Advertising Age - The Media Guy

Must-Tweet TV: A Post-Emmy Scorecard

How many people watched the Emmys? About 13.5 million -- as USA Today's Gary Levin reports, that was good enough to top the week's ratings, achieving "a virtual tie with last year's show but ahead of the 2008 version, which matched the ceremony's worst performance." Levin also notes, "This year's event may have lost potential viewers by running three weeks earlier than usual, in August (when fewer people watch TV), because of NBC's NFL commitment."

Just How Brain-Dead is American Pop Culture Right Now?

Until recently, conventional wisdom has been that American pop culture is so unstoppable/inevitable/irresistible that it suffocates other cultures around the world. (In fact, countries including France passed cultural-import laws specifically to keep American pop culture at bay.) Some weeks that still seems to be the case, but more and more the pop-cultural heat, and general topical heat, on Twitter can be found far beyond U.S. borders.

How (and Why) Facebook, Twitter, Became Recess for Grown-ups

The more I think about the rise of social-media gaming culture, the more it breaks my heart. Gaming giant Zynga, in particular, makes me feel unplayful.

Here's Proof That Social-Media Buzz Does Not Necessarily Prompt Consumer Spending

"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" takes the top spot in our chart this week -- a bitter irony for the sci-fi action comedy that opened last Friday. Based on a popular graphic novel series, the Michael Cera vehicle got some glowing notices from critics.

GM, American Apparel, Hulu Are Tops in Social-Media Buzz This Week

Cala Boca, 'Inception'! PLUS, Introducing Biebsquare: Foursquare for Justin Bieber Fans

Since everybody's buzzing about location-based services (LBS) this week we decided to look at how many people have been sharing their Foursquare check-ins on Twitter, which is easy enough to do (with Trendrr Pro), because every such tweet contains a URL containing "4sq.com" (e.g., Twitter user cubswm's post earlier today: "I'm at Redbones Barbecue (55 Chester St, at Elm St., Somerville"). Well, look at that: Generally speaking, checking in on Foursquare is more popular than tweeting about "Bieber"!

This Week in Pop Brands: 'Taylor Hotner' Shows Leo 'Inception' DiCaprio Who's Boss

Finally! After four weeks in our top spot, "Inception" has been deposed -- by the Teen Choice Awards. For the purposes of this chart, we consolidate related trends, and the biggest subtrend to come out of the TCA's was "Taylor Hotner" -- a play on the name of Taylor Lautner, one of the stars of the "Twilight" franchise.

Top 7 Brand Stories With Major Social-Media Buzz This Week

How Much Should We Be Freaked Out About the Whole Google-Verizon Net-Neutrality Thing?
So-called net neutrality -- the notion that all information on the internet should be given the same traffic priority -- has been a buzzy topic lately because of rumors that Google and Verizon have been building some sort of anti-net-neutrality partnership.

Could AMC's 'Rubicon' Give 'Mad Men' a Run for Its Money?

As you'd expect, "Mad Men" fell, in its second week, as a Twitter meme -- to a one-hour peak of 1,281 tweets. "Rubicon" is already closing in on half that level, with a one-hour peak of 537 tweets the same night. Those aren't huge numbers, of course, but they're decent for a network like AMC.

Boy, Could the Former Editor of Maxim Ever Tell You Some Stories

For this latest edition of Dumenco's Media People -- an ongoing series of conversations with media grandees -- I interviewed longtime print guy Keith Blanchard, most famous for being the founding editor in chief of the U.S. edition of Maxim.

How 'Inception' Became the New World Cup (and/or Justin Bieber)

I'm taking a look at Twitter buzz surrounding "Inception" again this week (after last Wednesday's look at pre-opening buzz) because, well, how can I not? "Inception" has quickly become the new Trending Topics constant on Twitter -- a presence as comfortingly redundant as the World Cup was until recently, or Justin Bieber was until the spring (when Twitter changed its algorithm to downplay his Twitter dominance).

'Inception': Are We Witnessing the Birth of the Next Billion-Dollar Movie Franchise?

Is It Wrong to Share Your 7-Eleven FarmVille Groceries With a Gowalla?

It's time once again for the Media Guy Media Studies Pop Quiz. I sure hope you've been paying attention. All books and papers off your desk. Now, people!

The Consumer As Waldo: Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook Care Where You Are; Do You?

Let's step back a moment and just admit it: Location is interesting when it's interesting ... but usually it's not. Sorry, Twitter, but the vast majority of people tweeting about the World Cup weren't actually in the stadium.

How This Author Got 674,716 Facebook Fans (Worth, Uh, $92 Million!)

Two years ago Simon & Schuster published Toronto-based author Gregory Levey's book "Shut Up, I'm Talking." Naturally, Mr. Levey put up a Facebook fan page for the book. Unnaturally, he ended up getting hundreds of thousands of fans.

Playing Dodgeball With Gawker -- and Other Cheap Thrills in the Big Blog Era
Remember when all you had to worry about from blogs was excessive snark? If you overdosed on the acid commentary, you could always just pop a few Tums or spend 10 minutes with the fluffy kittens on CuteOverload.com. (There -- all better.) Now you might want to bring a flak jacket.

Twitterverse Tells the Media to SHUT UP (Again) ... and/or Save Endangered Monkeys?

No surprise: the World Cup takes our No. 1 spot again this week. (Justin Bieber, the former King of Twitter, should maybe think about taking up soccer.)

Google News Cares More About Facebook, Twitter and Apple Than Iraq, Afghanistan

Most weeks our chart measures buzz on Twitter. But Trendrr Pro actually tracks a wide range of other data, including active stories on Google News -- the metric we're tracking in this week's chart.

Twittersphere Goes Ballistic Over BP CEO's Yacht-Race PR Gaffe

Perhaps BP presumed that the yacht-race getaway would be less noticed given that it was held on a Saturday, when the news cycle tends to rev down a bit. Guess again. The Twittersphere never rests. Over the weekend, I manned the internet barricades, monitoring reactions on Twitter to the Tony & Bob Show.

Cranky ex-Sprint Customer Dumenco 
Gets Satisfaction (Sort of) on Twitter
Last week, after having spent at least an hour of quality time, spread out over several months, with semi-clueless Sprint phone-support people -- and waiting on hold to be transferred to other semi-clueless Sprint phone-support people -- I broke down and did what I have never done before: I whined to Twitter.

We Interrupt the World Cup to Obsess About Some Other Awesome Games

You may have noticed that the World Cup has almost completely taken over Twitter's Trending Topic list -- not only with "FIFA World Cup" and "#worldcup," but with all manner of player names, team names and triumphant or vanquished countries. But leave it to geeks and nerds to point out that kicking a ball around a field isn't the only game in town.

Does Real-Time Social Media Make Us Less Globally Inclined?
I've been realizing lately that the social web reinforces local navel-gazing, mainly because the social web is increasingly so "real-time" focused -- and time zones are, obviously, the enemy of real-time.

Would You Rather Feel Excited About the New IPhone or Bad About Oil-Covered Birds?

You may have noticed that Twitter is on the fritz again today. All morning I've been getting the "Twitter is over capacity" error message ("Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again") and the Fail Whale graphic. The Fail Whale appears to be all too happy that he's being airlifted from the ocean, perhaps because he saw an oil plume headed directly for him. (Should we blame Twitter's outage on BP? Sure, why not?) Which brings us to the latest weekly Trendrr chart, a collaboration between Advertising Age and social-media tracking service Trendrr.

Is Kat Stacks the Creepiest Twitter Trend Ever?

In this week's Top 10 Most Tweeted Brands chart, there are three major signs of globalization: South Korean boy band Super Junior, tweets about European soccer and the prominent presence of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Steve Jobs Wants to Be Your Mommy, Your Daddy and Your Personal Savior

It's now become painfully apparent that Apple is exercising control over what it allows in its app store not only to assert its economic dominance over subservient app developers, but to impose the idiosyncratic morality of its CEO, Steve Jobs, on Apple consumers.

Did Ellen DeGeneres Just Drive Another Nail Into the Coffin of the 'Idol' Era?

Remember when "American Idol" seemed unstoppable? It's still huge, of course, but ... markedly less huge than it was even last year. So the really interesting news in pop culture this week had nothing to do with "Idol" or Crystal or Lee.

Really, London?

One day later, the world is still in shock and mourning over Wednesday's introduction of Wenlock and Mandeville, the official mascots of the London 2012 Olympics.

Greyson Chance, 12-year-old YouTube and Twitter Superstar: How He Really Happened

Greyson Michael Chance, a 12-year-old Oklahoma boy whose parents blessed him with an awesomely Twitter-ready, SEO-friendly first name -- has lately had more Twitter buzz than Jonas Brothers and Lady Gaga.

In Praise of the Original Social Media: Good Ol' Television
For all the buzz and obsession about social media, old media still rules our lives. (It's amazing how often we use new media to talk about what old media is up to.) And of all the old media, TV maintains the tightest grip on our collective consciousness.