You better #beliebe it

Before this morning, I couldn't imagine ever using the hashtag #beliebe. But here I am, blogging about Justin Bieber's arrest for a class at UNC. If it's still possible you haven't heard about it, I'll provide a summary of the situation. Around 4:00 AM Thursday morning, Justin Bieber was pulled over by Miami Beach police and arrested for drunk driving and resisting arrest. The fact the 19-year-old was arrested may come as little surprise to many, but the way people found out was especially interesting and indicates a trend in how the world now gathers (and analyzes) information.

Since most Americans weren't awake at this hour, they likely discovered what happened via social media this morning. I follow several news organizations on Twitter, most of which were littered with stories regarding Justin Bieber's illegal activities. Still, this isn't how I found out about the incident and I would argue that many people are in the same boat.

At approximately 10:52 AM, I logged into Twitter before class began at 11:00 AM. This was the first photo that popped up on my feed:

Justin Bieber's face photo-shopped onto a poster for "Orange is the New Black," a popular Netflix series, isn't much, but it was enough to tell me something had happened. So, I scrolled down my feed. Two tweets later, this photo:

These two photos are in no way considered "newsworthy" content. But it was information, and I was receiving it. So I scrolled, and then I saw it. A friend had retweeted a tweet from the Twitter handle @BiebersDUI.

And just like that, I found out Justin Bieber was arrested. Of course, I didn't know all the details (that I would then frantically google) but I knew enough without seeing any official information. The story I saw was told through user-generated content on a popular social media website, and didn't involve paparazzi or news organizations.

Kevin Fallon, a writer for The Daily Beast said, "Typically a star’s journey to rock bottom plays out for all of us years later in a 20/20 segment or E! True Hollywood Story pieced together after the fact. But now we’re watching every gritty detail of the episode unfold in real time."

Not only that, but users are the ones telling the story. After all, I heard about his arrest through the bio of a parody Twitter handle. If that's not revolutionary (and weird), I don't know what is. As for the future of information content, I don't see user-generated content disappearing in the next few years. In fact, it will likely become even more popular; we as users like to share things we find interesting, and Bieber's arrest is a prime example of that. If you're wondering about the future of mass communication and if user-generated content will be the "next big thing," I've only got one thing to say.

You better #beliebe it.

"Is this thing on?"

When someone refers to media as "viral," most people automatically think of videos. After all, that's usually the type of media that sometimes boasts thousands of views within minutes or hours. Think of how quickly the YouTube hit "Gangnam Style" rose to the top of the charts, or how popular a video of a beagle stealing chicken nuggets out of a toaster oven has become in the past two days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ym0rxisOpw). Viral videos are certainly growing in popularity, but I'd like to address a type of media that has yet to become quite as popular.

"Audio never goes viral," said radio and podcast producer Nate DiMeo. "If you posted the most incredible story — literally, the most incredible story that has ever been told since people have had the ability to tell stories, it will never, ever get as many hits as a video of a cat with a mustache."

Users of social media sites know they are far more likely to see a shared video on their timeline or feed instead of shared audio. For the most part, the reason for this is unknown; maybe it's because many Internet users prefer visual representations of what they're hearing. Podcasts, originally thought to be the new viral video, have yet to reach the same popularity as other forms of media. Why? Very simply, producers don't see an audience for audio, so they're not investing in it. But with the recent wave of popular audio clips, like the clip "the Scared is scared" above, this may change relatively soon.

Check out the Digg article here: http://digg.com/originals/why-audio-never-goes-viral