has grown into a real online community that can get things done."

    And why, exactly, does Reddit get things done?

    Some of Reddit's community power is a by-product of its staggering numbers.

    In September, Reddit had 42.2 million unique visitors, from 175 countries, viewing 3.4 billion pages. This makes Reddit the 66th biggest website in the US, ahead of Blogger.com and Groupon. But nowhere near Pinterest (number 15). Globally, it's about 133, putting it neck-in-neck with weather.com and just behind The Daily Mail online. 

    Yesterday alone, Reddit had 4,132 active communities ('Sub-reddits'), fuelled by 1.8 million logged in users. Just one random day. I'm sure the unique visitors are equally staggering.

    But numbers would be nothing without it's the dedication and collective vision of its members. Reddit gets things done because of its four basic components that make Reddit, Reddit:

    Voting: users vote on which links and submissions - topic threads - are most important. They can vote up and down. This helps the Reddit community and helps Reddit know what you want to see.

    Communities: or 'sub-reddits'. Users can create sub-reddits on anything. Do you like Advice Animal memes? There's a whole sub-reddit for that. Do you like to learn new things? There's a whole sub-Reddit for that. Do you have a question and want it explained to you like you're five? There is a whole sub-Reddit for that. Do you like pictures of women taken without their consent or knowledge? Controversially, there is a whole sub-reddit for that. No, I'm not giving you the link. 

    Comments: This is a no-brainer, but comments provide information, context and, often, humour to the links.

    Open-source: Reddit is a product of its users and moderators - Reddit's source code is open and available, so users tinker and submit changes, participate, moderate, etc. 

    Reddit does not have brand pages.

    This set-up perpetually rewards Reddit power users - the users who become moderators (basically, free community managers), build the platform and, often, have a say in its future. While networks like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr have a solid claim to work for the benefit of the user, Reddit's users actually have a voice in conversations about the platform's future. This makes them committed to the viability of the platform and to harnessing Reddit users behind certain causes. 

    This passion and dedication is why you get, for example, Barack Obama doing quite honest and open Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions on Reddit. It's why Rebecca Black is a thing that we talk about.  It made Gangnam Style HUGE. Redditors made Go Daddy retract their support for SOPA. 

    So what do brands do on Reddit?

    Advertise and occasional Ask Me Anything sessions - sending CEOs, managers, techies, etc for question and answer sessions with the Reddit community. They are incredibly rewarding if done right. Here's one this week from the Surface general product manager from Microsoft ahead of their Surface tablet launch. 

    But the best advice is not to anger the Redditors (a la Go Daddy) and, if you do, repair the damage (be ready for a very honest AMA). 

    So why is Reddit news this week?

  Gawker unmasked Reddit user Violentacrez, a high-profile Reddit moderator and the man behind Jailbait and Creepshots: SPOILER ALERT - his name is Michael Brutsch. The piece is a long, but excellent read on identity, the internet, and behaviour - please, do read it.  he piece has raised all sorts of internet kerfuffles. The biggest over identity protection and the right to post whatever you want, even if it's basically child porn, under the banner of FREE SPEECH. It's started a debate about what, exactly, constitutes trolling and whether trolling is always bad (upshot: it's not).

  It's also had real organisational impacts on Reddit and its community. Michael Brutsch has, almost inevitably, lost his real life job. 

  TL;DR: Reddit is a user-driven community. It has highly devoted and passionate users, committed to free expression, both good and bad. To Redditors, real expression is a by-product of fiercely protected anonymity. Brands can do things with Reddit or for Redditors, but it's not Facebook. There are no brand pages or presences. Tread carefully, appropriately, and be ready to be open and honest.

Less serious: VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK!

Richard Neil posted on Bodyform's Facebook page, crying DECEIVED! Having been expected sunshine, happiness and endless skydiving jaunts with his girlfriend once a month, he was met with headaches and moaning. 80,000 people liked this. "Haha, wimmin are totes kerayzee, lol." 

Bodyform responded by video. It is sublime. More of this kind of activity, please.

[internetpassnotes]

21 Sept 2012 - Honey Boo Boo, Gangnam Style

As I am off next week, I am getting into holiday mode by immersing my brain with the internet equivalent of candy-floss. And seeing as it's Friday evening (many apologies for the delayed broadcast this week), I will share the spoils of this intellectually nourishing feast.

Meme(s) of the Week - Honey Boo Boo Child: Here's a non-hypothetical - Honey Boo Boo Child is what happens when reality television eats itself.  A potted history: TLC is a US cable channel that used to be all cooking shows and home improvement. TLC is now better known for turning 'Wouldn't it be hilarious if...' one-line tv show pitches into an entire channel of Extreme Couponing, Sister Wives, Hoarding: Buried Alive, and Toddlers & Tiaras.

  Which brings us to Honey Boo Boo Child - a Toddlers & Tiaras spin-off, which follows the 'break-out child pageant star' of the show, five-year-old Alana Thompson, aka 'Honey Boo Boo Child', and her family of self-proclaimed 'rednecks'. Alana and her family, weaned on Mountain Dew and espousing sassy catchphrases, have captivated journalists, web forum denizens, and the tweeting masses. Here is the by-product:

  VIDEO: The break-out performance from Toddlers and Tiaras (with 5 million views - yes, that's right)

The Dubstep remix 

A gif-fy meme: Alana Thompson opines on cultural theory

  Viral Video of the Week - Psy Gangnam Style: A rather important contribution to Korean pop. I can only assume this to be the case, as it has 229 million views - making it the second most popular YouTube video of all time. It's captivating and hilarious - and the single is currently atop the US iTunes charts. Watch and judge for yourself here.

In conclusion, the world has gone backward. The life raft is mine.

[internetpassnotes]

4 September 2012 - Internet Cat Video Film Festival, Obama AMA, Reddit, Ecce Homo, Geordie Call Me Maybe

The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is a real thing, really; awards Golden Kitty to Henri 2: Paw de Deux; no, really, you have to take this seriously - the Walker Art Museum also exhibits the British Arrows in the US. 

It's been a big week for internet cats. Here is Maru the famous internet fat cat's debut in television advertising for Uniqlo.

And moving on...

  Obama did AMA with Reddit; traffic surge crashed site repeatedly; is officially bigger than Bieber. Reddit is one of the biggest social networks in the world. Some sites have some very strong opinions about Redditors. Never mind. 

  SPECIAL NOTE: Reddit has a huge, highly engaged and disproportionately middle class audience of eloquent under-35s - especially men under 24. It's a thriving community. Much like Tumblr, if something is big on Reddit, it will likely hit Twitter and, finally, Facebook. If your brand has a particularly big audience in this category, the question 'Will this work on Facebook?' might be best answered with, 'Will this work on Reddit?' Always worth considering when writing engagement plan - social ideas, not social media.

And finally...

Please go congratulate Viv Yapp and AK Parker for officially creating a meme. Restore your own Ecce Homo at The Cecilia Prize. 

And because it wouldn't be a Zeitgeist 2012 without one of these - Geordie 'Call Me Maybe'.

Be good.

[internetpassnotes]

14 August 2012 - Olympic Sponsors Special

The Olympics are over, which is really pants. Only 14 days until the Paralympics though - come on, next two weeks. MOVE IT.

Instead of wallowing in hazy come-downs, lets take some time to reflect on the socially-oriented activity of some high-profile Olympic brands. There's been a lot written about the tweets and what people are saying about sponsors, nations, medals, Ryan Lochte, Team GB owning it, Bert Le Clos, Mobots and Bolts and Mean Girl gymnasts who are #notimpressed. But, really, now that these brands have paid millions for the privilege of being associated with the games, what kind of human behaviour did they use to their advantage - or not?

Speedo: Not an official Olympics sponsor, but they might as well be - Speedo sponsors the US, Australian and UK national swim teams, along with every gold medal winning swimmer they could get their hands on. 

Well done: Creating the Speedo Pace Club. Think Nike+ for swimming. And here is their admirable attempt at applying meaning to 'Jeah!', Ryan Lochte's contribution to the English language.

WTF: Speedo gave Ryan Lochte a blog. The frattiest douche frat of them all, the owner of a frat-tacular American mouth grill, who thinks pictures of shrooms are nature drawings, the man whose only memorable utterance is "Jeah!", was gifted a blog by Speedo Pace Club. I will give a prize to anyone can give me an example, a single instance, of Ryan Lochte  saying anything meaningful. Anything at all. 

Samsung: Galaxy, Galaxy everywhere and not an iPhone to be seen - almost.

Well done: Lots and lots and lots and lots of activity with clear social behaviour at its heart ('small fires'). 

WTF: Three words: tweeting Venga Bus. Opening Ceremony peppered with Galaxy smartphones, but couldn't convince Tim Berners-Lee to not use his iPhone instead. 

BA: Because someone will come flying down the atrium stairs with the propulsion of a thousand Audis if I don't mention this. But they'd be right, I should, because it was great.

Well done: Ah, the #homeadvantage fly-a-plane-down-your-street. This really struck a chord with the hundreds of thousands of people, so thousands of properly moved people sharing it with friends and families online. Seriously, extremely well done.

WTF: Everything was marvellous and nothing was bad. I'm serious. 

Nike: Another Olympic Games, another attempt by Nike to be associated with the games, but not pay for the privilege. As most of the bidding-dependent legislation is designed with Nike in mind, but the threat of the social media wild west struck fear in the hearts of Adidas execs. So what did Nike do?

Well done: This isn't hugely social behaviour, but Nike made a video everyone liked. There was a beautiful website. The website brought in tweets mentioning a hashtag. Very nice.

WTF: This is about social behaviour - and none of this was social. A hashtag by itself isn't social. A website isn't social. A beautiful film on its own isn't social. Apparently, like Paddy Power, they capitalised on different Londons. The only way to find that out, though, was through the marketing press. 

[internetpassnotes]

31 July 2012 - #NBCFail and the Olympics Special

It's the Social Media Olympics! YouTube, Twitter, Twadges, whatnot (as aptly referenced in this spoof social media strategy video from the BBC comedy Twenty Twelve). All great, right? Here's a morality tale of how shoving old advertising models into new media behaviours can wreck major events. Reading this will make you exceptionally grateful to the BBC and even ITV. Their minor mistakes pale in comparison.

  Most US Olympic tweets are about how badly NBC failed in their Olympic coverage: It started with a six hour tape delay for the Opening Ceremonies, which NBC pretended was broadcast live. They cut the memorial tribute because, "It wasn't about America." Yes, really. They held back coverage of the some of the hottest events, but then spoiled the results on their news programmes.Nobody liked this in 1992. Twitter makes the cacophony of outrage much louder.

  NBC then got Guy Adams, a British journo for the Independent, banned from Twitter yesterday: Ostensibly because he published an NBC exec's email address, but that doesn't contravene Twitter's rules. Journalist around the world are completely outraged - obviously they expect NBC to be cretins, but Twitter was very quick off the mark. Huge mistake.

  But NBC are live streaming most of the events via YouTube! Yes! The YouTube livestream coverage cuts to ads every 5 minutes irrespective of whether, for example, an American gymnast is mid-leap in a beam routine that could make or break her place in the all-around final. That's like cutting to an ad in the fourth penalty shoot-out kick in an England-Germany game. CUE OUTRAGE.

Adweek thinks it's ok!  To them, advertisers aren't getting blamed, "So as unpopular as the system in place may be, it's certainly an effective way to pin viewers down and make them watch advertisements." Adweek claim to be in London, but I think they boarded the wrong flight and ended up in Planet Inverted Logic.

It's not 'effective'. It's moronic. This is not a good or sustainable online advertising model. Viewers being forced to sit through ads on a channel that is obviously not television are getting agitated at missing critical moments and are venting this outrage en masse. Advertisers keep looking for 'disruptive'  models like what we're used to on television, without any consideration to how users consume this media. This is advertising's fault as much as NBC's.

Moving on.

    Viral Video of the Week - US Olympic Swim Team 'Call Me Maybe': France may have taken the gold in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay (b*@^&$%@s), but this video they made in their free time will ease the pain. 

Runner Up - The Happiest Olympic Worker EVER: "I am so excited. I wish I had my camera with me." 990k views and counting. 

World, welcome to London. In case you missed the memo, we're amazing. 

[internetpassnotes]

24 July 2012 - VF on Microsoft, Kit Kat Paedobear OOPS, Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet, USA Basketball Team on IG, Grindr

Vanity Fair - Why Microsoft is Shit: 'Stack ranking' employee performance makes Microsoft less innovative and creates a cannibalistic culture. More here . Read the full article (including damning internal emails) in Vanity Fair. #industrynews

Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet: Simplicity at last. #maketheworkgofaster

Instagram proves US Basketball team is having more fun than you: Eff you, Dream Team. *grumble grumble grumblican* #brandsoninstagram

Kit Kat accidentally posts Paedo Bear: Because they clearly thought the internet was a place of whimsy and random, but obviously failed to check in with actual internet culture. Lesson - don't assume, always check. #dontdothis

Grindr crashes under traffic weight of incoming tourists: Hopefully Foursquare is better prepared, but I'm not holding out hope. Incidentally, if you don't know what Grindr is, there is safer-for-work information here.  #crushedolympicdreams

Viral Video of the Week - Big Ass Shark: Successful because; 1) SHARK SURPRISE, and 2) reaction punctuated by the kind of Florida accent drama teachers encourage you to avoid in case you sound like a panto yokel. You're welcome. 

More viral videos here.

[internetpassnotes]

10 July 2012 - Oatmeal on Facebook, Fix a Bad App, Zeitgeist Meme Challenge

The Oatmeal tells you how to get more Facebook likes for your project: What's simple is true  - whatever you're making, make it rewarding and and make it great. 

Five Steps to Fixing a Bad App from Harvard Business Review. As you'd expect, the most successful apps nail consumer recognition, trust, experience, and brand consistency.

CHALLENGE - Make Your Own Meme: We've shared lots of memes over the past few months from the depths of the internet hive mind. Now it's your turn. Make your meme by following this link and email me the result by 3 pm today. I'll send around a selection of the best announce a winner at 4 pm. You (yes, you) will win a New Business Spoils of War selection, including a USB stick, an unopened bottle of extra virgin olive oil, and six litres of Bulgarian beer, all in a handy gift bag. But, above all, you will win glory and the respect of your peers. 

    The prize is glory.  Get memeing.

Over and out.

[internetpassnotes]

26 June 2012 - Microsoft Goes Shopping, Morgan Stanley, Aaron Sorkin is Lazy,

Microsoft buy Yammer for $1.2bn, makes Peter Thiel even richer: Yammer is a social networking tool for businesses, beloved(ish) by blue-chip juggernauts and consulting firms for their ability to promote social networking in a locked-down kind of way. Companies like Yammer offer a solution to a rather thorny problem for businesses - that their workforce is increasingly used to communicating via social networks, and, particularly with a global business, products like Yammer which facilitate this in a secure way are filling an enormous vacuum of desperation. If Instagram was worth the $1bn price tag, it is not a surprise at all that Yammer is worth at least that to Microsoft, who can package it up with Office. 

Morgan Stanley will now let their employees tweet: From a proscribed list of pre-written tweets, which runs somewhat counter-intuitive to the spirit and ethos of the platform. The fact that a conservative US investment bank, which is subject to far stricter laws and regulations than its UK counterparts, has been a trailblazing pioneer for FS social media use is shocking. It would be less surprising to see zombie Ronald Reagan rise from his Arlington tomb and take up residence in a hippie commune. Never mind. The announcement follows a trial with 600 advisers, of whom 40 per cent said they had brought in new clients through their social media use. Of those 240, about 60 per cent said they had won new customers with more than $1m of assets, which might be a reflection of how much relationships between FAs and their clients are built on personal trust (rather than trust with the institution itself). The entire FS sector is watching this carefully. Article from FT here (requires registration). 

    Is Aaron Sorkin lazy? Does he recycle lots of lines? You bet your ass he does, as this supercut of Sorkinisms makes clear. But even though it seems more and more that we expect less and less from Sorkin, and that some TV critics hate his breathing guts, Aaron Sorkin knows this isn't TV camp, that recycling your greatest writing hits is a relatively stable path to screenwriting success and you know it.. Really? Yeah. You bet your ass. 

  More viral videos on the Unruly Chart (currently topped by Carly Rae Jepson's 'Call Me Maybe' and, separately, Abercrombie & Fitch models singing 'Call Me Maybe') and the pick of the best on the Guardian version. 

  SPECIAL TREAT - Advice Animals cover 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic': This is the meme equivalent of Band Aid. By the by, not a video. 'Advice Animals' are a genre of meme - think Socially Awkward Penguin, Y U No Guy, and Business Cat. 

[internetpassnotes]

6 June 2012 - GOOD.is, Gawker content experiment, Facebook mobile ads, Say No to Vertical Videos

GOOD the blog is mostly dead; introducing GOOD, the Reddit for ethically-minded hipsters: On the surface, this would appear to be a story for media gazers, but this is an interesting strategic shift by an significant and profitable (so it claims) online content-driven media channel into a more pronounced social network. 

The Great Gawker experiment in SEO vs Quality content: As Niemen Journalism Lab notes, it is the SEO friendly content that directs eyeballs and pays the bills. For Gawker, short term gains fron SEO-driven content devalues the brand in the long term - they are not conducive to building loyal, engaged readers. Thus a shift in editorial strategy, balancing eyeball-driving quick wins underpinned by a core product of high quality content to engage loyal readers, combined with a significantly altered commenting system to build the quality of the community. If you like reams of data, here are the results in hard numbers so far. 

And from Gawker - a brief upshot of how to make something go viral ('The Impractical Guide').

This is important. As Facebook and Twitter practically beg brands and creative agencies to think more like media owners - think about the quality of the content - and creative agencies push for longer term, brand building engagement, the major strategic experiments and brand decisions coming from large online publishers portends a fundamental shift in what is deemed to be of value in a digital context, underpinned by questions like, "Why is a New York Times print subscriber worth $1000 a year, but a Facebook fan worth only $5?" Currently, most of the digital industry (clients and media, digital and social media agencies) are driven by the hard, fast, real-time numbers, but it appears that this is starting to change. Watch this space. 

Facebook mobile ads now available to buy: Closing a very obvious gap identified in their IPO filing, Facebook has now opened up mobile ad buying to everyone. Sponsored stories (usually 'friends who have liked this page' or brand page status updates) will appear in the mobile news feed.

Dull stuff over. Here's a picture of a very cute cat. 

Viral Video of the Week - Say 'No' to Vertical Videos: This a very important and necessary PSA. Vertical videos are ruining the internet. If this continues, we'll have to rebuild cinemas so they are tall and thin. And George Lucas will find another reason to re-release Star Wars. Say 'no' to vertical videos.

The most important PSA of our time is new enough to not even be on viral video charts (YET), but you can find the most viral of last week's viral videos here.

[internetpassnotes]

29 May 2012 - Facebook apps, Facebook v GM, #YOLO and #FOMO primer

Apologies - a rather long one:

Facebook launches a photo app that isn't Instagram: From the ever-expanding annals of 'Wha?', Facebook quietly launched a native mobile photo app that is virtually identical to Instagram. Industry bafflement aside, the app has proved immediately popular (and therefore a little crash-prone). 

  Facebook introduces Page Manager for mobile: Page Manager is the administrative tool for brand pages, including posting and basic insights. Really, you couldn't do this before on a mobile. This is news. 

GM pulled $10m of Facebook ad spend because Facebook won't do homepage takeovers: Or, in other words, GM asked for an AOL ad format, and Facebook told them to stop living in 1996. GM threatened to take their money away, and Facebook decided that was fine. When GM announced their intention to pull a couple of days before Facebook's fumbled IPO, Facebook - speculation alert - 'anonymously' told a few people about the final GM/Facebook meeting, shortly after GM quietly announced they also won't be advertising in the 2013 Super Bowl. Two lessons: 1) Facebook will forgo major ad spend and PR problems than budge on their vision for platform marketing, and 2) Facebook really won't refrain from telling the world their side of the story, and it's never pretty.

  The Youth are still inventing slang faster than we can adjust: Specifically, teens with #yolo and twenty-somethings with #fomo. Those super trendy teens are now channelling their future suburban mid-life crisis selves with #yolo ('You Only Live Once'), thanks to Drake and Zac Efron, who has it tattooed on his hand. Really. YOLO is a less FML ('f*** my life'), more the acronymic love child 'carpe diem' and 'bite me'. If 'This is Just to Say' had an internet acronym, YOLO would be it.  

FOMO, on the other hand, is 'Fear of Missing Out' - fear that you are constantly missing out on party or event, mostly because social media has drowned you in options and real-time evidence that, right now, everyone is having a better time than you are and you made the wrong party choice. It's probably not unjustified paranoia. 

Do: "Missed the bus because I was up partying til 2 am on a school night #YOLO"

Don't: "Missed the bus" [if you're a teenage girl, that's for #fml]

Do: "All my girls are going to Nice and I can't go #fomo"

Don't: "I haven't tried this new chewing gum. Oh no. #fomo" [I'm being extra-explicit with this - it doesn't apply to things that are not time-sensitive]

EUROVISION SPECIAL: Somewhere out there, George Osborne and Danny Alexander are drinking Lambrini and congratulating themselves on maintaining the New Labour dream of never having to ever host a very expensive Eurovision again, while simultaneously making the British public think that we really did try our best. The good people at Twitter are sighing with relief at making it through the non-football pan-European Super Bowl. And though Sweden won Eurovision with this stadium trance chart-topper, they are vying closely for viral video dominance with the Russian Grannies. 

Here's what you really want to see - the rubbish that didn't even get through to the finals. Forthwith, a selection of Europop abhorrent enough to breed viral videos:

Austria's entry from Trackshittaz (I promise, you'll never grow tired of saying that)

San Marino submitted Social Network. Though decidedly not a Eurovision success, it is a contender for the Rebecca Black Award for Fantastically Abysmal Songwriting. 

Jedward. As Graham Norton said, "Aw. They remembered all of the lyrics and most of the dance." That is all. 

You can see the full chart, in which nearly every third entry is from Eurovision, here.

  Onwards.

[internetpassnotes]

15 May 2012 - Ken Auletta week, How to Wake up a Child (with Nirvana), Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

It's a Ken Auletta special this week, starting with an article from last July on whether Sheryl Sandberg can upend the imbalanced gender dynamics of Silicon Valley by herself (spoiler alert: super unlikely). There is also a piece from The Atlantic on the how the financial temptation of using children as data points for their social media products betrays the double moral standards of Silicon Valley CEOs (surprise!), which owes a heavy debt to Ken Auletta's interviews with media moguls for The Highwaymen. 

Facebook mobile app looks better: In case you're a Facebook refusenik and haven't checked the app or mobile website in the past couple of weeks, it now looks more like Timeline and the photos are three times bigger, which means that those pictures of your brother's wife's (batshit crazy) sister's baby will now be rendered three times bigger. Thanks, Zuck.  

Now for the things you really want to see:

Viral Video of the Week - How to Wake Up a Child (with Nirvana): While I believe this means they've failed Parenting 101, this enterprising couple have found a rather entertaining way to wake up their kiddo. I salute them in their efforts.

Guardian Viral Video chart (including how to protect yourself in the event of the Robot Apocalypse) is here. 

Meme of the Week - Ridiculously Photogenic Guy: Anyone who looks this good mid-marathon definitely deserves their own meme. Zeddie Little (we'll give him a pass on the name) ran a 10k, had his photo posted onto Flickr, and the Reddit hivemind, so stunned by his pulchritude, sprung into action and created a meme. And while other subjects of memes have had their glory contained in the vortex of improbability that is the world wide web, this photogenic guy gets to go on television and charm the pants off every consenting adult in North America. If you're wondering - yes, he does have a girlfriend. 

[internetpassnotes]

1 May 2012 - Women are early tech adopters, Hasbro PR disaster, Ellen and Fifty Shades of Grey

It's that time of the week again:

Official - Women are the dual screeners: Continuing our series of 'Why is this News', in which stuff we're sure we've heard before is abruptly trumpeted as blinding insights from the left field, Nielsen confirms that women (in developed markets) are more likely to have a blog, more likely to actually use Facebook regularly, more likely to dual screen and more likely to use Twitter. What is newer, perhaps, is this: women are 12% more likely to have bought a product online that they saw on television. 

Dealing with Bloggers - how not to do it: Last week, Hasbro decided to let loose their crack IP lawyer team from Baker & McKenzie on an Australian blogger who wrote a rave review of their latest NEFF gun before it was released. Baker & McKenzie, whose last chairman was Christine Lagarde, have provided a rather excellent (and slightly viral - oops) example on why one should always weigh up IP concerns with potential reputation damage. More from Roll on Friday here.

Viral Video of the Week - Fifty Shades of Grey, the Audiobook: As read by Ellen. For the uninitiated, Fifty Shades of Grey is erotic Twilight fan fiction. 'Erotic' being the operative word in that sentence, the three volumes (yes, three) are currently in first, second and third place on the New York Times bestseller list. Before you make a hasty trip to Waterstones or, if you have pride, the Kindle Store, you can get a taste of what you're in for courtesy of Ellen Degeneres here. Fun fact: Fifty Shades of Grey was self-published by an ex-TV executive from West London. There's hope for us all.

BONUS - Say 'No!' to crack, say 'Yes!' to rollerskating: Aware that this isn't the first time I've said this, but this might be thegreatest rollerskating rink ad of all time. 

Ellen's audiobook is egregiously exempt from the Guardian Viral Video chart, but you can find more from the Guardian chart here and the unedited version direct from Unruly Media here.

[internetpassnotes]

24 April 2012 - Tumblr advertising, teen smartphone use, Hot (Girl) Problems

Busy week:

Tumblr will now take ads: In a move that is a surprise to nobody, Tumblr CEO David Karp  has changed his mind and decided to take advertising on Tumblr from 2 May. One's megalithic hipster start-up dreams can't survive on $5 highlight posts and $19 premium themes alone, my friend. 

The Dystopian Database of Teenager's Communications: An academic at the University of Illinois has amassed a database of every text message, BBM, phone call and email sent by 180 Texan teenagers over a period of four years. Only one peer-reviewed study using the data has been published so far, but there will be more, providing U of I can resist the lure of selling this data to one of the salivating hordes of tech companies undoubtedly at their door. Incidentally, you now know the price a pretty average teen and their parents will pay for totally relinquishing any misplaced beliefs they had about privacy: a $200 Blackberry and a free calling plan. 

Viral Video of the Week - Hot Problems: A while back someone asked me this question: "Rebecca Black: Why? How?" The internet loves bad things, and Rebecca Black was peddling a bad thing: the lost lyrics from 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Opiate Years', set to a track that comes free with Songify, aided by the miracle of autotune and accompanied by a video that was at turns confusing, non-sensical and creepy. However, if the world of viral videos is an endless game of poker, these girls have just played a royal flush. Introducing Hot Problems, an entirely tuneless song, wholly lacking in any kind of artistic merit, but with some of the worst lyrics to ever grace the internet: "Hot girls, we have problems too. We're just like you. Except we're hot." Judge for yourself here.

This miracle of video production didn't make the Guardian Viral Video chart, but you can see other viral videos, including the latest from ESPN and Nike, here.