MURKETING

Social media benchmarking

A whole new wave of “social media” or “citizen journalism” triumphalism swept through the Internet recently, sparked by Facebook/MySpace usage during and after the Virginia Tech killings, and the Digg-distribution of DVD copyright protection-cracking code. The upshot of way too many analyses for me to even attempt to link to: You can’t stop The People in the new social media world! It’s a paradigm shift! Don’t you get it?

I get it. In fact, I’m tired of getting it. I want to know when the new paradigm is going to result in, oh, I don’t know, a better-informed public.

As an example: As recently as this past January,

Many adults in the United States believe Saddam Hussein collaborated with a terrorist network, according to a poll by Knowledge Networks for the Program on International Policy Attitudes. 32 per cent of respondents think Iraq gave substantial support to al-Qaeda, and 18 per cent think the Iraqi government was directly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

That is, half of the American public still thought that Iraq had a significant role in 9/11.

Now, I certainly understand that the “mainstream media” had a big role in this false belief. The recent Bill Moyers Journal on this subject made that case in devastating fashion.

On the other hand, that program also made it clear that some reporters and stories were getting it right all along. Why didn’t the “word get around”? Why has the word still, evidently, not gotten around?

How about this as the new benchmark: When the social-media revolution results in a substiantial drop in the number of people who believe in something that’s not flat out drop dead wrong, and has massive, far-reaching consequences, then some triumphalism will be appropriate.

Too much to ask?

Digit photography

Ah, the middle finger. What a durable gesture! To this day, it’s the clever response of many an indie-rocker or rapper or brand undergrounder or other rebellious type who finds him- or herself in the crosshairs of a camera. Maybe you’ve thought of relying on the middle finger to showcase your attitude in a moment of casual picture-making by a friend. But before you do so, please consult this Flickr cluster. And then come up with something else.

Only commune

A new social/community/etc. site called iLike has launched, notes iLounge. It’s another site where you create a profile and bond with others through consumption habits — in this case, music-consumption habits. “iLike will help you find new music based on what you and your friends like,” the site says, promising “a more democratic music industry,” and the slogan: “Music of the people, by the people, for me.”

I think it’s about time for a community-community site. You could go on and create a profile and share with your friends all your opinions about the other community sites you’re part of, and discover the cool new community sites that are enjoyed by other community site members who are just like you. The result would of course be the democratization of online community-ness. Community of the community, by the community. For you.

Imaginary Brands

In addition Wonder and Old Spice and any number of real brands included in the film Talladega Nights was one that — I believe — is imaginary: Laughing Clown Malt Liquor. So far as I know, you can’t really buy Laughing Clown Malt Liquor. You can, however, buy a Laughing Clown Malt Liquor cap. In fact, they’re on sale. Which might be an indicator that they aren’t exactly catching on.

Still, I think imaginary brands are pretty interesting. The Times ran a story earlier this year about fake brands from the era before product placement became a huge business — Beautee Soap in The Hucksters, Dazzledent in The Seven Year Itch, and so on. (Not mentioned was Vitajex, from the must-see A Face In The Crowd.) I assume there must be more contemporary examples, but all I can think of right now is the Big Kahuna Burger chain in Pulp Fiction. (Googling about that a bit led me to this site, where someone is selling “Bad Mother Fucker” wallets.)

I also came across this article about a German design firm called Schein Berlin, which apparently specializes in fake brands:

In addition to providing products to other TV series, they’ve been designing fake products for the RTL soap “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten” for five years. For this one show alone, they’ve invented 380 fictional brands, some of which have come into existence in as little as 20 minutes to an hour to meet a set designer’s last-minute needs.

The article says the firm also “built a complete Russian supermarket” for The Bourne Conspiracy, “using hundreds of logos and labels, all of them invented.” But apparently in the film itself, this just flits by and isn’t really noticeable.

Too bad. Somebody should put on a gallery show of fake brand design. I’d love to see it.

Design Star: Not Hateful Enough

The reason that none of you have been watching Design Star on HGTV is that it is, of course, not a good show. The reason that it’s not a good show was glaringly obviously last night, as the two finalists squared off in a thick fog of mutual respect and best wishes. When they wished each other good luck, they really seemed to mean it: Whoever loses will be ever so happy for the winner.

Who wants to watch that? Where’s the excitement? The episode ended with a group hug. Nobody watches reality TV competitions to see a group hug. Nobody.

I couldn’t care less about fashion designers, but there’s little question that Project Runway is more interesting to watch precisely because so many of the participants are hateful, and seem to hate each other — and each other’s mothers, for that matter. Maybe they don’t, maybe it’s all in the editing, but it all seems pretty mean-spirited, and that’s what counts.

Probably you already knew all that. But I’m wondering if there isn’t an opportunity for a reality show that simply cuts through all the clutter and simply about hatefulness. It could be called America’s Next Top Asshole, and the weekly “challenges” would involve being an awful human: Making a stranger cry, lying to a loved one, taking credit for someone else’s accomplishments, cheating, stealing, insulting, etc. The judges would, of course, be the most hateful people from reality-show history (Puck, Richard Hatch, Ashlee Simpson, etc.). The winner would get a bunch of endorsement contracts, a show on MSNBC, and, of course, braggin’ rights.

Anyway, after last night’s episode of Design Star crawled to its feel-good conclusion, E and I agreed that we would be more likely to hire David, but that Alice would probably have a better show. So for the record, I’m voting for Alice. She’s real sweet.