It has often been said that “Bad publicity is better than no publicity.” This seems to prove true for Rebecca Black, who has received over 26 million views for her new music video titled “Friday.” To bring perspective into the picture, this is approximately 4 million more views than Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” which received about 22 million views. The incredible part: it was all accomplished via social media.
For those who don’t know Rebecca Black, she is a “13-year-old aspiring singer” whose parents paid $2,000 to have a “professional” music video made by YouTube popstar factory, ARK Factory. Before a couple weeks ago, Black wasn’t even known and now she is a trending topic on Twitter and being discussed all over Facebook.
Here’s the story:
Rebecca first posted her video on YouTube Feb. 10th. The video gained quick attention with the teen-pop audience but did not make a major presence until a month later.What made the video really take off was when Michael J. Nelsen, a comedian, used Twitter and tweeted the video’s YouTube link and described it as the worst video ever made. That same day, Tosh.0 posted the video under the title, “Songwriting Isn’t For Everyone.” This is when the video really began to become viral.
Although the video has become the most trending sensation because of how terrible it actually is, many are saying she could become the next female version of Bieber. If you haven’t seen the video, its a must watch.
Rebecca Black has demonstrated once again the power of social media. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, social media has the power to unite people to overthrow governments, create order in the time of havoc caused by a tsunami, and possibly make a popstar overnight.
Jason Coon
