Jack is also rockin’ it on Vimeo:

My Name is JACK – Please ADOPT ME! from adriene hughes on Vimeo

Other concept tumblrs we’ve enjoyed, all focused and dedicated:
* Puddle Blog
* Boner Party
* Laser Portraits

1. That Was Funny The First 100 Times: “people are too savvy with the internet at this point to still be enchanted by [YouTube's] simple, chintzy magicks…”
2. Cynicism: “the marketing companies overplayed their hands on this one, taking what could have been occasionally fun extra components to more mainstream ad campaigns and just overdoing it to death…”
3. TV on the Computer: “Virals were a distraction from other stuff on the computer, and now virals have just become that stuff on the computer. So what distracts us from that? Television! On, um, the computer…”

Take a vacation. You sound like a hipster complaining about indie rock.

Suggest some future stunts on famousandrew.com. Anything with Palin should work amirite?

Well hello there, branded content. 15-year-old spaz vlogger Fred — the 3rd most subscribed person on YouTube (>500k) — has cut a promo deal for 21st Century Fox’s new movie “City of Embers.” More from the Wall Street Journal:

The “Ember” effort is different [from other viral movie-marketing campaigns], though, because it uses an already established YouTube star to endorse the film. “They are using the credibility that this guy has with a specific audience,” says Lars Bastholm, co-chief creative officer at AKQA, a San Francisco digital-advertising company not involved with the campaign. “By not being so overt and making it look like he’s discovering the film for his audience, it comes across as less pushy.”

Maybe she sound watch more FOX… you don’t mess with hackers on steroids!!!!11

via Andrew on the BLING list

Our favorite reigning chocolate just released an intimate Q&A in which he responds to fans’ burning questions. Some gems:

“what’s it like to be an Internet celebrity?”

• no vacation time
• YouTube competition is getting fierce
• lots of pressure because “the heat is something you don’t want to run away from”

“why do you think people liked Chocolate Rain?”

• claims it’s one part lols, one part Barry White Shock & Awe, and “20%” people seriously connecting with the lyrics (roflmao)
• a departure from his traditional “I think it started on 4chan” answer1 FLIPFLOP ALERT

The reign is still killing it — 70k subscribers, #19 most subscribed musician, #68 overall — and what you say? He’s not just on YouTube, peep this header graphic!!

That, sir, is innovative famo marketeering: tayface.com redirects to his Facebook? followtay.com redirects to his Twitter? Tay has a twitter? Created August 6 son:

→ more famoblog Tay Zonday coverage

Update: also check out Josh Cohen of Tilzy.tv interviewing Tay Zonday. Josh throws curveballs but Tay’s still hitting homers.

Got an email from Tikva today:

Jamie,

How is it going? A friend just sent me a link to this website, and you are all over it, is this really you? www.News3Online.com

Clever viral marketing campaign for livecasting/video conferencing service PalTalk, which is where all those “blog buzz” screenshots in the video are from.

Entire website is just the “send to a friend” form, too. Psst… pass it on: news3online.com. By Vanksen Culture Buzz, a “buzz & communication agency.”

We’ll start with Digg again:

- The #1 most dugg article of the week with a whopping 14,292 diggs is You should never ask for help on the internet. One thing we know that the internet loves is sincerity, and I think part of this posts popularity is that you can really feel Peaveh’s pain as he is gotten by nerds with photoshop skills. Great example of title poetry as well.

- The #3 most dugg was Matt Damon’s Sarah Palin statement. Could be good re-mix material?

- Is this one really worth 6050 Diggs! I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…. NERDS LOVE WORD PUNS.

- Cats will never go out of style on the internets:

- Palin/McCain tally = 13 in the top 30

- And here is some more evidence to support the nerds love signs theory:
Church signs scores 4,648 diggs, while the ’security’ sign scores 5,088 diggs.

Since we are after all in an MFA program I thought it might be worth while to take a departure into some art famo from last week:

From rhizome.org we have:

- How to make a perfect Malevich using only basic HTML:

- MGM (1975) – Jack Goldstein:

- Jonathan Schipper’s Slow motion car crashes:

- form study #9 (2008) – Robert Wodzinski

- vvork.com brings us this new one by John Michael Boling:

From we-make-money-not-art.com:

- Manifesta: the Chernobyl’d Matrioska

And moving right along to the world of BuzzFeed:

- The number one most viewed article of the week on BuzzFeed is…. Howard Stern auctioning off the virginity of 22-year-old San Diego student Natalie Dylan to help her finance her college education.

- miracle toast maker:

- Human catapulting:

- From the Internet Famous team that brought you Coke and Mentos:

EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

- The Internet can’t get enough Kanye:

- Melted Sign:

- Freestyle Battle Rap Translated:

And a couple of personal favorites, and examples of solid one day projects:

- Every Photoshop Filter. This has high damn, I wish I thought of that value.

- And LHC Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment Webcams. Timely and well executed.

Magibon #23. She’s all dolled up & rocking a fan for that hot hot summer. 14k views and 630 comments less than 24 hours after posting. Magi consistently breaks 500k views within a week of posting — she’s no Fred, but still impressive. ^_^. O_o. I think I’m doing that wrong.

Tinaec’s new look. Note her increasingly pimped out MySpace profile, with almost 20 new wall comments per day. Not shabby. But when’s the album dropping? Seriously guys.

And don’t forget to check out my new haircut:

Tips from YouTube comedian Nalts, currently #92 most subscribed of all-time, #22 comedian on YouTube, and self-proclaimed “Viral Video Genius”.

Some of our favorite videos: Farting in Public, Hamster on a Leash, and almost 700 (!) other videos typically involving his kids, pets, wife, or pranks. And now Product Placement:

In light of being passed over by YouTube’s ad-share partnership, Kevin Nalts is now offerings his services. $2K-$5K gets you a custom viral video that mixes entertainment with product placement.

… well hello there branded content.

This could be big: independent producers getting paid relatively small amounts of money to make funny vids with a logo at the end. Don’t bet on 10-million-view “viral” status, but a decent 15k-50k (and possibly more) for a few thousand dollars is a drop in the hat.

Branded content isn’t threatening “legit” ad agencies any time soon, but it does fill in the business model gap for YouTube stars who just want to keep doing what they’re doing (and doing well). Kudos.

IFC’s Good Morning Internet! takes a swipe at viral videos and goes viral itself. (if you write it, it’s true)

A bit tl;dr at 9 minutes long, but they’ve got thehill88, and the ever-contagious dance sequence. And check out that thumbnail… is that… Spongebob wedged in cleavage?

via Brad O’Farrell

NYU PhD student Alice Marwick delivered an excellent keynote on Day 2 of ROFLCon last weekend, where LOLs and anecdotes were in abundance. Presenting some of her work on “social status and elitism in Web 2.0″ Marwick brought a badly needed breath of critical analysis to the conference.

Ideas that stuck out to us, expanded by her recently released lecture notes.

A taxonomy of celebrity

• careerist promoters: people who maintain an internet presence to further their offline careers or activities. e.g. Julia Allison
• creative promoters: “seeking recognition based on what they create, not just their own persona.” e.g. Ze Frank, Robert Scoble
• self promoters: “people who are promoters, but they’re promoting themselves as a product.” “scenequeens of Buzznet” cited; sure Tila Tequila falls in here too.
• reluctant celebrities: “someone with no desire to become famous can become notorious very quickly… some end up enjoying their newfound fame, others find it disturbing, distressing, and even deeply troubling.” e.g. Star Wars Kid

Clash b/w Internet humor and IRL humor

• “Internet humor isn’t universal humor. It’s localized.”
• e.g. the real world did not find the 8th-inning Mets rickroll very funny.
• Also, Jimmy Kimmel appearances of Internet celebs like Tay Zonday and StSanders aren’t received so well by the audience. Audience doesn’t get it, and Kimmel never tries to explain. Maybe because he doesn’t get it either?

Fame as a drug of validation

• “Educational programs that emphasize self-esteem have created a generation of narcissists.”
• Cited in Alice’s talk, Jake Halpern’s book Fame Junkies details fame lust at length, and in particular highlights the notion kids today perceive it to “easier than ever” to become “famous”… which is a big part of why we call it “famo” around here.