Southpark Didn’t Murder Kanye West, Social Media Did.

Friday, April 17, 2009 in Marketing, Music, Social Media, TV, The Power of Digital, Video Blog Series (Vlog)

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I am sure you have all seen or heard about Kanye West’s appearance on ‘South Park’ last week. Most people probably watched it online – I know I did – but would the hype, news stories and even Kanye himself taking to his blog site to comment about it, have happened without the influence of social media?  I think not.  Here’s why.

The Pre-Match Hype: As soon as it was announced that Kanye West was going to be on ‘South Park’, the bloggers were the first to go crazy about it.  Blogs are crucial for building up hype and they certainly did an excellent job with this.

The Episode: The episode aired on TV but was on YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo, MSN and just about every other video platform on the web, within minutes after being broadcast. (Do a Google search of Kanye West South Park video for the full list of sites). In true ‘South Park’ tradition, it lived up to the hype and there were several talking points within the script to spark debate.

The Aftermath: The bloggers, social networks and social bookmarking sites went nuts and the video spread like wildfire.  There were videos embedded on people’s profiles, URLs included in status updates; people were bookmarking it like crazy and, most importantly, people were talking and forming opinions about it.

The person whose opinion was heard the most was, in fact, Kanye West. Instead of ignoring it and pretending it didn’t happen, he took to his own blog site to post his thoughts hours after the show aired.   Again the bloggers, social networks and social bookmarking sites went nuts. It went from the general public talking about it to a full-fledged news story with reports on MTV and the BBC to broard sheet newspapers and tabloid mags. All of this happened with very little marketing from the distributors of ‘South Park’. Without the Internet buzz, I am sure Kanye would not have even addressed this.

To his credit, Kanye embraced and continues to utilize social media very well. Instead of running away, he got involved and even though he said he got murdered (and let’s face it, he did take a beating), by using the technology available to him, I think he’s actually starting to come away from this very well.  Now, some people think it was all a PR stunt and Kanye’s blogging was to reduce damage control. I disagree.  I think Kanye West took to his blog, like most bloggers, because he had something to say to his fans and wanted to voice his opinion.  It wasn’t to plug an album or a concert, it was his feelings – straight from the heart. (He has posted 3 times about this so far).

This shows, yet again, how social media has changed the way in which we use the Internet. Where before we were defined by “where we clicked”, now we are to defined by “what we share”.  I was happy to see Kanye come out (no pun intended) and address this …. and if his Twitter game was a bit tighter, then I am sure he would beat CNN, Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher to be the first ‘millionaire’ in the Twitterverse.

Andrew TWKS