Ode to Blog

Oh sallow fallow hallowed Blog,
Who will feed you now that you are free?
Who will feed you now that you are me?

Oh the things you will see...

Creating A Successful Viral Video

The moment you have any success with anything, you can quickly become the go-to person on that topic. I’ve been asked a couple times to help create a viral video and how I had done it before. Being asked to create a viral video is always a funny thing to be asked because you really can’t call it a viral video until it goes viral. And what really makes a successful viral video? Is it people sharing, the sales from the video, number of views, or the recognition? For me personally, it’s the recognition or talk value that really defines a successful video. I’ve been told by many people how much they loved the Money Money Money music video. That tells me that one, they watched it and two, since they are telling me that they liked it that means they likely shared it with friends as well. I wish I could say there was some sort of secret formula and I had that magic to share but really there are only good strategies and practices. In the end it’s keeping your fingers crossed and hope for the best. With that said I wanted to share some thoughts on how we were able to get over 200,000 views on the Money Money Money video in only a few months.

First and foremost, the number one driving force behind every viral video is having a good idea or concept. I’m sorry but just uploading the same commercial you put out for TV doesn’t make for an online viral video. There is 35 hours of content uploaded every minute to youtube and most of that has under 500 views. The likelihood of catching the attention of the web audience is small.

After someone watches your video you want them to say to themselves I have to share this with my friends. What makes a video sharable? Simply think about what you like to have forwarded on to you and what you like to forward onto others. There is either a wow, that’s the coolest thing I’ve seen or I can’t stop laughing after seeing this. I’m a big fan of the wow that’s funny kind of videos. Humor is always sharable, so funny videos have proven to be very popular and have been the genesis of multiple cross-media promotions. If a video makes you say, "Wow!" it has potential to go viral. But if a person isn’t getting some visceral response from it, chances are they won't ask their friends to see it.

So you have a video that you think is great and ready to share but you should think about when and where you share it first. There are a lot of factors to take into account when you decide to upload and release your video for the first time. Don’t launch your video on a Friday night, the audience is going to be small mot people are not checking Twitter and Facebook at this time. You really are not going to gain traction till Monday when most people are online checking to see what happened over the weekend. This isn’t a tested day; I’ve only had one video go viral but we launched the Money Money Money video on Wednesday in the early afternoon. Launching a video on a Wednesday or Thursday is the perfect time. Most people are looking for something to help lift their spirits till the weekend. If your video can do that they are going to want to share that joy with friends. Where to launch is almost as important as the when. Most people will tell you to get the video distributed on every video site and platform you can. But knowing how your audience watches is also important. I knew that Vimeo had become the place every motion graphics artist is posting their work. They are active on the site, trust the content from Vimeo to be quality and as a result are most likely to watch a Vimeo link in twitter then a YouTube link. So first I posted the video onto Vimeo and Facebook and then the next day or so I began to post it on other sites including YouTube and MySpace. Rather then dumping the video and over saturating the web I was able to make the Vimeo version of the video the most active and shared version. Depending on your audience though YouTube or Facebook might be a better launching site for your video.

If I’m given the option to create and promote another video I would go about it the same way. I hope I was able to help guide you in the right direction but there is no easy answer for the question. Just be sure that you make quality work and hopefully the rest will fall in line.

Happy Turkey Day

Costume Store 2010

For your young, morally-ambivalent daughter.


In the foreground is supposed to be Toto.


The perfect costume for half a dog.


I don't know why they say that hip hop is dead.

Bear

The newest member of the Daily Planet family

'tis you must go, and I must bide.

From 2002, an unholy fricassee of umteen versions of Danny Boy, rammed together with a jeweller's eye and a tinsmith's ear by Oswald Wang.
A pint of plain, to be taken aurally.

And they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them

Crap Banners

Poor fallow blog...I'll feed you.







How's that? Feel better?

Note: This Is Possible

A special message from the head office:

Do you remember that day when you ran for the train? No? You squinted against the sun to cross against the light and your eyes looked like root beer, flecking brown and yellow as they pierced the middle distance? Well, then you must remember that strand of hair you tucked behind your ear just before you stepped off the curb. Your right ear. Your left foot. ...No? Your lips looked like they did on your deathbed, a little pale though a little painted on, and I thought: these are the lips that ate, that kissed, that formed air into expression; and then they pursed in anticipation of the evening and what must be done in its fading light. No recollection, huh? That's fine. I'll remember for you.

Remember how you sat restlessly in Algebra class, your adultifying body struggling against the confinements of the desk? Your face as inchoate as the volcanic ocean floor, every labored shift dislodging discomfort, and potential. No? How about your voice, filtered like a chained animal's, curbed to a taut coil yet ready to speak, to answer against its weight? Wow. OK then, try this one: Remember how you would eat lunch, your shoulders tightly hunched, your arms a gate, on guard? You would quickly sneak food into your mouth, and chew as if with shame? You would save your milk for the whole meal and drink it at the end without a breath. Hmm. Later you became a minister and nurtured a whole community with your patience and dedication. Oh, THAT you remember. All right. I got the rest.

Remember when you sat alone at the bottom of the stairs, underneath Michigan Avenue, right outside Billy Goat's? You looked so despondent, or high. Did you know you looked high? Drunk at the very least, and at 7 p.m. Maybe that's why no one came to help you, even though you looked so in need. You sat at the base of those dirty stairs with your hands covering your face and your hair covering your hands and you looked like someone whose whole spirit had been crushed. Remember? You thought the entire world was lost to darkness; you were falling, alone, with no hope of redemption. And now you don't even remember it. See? Sorry to bring it up. But see?

Do you remember that train ride out to your parents? It was Labor Day weekend and the light had already turned. Do you remember you had that red-penny hair then, thinning? You wore those thick lenses, it was before the surgery. You were thinking, "Can I do better than this one?" And everyone who knew you was thinking that, too. You were still wearing the leather, it was before it looked like an affectation, or more of an affectation. Your mind was absent but wandering, you were thinking of a dish with ginger, and of Tammy from college, and who was the actor in that show? You breathed in and out forty-eight hundred times on that trip and the Earth rotated five thousand miles. We were idols then. False idols, but idols nonetheless. No memory? It's OK, it will always be OK. You just stay on that train, and I'll meet you there.

Banadir Restaurant: Detail

Located in the heart of the Chicago neighborhood known as Near Where Amy Lives, Banadir Restaurant serves delicious Somali food to cabdrivers 24 hours a day, except during Ramadan. Flavorful rice, vegetables and fruit drink for one low price. Friendly people and friendly service.

But writing about delicious food is like a novel about a happy family. It is boring. The story I must tell is about the washroom, and it must be told in pictures.


Fig, 1: East view. No more or less yellow than the other views. I do confess I looked in the cabinets. Upper: the usual collection of long-ignored construction and cleaning tools. Lower: more unidentifiable tools, and glops of blackened paper towel in the corners. Note the botanical feature: a woman was in here once.


Fig. 2: South-east view. The toilet worked, and that's all I care to say.


Fig. 3: West view. It says, in marker on the wall: "Please do not step on the sink. AND Don't put (used) toilet paper in the sink. Thank you." Initially, the mind boggles, but actually it's a religious thing, so judge not.


Fig. 4: North view: This door is what you touch after you have washed your hands. This is in the best case scenario.

All this being said, the food was very good. What? What's the matter? You don't go to a restaurant for its restroom, do you? Well I know I don't.

IN July

Free Translation

I do not know because the history attracts but that the present, do neither I understand because one is claimed with the history, but in the end seems to be that passed every time was better! Do neither I know because all today they complain that one must pay to touch! I am going to count you a history more than crap that live the TRICICLOSCLOS in an of so many adventures at night and stay up late, loads and discharges of teams, a history more than losers, bah! Idiotic people as we that raises the flags of the rock so that its life make sense! !!!. We had a show in Branches, one of those so many shanty town hidden, we arrive at sunset with desires of rockear and to touch.

I saw the sign

At the Modern Wing, 071209