The people speak out often, they ring radio shows, they march through the streets of London, they climb to the top of significant buildings – but now the people have realized the power of Social Media!
The Christmas No. 1 in Britain is of course a totally trivial matter, it’s not life or death and it is not going to improve peoples lives, but what we have seen over the last week is the true influence Social Media has on a very public stage. From just two people and a Facebook page, a whole media machine has been beaten – proving that the public need not be dictated to and that the media can now be controlled directly by the consumer.
Rage Against The Machine are Number 1 at Christmas!! What an inspired choice of song to back. I can’t think of anything less typically festive and the polar opposite of a drippy, lazy cover version from a talent show winner.
However, this post is not about the merits of either song, or particularly about why this battle for the top of the charts has created so much interest.
It is how.
The internet is now recognised as the leading source of all media, exemplified by the fact that all other forms of media can be integrated into it. In 10 years time will we really need any other source? The fact that digital media can be utilized directly by anyone, wherever they are based, is an exciting thought – no longer do we need to gain acceptance from media owners before our ideas can be put to the masses. Get your ideas on Facebook, publicise it on Twitter, expand your audience through MySpace and back it up on LinkedIn. There are so many sources available that if you use the platforms correctly and you have a creative vision that will inspire others, you will get noticed.
This is what is exciting about what happened late yesterday afternoon. Just two people managed to humiliate a huge money-making corporation into thinking again about what the public want – if we don’t like it we will not be spoon-fed, we will do it our way.
So well done to all involved and I look forward to humming “Killing in the Name” over the next couple of weeks!
Ashley Seddon
ashley.seddon@digitalpersonnel.co.uk