Welcome to Idle Entity.net

This is the base of operations for Graham Lord.
From here I broadcast a mediocre blog of events that interest me, and the slow development of my on-going digital hub.

Latest Blog

23/12/09 23:41 / Power To The (Online) People

It's not escaped my notice that Rage Against the Machine just got UK Christmas Number 1, because as a long time fan I purchased an unneeded copy on iTunes Monday morning of the critical week. I have to say, I really didn't expect it to win... we all knew it was a bit of a laugh, especially after the Rick Rolling of '08, but seeing RATM actually clinch it by a clear five figures was really something.
I recently encountered the power of the internet when I advertised my charity haircut on a few forums and various other online sources, and was amazed to receive about half the total donation from online sources, mainly 'strangers' on forums, and now with this new music event, I've been thinking about the power of social and so-called viral networking.
Social networking is the means to an ends, it maintains a very high level of communication among people, a lot of my friends on Facebook, I speak to very little, but with a single news feed on FB, I know what they're up to on any given week. This is really cool, I've always loved this bit of the internet, effortless communication. And it's through this effortless communication that viral advertising occurs.
This isn't a malware kind of virus, it's the term used for something interesting or funny that spreads as a 'check out this funny thing' kind of message. It's not targeted to anyone in particular, it's moved by word of mouth through the people. A classic example is a funny advert released on YouTube- it might be unofficial, or it might be intentionally set up by the company who owns the product in question, but this advert will spread online because it's funny, not because it has anything to do with the actual product. It's likely that it doesn't even cast the company in a professional light, but whatever the case, the sudden and wild-fire spread provides huge amounts of PR.

Let's take a look at this RATM ordeal- it was started by a couple making a page on FaceBook- a task that takes thirty seconds, and can be done by anyone. This simple gesture gathered enough pace to change the UK real life chart, something unthinkable for most internet Memes, which while well known on the internet, have no real-life impact.

So with the big power of the internet suddenly and dramatically demonstrated, we ask ourselves, why does this not happen more often? The simple answer is that the Internet, by nature, is complete anarchy. While people are free to do as they please, the lack of organisation means that nothing particularly productive can actually be achieved, because people are not inspired to participate, or they don't bother because they don't think it'll succeed.
But with Killing In The Name now back in current history as the 2009 UK Christmas Number 1, I have a feeing the internet might've woken up to the power on tap, and this could be the start of many more big impacts on the Offline.