Facebook is the new porn
Sep 17, 2008 Sounds Like Pop
Who would have thought?
Reuters has reported that a “web guru” has analysed information for over 10 million web users and found that social networking sites are dethroning pornography as the most popular online “activity”.
The article quotes the author, Bill Tancer, from his book Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why It Matters.
“As social networking traffic has increased, visits to porn sites have decreased,” said Tancer, indicated that the 18-24 year old age group particularly was searching less for porn.
“My theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don’t have time to look at adult sites.”
Of course, there are many other findings and Tancer also talks about the way people are communicating online now. Obviously, these social networking sites like Facebook, for one, is influencing it. I would love to get a copy of the book.
This news bit has also reminded me of a song from the musical Avenue Q, which I have spoken before. They have a song titled The Internet Is For Porn, and it goes something like this:
KATE: Trekkie!
TREKKIE: The Internet is for porn!
KATE: Noooo…
TREKKIE: The Internet if for porn!
KATE: Trekkie.
TREKKIE: Me up all night honking me horn to porn, porn, porn!
Hahaha :) Maybe now someone can write a song called The Internet is for Facebook?
10.34am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Email ads[at]nikicheong.com to advertise.
LOOK OUT FOR THE NEW LOOK OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS,
Tags: avenue q, Bill Tancer, facebook, Pornography, Social Networking, The Internet Is For Porn
Only botak-heads need apply
Sep 11, 2008 Sounds Like Pop
Talk about interactive advertising! I’ve always admired great advertising minds for their creativity but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything like this before.
Yup, Air New Zealand is looking for people who are “follically challenged” or willing to shave their heads to wear a henna tattoo with a message at the back of their heads for about two weeks (that’s about the time it takes for the henna to wear off, I think).
The best part is, they are doing it as an competition. There will be three casting sessions - at Christchurch, Wellingotn and Auckland (which is just a party really, the airline promises live entertainment plus food) and all botak-heads that they feel qualify will be thrown into the pool (maybe your names, no decapitation involved) for a draw. 75 lucky baldies will be selected and paid $1,000.
How cool is that? For a media practitioner (and former marketing lecturer), I think this is brilliant. It’s great advertising (75 bald men with a message on their head for two weeks? Who’s NOT going to look?), public relations (so many media organisation’s going to town with the story, including the Los Angeles Times even), promotion (it’s a contest, and party - who doesn’t love those?) and cheap (other than overheads and cost to the agency fees maybe, they are essentially paying only $75,000 for the advertisement - a million and one times less than billboard advertising, posters, newspapers, airtime etc that it would normally cost).
The only thing, I wonder if they factored in, is whether any of the 75 botaks can sue them if the henna doesn’t come off after two weeks? ;)
Oer.
9.29am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
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Tags: advertising, air new zealand, bald, marketing
Anwar to be charged and Paris Hilton wants to run for President
Aug 7, 2008 Sounds Like Pop
Amid what looks set to be a turbulent few weeks in Malaysian politics (police and FRU are out in full force at the Jalan Duta Sessions Court as I write this, according to The Star News Alerts - in case you haven’t heard, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is expected to be charged with sodomy in about … er, 19 minutes), I found this video which I thought might cheer some people up.
Context: Paris released this video in response to an advertisement by John McCain, which (underhandedly, IMHO) likens Barack Obama’s celebrity-dom to that of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. (First read about it here, btw)Paris hits back, offers herself as a US Presidential nominee, shares her idea for some policies and, um, even tells you about her plans to repaint the White House.
What colour? Check the video out!
9.41am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Anwar Ibrahim, Barack Obama, Britney Spears, John McCain, Paris Hilton, politics, Sodomy
30-Hour Famine 2008 - Journey to Laos
Aug 5, 2008 Sounds Like Pop
I know that I said I was done with blogging about my trip to Laos but it appears that World Vision has just uploaded the 8TV show on the trip. I promised to post it when it was up, so here it is:
Part 1 of 3
Part 2 of 3
Part 3 of 3
This 8TV show will air again on 8TV on August 29. Oh, and in case any of you missed it, this is the video I made during the trip for The Star Online.
3.05pm Malaysian times (+8GMT)
Tags: Journey to Laos, Loas, michael wong, Niki Cheong, world vision, 光良
MTV Asia Awards 2008
Aug 3, 2008 Sounds Like Pop
Curious: Dad said that he had some trouble accessing some blogs last night - in particular those of “political nature” such as Marina’s, Rocky’s, Patrick’s and err … mine. He said he tried others and it was okay. Wouldn’t dare suggest that “something” happened but I wonder if anyone had the same experience. If indeed “something” happened, I find it quite strange because while I do at times blog on things of political nature, I wouldn’t even put myself anywhere close to the kinds of numbers those other blogs, or on par with those powerhouse bloggers.
And on to the post …
So, the MTV Asia Awards 2008 (report here) happened last night at the Arena of Stars at Genting Highlands. I was rather looking forward to it - after all, the last time I was at the MTV Asia Awards was in 2004, I think, and I was stuck in the press room. I got to meet the stars (kinda - press conference style) but didn’t get to watch the show (of course, I have since watched the Grammy Awards live in 2006 *ahem*; that experience is pretty hard to beat). This time, thanks to my friends at MTV, I got a “VIP” pass.
Pussycat Dolls, as always, were a hit!
I was thrilled at getting the chance to watch some of the acts live. And I thought the best shows were by Pussycat Dolls, The Script (I’ve not heard of them, but good gosh they’re brilliant!) and Panic! At The Disco, who brilliantly closed the show, were marvelous (I shall go watch them on Tuesday at Stadium Putra too!). Electonica and Stephanie Sun were a bit of a dissapointment and OneRepublic was just ok, I thought.
Leona Lewis was a hit!
I also thought the debut of Project E.A.R. however - a collaborative ensemble featuring members from Pop Shuvit, Ahli Fiqir and a couple of others (I forget!) was quite brilliant.
As for the awards, well, I don’t think there were any big upsets as to who won - although I was quite surprised (in a good way) that Nicholas Teo beat Siti Nurhaliza, Pop Shuvit and Faizal Tahir to the Favourite Malaysian Artist award.
Korea’s Super Junior started off stiff, but then had some fancy moves!
I took some shots but they weren’t great. I also took some videos that I initially wanted to upload onto YouTube but I saw a few more nicer ones on YouTube. Just type MTV Asia Awards 2008 and you’ll see a whole lot of them.
What a great finale by Panic! At The Disco
1.56pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Genting Highlands, Leona Lewis, MTV ASia Awards 2008, Nicholas Teo, OneRepublic, Pussycat Dolls, Siti Nurhaliza, Stephanie Sun, The Script
