Me, Myself & Media.

Justin Bieber is the reigning king of _____ (fill in the blank with just about anything you want).


For the past few months, "Justin Bieber" has been one of top the trended topics on Twitter and has been a permanent feature on AdAge's Top Tweeted Brands since the list's commencement. On February 28, 2010, 84,846 Tweets featured his name. In addition to being mentioned all over social media sites, his music is also setting records on the internet. In one day, last.fm played his songs 1,854,917 times. That is insane.


So what is the cause of this Bieber Fever? Why are there so many self-proclaimed "Beliebers" out there? Perhaps it is in his adorable grin, his cheesy lyrics, or his melodic voice? Or maybe it is the fact that Usher, one of the most successful music icons in the history of R&B is his mentor? Golly, I can't help but think that helps just a smidgen.


Regardless of why people love him -- they do. He is not just the newest "tween" sensation, he is loved by audiences of all ages. I'll be the first to admit that I've had "One Less Lonely Girl" stuck in my head a time or two. I strongly believe that the success of Justin Bieber is a testament to the power of the internet.  Once just a normal boy living in Statford, Ontario, his mother uploaded videos of him singing to this little website we know as YouTube.com, and just months later, he began getting phone calls from some of the artists whose songs he covered, like Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, and yes, Usher. Dream come true? Check.


Justin is the first mega star created from YouTube, following in the footsteps of singers like Colbie Caillat who was recognized for her MySpace Music page a few years back. Not only do Justin's songs receive millions of views per day, fans' content also get picked up on, if their is a buzz-worthy element to it. Case in point: A 3-year old whose mother videotapes her crying because she is just so in love with Justin Bieber (the mom should go to jail for uploading this) -- the video went viral, and Jimmy Kimmel invited the little girl and her family to the show, where they were surprised by Justin backstage.


This kid is everywhere. And I must admit, I am not mad about it. It will be interesting to see how long he sticks around for, but with a mentor like Usher, I have high hopes for Justin's future.


www.justinbiebermusic.com (Warning: Will get stuck in your head)

I find Twitter very interesting. Last semester, my Advertising Research group conducted a focus group about social media, and nearly every single person fervently denied having a Twitter, or even thinking about opening one. Just a couple of months later, nearly everyone in my Media class has an account. While I cannot pinpoint the tipping point just yet, I strongly believe that it is now “cool” amongst college kids. Don’t you know the people at Twitter are celebrating?!?

I opened an account mainly because I wanted to “follow” my favorite celebrities. Slowly, I began to post good movie quotes, inspirational verses, and random thoughts on my site (although I still have only about 15 Tweets!). However, I was asked to research a client’s Twitter usage at my internship and was given a crash course on how to best operate and utilize this microblogging site. The tool that I find most useful is to the “#tag”, which basically picks up trending topics that people are talking about on Twitter and pulls them onto one big list. AdAge.com just announced that they will produce a “10 Most Tweeted Brands of the Week Chart” which highlights the coolest of the cool trends. I believe that this is a great idea. I would like for them to publish this list at the end of the year, as a sort of “Twitter Yearbook: Trends through the Weeks”. I love to look back at my old yearbooks at the section in the back that highlighted the coolest songs, movies, stores, etc. of that year. Essentially, Twitter is capturing this for us, and AdAge is distributing the details.

As a marketer, having your brand be one of the 10 top “Tweet” subjects would be like striking a GOLD MINE. That is, unless they are bashing your brand. Then that could get ugly.