Whatever you might think of the teenage singing phenom Justin Bieber you have to marvel at the way he has dominated social media conversations for the last year or so. No matter how you slice it, it’s been quite an accomplishment for a 16 year old.
He was the only celebrity on Facebook’s list of “top status trends” coming in 6th just behind “iPad and iPhone” and “Haiti”.
He was #8 on Twitter’s Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2010 just behind “Vuvuzela”, “Apple iPad” and “Google Android” and ahead of “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows”.
And he was the most watched artist on Youtube in 2010. His video called Baby currently has more than 400 million views, and he has four other videos in the Youtube top 10. Somebody to Love with Usher has more than 105 million views.
Bieber is as classic a social media star as you’re ever going to find. He grew up in the small town of Stratford, Ontario (Canada) and his mother started creating Youtube videos of him singing at local competitions and covering R&B tunes. His local popularity grew and eventually Scooter Braun, a music marketing exec, accidentally clicked onto one of his videos and liked what he saw. At that time Bieber was only 13. The rest, as they say, is history.
Of course Bieber’s style may not appeal to you. Many detractors who have their heads in the sand (or even darker places) think he is “talentless”. And many will argue that he is an extended version of a “one hit wonder” – a product of the kind of marketing machine that churns out Disney clones who burn out for one reason or another after a year or so.
But you can’t deny Bieber’s popularity. And even die hard scoffers cannot fight the facts of the case. Bieber can’t be just a “one hit wonder” because he has already had numerous “hits”. His first album, released in January of this year, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. That makes him the youngest solo male act to top that chart since Stevie Wonder did it in 1963.
Shallow and inoffensive
Apart from the fact that Bieber is Canadian and grew up a few miles down the road from my home, I’m interested in knowing what this says about the state of social media in 2010.
First, I think it demonstrates that social media are not that different from traditional media in some important respects. Bieber is certainly not a creation of social media. Yes, it is true he started on Youtube, but he didn’t really hit the big time until he got hooked up with a more or less traditional marketing machine.
At best you could say there is a synergistic relationship between social media and traditional marketing channels, or, more broadly, the real world. They feed back into each other. When something is popular out there in the real world, social media pick it up and it may go viral. This was equally evident in President Obama’s use of social media during the last US presidential campaign.
Certain conditions have to be present for this to happen. Most importantly the phenom has to appeal to a relatively large, vocal segment within the social media universe. If you think that trends on social networks are shallow, that’s because they are. Large numbers of people cannot share deep philosophical thoughts without fighting or at least strenuously arguing with each other. Just like “Hope”, Justin Bieber is inoffensive enough to be grasped hold of by massive numbers of adoring, uncritical fans.
Should you forget about going viral?
Second, it seems to follow from these observations that most marketing campaigns have no hope of going viral – in even a small way – if your product doesn’t have these two characteristics: shallow, popular appeal and a large uncritical fan base.
This is why celebrities “work” in social media and why “get rich quick schemes” or “make money online” can also work. Both appeal to a large number of relatively naive, uncritical followers who really want to believe what they’re hearing.
But it is also why products like laundry detergent or canned tuna don’t stand a chance of going viral. Nobody cares about these things enough to talk about them with their friends. Unless, of course, you can jazz them up with contests or controversy.
That is why traditional one-way marketing models (“old” media) are still a lot easier, and arguably more effective for most products. In that case you just chuck the “social” baloney – “Here’s my product. See how wonderful it is. Order now.”
