Twitter = New Water Cooler?

Mashable questioned whether Social Media could have been the cause of the spike in Grammy's viewership this Sunday, which I think is a cool idea to think about (as you saw from my last post), but the Bill Nye within me (that's what she said?) cries, "TOO MANY VARIABLES!" I mean, come on... you know half of the people, if not more, were tuning in to catch what insane circus act the Haus of Gaga would spit out. BTW - Elton John... fabulous.

But the most important part of the article, to me, was the idea of Twitter becoming our water cooler. (Of course, I'm not talking solely about Twitter, but any microblogging service or even Facebook's status updates.) Now, I may be somewhat nerdy and we ALL know how nerdy my friends are *cough*ERINandLIBBY*cough*, so I am wondering what you all think. Do you think that these sharing sites are creepin in on the watercooler's mojo among the greater Internet population? Do you think it is making next-day chatter at the office "like, SO 10 hours ago"?

I sometimes find myself not wanting to re-tweet articles when I know they've been out there for a few hours. I think, "Nah... this is old news..." I even considered not writing this post because the Mashable article was "so yesterday." But then I realized, maybe not everyone is as nerdy as Libby and Erin. Whoops... forgot to cover that up with a cough. My bad.

But then again, if you're reading this, it's very likely you're in the nerd boat with us. (And I mean no offense by this! Truly. I mean it in the endearing/smart/sometimes a little awkward sort of way.)

I'm the one on the right. Cuddlin'. Erin & Libby: you can fight over the other two.

I'm a Fan

Grammy's. This Sunday. Me = excited.

I've always liked the Grammy's, but I've never been particularly moved by its advertising before. But that was before....

This is now.

Shit's gone social.

I first noticed the social element of the Grammy's campaign when I saw the Beyoncé television spot with user generated YouTube video clips pieced together, making a visual and audio collage of awesomeness.

Don't get me wrong... the singing itself wasn't Grammy-worthy (in fact, it made me feel like I was back at Blarney listening to a bunch of drunk college girls screeching together into the microphone for karaoke), but the concept was so interesting. So social. So... modern.

We are all fans, we want to feel like we're a part of what's gotten the artists to this milestone in their career. In a way, we've all contributed to their nomination (or, if they're lucky, their award.) Every time I post a song to my Twitter followers, I'm helping spread the fan-dom. And the crazies that are ballsy enough to record themselves singing and post it to YouTube are helping as well... well... some not so much, but whatevs. (Lady GaGa TV spot here... I actually prefer this one because it's a little less shrilly.)

So, I was already excited, right? And then I saw the website.

GAAAA... I'M IN LOVE!

Now, I know I'm a social media nerd. I admit it. However, this site is not only beaUUUUUtiful (props to TBWA\Chiat\Day & Visible Technologies), it's informational, engaging & it drives viewers to create their OWN collage with real-time social media updates for their favorite artists.

Oh yeah. I did it. Check it. (May take a while to load, but SO worth it.)

Overall, well done. Loves it.