GOING VIRAL: Popular people and viral media

I’VE just finished reading a thought-provoking book titled The Tipping Point (2000) by best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell, who is a well-respected journalist at The New Yorker. In his book Gladwell focuses on how ideas, products and messages reach a tipping point where they spread like viruses and enter­ into popular culture.

Several of the examples Gladwell uses are taken between the sixties and the nineties, with one of the earliest examples being the stirrings of the American Revolution. Gladwell asserts that word-of-mouth is still the most effective method for creating social epidemics. Spreading the famous phrase “The British are coming” for example, spread like wildfire and saved the settlers of early America.

Gladwell argues that out of any population of people it is only a few who are responsible for making something go viral. These people he refers to as Connectors — trustworthy, charismatic people who are a part of many social circles and are therefore well connected. Whether an idea, product or message sticks is dependent on what Gladwell calls The Law of the Few.

Never have Connectors been more important to this social process than they are today in the digital age. Today people don’t even need to know their online contacts or followers personally to help them make something go viral. Social media has made it possible for anyone to become an influential Connector. It doesn’t even take long for a viral e-mail to find its way around the world.

Demotivational posters are one of the most viral forms of imagery on the Internet. A Google image search for ‘demotivational posters’ fetches more than one million results.

Advertisers still attempt to increase the popularity of products by using celebrity endorsements. Fans of such celebrities may very well be persuaded this way. However, there is a far greater chance today of a product or idea going viral based on what those same celebrities say on Twitter or on their blogs. If Stephen Fry recommends a good book on Twitter, there is a chance that over three million people will follow suit.

The Internet is a fantastic tool for self-education, but it has to be said that, generally­, people will follow the law of crowds. If 640 million people have watched Justin Bieber’s video Baby you are likely to assume that it must be good and proceed to watch it yourself; or, you may watch it just to see what all the fuss is about. When a record label catches wind of such popularity and comments are largely favourable, those 640 million viewers are counted as potential consumers and Justin Bieber becomes an overnight superstar.

YouTube has great power to influence popular culture as it continuously evolves. Social media research conducted in 2009 reported that every minute, 24 hours of video footage is uploaded onto YouTube. Whether any of this becomes sticky and goes viral depends on those few individuals who, firstly, spend a lot of time on YouTube, and secondly, who are well connected and widely followed. What the rest of the world will consider popular largely depends on what they will consider to be popular.

It’s an intriguing yet daunting thought. A reflection of some of the most watched YouTube videos of all time include “lolcats”, people singing or dancing, and people falling over or getting hurt. Cats hold their position as the second­ most popular pet in the world, two of the most popular TV shows watched today include Idols and Dancing with the Stars and there has been a proliferation of reality shows depicting dangerous stunts or bodily functions — Jackass, Crazy Monkey, Dirty Sanchez, The Dudesons, Balls of Steel and Kenny vs Spenny, to name just a few. One would imagine that countries such as Bhutan, which are not a part of social media phenomena, would find such epidemics quite bizarre.

It appears that cultural globalisation lies in the hands of a few. We can either choose to take part and be contributing spinners of the growing web or we can be susceptible flies caught in its sticky threads.

WEBSITE REVIEW: Create impressive presentations online

MOST people would find the idea of giving a presentation to a crowd of people quite daunting. Having to project enthusiasm about an idea or piece of work and be able to paint a picture with words and a few bullet points is no easy task.

One bestowed with such a frightful endeavour may recall sleepless nights playing with PowerPoint until the early hours of the morning — overdosing on caffeine and inevitably losing all apparent enthusiasm for what really is a good idea but is now more likely to come across to your audience as a pig’s breakfast. I’m so glad those days are over.

No, we need instant gratification these days. Advertisers, educators and presenters need to bring the bling and appeal to our severely diminished attention spans. This is why it’s so interesting to witness the new wave of online advertising that offers a degree of interactivity and really engage with their audience. Fortunately there is one website that allows us common folk to do just that.

Create professional looking presentations such as these

A screenshot of a TED presentation made using Prezi

Prezi

Prezi is a popular piece of presentation software and storytelling tool that allows creatives to craft colourful presentations upon a virtual canvas. Users can optimise the use of a digital whiteboard rather than using traditional slides. With Prezi one can zoom in and out of this canvas, embed images and videos, move these around, add music and sound effects to a presentation and pan and zoom between all objects. The platform allows free-form brainstorming as well as more structured presentations.

An added bonus is that Prezi does not require a lot of technical know-how to use. It is intended to be intuitive and offers easy-to-follow instructions as you go along. The software was initially developed by someone with a visual mind — Hungarian architect Adam Somlai-Fischer. Initially, Prezi was intended to be an architectural visualisation tool, but now operates under the mantra of “make sharing ideas more interesting”.

I was intrigued to see that Prezi is used by some of the top presenters over at TED. Prezi therefore offers a high level of professionalism but can also be used for school projects, work presentations or for creating birthday montages.

There are some great examples of presentations on the Prezi website which will give you a good idea of what can be created using this powerful software. Users are also able to rate and comment on other Prezis too, which may provide useful feedback for any newcomers. There is now also a Prezi Viewer application for the iPad, which allows one to create touch presentations - making your work or idea even more interactive and engaging.

Prezi Pricing

The free Prezi package allows anyone to create, showcase and share their presentations on the website as well as download them for offline use. One is afforded 100 megabytes of storage space to save presentations within the cloud. The paid-for packages start from $59 (around R400) a year and allow Prezi creatives to keep their presentations private, use their own logos, allow them to create presentations offline and get direct support from Prezi staff.

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THE INTERNET: Feel free to be a jerk

Guest post by Tharuna Devchand

SO a little while ago the Mail & Guardian suspended a journalist intern for an anti-Semitic comment on Facebook that amounted to hate speech and was therefore in conflict with the South African Constitution. Without a warning, the kid’s career was ruined because of a social networking site where groups like “My name is Khan” (a group that disrespects Hinduism) and “F*** Islam” exist with thousands of followers who spread the hatred.

I’m not justifying what Ngoako Matsha said, nor am I implying that M&G was wrong in suspending him, but consider the medium in which he said it — cyberspace.

In cyberspace, every person should be seen as a figment of their own imagination­. Nothing is real. Nothing we say is a true reflection of who we are. On the Internet, we are all Tyler Durdens. There are no boundaries, no policies and rules to keep us neatly between the lines, no reputations to uphold or cultural conventions to keep us in place.

The Internet is like a global Fight Club. It’s where we can guiltlessly des­troy something beautiful and return to our lives feeling better about ourselves. It’s cathartic and, since we all can’t be Jackson Pollocks, it may sometimes be our only outlet.

I constantly hear people complaining about how perfect their Facebook friends’ lives are or what interesting lives other people on Twitter have. It’s not true. It’s just what people choose to show you on the website that makes it all seem perfect.

Social networking sites house a giant­ community of people all suffering from small-penis syndrome. There is a constant war to keep up with the cyber Joneses. Saying that people exaggerate on the Internet about their lives, their feelings, their opinions and how great their lovers are is an understatement. If peer pressure in real life can drive one to do things one normally wouldn’t do, the pressure to be infamous on the Inter­net can land one in a mental institution. Gosh knows what Anthony Weiner was thinking when he tweeted a photo of his, um ... weiner­.

While it is never easy to work out the true nature of a person in real life, it is 1 000x harder in cyberspace. On the Net, you can be anything and anyone you want to be.

Those who aren’t that popular or who lack friends may upload albums of them being cool with photos of them sloshed with their heads in a toilet just to show that they can party with the best of them. People who are going through tough times may exaggerate all the positive things in their lives and leave out the hardships. And people who are quite restricted or oppressed in their real lives, may go cyber crazy, voicing outrageous opinions and desires on the Net — probably under a pseudonym. It’s a safe outlet that we believe has no consequences — until we lose our jobs for letting loose.

The problem is that there is no line that determines how far is too far until we cross it. We constantly push the boundaries of what is right and wrong just to see how far we can go, whether it’s driving at 129 km/h in a 120 km/h zone or voicing mad love for Adolf Hitler and his beliefs.

Contemporary society has become mostly unaffected by things that are shocking or at least used to be shocking a decade ago, and to deal with this, people try to raise the bar. Cartoonists, comedians and teachers are continually trying to shock people into thinking about things on a different level. Look at how far advertisements have gone to prevent people from drinking and smoking excessively, and to encourage people to abstain from sex, and you’ll see just how just how numb our society is.

Is it okay for me to call my black friend a k***** on her Facebook wall knowing that she won’t be offended? Is it okay to tweet angrily about how upset I am about something the DA said and in turn label it as racist, not because I think that they are racist, but because I just feel the need to put the party down? No, but it feels good.

The South African Constitution currently doesn’t apply to the Internet. Maybe it should, but I doubt that will stop people from saying things, uploading videos and creating images that are shocking. Every day there are more stories of people being judged by their online images. Employers hire people based on their tweets, courts implicate people because of Facebook profile photos, people are fired because of some YouTube video that shows them spray painting expletives on a wall. But it’s those things that make us cool on the Net, that get us hits, that make us believe that this could one day make us famous.

• Tharuna Devchand is a features writer for The Witness newspaper in Pietermaritzburg. Read her blog Blotching Dali with Tharuna-isms

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KICKSTARTER: Obtaining project funding via social media

DO you ever get tired of being served coffee that is too piping hot to drink? Or leaving a cup of Joe to cool only to find that it’s gone Luke warm by the time you drink it? Well, soon unsatisfactory coffee drinking will be a thing of the past with the release of Coffee Joulies on the American market this week.

The idea of creating stainless steel heat-retaining coffee beans that keep your hot beverage at the right temperature for longer was brewed up by two young design engineers both named Dave. Like many budding entrepreneurs, Dave and Dave needed a way to fund the manufacturing of their product and turned to the Internet and social­ media to achieve this.

Kickstarter.com is one of many websites that allows people to post ideas freely and appeal to the online public to pledge small amounts of money towards their project. Creatives are given a set amount of time to raise the funds they need and offer certain rewards to people, depending on the amounts they pledge.

The Coffee Joulies project, for example, was looking for $9 500 (roughly R66 500) to fund the manufacturing and distribution of their product. Amounts that could be pledged ranged from $40 to $500 or more. Returns on investment included being sent free samples of the product once made, getting a unique Joulies mug with “I backed Joulies on Kickstarter” printed on it, or even being sent a Coffee Shop Pack for entrepreneurs who want to sell Joulies themselves.

The Coffee Joulies example is one of many that illustrates the power of the web and social media to kick-start business ideas into existence. The two-man team managed to raise $306 944 (about R2 148 000) and has over 4 800 backers. Project creators also keep 100% ownership and control over their work.

Kickstarter homepage

Kickstarter.com is one of many websites that allows people to post business ideas freely online and appeal to the online public to pledge small amounts of money towards their project (image: www.kickstarter.com).

The only criterion for Kickstarters is that projects must reach their funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. This is done to protect all parties involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

Other successful projects include documentary film ideas, iPhone add-ons or accessories, a magnetic vertical garden kit and video game development. Many of these have far exceeded the amounts needed and are over 100% funded. Pledging continues until their initial time frames end. I was also pleased to see a few South African projects on Kickstarter that have surpassed their funding goals.

The creative market for ideas

Websites such as Kickstarter bring to mind other online platforms that also operate within the creative market for ideas. Idea Bounty is one example whereby large corporates post a brief for something they want — such as ideas­ for an advert. Users or creatives are then invited to submit their ideas for that brief. A sizeable bounty is offered­ by the client beforehand which is bestowed upon the person who submits the best idea.

While platforms such Idea Bounty sound all good and dandy, it just goes to show the value of a good, creative idea. This particular website has been known to offer bounties as high as $10 000 (about R70 000), but it’s a no- brainer that the returns on implementing such ideas most likely far exceed what was paid for them.

This comparison makes one feel far more approving of entrepreneurial, self-starting marketing platforms such as Kickstarter. The look and feel and user-friendliness of the website also make it that much more inviting. But you don’t have to take my word for it. If you have a great idea or want to launch a book or make a film and need funding, Kickstarter would be a very good place to start.

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GEOTAGGING: Internet safety and online privacy

THE Internet and privacy have been major concerns in the past decade — and rightly so. Facebook alone has been caught up in several court cases in the past few years, which has seen the service making major revisions to their privacy policies.

Facebook aside, several of the latest gadgets on the market today automatically make use of geotagging. This infuses media such as photographs with location-based information or metadata, which is perhaps the bigger concern when it comes to privacy and security online.

What is geotagging?

The following definition of geotagging is taken from the official homepage of the U.S. army, which is trying to discourage troopers from using social media services and risk compromising their positions.

“Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification to photographs, video, websites and SMS messages. It is the equivalent of adding a 10-digit grid co-ordinate to everything you post on the Internet.” - www.army.mil

iPhones, iPads, smartphones with built-in GPS, and several other devices automatically create such metadata when content is shared or posted on the Internet. Smartphones in particular automatically embed geotags in pictures taken — often with users being unaware.

Social networking services, on the other hand, are being forced to be a lot clearer when it comes to geotagging photos and videos in particular when posting them on the Internet. Photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Picasa for example, offer geotagging options, but this is not an automatic function.

The fear is that tagging photos or videos­ with an exact location on the Internet allows random people to track an person’s location and movement patterns.

Understand what you're using

It is therefore important to understand the characteristics of any hi-tech device you might own. Study its manual to determine how to switch off GPS functions. This is, of course, if you fear for your own safety.

Perhaps the real concern involves parents of teenage children. There is a prevalent belief that pedophiles living in basements scan the Internet on a daily basis and use such services to find their next victims. It would be foolish to think that such people don’t exist, but it would also be a shame if technology was avoided altogether because of a fear of them.

The bottom line is to practise being a savvy and cautious Internet user and teach such practices to your children. Social networking is all about bringing people together and sharing experiences with family and friends. It has also been used to successfully capture criminals online. Good measures are already in place to keep things private and secure and are being continuously improved. The choice to behave in a relatively risk-free and secure manner online lies entirely in the hands of the user.

Geotagging, the Internet & online privacy: final thoughts

As soon as you sign up for a Google account or join a social networking site or service, you immediately begin building an online track record. Deciding who you connect with, and what information you choose to supply online, will determine who gets to learn what about you.

If you use services such as Gmail, Twitter or Facebook, look under your “settings” tabs to access and edit privacy options.

Of course there are risks of genuine breaches to private information; but, if you have nothing to hide and are savvy and cautious­ when online, the chances of geotagged media seriously harming you or your family are about the same as being struck by lightning.

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WEB 2.0: Prisoner-generated content & the U.S. prison system

THE United States contains 5% of the world’s population and holds 25% of the world’s prisoners. In other words, a quarter of the global prison population resides in single country - the U.S. This is according to a 2008 research report published in California Prison Focus and really is a staggering thought to fathom.

And not only are more than 2 million people imprisoned in the U.S. but after a brief look at the manufacturing output of U.S. prisons, one can rightfully argue that America has reinvented the slave trade.

According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services, 93% of paints and paintbrushes, 92% of stove assembly, 36% of home appliances, 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers and 21% of office furniture.

The list goes on with airplane parts and medical supplies. U.S. prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for the blind.

It’s clear that prison is big business. The multimillion-dollar prison industry has its investors on Wall Street - capitalists who don’t need to worry about their workforce striking or reporting family problems. According to a study by the Progressive Labor Party, corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners' work actually lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their incarcerated workforce. Disgusting.

An Unlikely Source of Web 2.0 Contributors

However, when prisoners are not tinkering away for 25 cents an hour, several are engaging with social media and contributing towards what largely makes up web 2.0. Social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming more accessible to those incarcerated in the U.S. prison system, and there are even a few that are blogging from behind bars.

A famous example of “blogging behind bars” is the currently imprisoned rapper Lil Wayne who makes semi-regular updates to his website.  Since he does not have access to the Internet, the entertainer dictates his posts using the regular mail system which are then typed on his blog remotely by an assistant.

With the rapid growth of web 2.0 and the benefits that it can offer prisoners, several prisons world-wide are now putting systems into place that offer inmates more direct access to electronic communication.

One particular system that allows prisoners to send electronic messages is called the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System, also known as TRULINKS. This is managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and provides email communication without granting access to the Internet.

While the TRULINKS system provides email communication (if approved by the prison staff), some penitentiaries are going further by granting limited Internet access to inmates. Several prisons are installing Internet kiosks that offer online banking, email and video conferencing.

This was done in part to reduce the amount of paper created by the regular mail system and to lower the amount of time it takes to screen physical packages. Furthermore, like TRULINKS, it is not taxpayer dollars that are used to fund these services; the inmates pay for it themselves.

Reforming the prison system: Reward or punishment?

Many will argue that granting prisoners Internet access is a luxury that should not be given to those being punished. However, others insist that being linked in can help rehabilitate the incarcerated – better preparing them for a return to society.

The ability to skillfully use computers and the web are vitally important in the modern world. Allowing prisoners to use the Internet offers them the chance to hone these skills and may make it easier for them to find work once released.

Internet access could be structured as a reward for good behaviour that could easily be taken away if an inmate violates any prison rules. It seems like a fair system that is likely to encourage better behaviour behind bars; I’m sure any chance to engage with family and the outside world would. But bearing the truth of the U.S. prison system in mind, what we really need to see are inside scoops about reforming the U.S. prison system entirely.

Related: 10 stats you should know about our prison system

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MEETYOURFRIENDS: The real deal or complete scam?

IT can be forcefully argued that Facebook has set the benchmark for new and emerging social networking sites. In fact, morsels of the Facebook phenomenon can be seen in several non- social networking websites too – usually ones that allow users to provide status updates, add ‘friends’, comment willy-nilly and “like” certain things by giving them a digital thumbs up.

It almost seems that the online giant that Facebook has become could never be rivaled or surpassed by any other social networking site - no matter how enticing they appear; but there are still some that try.

MeetYourFriends dot com is one of the latest social networking websites to reach our screens and feels confident that it will “bury their rivals within days.” With a healthy initial investment and the aim of tapping into an apparent emerging market of 30 and 40-somethings, time will only tell if MeetYourFriends will succeed or fail.

"MeetYourFriends.com is a back-to-basics social network that brings together new friends from across the globe. With simple sign-up and fast search, the website offers instant friendship using Direct Messages and Live Chat. Based on secure and powerful web technology, the social community brings the world to your front door for chat, fun, and friendship" - www.meetyourfriends.com

For those who wish to raise virtual cattle and throw sheep at their peers, MeetYourFriends will not satisfy. According to a popular MeetYourFriends press release published on Techcrunch, the site is a back-to-basics social networking site that will appeal to fans of The Beatles and sliced bread.

MeetYourFriends developer, Neil Bryant, explains that the service aims to target users who simply want to engage in casual chat. “We wanted to bring some fresh new ideas into the social networking sphere, and with a unique combination of email and live chat we think we may have just achieved that,” says Neil.

There have already been over a hundred comments from Internet users regarding MeetYourFriends - most of which were not favourable of the endeavour. There is a general feeling of “do we really need yet another social networking website that does the same things as Facebook?” as well as shared feelings that the entire venture is a scam.

One intrigued commenter tested the waters by signing up on MeetYourFriends only to find that he had to pay in order to chat to existing, high-profiled users. It was discovered that the ‘social networking’ service had a dating component to it whereby users had to pay if they wished to converse with the more exotic-looking users already on MeetYourFriends. He also found that many of the “models” on MeetYourFriends were Ukrainian and that he was unable to unsubscribe from the service.

A word of warning

Firstly, anything new in the social networking world needs to be different; different and easy to use. If legit, MeetYourFriends may win favour on the simplicity front, but I do not imagine it will become anything to write home or Facebook about.

It is also always important to consider the motives behind new social networking websites – especially ones that have invested so much into their creation. According the aforementioned press release, MeetYourFriends will not change its privacy policy or allow advertising once it’s settled on its laurels.

“We think Facebook is nervous, adds Neil. Global domination awaits.” Most will find that very hard to believe. As always, be cautious when handing over any personal information online; and if you dare enter, beware of being spammed by adware and spyware and the occasional Thai bride.

Some social networking humour: I leave you with the advert for Friend Face from that timeless episode of The IT crowd:

Related: The Future of Social Networking

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