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Social Media & Narcissism – Individuals and Brands: Remember to Love Yourself

posted by Nick Cifuentes @ Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 8:10 PM

Becoming a star on the Internet these days does not seem as far fetched as it once might have been. Social networks have become a ubiquitous tactic in helping connect individuals with family, friends, and strangers alike. And over the past several years, a number of those random individuals have become overnight sensations – all thanks to the Internet.

Do we all remember Tay Zonday? After his composition “Chocolate Rain” became an overnight Internet sensation in July 2007, garnering more than 40 million views to date, this Minneapolis grad student went from no one to someone, in mere seconds.

He has appeared on the Opie & Anthony Show, G4TV’s Attack of the Show!, VH1’s Best Week Ever, Lily Allen and Friends, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Maury where he performed Chocolate Rain on national television just three months after posting his video to YouTube. He made the front page of Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, the Toronto Sun, Chicago Tribune, Star Tribune, People magazine, and even has appeared on CNN for a televised interview. He’s made appearances on Fox News, and even made it on to an episode of South Park.

And that’s just the beginning of it! Singer John Mayer mimics Zonday’s keyboard riff with his guitar in concert regularly. Even Green Day drummer Tre Cool recorded a cover of Chocolate Rain, which he posted to YouTube. He’s even been mentioned in episodes of The Office, 30 Rock and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

And this is from a YouTube video, a YouTube video!? Think of it, one day a college student decided to sing some strange, yet catchy song, records it, and ends up becoming an overnight star. Comedy Central, Dr. Pepper, Intel, the rock band Weezer, NASA, Warner Brothers, and BBC have paid Zonday to appear in a variety of promotions.

Zonday is just one of many YouTube celebrities who happen to have corporate sponsors, and are paid for product placement in their videos online. Some have even quit their day jobs or changed careers to accommodate their YouTube filming schedules. And a handful of individuals are also official “YouTube Partners,” meaning YouTube cuts them a share of ad revenue.

Lonelygirl15, the Obama Girl, the Angry German Kid, Dancing Matt, Charlie bit me, the Boom goes the dynamite guy, the prison thriller, even the guy who screamed “Don’t Tase Me, Bro!”- all of these individuals went from having normal everyday lives to notable online prominence.

Some might think of this notion as absolutely foolish, some might think of it as a form of humble genius – nonetheless, they are stars, overnight sensations that have proven their worth in numerous inescapable maneuvers.

Those mentioned above hold our deserved scrutiny, but they are from years past. Ergo, who shall we take notice of now in 2009? Who will be the next Tay Zonday to speak highly of? - Leaping on to the national stage and then slipping back into anonymity, this seamless performance seems to act as a contagious flu anyone might catch.

And in 2009, only can a deceased cat, a 48-year-old Scottish woman and Dominos pizza employees have so much in common. For just a brief second, we read, watched and spoke about these individuals at some point - all thanks to the Internet, and the instant-celebrity, be it a person, video or website might deliver us.

Drum Roll Please.

Here are just a few of those viral sensations that have struck 2009 in more than just simple terms: (some personal grading was also applied here based on impact)

Keyboard Cat

This sensation began with a video clip of a decade old cat appearing to play the keyboard. Add in a video-savvy 22-year-old to the mix, and marry that clip with another of a person falling down an escalator – you have stardom my friends.

This one video attracted the attention and interest of millions, including comedian Stephen Colbert. The AP reports Brad O’Farrell, syndication manager for MyDamnChannel.com in February 2009, put the keyboard cat into motion. Since that point in time, hundreds have taken the keyboard cat clip and combined it with a video clip of an embarrassing accident – the result is absolutely hysterical in some cases. The keyboard cat’s (aka Fasto, who’s said to be long dead) performance is meant to play the person “off the stage.”

This is a great example of how users can take a moment someone creates, and ‘recycle’ the content on their own to produce user-generated content that allows users to decide the hilarity behind who the keyboard cat will “play off” next. Rating: A+

Susan Boyle

If you have not heard of Susan Boyle, chances are you’ve lived in a cave for the past 6 months. Her melodramatic tale began as a 48-year-old reality show contestant for the U.K. reality TV show “Britain’s Got Talent.” When this very sweet, and very unassuming individual belted one of the finest versions of “I Dreamed a Dream” for what would eventually be the world, never did she see the stardom marching her way. Camera crews and interviews on several major news broadcasts, including the NBC Today Show – caught Boyle off-guard and soon she was thrown into a newly found fame courtesy of the Internet.

And even though this unemployed Scottish church volunteer did eventually lose the contest, the online video of her debut performance was downloaded more than 200 million times, and had the paparazzi camped outside her home, and had Oprah and Larry King begging for interviews.

Watch her video here

Rating: B+ (Sorry, she lost…can’t give you points for that.)

25 Random Things About Me

This 2009 e-mail chain-like fad fascinated Facebook users and took them to another level. Chances are if you are on Facebook, at some point you saw this pass into your inbox. And you either loved or despised the forwarded message, reluctantly giving in or galloped to quickly toss into your trash bin. The overall point of the fad was to share 25 random things about yourself, and then forward it to 25 other Facebook users.

PC World Magazine estimated that more than 5 million motions of the chain letter forwards populated Facebook pages in just one week. The fad grew to such a massive following; a Facebook user spoofed it with a “25 Things I Hate About Facebook” video. Facebook quickly followed up with the user, Julian Smith, and worked with him on other videos.

This 2009 sensation had a prolonged spike in mainstream media, and did help Facebook further its popularity. Rating: A

Dominos Pizza Videos

In May, videos of Dominos pizza employees violated public health laws when they decided to have ‘fun’ with people’s food while preparing it and recording the entire segment on video inside the Dominos pizza kitchen.

Watch the video here

Their antics, which eventually made it to YouTube, sparked a PR nightmare for Dominos pizza, where the company made a public apology from the CEO online via YouTube.

This drew the eyes of several million people, damaging the brand greatly overnight. But, like any other Internet sensation, these moments are short-lived, and what was once a wildfire, seems almost like it never happened.

In the end, an interesting study was done by MediaCurves.com, where they obtained American’s perceptions of the event’s apology, as it revealed that 65% of respondents who would previously visit or order Domino’s Pizza were less likely to do so after viewing a “prank” video. The results can be seen here

Rating: B-

Runners Up:

The Obama Puppy: The moment President Obama promised his daughter’s a puppy, the world had no choice but to care. Bo, the Portuguese water dog eventually made his way to the White House and the ‘online’ world went into a frenzy. Online polls, kennel associations, blogs, and users across all social platforms scratched and clawed to want to help the Obamas pick the breed. Rating: B

The AIG Bonuses: When the world found out that $165 million was paid out in bonuses by insurance giant AIG, the world fought back. Both the public and government officials were outraged by the event of a crumbling company to release bonuses of this size after receiving more than $170 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat. As in the case of the Dominos Pizza event, this saw a large spike, then quickly bottomed out and lost interest. Rating: B+

Conclusion.

There is one interesting point about viral sensations that strikes me, the time involved. People seem to obsess for a short period of time, and then poof…it’s off to the next ‘hot’ thing. In this tiny village we all live in, there is nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, nowhere anyone won’t find you. The Internet, in an exceptional way, has transformed our lives into ‘live’ events. We can record, we can tape, we can see what others are doing and transmit that event quicker than ever before, to a stage where the entire world can view. Some might argue this and describe our ‘personal space’ as being lost and violated – It’s hard to disagree. But, in reality, it has been, and apparently we are OK with that. There is a reason we share our lives on the Internet with both friends and strangers, why each of us try and climb the plateau and look over to see who might be looking up at us on occasions. When taking this into perspective, it’s all relative, whether your Joe the Plumber or a big brand like Microsoft – there is point to all of this madness. You want to see me, and I want to see you. We might be trying to play those subtleties off on occasion, but in the end – why fight it? Enjoy the self-absorption, swagger with the best of them and remember, narcissism will always get you somewhere in this world.

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Social Media & Narcissism – Individuals and Brands: Remember to Love Yourself

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