Well, if it involves Oprah there's a 99% chance that it's not. Oprah who touches the lives of millions (or should I say "guides the lives of millions") has been credited with getting late adopters to embrace technology in the same ways that the more progressive, modern culture cohorts do.
If your grandmother is on Facebook, you can most likely thank Oprah.
If your mom is on Twitter, you can most likely thank Oprah.
If you witnessed the "biggest flash mob in the world" you can most likely thank Oprah.
Or Oprah's staff and the Black Eyed Peas.
Oprah has become the new barometer to determine when something has gone from progressive to mainstream. But what irritates many is that while we can encourage others to embrace the benefits of modern culture, there are those that will not listen until Oprah says it's "okay".
And therein lies the problem. Because by the time Oprah says it's okay, it has been branded, sanitized, sponsored, processed, sweetened, endorsed, transformed and spun to the point where it is a shadow of its former self.
When Oprah began talking about Twitter, you would have thought that Twitter was invented the day before. Which spawned the popular site "www.herebeforeoprah.com" to demonstrate that, among other things, there were many people on Twitter well before she came onto the scene. (Don't look for the site now, it ran its course and is now defunct.)
So, let's talk about flash mobs and compare it to Oprah's – in an effort to explain why Oprah and her media peeps just don't get it. A flash mob by definition is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief time and then disperse as quickly as they arrived. Flash mobs are coordinated through messages via phone, social networking sites, or email. Those messages spread virally. Sometimes they are huge. Sometimes they're not. But that's the beauty of it. It's organic and spontaneous. Even Wikipedia specifically says "The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms or as publicity stunts."
Example of a true flash mob.
Oprah's flash mob was supposed to look spontaneous but it was revealed later that it took weeks to coordinate and choreograph, which is fine and dandy. It looked cool. It looked fun. Thousands of "ordinary" people suddenly burst into perfectly synchronized dance with the Black Eyed Peas and Oprah on stage. All to ring in Oprah's 24th season. The media ran the headlines about the biggest flash mob ever. Furthering Oprah's image as someone who is progressive and hip even though she's a little (lot) late to the game and a little (lot) out of touch with modern culture.
It's okay Oprah, we still love you.
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2 comments:
Wow, you really missed the whole point of this display. It doesn't matter whether you or the media feel it was "labeled" correctly. It was cool beyond belief. It gathered average people (most people were not dancers) who would otherwise have been sitting on their butts or going about their daily lives to come together and be a part of something unique and collective. There is magic in that. It inspired feelings of hope and inspiration in thousands of people. Just look at the comments on Youtube and Facebook. Your need to prove to the world just how "with it" you are by trashing it because the media chose to give it a certain label shows how unconnected you really are to what is happening in the world right now rather than supporting your article. . You're not clever, you're just jaded. And taking shots at Oprah? Just a bit easy don't you think? That's like an anti establishmentarianist taking shots at the government. I don't understand how the fact that your grandmother has Oprah to thank for knowing how to use Facebook makes modern conventions of communication a "shadow of it's former self". You should be thanking her. She's saving you from having to do it.
Dear Anonymous, thanks for your comment and yes, we're having some fun at Oprah's expense. Sorry if it pissed you off. But the point of the article is to show how Oprah is the threshold for cultural behavior in many arenas. Her endorsement can create a big shockwave and that effect is ususually covered very heavily - which in itself is interesting. And yes, we should be thankful for her involvement in that regard. I do enjoy keeping in touch with my grandma on Facebook. And I say that without any satire or sarcasm.
Thanks for reading our blog and keep commenting. I only ask that next time you do, don't do it under "anonymous".
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