Sunday, October 4, 2009

beware f*cking awesome social media gurus

An ingenious PSA is making the rounds on networking sites, warning social-media-wannabes against falling for claims of self-proclaimed gurus. It was created not by an ad grunt, but by a freelance journalist in Dublin. Markham Nolan scripted, animated, directed and produced the whole thing using Xtranormal, a free site designed to "bring movie making to the people." Based on a sophisticated text-to-speech generator, the product actually lives up to its improbable tagline: "If you can type, you can make movies."

Nolan created "Social Media Guru" to pitch to Ireland's SFA (Small Firms Association) but decided "screw it – have it free via Youtube." Doubtless he guessed a business association would possibly take exception to NSFW language. But Nolan might not realize--the film he created belongs to Xtranormal, according to stringent TOS delivered on the site by a deceptively benign-looking cartoon character.

12 comments:

Markham said...

Thanks for the warning.

The SFA 'pitch' was merely tongue-in-cheek. Imagine how many social media guru jobs could be lost in Ireland if this was made official policy of the Small Firms Association?

Glad you liked the vid. There's every chance we might see more from the guru as things evolve.

Teenie said...

The only things he's missing are the Gucci glasses and handy tote bag. Yikes!

Jason Falls said...

Are you lumping us all in one basket or do you delineate? Just askin'. Heh.

SEO Melbourne said...

That's awesome! I love it!

The Chimp said...

That is brilliant!

David said...

LOL @ ".. that did not go well."

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

@Teenie You forgot to say the tote bag was from SXSWi ;)

@JasonFalls Didn't mean you! You've had an internet blog for *over* six months!

Glad to have entertained @SEO Melbourne ;)

Isn't it? @The CHimp No matter how many times I see it, it makes me laugh ;)

SEO professional said...

Haha, that is so funny.

Just had to try the application for my self. Made a lot of childish movies, like a rickroll and kanye west videoes.

Made a instant classic Kanye West video. (if anyone want's to see it http://www.seoprofessional.info/blog/kanye-west-interrupts-randfish/)

Unknown said...

I love the Xtranormal site and have used it a couple times just goofing around, like generating a pep talk for the high school rowing team I coach.

But seeing "Social Media Guru" is a V-8 moment for sure--why the heck didn't I think of that! *palm slaps forehead*

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

@Markham--sorry your comment took so long to post. Guess mail takes a while coming across the pond ;) LOVE what you did and would love to see the Guru make a series of oh-so-Instructional DIY DVDs. Only $5000 each!

@SEO Pro--good job! I'm sure that's the most (only) entertaining vid on link building there is :)

@Jake P--I had the same reaction! *palm slaps forehead, too*

Maggie Hall said...

Thank you ad broad, this made my day. Between the social media experts that have actually admitted to me they are not experts to the 25 yr old personal branding expert that has worked at 10 different companies (what's the math on that) all this self-important aggrandizing makes me dizzy. Thanks for the laugh.

Anonymous said...

That WAS funny. Thanks for sharing. It was "f*king Awesome" meeting you today! :)