"Viral," or just a mild infection for Congress?

Can something be viral just because someone says it is? Representative Eric Cantor seems to think so. He's created a website that is as viral as all get-out (according to the service that created the site).

You may recall the dust-up in the House of Representatives when Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the House adjourned, and the Republicans refused to leave. They were protesting the refusal of the body to vote on offshore drilling, and kept their seats as the lights and microphones were turned off.

Cantor was one of the protesters, and has started an online petition. The goal? To get Pelosi to reconvene Congress (callbackcongress.com).

I'll give Cantor credit for trying to use new media. As the web designers breathlessly write

This really is a case study in how like-minded people who don’t even know they’re working on the same thing can converge to create something bigger than themselves. It really speaks to the nature of viral communications. There was no strategic plan, no unifying message grid, and no conference call to coordinate the whole endeavor. But people with the same passion, who had the tools at their disposal, were able to move into action quickly. Will the House reconvene? It’s not likely, but thanks to new media, more people are aware of the need for energy independence.

And for the past 24 hours I've been getting hourly tweets on Twitter from Cantor as the numbers continued to climb for the petition. 5,000! 6,000! It's just like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington! (an actual tweet Cantor forwarded).

OK, so let's take stock. As of this morning, about 17,000 people have signed the petition, and a little over 2,000 have viewed the accompanying video on YouTube.

Let's compare that to something like, say, the DVD DRM code posting revolt of 2007. Within 24 hours Digg.com was inundated with posts featuring the forbidden code, YouTube videos with songs and signs featuring the code went up, blogs, Flickr accounts, and countless other sites posted the code. Within 24 hours several million individuals had taken action.

The code protest indeed had become viral, spreading rapidly through the Internet, each post triggering new responses that furthered the message.

I'm not sure I'm seeing the same thing here (especially looking at the numbers).

And one more thing -- during the code revolt the Internet was abuzz with conversation back and forth. When Cantor first tweeted me, I looked at the petition, and had a question about the claim that "House Republicans have a plan to lower gas prices, a plan that has the votes to pass." I tweeted back, asking if he cold provide a link so I could read about the plan. No response.

Later on, I asked what was to happen with the petition when they got enough names, and how many names they considered enough. No response.

Hmmm. So has the "Call Congress Back" gone viral? Well, I think if you have to ask, then the answer is obviously not -- or at least not yet.

In the meantime, gas prices here in Orange, Virgina dropped 25 cents over the past three days. Should I credit the vacationing Speaker of the House, or the Republican Representatives sitting in a room with the lights out?

- Ralph

Day 53 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Dodecophonic vs. Bicameral -- Fun with numbers

Just mashing up two of the themes from recent posts -- Eric Cantor's efforts to mount an Internet petition to reconvene Congress, and a Swiss music lover's tribute to avant-garde composer Anton Webern. As of this writing, Cantor's Call Back Congress video's been viewed 5,257 times on YouTube while Anton Webern's Symphony video has been watched 15,961 times.

So does that mean Webern's masterwork holds over three times the appeal of Cantor's political posturing?

Well, the Webern video does have more of an international audience (note the comments in other languages), so perhaps not. And I freely admit this isn't really a fair comparison (although not too far afield from others we're hearing this election year).

But what if it did...

- Ralph

Day 61 of the WJMA Web Watch.

The DTV Intransigence

Imagine getting on a small shuttle flight that holds 30 passengers. All the seats are filled save one, as the final boarding call's announced. Where is the missing passenger? At the food court? Looking for their ticket? Finding a place to park? Just waking up after sleeping through the alarm? Doesn't matter to you -- you're on the plane and in your seat, just like the rest of your fellow travelers.

What happens next? Well. in the real world, the planet takes off as scheduled, with 95% of its passengers on board. In the world run by the Congress, however, the plane's takeoff would be delayed for three hours to give that last poor soul a chance to get on board.

Because make no mistake: that's exactly what happened with Congress pushed back the deadline for DTV conversion. Representative Rick Boucher (who's usually more tech-savvy) explained that this ensures millions of Americans won't get left behind, but the other way to think of that is just like my example above. 5% of the population isn't ready -- so we all have to wait.

"If almost 6 percent of the nation's households lose all TV service, I think most people would declare the digital TV transition to be a failure. [Whaaaat? Flip the switch and it's done. Lack of preparedness on your part does not constitute a crises on mine.] It's clear that the only way to avoid a massive disruption affecting 5.7 percent [and NOT affecting 94.3 percent] of the TV viewing public is to delay the transition and provide the funding to assure that, when it occurs, it occurs smoothly."

It's been cast as a national tragedy if those poor folks (like Ethelred the Unready, pictured above) are cut off from their only source of news and emergency information, but how true is that, really? We're talking about people who only receive over-the-air broadcasts. No cable news, no on-demand programming, just what the local NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates are broadcasting. It's not likely that this 5% is only watching the news and then turning off the set.

No, when the transition is made, they'll be deprived of the shows they regularly watch: like "judge Judy," "All My Children," 'Wheel of Fortune." and "Regis and Kelly." So it's not really a life-or-death matter if viewing gets interrupted.

Now the given reason for the delay is there aren't enough coupons for converters, but so what? Despite six months of heavy advertising, people didn't get moving on the coupons until a few weeks ago.

What's going to happen next? People will forget about the switch until June, when -- once again -- there will be a run on coupons.

So what will change in three months time? More coupons? Maybe. Will people use them? Perhaps. More confusion? Definitely -- already people can't remember when exactly the date's been pushed back to. And has Congress spared that 5% from having their TVs go dark until June? Not really. Some stations have already said they're going ahead and switching as scheduled. So mission not accomplished.
Going back to our original analogy, for those people who missed the final boarding call, the plane may fly without them, or wait for an hour, or two, or three -- just depends on what gate it's leaving from. And how does help the majority of people who fly?

Of all the problems facing our elected leaders, this was one that didn't need their attention at all. How about some change that isn't unbelievably bone-headed?

- Ralph

Day 225 of the WJMA Web Watch. (Good thing digital radio wasn't part of the mandate -- we might have dead air in addition to a dead website here.)

Call Back Congress? I'll take Paris!

This past week we saw two politically-motivated Internet initiatives. One's calling itself a viral movement -- the other just is.

CallBackCongress.com is Rep. Eric Cantor's attempt to start a grassroots revolution to have Speaker Pelosi reconvene Congress so that the Republicans can bring their energy bills to the floor. I've posted about this before. As of today, a little over 30,000 people have signed up since the site was launched a week ago. While the decidedly conservative part of the blogosphere's been talking about this viral campaign, it's garnered almost no interest elsewhere.

On the other hand, there's the video created in response to John McCain's first "Celebrity" campaign ad. Here's the original, for those who came in late.



Interestingly enough, the most effective response didn't come from the Obama camp -- it came from Paris Hilton herself. Here's her reply.

In its first two days, the video was viewed over 6 million times, with no end in sight. It's created enough of a buzz to make it into mainstream media (MSM) reports and commentary.

Now some may say that Hilton's celebrity status account for a large number of views, but if you poke around YouTube, you'll see plenty of Hilton videos (both amateur and professional) that have only a fraction of the views. So it's not just who's in the video.

It's that magic combination of content, plus execution, plus timing. The video parallels the McCain original, and Paris plays her public persona perfectly. But if the video had been released next week, instead of almost immediately, that critical mass would have been missing, and it would not have achieved the success it has.

And while many people toss the term "viral" around, few really seem to understand it. Like a virus, a video, or Internet meme spreads through contact. Each viewer shares it with many more people, each of which shares with multiple people and so on.

In the case of the Cantor petition, most of the 30,000 came in within the first day, and a decreasing number of signers each day after. Hilton's video has been growing exponentially since day one -- and with it making the jump to MSM, it should continue to gain viewers.

30,000 and slowing vs. 6.2 million and growing. One's viral, the other wishes it was.

- Ralph

Day 55 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Save Your Radio (in translation)

Visit most commercial radio websites, and you'll see a banner and link enjoining you to SAVE FREE RADIO!

Performance royalties, which radio stations have never paid, are about to be leveled at them. Now what you won't hear is that this is the end of a long campaign. When the SoundExchange (funded by and representing the major labels) went after the nascent satellite radio industry, commercial radio stood on the sidelines and cheered (anything to kill the competition). 

Having established the precedent, the SoundExchange then hit Internet radio stations. Again, commercial radio sat by, hoping that the royalty rates would be enough to kill off these upstarts. 

So now, the SoundExchange makes the case that every other music broadcaster is paying these fees, why not radio? So now we're finally seeing some action. Go to the SaveYourRadio.org website and read the manifesto. Here's my annotated version.

Tired of the negative press they’ve received from suing college kids and grandmothers, the major record companies have now turned their sights on your local radio stations.

[Actually, they aimed (and bagged) satellite radio and Internet radio first -- but the NAB wasn't interested in this fight then]

The foreign owned record companies
[Those damned foreign major record labels! There's Sony/BMG (Japan), EMI (the UK), Warner Music (the US, oops), and Universal Music (also US, oops again). Um, OK so half the majors are foreign. That's close enough.] 

are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress
[Because, you know, no was else -- like the NAB -- ever spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress. It's just not fair.]

to pass a bill that would establish a “performance tax”
[That phrase is in quotes for a reason. It's not a tax, it's a royalty payment. By using the word "tax" they conjure up the image of money pouring into the the government that no one will ever seen again. Actually, it will pour into the record labels where the artists will never see it again.]

- forcing local radio to pay for the music that is currently provided to you, the listener, free of charge.
[Well, unless you count having to listen to eight commercials in a row as paying a price in pain and suffering.]

Like all businesses, radio stations across the country are struggling to stay afloat - over 250 stations have been forced off the air in the last year alone.
[You'd think commercial breaks with eight ads in a row would help keep the doors open. Hm!]

If passed, this bill would guarantee many more stations would fail, and those that survive would not be the stations you recognize today.
[That is, if you're one of the diminishing audience that hasn't already jumped ship for Internet radio, Slacker, Pandora, podcasts, or even satellite radio.]

It is you, the listener that will feel true impact of this tax
[This time without quotes, notice.]

most as it would ensure a decline in the diversity and quality of programming you expect and deserve from free radio.
[Wow. Where's that station with the diverse and quality programming? I'd listen to that! Playing the same short playlist of market-tested tunes over and over is neither diverse nor especially quality.]

Free radio needs your help in opposing the major record companies’ money grab!
[Those damned labels! Fortunately, sprawling media conglomerates like Clear Channel and Infinity are the antithesis of money-grubbing corporations. Um, well.]

You can help stop the major record companies, and keep government bureaucrats from deciding the price of the music you enjoy by signing onto our petition.
[I'm not sure how we got here. Who's getting the money, again? The greedy record labels or the government bureaucrats?]

This petition will be delivered to your representatives in Washington.

You can contact your Senators and Representatives directly by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. To find out who your Senators and Representatives are, click here. Call your Members of Congress today, and tell them to oppose the performance tax,
[No quotes again.] 

by co-sponsoring the “Supporting Local Radio Freedom Act”.
[Nicely phrased. Especially from said big media companies that have turned most stations into echo chambers for their syndicated and automated programming. Now if the bill required that a local radio station have real live announcers that lived in the area, a news team that covered local news, and played music by local artists, I'd be actively campaigning for it myself.]

Together, we can ensure that free radio continues to serve your local market with the highest quality service and programming.
[ROFL. Especially as they wrote it with a straight face. So explain to me how Ryan Seacrest serves my local market. Or Rush Limbaugh, or Dr. Laura, or -- you get the idea.]

The time to put the genie back in the bottle was when the cork started to wiggle loose. It's a little late, now. And if the most compelling argument they can come up with is to misrepresent a royalty paid to publicly-held companies as a tax paid to the government -- well. That speaks volumes, doesn't it?

 - Ralph

Day 59 of the WJMA Podwatch