As Mashable points out, VW uses almost no direct brand placement in any of the videos, opting only for a small logo at the end. But there’s actually more. All those black screens with tight white lettering? We see you, VW, and we see what you’re doing. Only Apple uses those two colors as well as the German automakers.

The videos reminded me of the great Grand Central Freeze put on by ImprovEverywhere a couple years ago in New York City. Both campaigns worked under the pretense that you have to influence people on a personal level before you can extend your brand.

Just another Saturday afternoon in the 19th Century

Back in the 1880s and 90s, they used to take a couple of old locomotives and run ‘em head-on into each other for the pure entertainment value. One sunny day in 1896, up in West, Texas, some genius did just that. Thousands came out for the spectacle and paid $2/ticket; Ringling Brothers put up tents to make an impromptu town (called “Crush,” after the guy who staged it all). The two locomotives bore down on each other and hit head-on at 45 mph apiece. The boilers exploded, sending huge chunks of hot metal flying for hundreds of yards. Two were killed outright, and many more were injured. Wow…now who coulda seen that coming?

It’s not that different now, it’s just that we’re interested in a different sort of trainwreck:

Lindsay, resting her eyes

Uhm?

Jon and Kate, give me a break

Whether it’s looped Lindsey, bald Britney or fixin’-to-split Jon and Kate, we can’t seem to take our eyes off of a pageant of self-destruction. It all kinda started in the Nineties, with a President whose every move was fodder for supermarket tabloid, until the tabloid press set the whole tone for his term in office (hey, he also set a whole new bar for philandering politicos).

Gov. Sanford, your story is juicier than a romance novel

It’s a given that if you attain celeb status, you start living in a goldfish bowl and your privacy is pretty well a thing of the past. But with the advent of reality shows, now “celeb status” is apparently a lot easier to come by, and the line between public and private life has become much less distinct.

It seems like that has seeped across society and skewed people’s ideas of what it takes to become a celebrity…not talent, not brains, sometimes not even looks. You don’t have to land on the moon, come back a war hero and ride in an open Cadillac to applause and ticker tape, you don’t have to sing or play an instrument or dance or be especially clever. You just need a willingness to bare all and put it right out there for everyone.

Sometimes it’s pretty funny, like on www.textsfromlastnight.com:

• (919): i literally forgot his name and just started calling him “waffles”
• (267): Dude it was awful. I woke up with more strippers in my dorm room than those duke lacrosse kids.
• (647): Michelle found a bong in the garbage and sold it to my mom
• (848): a woman just threw her tv out the window while screaming “will you fucking work now?”. i’m never moving

OK, I laughed out loud on that last one.

Who're you thinkin' about, Mr. Ensign?

Sometimes it’s just kind of tiresome… if I’m hangin out on Facebook, I don’t really need to know that you just came back from the grocery store with some broccoli and are now sitting down to enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich. I’m not transfixed by your thumbs-up-or-down on national health care, or what serial killer you are, or what muscle car you are, or who your top five favorite NFL stars are…

Sometimes it’s sad or disturbing…just have a look at YouTube and the freakshows in various corners. Yeesh. This young woman’s kind of a mess:

Or you might remember this guy from a year or so ago. Wouldn’t surprise me if he winds up with his own reality show one of these days…or maybe that ship already sailed.

These had to hurt:

In the end it’s all pointing in the same direction. Behavior that would have been considered “behind closed doors” stuff even ten years ago is right out there in public now, for the big photo album that is the Internets. Anybody can come up and scrawl anything they want on that big, big blackboard. That’s part of the beauty of the Internet, don’t get me wrong. But it’s the combination of anonymity and the pathological need for attention on the part of some folks that is just a little unnerving.

Some years back, people started saying “Whooaaaa, too much information,” which quickly went from pop-culture cliche to the “TMI” phenomenon. Now TMI is not only the norm, it’s what’s expected. So think before you post it. Does everybody really need to know about every last aspect of your world, your habits, your day-to-day webcam-webcasted actualities in intimate detail?

You probably won’t wind up on a reality show anyway, and if you do, well, here’s hoping it doesn’t wreck your life in the process.

Watch your back, reporters!

Before I’d seen anybody worth their salt report it, before CNN ran a “Breaking News” headline or the LA Times plastered his headshot across its homepage, I heard that Michael Jackson was dead. It was the Huffington Post, an outlet I’m just barely beginning to trust, and Twitter, one I’ll never fully believe, before anything else, and that was the weirdest part of the King of Pop’s death. How could it be true if we weren’t hearing it from the people who were supposed to tell us?

And then a friend that night offered up the insight that the Internet had finally won. Machine was faster than Man.

Well, sorry buddy, but I must confess that I still abide by the tortoise-and-the-hare adage. Not because of execution, but rather because of focus.

The genetic makeup of a blog gives anybody who wants it a voice. Anybody in the world with access to a computer and the Internet can set up a URL and be blogging away on whatever they’d like in less than five minutes tops.

This is an excellent thing.

Thanks to blogs we have lists and video compilations and more lists, weird write-ups about goblins and an inside track into the mind of a crazy middle aged Austinite. Through blogs I can find out what Jennifer Aniston and Dave Schwimmer’s kid really would’ve looked like had they fornicated off the Friends set and listen to the 20 best beats DJ Premier ever made without having to go to the record store.

But I can also get a lot of crap, and you know it when you see it. “Tupac’s Alive!,” they’ll say. Or, just the same, “Jeff Goldblum’s Dead!”

This is a very bad thing.

It got worse last month, when John Doe blogger JRod (real name Jerod Morris) wrote about half a million words on Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez and his recent, albeit late-in-career, power surge.

The issue caught wind with the sports media and their counterparting bloggers, and they got Ibanez’s take and the talking heads on ESPN spent hour after hour considering whether or not JRod took a cheap shot at Ibanez’s character (he did) and whether or not the general public has the right to assume old players on power surges were on some sort of steroids (they do).

But we never got to talking about whether or not we should care how Morris thinks.

Now, had Mitch Albom or Bob Ryan written “The Curious Case of Raul Ibanez,” we might be tackling an entirely different issue altogether, but they’re both sportswriters who, because they write for print (read as “old”) publications, can’t take that kind of risk. Morris, on the other hand, doesn’t even go so far as to offer up his full name in a byline and (this is speculation here) likely doesn’t pay his full lot of bills writing midwestsportsfans.com blog posts.

Caught between a blog and a hard place

Let’s take a deeper look. Morris wrote his piece on Raul Ibanez on June 8. He was still talking about it a month later, not out of choice, but because, as he writes, he’s been “caught up discussing the issue more than I’d planned on… because I still receive plenty of email and comments asking me about it.” He’d even admitted a few weeks prior that he was out of line bringing up the potential for steroid use, and he was still just writing, writing, writing. Keepin’ the people happy, happy, happy.

It’s not Morris’s fault though. Seriously, did the punishment really fit the crime? He can write what he wants; it’s a blog. They are, by definition, an individual’s self-made and self-published thoughts.

Newspapermen freak out, though, and refuse to join the army. It’s been talked about for years, since Alex Rubalcava published “Why My Column Doesn’t Matter” in The Harvard Crimson back in 2002. You’d think everyone would get along a little better by now.

As we move forward – and the case of blogs inching closer and closer (or maybe further and further past) to newspapers is surely moving forward – pay close attention to who you’re getting your news from. Our bet is that newspapers will make the proper adjustments and emerge once-again as the most trusted sources, only this round their articles will appear to you as blogs, not in folds.

Until then, expect the bickering to continue, the lines to be drawn in the sand, and the grey area surrounding blogger legitimacy to press down thick as a New England fog.

Illustration by Ed Wexler for USN&WR

Think back to long ago, way back to the beginning of 2008.

Eighteen months ago it seemed we didn’t have to deal with political spiel in social media all that much. But that was before an internet savvy presidential candidate came into the picture and Twitter went mainstream in a big way.

The results that Obama got from his internet campaigning opened the eyes of other politicians to what they were missing.  Simply having a website isn’t going to get the job done anymore; it’s not enough to get your word out to the people.

The result: a new social media political playing field.

The Motivation Behind the Political Twitter Movement

Like so many US citizens, politicians have many reasons for their Twittering and the general phenomenon that they’re feeding into. Some of those reasons include:

• Getting information to the people
• Connecting with the public
• Instigating more public participation in government
• It’s a more efficient media for speaking your mind
• Giving others a glimpse of the work they do
• Knocking down rumors
• Getting public response on issues
• Promoting an agenda
• Better transparency

Overall, politicians are split on the issue of whether Twitter is more for business or personal use. But really when it comes down to it, it’s all reputation management. Politicians see it as another way to control their message; a way for them to show people what they’re really all about, to limit the filters that their statements usually trickle through. It’s a modern day twist on the fireside chats that FDR conducted while in office.

Politicians using Twitter is a clear indication of how important social media has become in American culture. Public servants who get in the mix online recognize that conversations concerning them are happening and they’re better to do what they can to participate. And of course, politicians know that Twitter is a great tool for reaching out to the ever-valuable young voters who practically grew up online and doesn’t cost an extra penny in campaign funds.

It also seems that the euphoric high of watching the followers increase, much the same as pouring focus into poll numbers, is motivation for some. Politicians love being loved.

Politicians on Twitter: a Pro or a Con?

Ultimately, it can be nothing but good entertainment for the rest of us. For political junkies, Twitter has been a great means of supporting the addiction, providing access to politicians in a way that was previously unheard of.

However, politicians on Twitter face a few problems. Not all politicians manage their own Twitter accounts – they have staffers for that. So the intimate and personal aspect will often be met with warranted questioning. Case in point, when South Carolina governor Mark Sanford recently went missing his Twitter account stayed active, and not with updates from Argentina.

The other big problem facing politicians on Twitter is the exact opposite of the above point. Those who choose to post regularly to their Twitter pages on their own accord may need to pull off some serious damage control (see Tweets below). Many politicians are known to talk a little too much. Pair that with a universal platform that will blast your every random comment to whoever wants to see it, and you create a potential mine field for yourself and gold mine for your opponents.

Twitter has definitely led to some mud-slinging among the parties. This is great entertainment for us, but it serves as another reminder that reaching across the aisle for the betterment of the general public may not be all that easy for many politicians. The impulse to Tweet a snarky remark may come back to haunt some. (see Tweets below)

Twitter could come up in a few 2010 debates.

Which Politicians are on Twitter?

Which politicians in your state are Twittering away as you read this?

Tweet Congress is a handy site that tracks Representatives state-by-state and even provides Tweeting stats and contact info. Twitter Fan Wiki’s US Government page has links to the executive branch, Senators and Representatives Twitter accounts. And to find state and local politicians on Twitter GovTwit is a good resource.

Since there’s nothing specifically for state governors on Twitter, we put this little gem of a list together.

* accurate as of June 30, 2009

And this one seemingly for Nevada governor James Arthur “Jim” Gibbons, isn’t real, but man, if it was…

What Interesting Things are Politicians Tweeting?

As you can see in The Tweeting Governor’s List, Republicans are actually more active on Twitter than Democrats. However, Democrats are expected to cut that margin. For the most part politicians do keep it tasteful and informative. But here are some of the more interesting tweets from politicians, keeping in mind the imbalance of representation between the parties on Twitter.

Republican congressman Joe Barton during Presidential address to Congress: “Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren’t going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour.”

Damage control a few minutes later: “Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer.”

Amid controversy South Carolina governor Mark Sanford tweets: “I write to apologize and ask for your forgiveness…” (Through a Tweet, really? Is that considered a bigger faux pas than texting an apology?)

Palin leaks the foreign shoot location of The Colbert Report, a secret Colbert wasn’t wanting released: “Getting ready to tape shout-out for our awesome US troops serving overseas! Will be on ‘Colbert Report’ next month, broadcast from Iraq…”

GOP operative Mike Green of South Carolina: “Just heard Obama is going to impose a 40% tax on Aspirin because it’s white and it works.”

The tweet was promptly removed.

And on the other side of the aisle…

Democratic Rep. Paul Gardner tweeted about Republican colleague Tom Emmer: “Emmer seems to belittle his female colleagues (rage, sarcasm) on the House floor more than the men? Great face to the GOP?”

His Twitter account was promptly closed.