When a "Groundswell" isn't so swell after all

Once again, I find myself relatively impressed with the material we are assigned to read for class. I guess it all helps when you're interested in the subject. But I really like the idea behind what a groundswell is and how it might look like something detrimental to a company, but if utilized in the right way, can do just the opposite for the business and the marketers. However in this particular case, the concept might be less than desirable.

To me, the idea of a groundswell reminded me of the effects of a viral video or campaign, in that both tend to gain momentum once the right group of people grab hold and let it take off from there. Usually, any media content that becomes viral does so unintentionally but gains popularity through a number of various publics and outlets. Likewise, the driving force behind a groundswell are social networking sites. I suppose, simply because everyone else has been talking about it ask well, Rebecca Black's "Friday" music video can be an example of how the groundswell works. Although, in my opinion, this song gain all of it's popularity for all the wrong reasons, which is also something practitioners need to worry about in the field. However, when uploaded to an SNS such a YouTube, someone noteworthy is bound to discover the video which will then cause said "discoverer" to show others whether it's through a blog of their own, friends and family who then pass it on to their friends, or possibly a TV show on Comedy Central.

Just days after the video hit the YouTube scene, comedian Daniel Tosh introduced it during one of the segments on his show, Tosh.0, and as a general rule, if it's been shown there then it's most likely to become viral. Since "Friday"s initial appearance on  Tosh.0 the number of views has reached the millions and Tosh even has a Rebecca Black tag on his blog so viewers can continue to follow up with this new, unfortunate Internet sensation. In a similar way, our social media class is contributing to the groundswell created through this video. Those of us who have blogged about it in some way, myself included now, are only being added to the number of bloggers like Daniel Tosh who have kept this thirteen-year-old girl and this song in circulation. The effects of a groundswell has proven to be tremendous. Her song started out as something shared from one avid YouTuber to another, then passed down to forums and blogs, and is now being broadcast on the radio and even mentioned on various morning talk shows.