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Birth of a Meme – Why Did The Harlem Shake Take Off?

In a scant eight days, the Harlem Shake went from a song that was released in August 2012 to an crowdsourced international YouTube phenomenon. One can claim to be sick of this meme, but 1 billion YouTube views and over 300,000 versions later, I’m thinking that all of us watched at least a few Harlem Shake videos. (I never made one, and I’m sort of proud of this).

I posted this article from Social Media Today that explains what happened over those eight days. My good buddy Mark Reardon from KMOX saw the article, and asked if I wanted to come on to discuss. I cannot say no to Mark.

Have a listen here, and let me know what you think in the comments below. In the off chance the link does not work, here’s a link to the story page on KMOX’s website.

David Meerman Scott Talks The New Rules of Marketing and PR

Last year I read David Meerman Scott’s best-seller “The New Rules of Marketing and PR,” and I’ve recently purchased the second edition and plan on giving the book a second reading in the next few weeks.  The reason?  As I continue to operate the small business learning laboratory known as Rizzo Tees, I am finding more and more that Scott’s advice is dead-on. I’m not even executing on all of this advice yet, so a pox on me.

However, this blog was borne of his advice. In the video below, you’ll hear him talk of a dentist that started a blog and wrote an eBook, and she was able to generate a ton of online attention for herself…. and all for free.  No Yellow Page Ads anymore – it’s you, all you, writing your thoughts, spreading your word for free online, getting others to spread the word for you.  It’s losing control of your marketing, as Scott calls it.  It’s bloody brilliant.