Now Media Scott’s LifeStream

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Here's a link (via TechCrunch) to Technocrati's 2009 State Of The Blogosphere: The Full BlogWorld Presentation

Below is a fun Toshiba commercial, with a great tagline: "Technology Can Hold You Back, Or Set You Free".

Not sure I'll invest in a Toshiba anytime soon, but, point taken.

Tonight, in a gesture of good will, combined with some good old fashioned American beer diplomacy, President Obama will have a beer with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and police sergeant James Crowley, in what is now being reported as: White House "Beer Summit" Becomes Something of a Brouhaha. Also, Slate Magazine has an insightful take on this current event, called Beverage Profiling: Why Obama is serving beer to the professor and the police officer.

With all the beer summit tweets on Twitter, and seeing as the "beer summit" is (as I write this) the #1 highest trending topic on Twitter, I got to thinking about not necessarily discussing the politics of tonight's beer summit (instead I posted the above news links so you can decide for yourself), but how "beer" is traditionally and presently, a great marketing product and topic. 

So this morning, when I stumbled onto the below beer video by Diana Mella (during my daily routine of scanning for cool videos) inspired by this July 2009 Budweiser commercial All Together Now, in the moment, I didn't see the value of posting this on the lifestream. But as the day progressed, this fresh, light and creative video weighed in my mind. Eventually, I found a fit.

Also... If you love beer, and believe "beer diplomacy" can create great bonding moments, be sure to check out Slate Magazine's Bonding Over Brewskies In The Movies post which has some great clips from The Shawshank Redemption, Chevy Chase's classic, Vacation, and other films.

Anyway, while not much of a drinker myself, since it is the night of "sauerkraut" in my little world, off to my own beer summit.

Been closely watching the building viral success of the JK Wedding Dance Video on YouTube I first reported on yesterday, when it had 1.3 million views. By this morning, the video now has 4.6 million views, averaging somewhere around 130,000 views an hour. What is driving this viral success?

Did some checking on the net, and I could trace that the bride and groom (Kevin and Jill Heinz) were on both Good Morning America and The Today Show yesterday. Since I rarely watch either show, this is a story that could easily pass me by. Well, until it became a viral sensation, at which point I am intrigued. 

But what's interesting here, is on Thursday (July 23rd), at 5:14PM, Ashton Kutcher or (@aplusk on Twitter) tweets to his nearly 3 million follower base his take on the video, with: "Love this. Congrats to the bride and groom http://bit.ly/mw4ha"

The next morning, Good Morning America (@gma on Twitter) tweets: "They're on @GMA this AM Ashton! Hope you tune in! RT @aplusk: Love this. Congrats to the bride & groom http://bit.ly/mw4ha"

Ok, so wow, is it possible that a big name celebrity inspired a global video viral sensation? For the moment, this is the way the tweets tell the story. In digging further, found an interesting link Minnesota Wedding Dancers Will Appear on Saturday Today detailing some of the breaking news time line related to the wedding dance video. But talk about a competitive media situation over who really broke this story.

Will be interesting to see just how many views the wedding dance video gets over the coming days and weeks, and learn just "who" gets the nod for ushering the wedding dance video into the global spotlight.

Looks like the era of the "wedding dance craze" has arrived.

What a refreshing and fun wedding video, coming out of St. Paul, MN.

After just five days on YouTube, it's racked up 1.6 million views, becoming a YouTube viral sensation. Since I learned about the video on Twitter this morning, it's picked up 300,000 views in five hours. Between circulating around Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other sites, the clicks and link passing are rapidly in motion.

Blogger Seth Simonds thinks this video's days are numbered because of licensing issues related to the use of the song, but as I write this, the wedding video is still fueling a sensation. You can read Seth's thoughts here: Check Out This Video While It's Still on YouTube! [The Wedding Dance]

Now watch for yourself...

Every so often I hear someone ask how to make something go viral, whether a video, or a blog post, etc? And the trick is clear. Do something fresh, daring and exciting, and if the timing and content are just right, word of mouth and mass interest will get it where it needs to go. But remember, the bigger the viral sensation, the bigger the risk. Sometimes, what goes up, must come down.

Here are examples of other videos that have gone massively viral, and remember what I said about "sometimes, what goes up, must come down":

1.) Remember the Evian babies commerical? In just three weeks, the video now has 7 million views.

2.) Who could forget Susan Boyle's launch into global stardom? Her famous appearance on Britain's Got Talent now has 71.7 million views on YouTube. But at what price?

3.) Speaking of amazing singers, did you ever see Paul Potts in action on Britain's Got Talent? This 2007 video now has 55 million views.

4.) I'll spare you the Chris Crocker video link for "Leave Britney Alone" which now has 26 million views. But still love the Crocker quote: "All you people want is more, more, more, more, more!" Once again, fun quote aside, at what price?

5.) But the king of viral videos (as I know it) is this 2007 YouTube video Evolution of Dance featuring Judson Laipply. His video now has 123 million views. This is way fun if you haven't seen it.

Clearly in this day and age, to go viral, all one needs is a simple video camera, some charisma, and a good to great idea.

I've only begun to touch the video world, and will be stepping further into this medium soon.

If going viral is your video dream someday, I wish you all the best... But remember.. What goes up, well, you know...

Here are two environmental awareness clips with 38 years of generational history between them. Note how one ad (from 2009) uses humor and the catchy vibe of a fresh music tune to drive home it's ecological point. Meanwhile the other ad (from 1971), emphasizes a depressing theme, stark images and a tear of emotion to paint the picture of a major environmental problem. My my my how times have changed.

First. Here's a new video ad from Keep California Beautiful, featuring a beach party scene with young beautiful people singing and dancing in Malibu, CA to a tune called "Let's Trash the Beach". It's a good memorable spot already getting some nice reviews, and I did enjoy the mermaid image.

Below is the iconic 1971 classic public service announcement ad from Keep America Beautiful. You know the one... With "Iron Eyes Cody" (The Crying Indian) from the famous Earth Day Campaign "People Start Pollution, People Can Stop it". Even though the first Earth Day began just a year earlier in 1970, some say Iron Eyes Cody's clip alone inspired what would be the thrust of the 1970's environmental movement.

Oh, and in the for what it's worth department, Iron Eyes Cody was not really an indian, although he did play Native American roles in several Hollywood movies. Actually, Iron Eyes Cody (real name Espera de Corti), was an Italian, born and raised in Louisiana in year 1904. He died in 1999.

On a slow news day, where the two most important stories of the day included the passing of the Taco Bell dog "Chihuahua", and the raging debate on heath care, a surprise news story broke this afternoon, when we learned that Amazon.com purchased Zappos (see Amazon Buys Zappos in Cash-and-Stock Deal) which is like the best customer service company on the planet.

Here's a sneak peak at some of Jeff Bezo's words of wisdom, seen in the video.

1.) Obsess over customers.

2.) Have an inventive culture.

3.) Think long term.

4.) It's always day one.

Ok, time to cover President Obama's Heath Care Press Conference on Twitter at nowmediascott.

This video is a few months old, but I still love it. Not only is it an effective presentation with a relevant environmental message, but the cameos and music are pretty good too. 

How many people really care about future generations in this "now, now, now" world?

I do.