Extra Credit- Fred!

The first time I ever saw “Fred” was about a year ago.  My younger sister, then only 12, was sitting at my dad’s computer cracking up.  I went over to see what was so funny and my sister told me that she was watching Fred.  She proceeded to show me “Fred Gets Detention” which at first I didn’t like because Fred’s voice was so high pitched that it hurt my ears.  As I kept watching the video though I found myself laughing (especially when he prank called his teacher and then says “how’d she know it was me?!!”).   I think that for most adults, Fred’s videos wouldn’t be amusing but I can definitely see how they would be popular with my sister’s age group.  When my sister and her friends were watching the videos a year ago, all of them thought Fred’s voice was really that high.  Having that misconception probably makes the videos funnier to them.  Even today when I called up my sister to tell her that I was writing a blog entry about Fred, she still hadn’t come to the conclusion that his voice was just computer generated – she assumed but wasn’t sure.   When I told her that I thought it was funny that Fred’s YouTube page says he’s six, my sister (having not read the page before) finally put it all together and realized that Fred was all a joke.   Apparently she had missed the iCarly episode starring Fred where he comes clean about having enhanced his voice.

Speaking of iCarly, the fact that Fred was on Nickelodeon further proves the point that his videos are geared to younger kids.  (And as most people know, kids have a very odd sense of humor – at least my sister does).

Another reason why Fred might be so popular is he advertises for himself a lot.  He’s on twitter, myspace, Meez, iTunes, and he even has his own store.  The creator of Fred, Lucas Cruikshank, even advertises for his character on his own twitter and lets his friends know when he is uploading new videos.  After doing my own YouTube video, I know that simply advertising for yourself can bring in a lot of viewers.

Yelp!

This was really difficult for me.  I am currently taking “Journalism and Law” where we’ve spent part of the semester talking about how you can be sued for libel depending on how you write a restaurant review.  I wrote one semi-negative review for the Monkey Bar and I was trying to be very cautious about how I worded it so that it was clearly all my own opinion.

The other review that I wrote was for Panera Bread in Hadley.  Even though my review was positive, I still had trouble writing it because I felt like I had to address the negative review someone posted and defend my opinion.

As far as reading other reviews, I thought most of them were dead on.  I only looked at a small selection of restaurants in the Amherst area though.  Most of the reviews I saw were serious and seemed to be well-though out, however, I also found a few funny ones like this review for D.P. Dough:

Andrea C.

and iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii eeeee iiiiii will always love you

The only thing that surprised me was that McDonald’s had four stars.  It only had one review and the person’s reasoning for the high rating was because the drive-through is open 24/7.  I expected McDonald’s to have a low rating because the food is so bad for you.

The last thing that I want to mention about my Yelp experience is that I really liked the “useful,” “funny,” and “cool” buttons.  I just found it amusing that you could consider a review cool.

Using YouTube

Going in to this project, my strategy to get the most views/ comments on my YouTube video was to film an event.  My reasoning was that 1) I could advertise for my video at the event itself and 2) Most events have Facebook pages where I could post my video to draw attention to it.

I was originally going to film an event at southwest week because most students would be with their friends and would be apt to search for a video of themselves later on if I told them what to search for.  Unfortunately, I left my camera in my friend’s car the day before class and since I can’t take videos with my phone, I had to wait until a week later to make a video.  My video ended up being of the Boston Marathon.  I volunteered at the event and was in charge of a corral of runners, which was perfect because I had the attention of a about a hundred people.  Before the race started I made an announcement to everyone in my corral letting them know that I was going to be taking a video of all of them taking off.  I told them the title of the video so that they’d all know what to look for. I figured that people would want to show their families the video once they were finished the race.

The next part of my strategy was timeliness.  I knew that I had to get the video up fast because people would only be searching “Boston Marathon” for a few days after the event.  Also, I figured that the people who were in my corral would want to show their families the video once they were finished the race.  That said, the second I got back to my house I started working on the video and I managed to get it up on YouTube just as the elite runners were making it to the finish line.  That first night I got about 150 hits.  Other ways I advertised my video was I added it to the Boston Marathon Facebook fan page and I added it in a comment that I made to and ESPN article about the event.  I tried to add it as a comment on other sites that had articles about the marathon, but most of them denied my comment because it had a link in it.  One site specifically sent me a message saying that they didn’t allow viral videos.  The last thing I did, and probably the most effective, was I added my link to my Facebook profile and asked my friends to comment.  I got 355 views in total (the third most in the class) and I got 5 comments.  All of the comments were from my friends though.  I responded twice, simply thanking them for commenting.

One of the things that surprised me about this process was that Facebook was not the most effective way to advertise my video.  When clicking on the “views” button on YouTube, it had a breakdown of how people got to my link.  Facebook only brought in 36 views.  The most hits I got were listed as being from “other/viral.”  I’m not sure what that means but I’m thinking that maybe my announcement at the marathon itself was the most effective.

I Digg it.

My Digg experience started with an attempt to add friends.  When I first joined, it immediately gave me a choice of where to search for friends, and I chose to link Digg to my hotmail account.  Unfortunately, it never found anyone that I knew.  Still wanting to add friends, I decided to do a search.  I typed in a few of my friends names who I thought would be most likely to use a site like Digg but again, found no one.

Giving up on adding friends, I moved on to the main page.  I was shocked to find the types of articles that had made it to the top of Digg.  Going into this, I assumed that Digg would be somewhat like Fark.  The types of articles that I always hear about/ get sent via e-mail are usually either really big news stories or funny articles so that’s what I expected people to be digging.  Most of the stories I saw, however, were about technology (mainly Apple).

Another thing that I didn’t realize about Digg, was that it’s more than just news articles.  For instance, the article that showed up second from the top on the homepage the last time I logged on was just spam!  The headline was about healthcare but when you clicked on it, all that was there was an ad.  I was also not anticipating to see cartoons on their but sure enough I stumbled on an article called “America: We’re (Not) #1” that was a comic.  Later on in the week I noticed that people dug videos and pictures too.

Seeing the videos inspired me to add my own YouTube video to Digg. No one dug it except me, but at least I put it out there.  Other than my own video, the only other thing that I “dug” was an article about a potential cure for breast cancer.  The only thing that I buried was the “spam” article.  When I clicked buried, I got a message that said “Buried! We’ll try to give you fewer ads like that one.”  This made me happy because if I keep burying things I don’t like maybe Digg will start giving me articles that are geared more to my interests so I won’t have to sort through a bunch of articles that bore me.

As far as commenting goes, I am not a fan.  I hate commenting on things because I rarely have anything to say, but for the sake of this assignment I did comment on one article.  The article was called “The REAL Difference between Europe and the USA” and it was a picture of a bunch of comparisons about the U.S. and Europe.  For example, there was the title “architecture” with two pictures of American architecture and two pictures of European architecture under it.  I honestly didn’t get which was supposed to be better, so that’s what I wrote.  It was difficult for me to figure out how to comment, because unlike on YouTube, not all the comments are listed along with the article itself – only 3 were shown.  Since I wanted to read what other people were saying before I wrote anything, I had to click on the small link that said “comments.”  Although I could see what other people were saying by clicking the link, I could no longer see the article which I thought was dumb.  Scrolling down I found the pink box that allowed me to add my comment.

Overall, Digg was a fun experience.  I enjoyed reading the various articles that other people digged.  Some of the articles that I read were from a paper in the U.K. which is something I never would have found on my own.  Although I doubt I will ever use Digg on a regular basis, I can definitely see myself browsing the site on nights when I’m procrastinating or when I’m bored at work and need something light to read.

My Video

My favorite YouTube Video(s)

It was so difficult to choose, but I’m going to have to go with these two as my favorites:

If you liked the Brookers video, you should also check out “the truth” and “phone calls” also done by her.

YouTube Assigments Galore!

Part one: React to this quote:
YouTube proves that in practice the economic and cultural rearrangements that “participatory culture” stands for are as disruptive and uncomfortable as they might be potentially liberating. The debates and struggles around YouTube as a site of participatory culture…are less about technology and more about cultural and political questions: who gets to speak, and who gets the attention; what compensations or rewards there are for creativity and work; and the uncertainties around various forms of expertise and authority.

This quote is drawing on the idea that there is a thing called “YouTube-ness” that the site has created. The types of videos that become popular on YouTube aren’t like anything that could be seen in traditional media. I think the question of who gets to speak is quite simple: everyone. However, who gets the attention is much more difficult to answer. I think the one’s who get the attention are the ones who understands the “YouTube-ness,” meaning they know the types of people who watch YouTube videos and have a good idea of what they might find interesting. As far as compensation goes, I agree with Burgess and Green that most YouTube video creators are looking for attention and that is probably award enough for most of them.

Part two: What do you make of the viral videos “Hey, Clip” and LonelyGirl15 and the stories and mythologies behind them?

I really liked the Hey, Clip. For one, I had never heard the song before and thought it was good. Secondly, it seemed well-planned out and the editing was impressive. I have tried matching up music to videos before and it’s not easy. (Especially when you have so many different shots in one video).
The LonelyGirl clip I had seen before. I was on YouTube one day a few years back and stumbled across it (I think because I was watching Brookers videos and she made mention of it). Anyway, I ended up reading an article not long after that said the whole thing was a hoax and that some guys had hired an actress to play the girl in order to take advantage of the YouTube craze that was going on. I never really looked at it again after that. It would have been interesting listening to the life of a teenage girl (because I was a teen at the time), but once I found out it was fake it lost its intrigue. If I wanted to watch some made-up series about a teen’s life, I could just watch T.V.

Part three: Comment on the design of YouTube. What are the merits and limitations of its design? How does its design make it different from other prominent social networking sites?

I hate YouTube’s new format!! Before I could type in a song title and I wouldn’t just find “the official video” but I’d find tons of re-makes. Now, the official videos come up first and it’s a lot harder (in my opinion) to find the quirky videos that everybody loves.
One good thing about YouTube is its home page helps you sort through all the videos that are posted. There are different sections: “Videos Being Watched Now,” “Featured Videos,” and “Most Popular.” This helps users keep up with what everyone else is looking at and also a way to help them discover other things they might like. The “tag” option when people post a video is also really helpful as a social networking device. This enables viewers who are interested in the subject of the video to find it (and others like it) more easily.
The downside of YouTube as a social networking site is that it’s not as intimate as sites such as Facebook, Myspace, or even Twitter. On YouTube, the information you get about people are limited unless the video makers make it appoint to share things on their pages. For instance, I was trying to find out more about “Tasha” the creator of the “hey clip.” And her YouTube site didn’t give as much information as say a Facebook page would.

While I was looking up things on google, I stumbled upon this video.  It’s really long but I think it’s funny/interesting.

Talk Radio Clips

Out of all the talk radio clips, the third one was my favorite.  I think the host did a good job of putting the subject of the illegal immigrant boycott on the table, and then explaining it to his audience.  Furthermore, he was very patient with the guy who called in and let him explain his point of view.  It isn’t until 9 minutes later that the host got tired of listening to the guy and cut him off.  I was happy to hear that he didn’t interupt the guy like most talk radio hosts do.  Also, even when he cut him off it didn’t seem “rude” like when Barry Champlain from the “Talk Radio” play did it.  I think that ending the conversation like this invites more callers because 1) it didn’t seem mean when the host hung up so other callers probably won’t be deterred from calling out of fear of being cut off, and 2) the host ended with a very good climatic argument which will draw the attention of others.

The first video was my least favorite.  Probably because I don’t know anything about Wall Street and I had no idea what either the host or the caller was talking about.  Once again, I was glad that the host didn’t interrupt his caller.

The third video was my second favorite.  I think it was great how they used the clip from the angry caller to try to convince their listeners to pledge money. Very creative tactic.

The last clip from “the whiner line” was not as funny as I thought it would be.  The hosts aren’t really interacting with their listeners, rather, they’re playing back voicemails.  Sure, playing the whiner clips frame discusions for others to follow but there isn’t really a conversation like when someone calls in live.

My “Wiki” Contribution

The whole wiki experience was very interesting.  The first post that I made was on Wikipedia.org.  With few things that I felt vastly knowledgeable about and lacking the creativity to make up anything, I decided to add to the wiki page for my hometown, Hopkinton, Ma.  A lot of information about the town was already on there so I just clicked “edit” and put it a small fact under the sports section.  It originally read,

“Each year in April on Patriots’ Day, the town of Hopkinton is filled with thousands of people for the start of the Boston Marathon. Athletes gather at Hopkinton High School while spectators wait at the Town Common.”

I simply put it that the High School is “dubbed Athletes’ Village for the event.”  Pretty lame but surprisingly it’s been over a week and the post is still up.

The next post I did was a bit longer.  I couldn’t think of anything more to ad on Wikipedia so I switched over to UMass wiki.  Thinking it would be like Wikipedia, I clicked on “edit” and started changing things, only to find that I couldn’t save it because I had to create a username and log in.  On Wikipedia I was completely anonymous (unless they track IP addresses or something sketchy like that).

After finally creating an account, I went back to the section on “Cluster Offices” that I had been editing and saved it. This particular page had bothered me because when I was looking at it a few weeks earlier I noticed that it said:

“The cluster office is usually run by RAs, and the Residential Director’s office is often nearby.”

I’m a manager of a cluster office so I know that the RAs only work in the office at night and, in fact, it’s the Cluster Office Managers who “run” the office.  Also, there are other employees who aren’t RAs that work in the office during the day.  I deleted that part and added in the correct info.

The last thing I added was to “The Pub” page on UMass wiki.  I simply wrote:

“The pub is one of the only local places where you can go dancing on the weekends.”

Everything I added to UMass wiki is still there.  I found this assignment very fun and I can definitely see myself adding to wiki sites in the future.  It felt good to look back and see that my addition to my town’s page was still there even though it was a silly tidbit of information.  Another thing that surprised me was how easy it was! Even though I had to sign up for UMass wiki it wasn’t as complicated as other sites I’ve signed up for in the past.  They didn’t even require an e-mail address or my real name : )

Project 2: Calling into a Radio Station

For this project, I listened to the talk radio station, 96.9 wtkk.  It’s a Boston station that my mom tunes into all the time.  Since I don’t have a radio in my apartment, I listened to the station live on their website.  The hardest part about all this assignment was coming up with something to say.  I didn’t want to just call in and make a fool of myself so I ended listening to a lot of talk radio before I even thought about grabbing the phone.  The first show I listened to was Jim and Margery.  They spend most of their show talking about Tiger Woods and his many affairs, and also about the red sox.  Unfortunately for me, famous athletes/ sports are not my areas of expertise.  I like going to red sox games but that’s about it.

The second show I listened to, Michael Gram.  The show starts at 10:00am and goes to 2:00pm.  Like Jim and Margery, he also talked a bit about Tiger and the Sox.  The subject that dominated most of the show, however, was a new chicken burger that KFC was adding to its menu (or had just added recently?).  It was hard to tell if the burger was new in general or just new to him.  Anyway, apparently this burger is supposed to have two strips of breaded chicken as the ends of the sandwich instead of having buns.  Michael Gram thought this burger was greatest thing ever and was going on and on about how he was going to be waiting in line for this sandwich.  He was urging listeners to call in and talk about any type of dish that was an “experience” for them.  Clearly, this wasn’t a conversation I could add on to.

Two hours into his show, he started talking about Obama’s healthcare bill.  Finally, this was something I felt I could talk about!  I had originally planned on calling in to say something completely different (which I don’t remember now) but my friend ended up convincing me that it would be best to ask the question: “Being a college student, how should I expect this health care bill to effect me?”

I called into the show at 12:15pm.  The guy who answered the phone asked for my name, where I was from, and what my comment was.  I told him my name, that I was from UMass, Amherst and that I actually wanted to ask a question.  After stating my question he said, “Lyndsey from UMass – Good question! If you’d just hold on we’re gonna get you on the air.”  And then he was gone.  I got really confused at first because the conversation that I was listening to on the phone was different than the podcast on my computer.  After a few minutes I realized that the computer was delayed and I shut it off.  I ended up waiting for 40 minutes and I still wasn’t on air.

Some woman had called in two seconds before me to talk about the stupid KFC burger and she happened to be from Framingham, a town that Gram had been talking about earlier.  The Obama topic was completely forgotten.  I didn’t see the conversation swinging back to Obama and I also had to head off to class so I ruefully hung up the phone.  Honestly, my heart sunk as I clicked the button because I felt like I had just wasted so much of my time and I couldn’t help wondering if I had waited 5 minutes more maybe I could have been on air.

As a side note, I looked up the burger and found out that it’s called the “Double Down.”