None of us should be picking our jaws off the floor to hear that over 17 million Canadians are on Facebook. It should also come as no surprise that when Vevo released the Lady Gaga and Beyonce (Telephone) video it received 19.7 million hits in the first week. Both of these “services” are literally changing the way a lot of us consume media. Or at least that’s what they want you to think. Over the past three days I had the chance to sit in on keynote presentations by the Managing Director of Facebook Canada, Jordan Banks and Vevo General Manager, Fred Santarpia. Both of these men are very confident in their brands and are convinced consumers will continue to want more.
Vevo hasn’t been live for a year and yet already, they are receiving hits in the millions. How does this happen? How can Fuse get hits like this each day?! Well, we’d have to have partners like Sony and Universal to make that dream come true. I was not aware of these relationships but now it’s all coming together. I do have to mention, a really interesting project Vevo is working on called The Go Show it's definitely got some merit here. It captures artists going back to their hometown to perform in a location of their choice. It’s shot beautifully and of course the final presentation looks great. It's not quite Take Away Shows or Southern Souls, but it's worthy of some recognition.
Facebook on the other hand, doesn’t even need to be in bed with other major companies. As one can imagine, girls (being companies) are fighting for the chance to potentially spoon with the social media giant. I can’t imagine he (being Facebook) would be that great of a lay anyways or that he has anything new to offer other than the fact that everyone wants to be his friend.
All of this leads me to the question, what else is new? These two presentations stick out for me because both mediums have grown at an expediential rate. Which takes me to my next observation; if Facebook launches a TV site, it’s game over. Well, maybe. Think about it - Facebook facilitates millions of video hits each day. Every time you post a link you are helping out our friends over at YouTube. But someday this middle man might not exist. Doesn't this equation sound familiar...
I have to leave you with one more stat. One year ago Zinga, the creators of Farmville were not worth much more than some start up capital and today, well the company is worth over 5 BILLION dollars. Who knew there was so much interest in growing fake farms?! If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to show you around some real life farms OR perhaps translate this into growing some gardens in the dirt, you know the stuff with the worms?
After last week's SMarts sessions, I found the conversation of Facebook and Vevo to be fascinating at Next Media. I have a ton of content that I can't wait to share. Please let me know what you think. I'm interested in continuing this dialogue. As the major conglomerates continue to climb into our households, it's critical we take pride in local content and support it. Also, be sure to check out my Next Media Day One coverage where Pitchfork president Christopher Kaskie tells everyone that newspapers are a waste of paper.
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