Comments on: What Kanye & Taylor Swift Taught Us About Going Viral

By: Rob J

Rob J — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:58:29 +0000

Great post! I agree.

Gimmicky stunts can win attention, if they truly strike a chord on some deeper level. But, it can also turn you into that guy with the lampshade on his head at the party, if you’re just doing it just to get attention. And it tends to amplify your hidden motives, and insult the intelligence of everyone you’re trying to communicate with.

I think the ‘social’ in social media implies that you’re going to be as honest as you would be in any relationship, business or not. It’s important to check that motives are pure, that with anything you’re putting out there is done to educate or otherwise engage an audience to their benefit. If that’s not the motive, it should be cut loose.

By: Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:31:27 +0000

Hmm, just to throw my 2 cents in.
“Even if Taylor didn’t know about it (did you see that poor child’s face?)”
Based on what? Drawing a comparison to Jerry Springer staged fights seems like an apples and oranges comparison at best. Think about who would have a better media face… some deranged members of the public looking for 5 seconds of (humiliating) fame or A list celebrities who sit in the spotlight all day long?
“I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan and I don’t think she was in on any part of it. That girl is pure angel.”
Again, based on what? This only proves that perhaps she has better PR consultants and reputation managers.
“Her moment from last night is the best kind of viral because it wasn’t staged.”
Proof that fake viral marketing still has it’s place. I think this kind of assumption is naive because everyone involved profited. MTV, Kanye, Beyonce and Taylor.

MTV become the centre of a media frenzy both online and offline. With Kanye, the ole any publicity is good publicity kind of applies, becoming a meme is a good way to get attention. Plus he gets points for the apologies he will no doubt continue to issue to the media desperate for his attention.

Beyonce gets hailed a hero, though the way it all went so smoothly would suggest she knew what was coming. Taylor gets a load of sympathy cards handed to her.

Call it a double bluff, but have you considered the idea that perhaps the Kanye part of the ‘fakeiasco’ (I hate that word) was made somewhat more blatant to make Beyonce’s followup somewhat more convincing?

Ultimately, the conspiracy theories don’t matter. If tricking us is the point, they have succeeded, because we’re still wasting precious seconds of our lives discussing it (I think that’s a good place to stop typing.)

By: Yawn Webmaster!

Yawn Webmaster! — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:02:41 +0000

“That’s what Kanye and Taylor taught us about viral marketing last night – that we’re done being tricked.”

Doubt it, wait for next year. And look for all the headlines with “Unprecedented” in the title – proofs in you brief chronology.

“Those are the moments they’re drawn to and will sit crying in their living room over.” – but just HOW GOOD is marketing? Was your crying planned for? How do you know that you weren’t suckered with some superb double marketing? The comments here show quite a difference of opinions. But at the end of the day, does it matter whether you were suckered or not? Perhaps your crying related to something way down in your subconscious.

Personally these award ceremonies are as much about setting up next years talent and bashing out the last ounces of brand commerciability from the usual suspects before they, either launch a career/or get consigned to the trash bin.

At the end of the day though isn’t the music awards about providing kids with caricatures through which they can rebel against their families, which translates as double platignum albums?

By: supaswag

supaswag — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:43:50 +0000

Who are these people??

By: Allateef

Allateef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:56:32 +0000

I'm not so sure that Kanye didn't benefit from this fiasco. While it was certainly in poor taste and generally just a lame product of his over-inflated ego, between this event and the South Park Fishsticks episode he has most likely generated quite a bit of publicity and notoriety. Has his brand or image been hurt considerably? I doubt it. Rappers, like Eminem for instance, seem to thrive on controversy.

Andrew@iGoMogul…

By: rhbjorn

rhbjorn — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:27:29 +0000

Come on guys. It was staged but, neither B or Taylor was in on it. Not buying it.

1 It created drama, by putting the incident first, and the happy ending last.
2 Taylor conveniently performed outside
3 The mike was not cut, but MTV cut away when Taylor got the mike back.
4 The dresses looked coordinated.
5 Nobody tried to stop Kanye or went over to Taylor. Not even Taylor Lautner who was on stage.
6 MTV does this all the time most of their show are scripted reality
My only conclusion is that this was fully scripted and rehearsed, and everyone involved was in on it .

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:35:57 +0000

The most surprising part of this “fake-iasko” is that it’s still being talked about… Sadly, whether you like it or not, that means it worked. How ’bout them Giants?

By: Rebecca Kelley

Rebecca Kelley — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:09:29 +0000

Man, the Internet has turned everyone into aggro conspiracy theorists. “FAKE! They were all acting!” Either way, Kanye West is still a d-bag.

By: iGoMogul

iGoMogul — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:09:34 +0000

I’m not so sure that Kanye didn’t benefit from this fiasco. While it was certainly in poor taste and generally just a lame product of his over-inflated ego, between this event and the South Park Fishsticks episode he has most likely generated quite a bit of publicity and notoriety. Has his brand or image been hurt considerably? I doubt it. Rappers, like Eminem for instance, seem to thrive on controversy.

Andrew@iGoMogul

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:03:37 +0000

I will be honest with you, I don’t think it was staged. I think that maybe Kanye West could have been planning something if Beyonce didn’t win, but i don’t think the network would have known about it. Heres why:

West has a history of having an agenda, and pushing that agenda in weird awkward ways that run contrary to the networks and companies that support him. Hes not very smart about the way he engages his audiance. His farther was a Black Panther, a group that pretty much wrote the book on how to take the media’s attention in awkward confrontational ways.

And i am guessing that who ever directed the show last night was sitting in their control room watch it unfold, and though, “how can we spin this?” and at that point put the gears in motion fast to get it on the web and else where, where it might be viral.