Sips from the Firehose
A blog that seeks to filter the internet into a refreshing, easily-gulped beverage
Nov 10
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Another quick hit here: Just saw this story about how the spammer economy actually works. Apparently, researchers at UCSD hijacked a hijacker’s network – the “Storm” zombienet that uses Trojans in unprotected home computers to send out the “V1@gr@” and “h00d1@” spam messages. Their paper on “spamalytics” is here. The number that jumps out right [...] [...more]
Another quick hit here: Just saw this story about how the spammer economy actually works. Apparently, researchers at UCSD hijacked a hijacker’s network – the “Storm” zombienet that uses Trojans in unprotected home computers to send out the “V1@gr@” and “h00d1@” spam messages. Their paper on “spamalytics” is here.
The number that jumps out right away: while running their own spam network, the researchers found that they only made one sale of cut-rate pharmaceuticals for every 12.5 million messages they sent out. That’s a response rate of .00001%.
This is interesting to me for a couple of reasons.
- It shows that successful business can operate and earn a profit on the web, even if their response rate is vanishingly small.
This is interesting, in light of the continued problems of big business to understand the concept of niches, rather than tossing out bland lowest-common-denominator pablum.
- The amount of money being made by the spammers is far, far lower than popular culture would have it.
Hey, these were the guys running the dreaded “Storm” bot-net. In popular imagination, they were an army of greasy-haired Eastern European thugs; dressing in trench coats and trailing a platoon of vicious former Spetsnaz killer commandos.
In reality, the amount of money they’re making relative to the amount of work they’re having to put in, is actually rather pathetic. They are having to demonstrate Mad Spamming Skills just to scrape off a tiny, tiny sliver of revenue. Those kinds of skills, put in to a more legitimate arena, would earn them far more money.
It’s like seeing someone with the skills of Shaq grifting tourists down at the basketball courts in Venice for pocket change, rather than making $121 million in the NBA. Not sure what’s at work with these guys…
And finally, and possibly most importantly:
The research shows that even a small perturbation in the spamcosystem can have a massive effect on their revenues and business models.
This could mean the end of spam as we know it.
Look, these clowns are hanging on by their fingernails. Even a small, incremental improvement in internet security – cutting down on the numbers of infected zombie ‘bots, f’rinstance. Or better router & packet sniffing, to bounce back spam messages.
If they have to send out 500-some-million messages to get back enough responses to survive on – well, if you make sure that they don’t even get those responses back … the spammers will be put out of business very, very quickly. Or as the BBC put it:
Scaling this up to the full Storm network the researchers estimate that the controllers of the vast system are netting about $7,000 (£4,430) a day or $3.5m (£2.21m) per year.
While this was a good return, said the researchers, it did suggest that spammers were not making the vast sums of money that some people have predicted in the past.
They suggest that the tight costs might also open up new avenues of attack on spammers.
The researchers concluded: “The profit margin for spam may be meager enough that spammers must be sensitive to the details of how their campaigns are run and are economically susceptible to new defenses.”
And BTW – may I just say to the guys at UCSD: kudos. Really. Someone there thought creatively. The way the guys who wrote “Freakonomics” did – they went behind the scenes and did the pick’n'shovel work to figure out how something really worked, and they came up with data that contradicted the conventional wisdom.
From one renegade researcher & unconventional thinker to another: well done, sirs. Technorati Tags: Spam, UCSD, botnets, Storm, hijacking
Nov 08
Posted: under Digital Migration, monetizing mobile content, Multimedia, Online Video, Politics & New Media, Web Tech.
Man, check out John Stewart. Is it me, or does he look just a little bit like the Muppet Beaker? Ah yes. The pardon of Marc Rich. Makes you nostalgic for a time when this was the worst crime that could be laid at the feet of the outgoing president, don’t it? Just looking at [...] [...more]
Man, check out John Stewart. Is it me, or does he look just a little bit like the Muppet Beaker?
Ah yes. The pardon of Marc Rich. Makes you nostalgic for a time when this was the worst crime that could be laid at the feet of the outgoing president, don’t it?
Just looking at this video makes me feel 1,000 years old. It’s a reminder of how, when the party in charge of the White House changed back in 2000, there were all manner of investigations into the misdeeds of the previous administration. Wonder if that’s going to come around again … and if we’re going to spend most of 2009 having to sit through a re-hash of all the grubby insider deals perpetrated by the Bushies.
I am of two minds about this issue – on the one hand, I think that to distract ourselves with chasing down Bush partisans to whack them around & humiliate them in front of banks of TV cameras, would be a mistake, taking our attention away from dealing with all the massive problems we face.
And then, on the other hand, there’s the fact that the massive problems we face are a direct result of the actions of these sleazy, incompetent thieves. To let them skip merrily away into the night, their pockets stuffed with stolen taxpayer funds, chortling in glee at their cleverness … well, that just grates.
Anyway. The point of this was to do a compare/contrast of viral video from then, to the political online video we see now. Makes you realize how far we’ve come, with production values. And how we’ve come to expect that when outlets like The Daily Show air a segment, they back it up with video clips culled from the past.
This is a very Web 2.0 concept … I think it comes out of stories on the web, where we have hyperlinks within the stories that allow us to see the evolution of the meme over time, and then compare it to the current story.
My point is that in the last eight years, the way that we process information has changed in a fundamental way that we’re really not fully cognizant of. We expect to see the background, the history from primary sources, that supports what the person is telling us in the present.
In a very real way, The Daily Show and John Stewart are the equivalent of the “content aggregation” sites that have succeeded so well online.
I just want to find a way to make sure that the aggregators have something to aggregate. That original reporting of facts & events does not die off, and that the persons who do the pick & shovel work to unearth the sound bites & images that are then stitched together (for great acclaim & profit) by middlemen like the Daily Show (or Drudge, or HuffPo, or Sadly, No!, Politico, etc. etc. etc.) start to share in some of the extraordinary wealth that is generated off of their sweat equity.
The link economy. We needz it.
Nov 08
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Man, check out John Stewart. Is it me, or does he look just a little bit like the Muppet Beaker? Ah yes. The pardon of Marc Rich. Makes you nostalgic for a time when this was the worst crime that could be laid at the feet of the outgoing president, don’t it? Just looking at [...] [...more]
Man, check out John Stewart. Is it me, or does he look just a little bit like the Muppet Beaker?
Ah yes. The pardon of Marc Rich. Makes you nostalgic for a time when this was the worst crime that could be laid at the feet of the outgoing president, don’t it?
Just looking at this video makes me feel 1,000 years old. It’s a reminder of how, when the party in charge of the White House changed back in 2000, there were all manner of investigations into the misdeeds of the previous administration. Wonder if that’s going to come around again … and if we’re going to spend most of 2009 having to sit through a re-hash of all the grubby insider deals perpetrated by the Bushies.
I am of two minds about this issue – on the one hand, I think that to distract ourselves with chasing down Bush partisans to whack them around & humiliate them in front of banks of TV cameras, would be a mistake, taking our attention away from dealing with all the massive problems we face.
And then, on the other hand, there’s the fact that the massive problems we face are a direct result of the actions of these sleazy, incompetent thieves. To let them skip merrily away into the night, their pockets stuffed with stolen taxpayer funds, chortling in glee at their cleverness … well, that just grates.
Anyway. The point of this was to do a compare/contrast of viral video from then, to the political online video we see now. Makes you realize how far we’ve come, with production values. And how we’ve come to expect that when outlets like The Daily Show air a segment, they back it up with video clips culled from the past.
This is a very Web 2.0 concept … I think it comes out of stories on the web, where we have hyperlinks within the stories that allow us to see the evolution of the meme over time, and then compare it to the current story.
My point is that in the last eight years, the way that we process information has changed in a fundamental way that we’re really not fully cognizant of. We expect to see the background, the history from primary sources, that supports what the person is telling us in the present.
In a very real way, The Daily Show and John Stewart are the equivalent of the “content aggregation” sites that have succeeded so well online.
I just want to find a way to make sure that the aggregators have something to aggregate. That original reporting of facts & events does not die off, and that the persons who do the pick & shovel work to unearth the sound bites & images that are then stitched together (for great acclaim & profit) by middlemen like the Daily Show (or Drudge, or HuffPo, or Sadly, No!, Politico, etc. etc. etc.) start to share in some of the extraordinary wealth that is generated off of their sweat equity.
The link economy. We needz it.
Nov 07
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Quick hit: from the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco (h/t Techcrunch): Huffington says flat out that if it wasn’t for the Internet, Obamawould not be president. Trippi notes that Obama’s YouTube spotsgathered an aggregate of 14.5 million viewing hours. The Internet wasused by candidate previously, he said, noting the Howard Dean campaign,but Obama really [...] [...more]
Quick hit: from the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco (h/t Techcrunch):
Huffington says flat out that if it wasn’t for the Internet, Obama
would not be president. Trippi notes that Obama’s YouTube spots
gathered an aggregate of 14.5 million viewing hours. The Internet was
used by candidate previously, he said, noting the Howard Dean campaign,
but Obama really leveraged it fully with online video, blogging, social
networking and fundraising.
The panelists also note how mainstream media tends to fail in
politics, simply reporting on what each candidate says without saying
who’s right or wrong. The blogosphere, they say (particularly Trippi
and Huffington), tends to call out factual inaccuracies better than
mainstream media.
Howard Dean showed that the Internet could be used to raise lots of
money online, say the panelists. But Newsome says social networking is
significantly more powerful and allows for the creation of much more
meaningful connections between the candidate and voters. “I’m addicted
to Facebook,” he said.
I really do hope that Obama appoints a CTO for the United States. If we are going to finally run this country like a business – and we should – then we need to pay attention to the fact that technology plays at least as important a role in our lives, our economy, and our future as Energy, Education and Labor (to name just a few cabinet-level posts).
Having someone high up who at least tries to get it, tries to coordinate & speak for the high-tech industry in the U.S., is going to be key to us being able to rebuild our shattered and outmoded economy.
Nov 07
Posted: under Community, new media.
Quick hit: from the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco (h/t Techcrunch): Huffington says flat out that if it wasn’t for the Internet, Obama would not be president. Trippi notes that Obama’s YouTube spots gathered an aggregate of 14.5 million viewing hours. The Internet was used by candidate previously, he said, noting the Howard Dean [...] [...more]
Quick hit: from the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco (h/t Techcrunch):
Huffington says flat out that if it wasn’t for the Internet, Obama
would not be president. Trippi notes that Obama’s YouTube spots
gathered an aggregate of 14.5 million viewing hours. The Internet was
used by candidate previously, he said, noting the Howard Dean campaign,
but Obama really leveraged it fully with online video, blogging, social
networking and fundraising.
The panelists also note how mainstream media tends to fail in
politics, simply reporting on what each candidate says without saying
who’s right or wrong. The blogosphere, they say (particularly Trippi
and Huffington), tends to call out factual inaccuracies better than
mainstream media.
Howard Dean showed that the Internet could be used to raise lots of
money online, say the panelists. But Newsome says social networking is
significantly more powerful and allows for the creation of much more
meaningful connections between the candidate and voters. “I’m addicted
to Facebook,” he said.
I really do hope that Obama appoints a CTO for the United States. If we are going to finally run this country like a business – and we should – then we need to pay attention to the fact that technology plays at least as important a role in our lives, our economy, and our future as Energy, Education and Labor (to name just a few cabinet-level posts).
Having someone high up who at least tries to get it, tries to coordinate & speak for the high-tech industry in the U.S., is going to be key to us being able to rebuild our shattered and outmoded economy.
Nov 06
Posted: under Uncategorized.
As promised here are the videos that were the most influential & important to this most recent voting cycle: 4. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This was Barack Obama’s big early test. If there was anything that would threaten his candidacy, it is the image of The Scary Black Man coupled with a statement that was [...] [...more]
As promised here are the videos that were the most influential & important to this most recent voting cycle:
4. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This was Barack Obama’s big early test. If there was anything that would threaten his candidacy, it is the image of The Scary Black Man coupled with a statement that was seemingly test-marketed to most offend moderate white voters: “God damn America.”
For a couple of weeks this past spring, you could not turn on a cable news channel without hearing this phrase in this voice. The video was emailed multiple times to pretty much anyone with an e-mail account. And the impact was stunning.
It forced the Obama campaign to play defense, to stammer out explanations and excuses that paled in comparison to the “God damn America” quote. Suddenly, it seemed as though the national consciousness was set to relegate Obama into the category of America-hating radical. Unelectable.
…and then came even more tapes of Jeremiah Wright. And then he compounded the problems by going on TV and acting crazy and blasting Obama.
Barack Obama Pastor Jeremiah Wright NEW TAPES!!!!
Jeremiah Wright – God Damn America – Obama’s Spiritual Mentor / Pastor
…but all of this set the stage for a crucial event.
3. Obama’s Speech on Race.
This 37-minute turning point in our national discourse took place in Philadelphia, on March 18. Obama’s remarks were honest and unflinching. He acknowledged problems and the failed solutions that we have thrown at this problem.
The main comment that came out after this was: “He talked to the American people as if we were all grown-ups.”
In a year when we’re all feeling like we need someone who himself is a grown-up, not a petulant, willful child (despite the fact that Limbaugh attempted to smear Obama as “the little black man-child”) Obama struck the perfect note with this speech. It set the stage for the national image of Obama as a man who stands on his own hind legs, speaks the truth and doesn’t come apart under pressure.
More than 5 million people watched this clip. And we started thinking, “This guy could really be different.”
2. American Stories, American Solutions: 30 Minute Special
And this piece confirmed that not only was Obama different, he was special; he could speak to the problems and concerns of ordinary people in a way that transcended typical campaign rhetoric. It literally opened with the amber waves of grain, and the string music really made you feel that something was transpiring here that was touching, and important. I twittered at the time that I thought that Obama’s cinematographer should be nominated for an Oscar.
This half-hour special ran on 7 channels the week before the election. Some of my (more left-leaning) friends have said that this left them a little cold. They were apparently looking for real wild-eyed liberal anger. I think that it hit the right note again – in a campaign that had to be perfect to get a black man into the White House, it was yet another move that demonstrated to the twitchy electorate that this was a candidacy that transcended race, and was really about voting for the man who addressed the serious issues that we all face.
More than 1.8 million people watched this online, while 34 million watched it on TV. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t so much a viral video hit, but it certainly was not a standard campaign ad, so I’m sticking it into this list.
1. The Election-Night Victory Speech
I’ll just let this one speak for itself.
The closer for all of this is the report today that, perhaps due to the proliferation of this kind of content on the internet, our attention spans for online video are growing longer. Which is good news for indie and non-traditional content creators – since if the audience’s attention span is growing longer (average of two minutes longer), that means a corresponding increase in the possibility of monetizing that attention span. Viewers of 30 minute shows will currently tolerate about 2 minutes of ads per show. If we manage to get that up to the standard 8 minutes of broadcast TV, we just might be able to monetize this mess.
Internet users are also branching out as far as video content is concerned. According to the NYT, on the WashingtonPost.com, the most popular video content has been political coverage.
Sites hosting video content, such as Blip.TV, have seen their average video length increase by about two minutes in the last year.
Studies have also shown that viewers usually jump around videos in a
“non-linear way”, thus leading video providers to present a wide range
of options of what to watch after a video is finished.
The New York Times says that this is because viewers are actually able to pick & choose what they want to watch, and when they want to watch it. It’s the TiVo Effect, translated over to online. I have certainly started watching more TV since I got the TiVo. Rather than just doing the random “video walk” around the channels, I check t
o see which of my faves has been recently captured, and then sit down and let it play. I pause it when I want, or even pause and come back to it in a day or so, if I don’t find it all that compelling.
The Times also finds that the twin drivers of online traffic – relevancy and usefulness – are at work behind the scenes for internet video. There’s a much longer post gestating about that one, but I’ll leave you with this bit from the excellent Times story:
Certain shows, like how-to programming, keep audiences for a long time. “If someone
says at the beginning of the show he will make a chair, he spends the
next 20 minutes making it in his garage, and then he sits down in the
chair, people will watch that all the way through, and they love it,”
Mr. Hudack said.
There is less interest in longer sitcoms and dramas made by
amateurs, Mr. Hudak said. The issue is that independent filmmakers
don’t have the resources and skills to make something that is
compelling for much longer than five minutes, he said.
Many sites are finding, in fact, that users want to construct their own video programs out of parts.
“The consumer shows up with a partial idea in her head about what
she wants to watch,” said Adam Berrey, a senior vice president of
Brightcove, a video technology firm. “She moves from video to video in
a nonlinear way.”
Nov 06
Posted: under Uncategorized.
As promised here are the videos that were the most influential & important to this most recent voting cycle: 4. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This was Barack Obama’s big early test. If there was anything that would threaten his candidacy, it is the image of The Scary Black Man coupled with a statement that was [...] [...more]
As promised here are the videos that were the most influential & important to this most recent voting cycle:
4. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This was Barack Obama’s big early test. If there was anything that would threaten his candidacy, it is the image of The Scary Black Man coupled with a statement that was seemingly test-marketed to most offend moderate white voters: “God damn America.”
For a couple of weeks this past spring, you could not turn on a cable news channel without hearing this phrase in this voice. The video was emailed multiple times to pretty much anyone with an e-mail account. And the impact was stunning.
It forced the Obama campaign to play defense, to stammer out explanations and excuses that paled in comparison to the “God damn America” quote. Suddenly, it seemed as though the national consciousness was set to relegate Obama into the category of America-hating radical. Unelectable.
…and then came even more tapes of Jeremiah Wright. And then he compounded the problems by going on TV and acting crazy and blasting Obama.
Barack Obama Pastor Jeremiah Wright NEW TAPES!!!!
Jeremiah Wright – God Damn America – Obama’s Spiritual Mentor / Pastor
…but all of this set the stage for a crucial event.
3. Obama’s Speech on Race.
This 37-minute turning point in our national discourse took place in Philadelphia, on March 18. Obama’s remarks were honest and unflinching. He acknowledged problems and the failed solutions that we have thrown at this problem.
The main comment that came out after this was: “He talked to the American people as if we were all grown-ups.”
In a year when we’re all feeling like we need someone who himself is a grown-up, not a petulant, willful child (despite the fact that Limbaugh attempted to smear Obama as “the little black man-child”) Obama struck the perfect note with this speech. It set the stage for the national image of Obama as a man who stands on his own hind legs, speaks the truth and doesn’t come apart under pressure.
More than 5 million people watched this clip. And we started thinking, “This guy could really be different.”
2. American Stories, American Solutions: 30 Minute Special
And this piece confirmed that not only was Obama different, he was special; he could speak to the problems and concerns of ordinary people in a way that transcended typical campaign rhetoric. It literally opened with the amber waves of grain, and the string music really made you feel that something was transpiring here that was touching, and important. I twittered at the time that I thought that Obama’s cinematographer should be nominated for an Oscar.
This half-hour special ran on 7 channels the week before the election. Some of my (more left-leaning) friends have said that this left them a little cold. They were apparently looking for real wild-eyed liberal anger. I think that it hit the right note again – in a campaign that had to be perfect to get a black man into the White House, it was yet another move that demonstrated to the twitchy electorate that this was a candidacy that transcended race, and was really about voting for the man who addressed the serious issues that we all face.
More than 1.8 million people watched this online, while 34 million watched it on TV. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t so much a viral video hit, but it certainly was not a standard campaign ad, so I’m sticking it into this list.
1. The Election-Night Victory Speech
I’ll just let this one speak for itself.
The closer for all of this is the report today that, perhaps due to the proliferation of this kind of content on the internet, our attention spans for online video are growing longer. Which is good news for indie and non-traditional content creators – since if the audience’s attention span is growing longer (average of two minutes longer), that means a corresponding increase in the possibility of monetizing that attention span. Viewers of 30 minute shows will currently tolerate about 2 minutes of ads per show. If we manage to get that up to the standard 8 minutes of broadcast TV, we just might be able to monetize this mess.
Internet users are also branching out as far as video content is concerned. According to the NYT, on the WashingtonPost.com, the most popular video content has been political coverage.
Sites hosting video content, such as Blip.TV, have seen their average video length increase by about two minutes in the last year.
Studies have also shown that viewers usually jump around videos in a
“non-linear way”, thus leading video providers to present a wide range
of options of what to watch after a video is finished.
The New York Times says that this is because viewers are actually able to pick & choose what they want to watch, and when they want to watch it. It’s the TiVo Effect, translated over to online. I have certainly started watching more TV since I got the TiVo. Rather than just doing the random “video walk” around the channels, I check to see which of my faves has been recently captured, and then sit down and let it play. I pause it when I want, or even pause and come back to it in a day or so, if I don’t find it all that compelling.
The Times also finds that the twin drivers of online traffic – relevancy and usefulness – are at work behind the scenes for internet video. There’s a much longer post gestating about that one, but I’ll leave you with this bit from the excellent Times story:
Certain shows, like how-to programming, keep audiences for a long time. “If someone
says at the beginning of the show he will make a chair, he spends the
next 20 minutes making it in his garage, and then he sits down in the
chair, people will watch that all the way through, and they love it,”
Mr. Hudack said.
There is less interest in longer sitcoms and dramas made by
amateurs, Mr. Hudak said. The issue is that independent filmmakers
don’t have the resources and skills to make something that is
compelling for much longer than five minutes, he said.
Many sites are finding, in fact, that users want to construct their own video programs out of parts.
“The consumer shows up with a partial idea in her head about what
she wants to watch,” said Adam Berrey, a senior vice president of
Brightcove, a video technology firm. “She moves from video to video in
a nonlinear way.”
Nov 06
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Tanja Koop and David LaFontaineOriginally uploaded by janinewarner This was taken on the set of the commercials/promos I produced on Tuesday. It was election day (obviously) and we all kept pulling out our cellphones during the breaks in action, and jubilantly calling out the latest electoral college vote count. Tanja, the DP/Camera on this shoot, [...] [...more]
This was taken on the set of the commercials/promos I produced on Tuesday. It was election day (obviously) and we all kept pulling out our cellphones during the breaks in action, and jubilantly calling out the latest electoral college vote count.
Tanja, the DP/Camera on this shoot, was great. I knew going in that lighting this massive space was going to be a bear. But she managed to use the limited resources at our disposal to make this shoot look like a million dollars … or at least a million lire.
The big mirrored thing on the front of the camera lens is a teleprompter.
Nov 02
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Now that we’re finally approaching the end of a presidential campaign season that started way back in May 2007 … and as an aside, allow me to observe that it used to be that declaring for the presidency the December before the Iowa caucuses/New Hampshire primaries was early … Let’s take a look back at [...] [...more]
Now that we’re finally approaching the end of a presidential campaign season that started way back in May 2007 … and as an aside, allow me to observe that it used to be that declaring for the presidency the December before the Iowa caucuses/New Hampshire primaries was early …
Let’s take a look back at one of the emerging forces that has come out of nowhere these last fours years to impact the way that politics is conducted: viral videos.
The first indication that this was going to have a transformative effect on the electoral process was back in ’06, when Virginia Senator George Allen’s “Macaca Moment” kneecapped the GOP’s best hope for hanging onto the White House. This was not the first YouTube video about politics, but it was the first really big one. The scandal that erupted over this cost Allen his Senate seat, his shot at the White House, and was the signal that Virginia was now in play for the Democrats – one of the really big, under-reported shifts in electoral demographics of the last couple years.
Now they, you’ll notice that this video has only racked up 370,000 views or so. Good, but hardly awe-inspiring … not even in the category of kittens dancing around on piano keys.
So how is it that these videos have such an effect? Well, the mainstream media is still, for now at least, the ones setting the parameters and nature of the conversation. But the process by which the MSM frames the national discussion has undergone a sea change. And part of it is the GOP’s fault.
It started with Drudge and the Monica Lewinsky scandal (although many are finally acknowledging that the “Drudge Effect” is losing steam), continued on with the Swift Boat veterans, and this year, finds its truest expression in the vids of Fey-as-Palin.
See, reporters and editors are pretty much web addicts. We poke around on the internet all day long, trying to figure out what the Vox Populi is saying, so we can latch onto it and churn out a “trend” story. And then go drink.
Viral videos that make us laugh, make us stop, make us click to get the link and then e-mail it to our friends & colleagues … those get the “trend” prize, whether they are or not at the time. And, of course, once a critical mass of journalists bestows the “this is a growing trend” status on a meme (Soccer Mom, NASCAR Dad, Security Mom, Joe the Plumber, etc.), then said meme is going to get a serious working-over by the material-starved talking heads on the cable news programs.
We are moving closer and closer to a merging of the “underground” flow of significant memes and information on the internet, and what the MSM reports and pays attention to. This gallery of viral hits will take you through the history of the Presidential Campaign ’08, in a way that will have you remembering the conversations we were having only a few months ago, and how those memes have morphed into the Accepted Collective Wisdom.
Mission accomplished. Time for cocktails.
1. Yes We Can – Barack Obama Music Video
It started with this, back when the Iowa caucuses came back, and people started actually buying into the idea that maybe … maybe … there’s something to this guy Obama. Maybe we don’t have to pin our hopes on Hilary and another depressing go-round with Bill Clinton in the White House with a lot of free time on his hands. This has gotten 11 million views since it was put up, features will.i.am and hella good editing & soundtrack.
2. Dear Mr. Obama.
A hit for the McCain campaign, this Iraq war vet holds forth on his belief that the war was not a mistake. This has been made into a commercial for the Republican Majority Campaign PAC.
3. I’ve got a crush on Obama.
This one got more than 10 million views – which proves that hot chicks in tight clothing are certainly a spur to the success of a video. Lately, Amber Lee Ettinger has diversified and put on the Palin glasses & hair bun, and there are now more than 30 “Obama Girl” videos.
4. JibJab’s “It’s time for some campaignin’ ”
This one came along in mid-July, when we were starting to get really serious about this, and provided a nice preview of the emerging themes of the campaign. This wasn’t as big a hit as the videos back in 2004, when the images of Kerry sailing up the Mekong and Bush screwing up everything he touched really hit a nerve. This one does deliever, however, with Obama riding a rainbow unicorn. And seeing Hilary clonk Bill with a frying pan never gets old.
5. McCain’s YouTube problem just became a nightmare
This one has gotten upwards of 8 million hits, and is from provocateur Robert Greenwald and bravenewfilms (full disclosure: years ago, I worked on a project that was destined for Greenwald’s production company, until it got tied up in a very messy legal quagmire). This video, part of a “The Real McCain” effort to define the candidate, set a lot of the foundations for the stories that we’ve been seeing reported in the last couple of months. Another very telling point: it’s garnered upwards of 66,000 comments – a pretty good yardstick for something that “engages” the audience.
6. Obama, Paris Hilton & Britney Spears – the “Rock Star” Ad
This is another video that got more than 2 million view, and made a huge splash at the time. To many people, this marked the spot where the McCain campaign went off the rails … where it started to become less about what McCain was going to do, and more about going negative and trying to smear Obama, using whatever means necessary. Of course, this then led to one of the funniest responses of the campaign season …
7. Paris Hilton accepts McCain’s endorsement
“I’ll see you at the debates, bitches,” is one of the best one-liners of the campaign season. I blogged about this before, so go there for a fuller reaction to her actually rather insightful energy policy.
8 . Crazy Hilary Supporter Goes Off
Remember back when the PUMAs were allegedly going to tear the Democratic Party apart? When this giant seething mass of resentful, fanatic feminist Hilary supporters were going to desert and vote for McCain because they were so pissed off about the treatment Hilary got in the primaries? This woman made her way into the media spotlight for a while. And then it turned out that she didn’t really represent any kind of significant voice in American politics. She was just old, ornery and slightly nuts. Kinda like McCain, some to think of it…
9. RNC Convention Protests
This footage of Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman being carted away made a lot of news at the time, as did the tear gas and other protests going on outside the convention hall. This was all quickly overshadowed by the next player to emerge on the national stage…
10. Is McCain Palin’s Bitch?
This one has gotten more than 2 million view, yet it hasn’t made it as big as some of the other viral hits. I just love it because they managed to find an actor who actually kinda looks like McCain. And it starts with the faux-Palin firing an AK-47. And ends with the line “Who wants to go polar bear huntin’?”
11. Couric-Palin interview – “I can see Russia from my window”
This has passed into the category of epochal political history. The moment that Palin said something so galactically stupid that people around the world stopped in their tracks to ask, “She said WHAT? What the hell was THAT?” Of course, that then opened the door to….
12. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin
This got more than 7 million views. And has spawned a whole cottage industry. I’m sure you have seen all of these. And if you haven’t in a while, go and check them out. They could populate an entire list by themselves…
13. Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlep”
This is not as genius as Tina Fey’s work above, but it’s still damn good, and more than that, has apparently inspired a whole bunch of young East Coast jews to bug their grandparents in Florida to vote Obama. We’ll have to wait ’til Tuesday to see how well that worked out, but in the meantime, the description of Obama’s barbecue skills is worth a peep.
14. Obama – McCain Dance-Off
If we are not to settle big issues through single combat, then the dance-off would seem to some observers (OK, me) to be an equally thrilling and relevant process. And it may reveal more about character and poise than those damn canned statements they just recite in front of the cameras in lieu of actually answering the questions asked by the moderators.
Final winners will be unveiled tomorrow.
Nov 02
Posted: under Catching a Falling Knife, Multimedia, new media, Online Video, Politics & New Media, Tail Wags Dog, Viral Fame.
Tags: Politics & New Media
Now that we’re finally approaching the end of a presidential campaign season that started way back in May 2007 … and as an aside, allow me to observe that it used to be that declaring for the presidency the December before the Iowa caucuses/New Hampshire primaries was early … Let’s take a look back at [...] [...more]
Now that we’re finally approaching the end of a presidential campaign season that started way back in May 2007 … and as an aside, allow me to observe that it used to be that declaring for the presidency the December before the Iowa caucuses/New Hampshire primaries was early …
Let’s take a look back at one of the emerging forces that has come out of nowhere these last fours years to impact the way that politics is conducted: viral videos.
The first indication that this was going to have a transformative effect on the electoral process was back in ’06, when Virginia Senator George Allen’s “Macaca Moment” kneecapped the GOP’s best hope for hanging onto the White House. This was not the first YouTube video about politics, but it was the first really big one. The scandal that erupted over this cost Allen his Senate seat, his shot at the White House, and was the signal that Virginia was now in play for the Democrats – one of the really big, under-reported shifts in electoral demographics of the last couple years.
Now they, you’ll notice that this video has only racked up 370,000 views or so. Good, but hardly awe-inspiring … not even in the category of kittens dancing around on piano keys.
So how is it that these videos have such an effect? Well, the mainstream media is still, for now at least, the ones setting the parameters and nature of the conversation. But the process by which the MSM frames the national discussion has undergone a sea change. And part of it is the GOP’s fault.
It started with Drudge and the Monica Lewinsky scandal (although many are finally acknowledging that the “Drudge Effect” is losing steam), continued on with the Swift Boat veterans, and this year, finds its truest expression in the vids of Fey-as-Palin.
See, reporters and editors are pretty much web addicts. We poke around on the internet all day long, trying to figure out what the Vox Populi is saying, so we can latch onto it and churn out a “trend” story. And then go drink.
Viral videos that make us laugh, make us stop, make us click to get the link and then e-mail it to our friends & colleagues … those get the “trend” prize, whether they are or not at the time. And, of course, once a critical mass of journalists bestows the “this is a growing trend” status on a meme (Soccer Mom, NASCAR Dad, Security Mom, Joe the Plumber, etc.), then said meme is going to get a serious working-over by the material-starved talking heads on the cable news programs.
We are moving closer and closer to a merging of the “underground” flow of significant memes and information on the internet, and what the MSM reports and pays attention to. This gallery of viral hits will take you through the history of the Presidential Campaign ’08, in a way that will have you remembering the conversations we were having only a few months ago, and how those memes have morphed into the Accepted Collective Wisdom.
Mission accomplished. Time for cocktails.
1. Yes We Can – Barack Obama Music Video
It started with this, back when the Iowa caucuses came back, and people started actually buying into the idea that maybe … maybe … there’s something to this guy Obama. Maybe we don’t have to pin our hopes on Hilary and another depressing go-round with Bill Clinton in the White House with a lot of free time on his hands. This has gotten 11 million views since it was put up, features will.i.am and hella good editing & soundtrack.
2. Dear Mr. Obama.
A hit for the McCain campaign, this Iraq war vet holds forth on his belief that the war was not a mistake. This has been made into a commercial for the Republican Majority Campaign PAC.
3. I’ve got a crush on Obama.
This one got more than 10 million views – which proves that hot chicks in tight clothing are certainly a spur to the success of a video. Lately, Amber Lee Ettinger has diversified and put on the Palin glasses & hair bun, and there are now more than 30 “Obama Girl” videos.
4. JibJab’s “It’s time for some campaignin’ ”
This one came along in mid-July, when we were starting to get really serious about this, and provided a nice preview of the emerging themes of the campaign. This wasn’t as big a hit as the videos back in 2004, when the images of Kerry sailing up the Mekong and Bush screwing up everything he touched really hit a nerve. This one does deliever, however, with Obama riding a rainbow unicorn. And seeing Hilary clonk Bill with a frying pan never gets old.
5. McCain’s YouTube problem just became a nightmare
This one has gotten upwards of 8 million hits, and is from provocateur Robert Greenwald and bravenewfilms (full disclosure: years ago, I worked on a project that was destined for Greenwald’s production company, until it got tied up in a very messy legal quagmire). This video, part of a “The Real McCain” effort to define the candidate, set a lot of the foundations for the stories that we’ve been seeing reported in the last couple of months. Another very telling point: it’s garnered upwards of 66,000 comments – a pretty good yardstick for something that “engages” the audience.
6. Obama, Paris Hilton & Britney Spears – the “Rock Star” Ad
This is another video that got more than 2 million view, and made a huge splash at the time. To many people, this marked the spot where the McCain campaign went off the rails … where it started to become less about what McCain was going to do, and more about going negative and trying to smear Obama, using whatever means necessary. Of course, this then led to one of the funniest responses of the campaign season …
7. Paris Hilton accepts McCain’s endorsement
“I’ll see you at the debates, bitches,” is one of the best one-liners of the campaign season. I blogged about this before, so go there for a fuller reaction to her actually rather insightful energy policy.
8 . Crazy Hilary Supporter Goes Off
Remember back when the PUMAs were allegedly going to tear the Democratic Party apart? When this giant seething mass of resentful, fanatic feminist Hilary supporters were going to desert and vote for McCain because they were so pissed off about the treatment Hilary got in the primaries? This woman made her way into the media spotlight for a while. And then it turned out that she didn’t really represent any kind of significant voice in American politics. She was just old, ornery and slightly nuts. Kinda like McCain, some to think of it…
9. RNC Convention Protests
This footage of Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman being carted away made a lot of news at the time, as did the tear gas and other protests going on outside the convention hall. This was all quickly overshadowed by the next player to emerge on the national stage…
10. Is McCain Palin’s Bitch?
This one has gotten more than 2 million view, yet it hasn’t made it as big as some of the other viral hits. I just love it because they managed to find an actor who actually kinda looks like McCain. And it starts with the faux-Palin firing an AK-47. And ends with the line “Who wants to go polar bear huntin’?”
11. Couric-Palin interview – “I can see Russia from my window”
This has passed into the category of epochal political history. The moment that Palin said something so galactically stupid that people around the world stopped in their tracks to ask, “She said WHAT? What the hell was THAT?” Of course, that then opened the door to….
12. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin
This got more than 7 million views. And has spawned a whole cottage industry. I’m sure you have seen all of these. And if you haven’t in a while, go and check them out. They could populate an entire list by themselves…
13. Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlep”
This is not as genius as Tina Fey’s work above, but it’s still damn good, and more than that, has apparently inspired a whole bunch of young East Coast jews to bug their grandparents in Florida to vote Obama. We’ll have to wait ’til Tuesday to see how well that worked out, but in the meantime, the description of Obama’s barbecue skills is worth a peep.
14. Obama – McCain Dance-Off
If we are not to settle big issues through single combat, then the dance-off would seem to some observers (OK, me) to be an equally thrilling and relevant process. And it may reveal more about character and poise than those damn canned statements they just recite in front of the cameras in lieu of actually answering the questions asked by the moderators.
Final winners will be unveiled tomorrow.
