The Internets are FAKE?!

Gillmor mentions a couple different hoaxes perpetuated by people pretending to be something they were not using the Internet and fake credientials.

This resonated with me as I was watching G4’s Attack of the Show. Kevin and Olivia are showing us the internet clips of the day. One video’s final frames display the Sony logo and another video briefly focuses on a UPS label on a box a kid shoots with a homemade potato gun. Kevin says, “Those have to be viral videos.”

Olivia responds, “You think everything is a viral video. Say it with me, not everything is a viral video.”

Kevin mimes, “Not everything is a viral video… most of them are, because everything on the internet is fake.”

And that is true. We don’t realize it yet, but we’ve been inundated with viral videos containing ninja-like placement of product. I’ve seen a couple videos that I’ve thought were product placements that I found extremely annoying. There is something about them that feels too produced to actually be real. See: Bride-Hair Freakout (some hair product placement).

I get upset when I find out the video I’m watching is an advertisement. I’m watching a video for entertainment, not to be sold something. When the video I’m watching that turns out to be a commercial in disguise, I get angry. I feel suckered into listening to someone’s message that I did not want to hear. I want ads to be upfront with what they are, not feel like someone has tried to quickly pass something off as credible entertainment.

On the flip side of these viral videos comes marketing. I do like viral marketing campaigns. Some people have come up with great viral games, where you have to solve the puzzle and look for clues. Halo 2 had a great viral internet campaign; the latest CD by Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero, had a wonderful little web story to help flesh out the idea behind their album concept; I still haven’t figured out everything at the Donnie Darko site. It is a great way to get information across if the audience is willing to take the time to figure out the little clues they are given. This method won’t work for a majority of campaigns because only the most diligent of consumers/fans will get involved with these puzzles.

Verizon Sues the FCC

Morgan Webb’s report on Verizon’s child-like behavior when they were told they would not be able to control how people access the new broadcast spectrum opened up by television stations vacating analog signals for high definition digital ones is reprehensible. I hope their case is tossed out of court and some kind of injunction is brought against this company that sues (the government no less) when they don’t get their way. It makes me want to switch telephone providers…

……mmmmmm, iPhone.

Click here for more information on the matter.

Grassroots Journalism

The second half of Dan Gillmor’s We the Media covers the impact of blogs on our society; in particular, the news media.

Blogs have long been criticized for their inaccuracy. Google News does not scan blogs with its news search engine because Google defines news as being edited/fact checked and most blogs do neither. But blogs can bring many subjects into the limelight. Gillmor uses the example of a man in Iraq running a blog about the injustices he witnessed everyday. This man’s blog became very popular and told a story the rest of the world would have otherwise been unable to hear. This site inspired many news stories and gave the world insight into the daily lives of Iraqi citizens. Gillmor thinks this type of grassroots journalism will take off in the near future and steal away many patrons of traditional news.

Gillmor adds credence to his theory by explaining new communication tools. The advent of RSS technology has made collecting information even easier. Instead of checking a website everyday for new content, a person is sent a message telling them when something new has been added. All the person has to do to receive that message is sign up for the RSS feed. This is especially helpful for sites that are infrequently updated. People tend to stop visiting a site if there is no new content because there is nothing new to see. This systems lets them know when new material has been added. RSS feeds can be used for news, sports, blog, and just about anything imaginable on the web.

This tool helps people stay abreast of their favorite topics. RSS feeds can be instructed to look for keywords on the internet and collect this information in one location. If your interests were Ohio State Football, an RSS feed could be setup to capture all the new articles on OSU football found on Google News. This is a great way to find tidbits of information that would have otherwise been glossed over.

One of the things I found most interesting was the blogger that asked his readers to send him to Iraq to cover the news. I think this is amazing and I fully support this method of information gathering. It is like sending a trusted friend to get the scoop that might not be covered in a method you find agreeable. Sending the person you want to have covering the story ensures that the information reported back is what you were looking for.

Gillmor’s section on piracy and the sharing of trade secrets on the internet is completely accurate. The internet community is an irreverent bunch (myself included). They thumb their noses at what authority figures tell them not to do, knowing full well there is little that can be done to stop them. According to one source, 40% of internet traffic is the transfer of copyrighted material. It is almost impossible for legal action to occur because many countries perpetrating these crimes do not fall under the jurisdiction of the courts that uphold these laws.

Instead of fighting what I call the Internet’s version of Vietnam, copyright holders should come up with methods to embrace this new technology, because we know it is here to stay.