Category: YouTube

Friday Five: Best. Videos. Ever?

youtube_340To commemorate YouTube’s fifth birthday (April 23 is the big day), Time recently posted a list of YouTube’s 50 greatest hits. The list is based on popularity, so you’ve got the usual suspects: Evolution of Dance, Dramatic Chipmunk, Susan Boyle’s debut and so on.

There’s nothing wrong with many of these selections (I could watch Dramatic Chipmunk all day long). But there is a difference between something that is “great” and something that is “popular.” The self-titled debut album by Ramones never even sold half a million copies, but music critics everywhere agree it’s one of the greatest rock albums of all time. So, on the theory that greatness is in the eye of the beholder, I give you five of my favorite YouTube videos.

Battle of the Album Covers
Great animation of album cover art as they fight to the death. Contains some graphic violence. (Get it? Graphic violence?)

Hitler finds out KU lost to UNI in the 2010 NCAA tournament
The latest — and funniest — in a series of parodies of the German film Downfall, about Hitler’s personal demise.

Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager
If you aren’t a Star Wars geek, you might not appreciate this series of videos about Darth Vader’s younger and less talented brother, Darth. Here’s the pilot.

Facebook abuse
Greg lays down the law to his office colleagues about appropriate use of Facebook. May not be safe for work.

Miss Teen South Carolina Calls 911
Must viewing for all US Americans.

Bonus (but not embeddable) music video: The Zimmers – “My Generation.” Great work by one of the world’s oldest rock bands, The Zimmers. And a great message.

What are your favorite YouTube vids? Please share.

Happy Birthday, Twitter (and personal Twitter timeline)

Twitter turns 4 years old today. Hard to believe that this social network that has become so much a part of my online life has only been around for four years. For a bit of nostalgia, check out the video news report below, created in March 2007, when Twitter was just a year old.


(Via @scobleizer)

My personal Twitter timeline:

Sept. 30, 2007 – I create my personal Twitter account, @andrewcareaga, and announce it on this blog.

Dec. 22, 2007 – I create @MissouriSandT as what I then called a university “outpost” on Twitter. Today, our little outpost has 823 followers and is on 52 Twitter lists.

Feb. 27, 2008 – I ask, Should universities tweet? It’s funny now, two-plus years later, to look back at the question and the responses.

July 27, 2008 – I post my thousandth tweet and blog about it as though it were somehow meaningful.

Nov. 11, 2009 – I dive into the discussion on whether or not it’s OK for universities (or other organizations) to simply push news and other institutional information through their Twitter feeds. In other words, whether it’s OK to be a “robot” on Twitter instead of being a human. I come down firmly on the side of the borg.

March 18, 2010 – My post Twitter faves: all the rave marks the 84th post on this blog to be filed under the Twitter category. This post is No. 85.

Saturday Six: social media tip sheets

A special Friday Five-plus-one edition of this blog, in honor of Social Media Week 2010. To contribute to the social media knowledge base, Tech Affect shared with the online world these six downloadable PDF social media tip sheets.

Tech Affect’s Social Media Six-Pack

You can also download the entire Social Media Six-Pack as a single six-page PDF download.

Thanks to Ragan’s PR Daily for the tip.

Ask the readers: Social media tips and lessons

In less than two weeks, I’ll be presenting about social media at the CASE District VI Conference in St. Louis. What I’d like to do as part of that presentation is something I try to do in most presentations: crowdsource some advice from other higher ed communications and marketing pros and share samples of the collective wisdom. Because none of us is as smart as all of us, right?

So I’m asking you readers to share your advice, tips or cautions about using social media in higher education. I’m specifically interested in your thoughts about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google Wave.

Please take a minute to share in the comments – or, if you prefer, via Twitter (@andrewcareaga):

  1. your tips for using social media as a communications and/or marketing tool in higher education
  2. your advice for getting started in social media (for those unfamiliar)
  3. your thoughts on the future of social media – i.e., what trends do you see for the coming year?
  4. any words of wisdom or caution regarding social media

Any information I use from you will be properly attributed to you.

Thanks for your help!

Friday Five: turkeys of the year

Have you ever said something and then immediately wish you could take it back? But you can’t. It’s too late; the words are out there, the deed is done, and there’s nothing you can do about it except hope no one noticed.

But people notice. An awkward silence ensues and perhaps someone politely changes the subject to get you off the hook.

If you blog, though, sometimes you throw stuff out that you wish you could take back. Maybe you posted in haste, wrote about a topic you weren’t well-informed about, or made some obvious error in fact that exposed you for the rube, ignoramus or insensitive jerk that you really are.

These are the “turkey” posts — the ones you should have thought twice about before hitting the “publish” button. But if you’re like me, all too often you hit “publish” and then think about what you should have said or written.

So for today’s Friday Five, in honor of the holiday just passed, I bring you five blog posts that were my “turkeys” of 2009. I own these. Nobody’s fault but mine. But, in my defense, let me state for the record that I was young, I was naive, I was stupid. I’m very sorry.

To the turkeys:

  1. Feb. 4, 2009 – My post of a YouTube video of a Snuggie parody that included the phrase WTF offended at least one reader who took the time to write me an email about it. I probably should have posted that the video was NSFW. But I stand by my original statement that I thought the parody would make a great Super Bowl ad.
  2. Feb. 24, 2009 – In a post titled Mapping the online world, I linked to a fictional geographical map of social media sites that I found on another blog. The map was posted on that other blog just a day earlier. But as I cleverly observed in my post, it “look[ed] like something drawn circa 2005.” Turns out, the map actually was ancient (in Internet time, anyway), as Kyle James and Liz Allen both pointed out in the comments.
  3. April 3, 2009 – I posted my picks for best albums of 2009, first quarter, and I’m embarrassed to see that I included Rusted Root’s digital-only release, Stereo Rodeo. I guess I was still infatuated with the fact that one of my once-favorite bands was attempting a comeback. But the newness of that release wore off quickly. I doubt I’ve listened to it since June. Oops.
  4. June 5, 2009 – I posted a whiny, self-righteous open letter to eMusic, complaining about the online music service’s new pricing structure and their sellout agreement to carry Sony’s back catalog. Guess what? I’m still a member of eMusic, paying more for less, and I’ve even purchased some tunes from the Sony back catalog. So, who’s the sellout?
  5. July 29, 2009 – I posted about the University of Waterloo’s rebranding campaign and dramatic logo makeover (Brave new logo [in a brave new world]), and applauded them for taking such a bold stance. Now it turns out the university has not adopted the new look. smh

Happy Black Friday to those of you who are doing your part to bolster our consumer-driven economy. And happy Buy Nothing Day for those who choose to opt out of the consumption frenzy.