I had the chance to travel to South Africa in April for our twice-yearly PRGN meetings.  HWB Communications, our network partner in Cape Town, arranged to have Chris Bishop, managing editor, Forbes Africa, as one of our speakers.  It was an amazing talk, not only because he is an editor with Forbes, but the fact that as a journalist, his life and the lives of his reporters are constantly in danger.

Today’s #MediaMonday gives us some South African perspective on what we in America consider an unalienable right:  The First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Chris Bishop has been a journalist with either print media or television TV for more than 40 years — many of them in countries north and south of the Sahara.

Prior to joining Forbes, Chris hosted several business and current affairs programs on CNBC Africa.  He’s a former BBC correspondent and has worked and travelled extensively in Africa and spent time training journalists for Sudan’s national television. His career also includes stints as senior executive producer of SABC TV News in South Africa and as head of news and current affairs at Botswana TV.

During his career he has also produced several documentaries including one on Nelson Mandela entitled, Nelson Mandela and a Beast Called Business, and The Crude Continent – Africa’s Oil Story.

In 1998, he won the Sir David Beattie Award for excellence in journalism for uncovering a plot to assassinate the Queen of England during a royal tour. Last year Chris won the Sanlam Award for excellence in financial broadcast journalism.

Chris’ talk was so impactful I want you to have the chance to read it in its entirety.  I am providing some excerpts below, but there is a link below for the full speech as well. Take a look.

WHO AM I?

My name is Chris Bishop and journalism is my life. It has taken me all over the world and I am lucky to have seen all of its continents before I was 30.

My father is a journalist, so is my wife and so is my sister. My father was the biggest influence by far in terms of ethics and my choice of career. When he used to drive me to school when I was a child he was always happy. I asked him why one day and he said: “I don’t know where I am going today; I don’t know who I am going to speak to or what I am going to do.” You can’t beat doing something you love and getting paid for it. Nearly 40 years later, with 31 years in journalism, I agree.

I am very proud to say my father is still getting up early in the morning and is a court reporter in Worcester, England, at the age of 77. I always tell him he writes like a man a quarter of his age.

One of his great influences on me was his principled stand on journalism and press freedom.  It was he, not my college lecturers who taught me about free speech and protecting your sources.

This is the issue I want to put in context for you today – Press Freedom. Especially in a year that began with 52 journalists sitting in African jails. If any of you have been in an African jail you will know it is not a pleasant experience. I know I was incarcerated twice in Africa for merely filming on the street. I can tell you there is little worse than that moment when the police take your belt and laces and that door locks behind you and you realize you don’t know when it will open again.

Support for Press freedom is something I am having to think deeply about now as I am guiding young journalists as an editor once again.

PRESS FREEDOM

For this vibrant economic world to take shape in Africa, we need investment, we need democracy and we need freedom in all its forms – especially press freedom. I think the Arab spring across North Africa showed a lot of complacent leaders that they could no longer turn a deaf ear to the voice of the people.

To put press freedom in context. I worked in London for the BBC. We used to complain about press freedom back then even though we had more than we knew what to do with. Sure, the British state can be as secretive as any other, but on 90 percent of the stories we covered you could shove a microphone at a cabinet minister or head of state without being hustled away. Questions were answered in writing. Politicians did have a modicum of accountability and often resigned over their mistakes. If a minister issued threats to journalists you could laugh back knowing nothing was going to happen to you and further that the news desk would be keen to run the story even bigger because of the ruffled feathers.

When I came to Africa and started work for the BBC and later the SABC across southern Africa I saw what life was like without that kind of press freedom.  All too often there were people, often armed, standing in the way of the news and newsmakers. (Zambia Kenneth Kaunda)

The philosophy in most of the African countries that I worked in was that what government was doing was not anyone’s business. The idea of politicians and civil servants being paid servants of the people appeared to be alien to many in power. And we were shoved around and often vilified for our pains. I have been accused of almost everything by the powers that be in this continent – an ex-solider, a neo colonialist, a spy, a former policeman, a Zimbabwean farm owner, a disgruntled ex- farm owner – you name it, it was thrown at me. In reply I offered up the best weapon in the journalist’s armory – a pair of clean hands. On the advice of my dear father, I have never carried a card or waved a flag for anyone.

Life without a free press meant there were rumours everywhere; debate was undercover and unhealthy; you could lie about anything and as long as you knew the right people few would ever know. It stifled debate and crippled progressive thinking. Stories in the press were often governed by political influence. I used to watch people reading the government owned newspapers the day after unrest or a riot and watch them laughing at the official version. Is that a way to win over your people I ask? You can fool some of the people some of the time…..but not all of the people all of the time. If anything, the liberation of Africa proves that the people of this continent can’t be fooled for ever. I wonder why new governments try.

I am glad to be standing here able to say and think what I feel without fear nor favour. No one is going to follow me home, no one is going to threaten me.  No one is going to try to assault me for my view. That, my friends, is one of the fruits of press freedom.

I leave you with the words of Murray Gurfein one of the judges in the famous Watergate case in the United States.  For the young people among you, it was a case in the 1970s where journalists uncovered political skulduggery surrounding former President Richard Nixon that eventually brought down his administration.

“A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, a ubiquitous press, must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the right of the people to know.”

I am proud to say I am getting more cantankerous and obstinate by the day.

Thank you.

To read a transcript of Chris’ entire speech, click here.

Please send your thoughts to Scott Hanson at shanson@hmapr.com or info@landispr.com.

In celebration of the Public Relations Global Network’s (PRGN) 20th anniversary, member agency principals and their guests helped build homes in the township of Witsand, near Cape Town. It’s hard for me to express what a moving experience this was, but I will try…

Through the Niall Mellon Township Trust, we had the opportunity to help build homes for people who are living in shacks. Alongside the local workers, we moved hundreds of cement blocks by hand, dumped countless wheelbarrow loads of sand and concrete mix, mixed dugger (concrete) by hand, learned how to lay bricks and built the exterior walls of several homes, painted window frames and cleaned tools. I’m so thankful to Matsen, the local supervisor on my worksite, who taught me about corner bricks and how to apply dugger andplace the cement blocks evenly. He was very polite each time he had to say, “No, ma’am. That’s not quite right,” and re-do my work.

It was incredibly rewarding to see the progress made in just one day! And it was extremely eye-opening to tour the neighborhood of shacks right next door to the new homes. Thousands of people are living in these shacks without indoor bathrooms and are using small gas cook stoves that can back up in their homes resulting in asphyxiation and fires. The Niall Mellon Township Trust builds homes throughout the year in the townships of South Africa in order to get people out of shacks and into safe, stable homes. They also run their own skills development program, training people from those townships in a wide range of construction disciplines. It is a truly remarkable program.

At the end of the building day, we had the opportunity to dedicate a “PRGN House” to a young single mother and her three-year-old son. The joy on her face and tears in her eyes said it all. She was so overwhelmed to be moving out of a shack and into a home, and she said she would do everything in her power to never live in a shack again.

The young recipient of the PRGN home, in the arms of Niall Mellon

I will always be grateful for the opportunity I had to visit South Africa with my PRGN peers, but infinitely more so for the opportunity to make a small difference in our very large international community.

Please send your thoughts to Ramonna Robinson at rrobinson@groundfloormedia.com or info@landispr.com.

If you head down to a college campus, it is likely you will see a student riding a scrappy bike while complaining to his parents on his phone about needing more money. Tuition is rising, gas prices are ridiculous and the excess of yesteryear is now a distant memory.

But then you take a closer look as this college student hangs up his phone – ahem, iPhone-, pulls out his tablet computer and starts browsing the internet. How can it be that someone so cash poor can have a thousand dollars’ worth of technology on him at any given time?

Because, as I learned at the recent PRSA Luncheon featuring Paul Leinberger, senior vice president and director for The Futures Company, this is our current consumer, following current consumer trends.

And Paul should know – The Futures Company is the nation’s foremost consumer trends forecasting firm and provides insight to some of the world’s biggest brands.

“Twenty-five-year-olds today are not the same consumers as when we were 25,” Paul said (presumably referring to people over the age of 25). “As our population is growing older, we actually start acting younger. Our values as a population have changed”

(This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of “extended adolescence”.)

While Paul’s presentation was chockfull of information, we barely explored the tip of the iceberg that makes up everything that goes into influencing trends.

Here are some highlights:

• Biggest concern is healthcare
• Predicts 33 months before economy unemployment rate returns to that of before the recession
• People who remained employed have been working at a higher level and will be expected to maintain that level without pay increase.
• Changes in trends occur in consumer’s values, not consumer behavior
• U.S. is the 2^nd oldest country in terms of average age of the population with Japan being oldest
• The average age is 37.2, up from 35.3 in 2000 and 30 in 1980
• 20 percent of Americans live in a traditional family structure
• The Hispanic population accounts for nearly half of the overall population growth in the U.S. The Hispanic population increased by 15.2 million people in the past decade.
• 48 percent of the population is single
• There are more households with dogs than there are households with children
• Living alone has increased dramatically, 28 percent now live alone
• Sustainability is a big trend, however, consumer spending on sustainable goods dropped dramatically in 2010
• More support for local businesses
• PROCESS IS JUST AS – IF NOT MORE – THAN THE PRODUCT

In case that last one didn’t perk up your PR ears, I capitalized it. Yeah, it’s that important.

While the above is mostly demographic statics, the clear message was there: Regardless of the Great Recession, America is still very much a consumer society and we still define ourselves by our material possessions, however, consumers’ values have changed.

What does this mean, exactly? Since the recession hit, people are spending less and looking for ways to save (duh). But while the economy was collapsing, social media was growing, as was consumer’s dependence on peer opinion and mistrust in the media, government and Wall Street big wigs.

Remember the poor college kid packing some serious Apple heat? Technology and connectivity are now bigger necessities than having a car. It keeps him in touch with who influences him the most – his peers. It is a MUCH bigger picture than the tangible technology itself – it is how it is being used that is affecting the consumer trends.

For PR professionals, this means we need to further humanize our messages to reach the consumer. We are the trust-makers and keepers, which in this day and age can mean the difference between success and failure.

The best example of gaining trust from the consumer is from the department store formally known as J.C. Penney, jcp. Despite the ugly logo – which is actually growing on me- they tapped into one of the biggest peeves of shoppers: Missing the sale. There was actually a study on people’s anger levels when discovering something they purchased last week is now 99 percent off.

I hate that.

So what did they do? They got rid of sales. Instead, all prices have been lowered and will remain the same. Sounds simple enough, and the consumers have responded positively.

There is a word to describe this trend – one that is going in the direction of car sales and food services– a word that is virtually never used in marketing, in the media, or in life.

And that word is fair.

Be fair.

Please send your thoughts to Stephanie Lough at slough@hmapr.com or info@landispr.com.

What’s your top story for today?

I just had the delightful pleasure (that’s redundant, I know) of interviewing Craig Newmark, who founded Craigslist, for the Nob Hill Gazette. He’s quite brilliant and articulate, and insists on describing himself as a nerd, but his social skills are polished, and he’s deeply involved in philanthropy and improving people’s lives. It was a memorable and inspiring experience.

Tell us about your “dream assignment.”

My “dream assignment” would be to interview one or more of my favorite people: Hillary Clinton, Stephen Colbert, Paul Krugman or Gail Collins of the New York Times, Charlie Rose, Gloria Steinem, Frank Gehry, and what the heck, George Clooney.

Describe the wackiest interview you’ve ever done?

My wackiest interview subject, by far, was Andy Warhol. He arrived at my house with Bill Graham and his (Andy’s) entourage of four. Every question I asked he answered with a yes or a no. Duh! Finally I asked a question he couldn’t answer that way. I said, “What’s your favorite color?” He turned to his PR man and said, “What’s my favorite color?” The PR man said, “Red.” Andy said, “Red.” I wrote the interview exactly as it happened and never heard from him or Bill Graham again.

What is your PR pet peeve?

I really like my friends in PR – Donna Berry Glass, for one. They’re very creative and often come up with terrific story ideas. I guess the only peeve I have is when someone has a really boring client who’s been around for a long time, and tries to make him or her sound fresh and exciting.

Tell us a little more about yourself.

Well, I do write mysteries that are available in some bookstores and online, so I guess I should mention those. My newest book is Love to Die For. And my passion is a nonprofit group, Compassion & Choices, which promotes the right of mentally competent, terminally ill adults in great pain and discomfort, to get medical aid to end their suffering. Personal experiences with loved ones have taught me how horrible a long, painful dying process can be. And to end on a positive note, my favorite quote comes from Mark Twain: “When in doubt, tell the truth.”

Please comment below or send an email to Merla!

PRGN Celebrates 20 Years

Members Build a House in Cape Town, South Africa, for Impoverished Family

This week, LCI’s own David Landis is in Cape Town, South Africa to participate in the events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the  Public Relations Global Network (PRGN). The world’s fourth largest network of independent public relations firms is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2012 with  a year-long series of events, including the underwriting and building of a house for an impoverished family in Cape Town, South Africa.

Partnering with the Niall Mellon Township Trust, PRGN members from around the world are in Cape Town to complete and present “The PRGN House” to a needy family on April 18. The Network’s 41 member agencies have pledged more than $7,000 and volunteered their “handyman services” for a day in order to present a township family with a new home.

“When we considered how to mark our 20^th anniversary, our members were unanimous in wanting to create something of lasting value,” says Francine Robbens, president of the Network and head of PRP in Brussels. “What better way to give back than to donate our time and talent in the city in which we have chosen to celebrate our anniversary.” The Niall Mellon Township Trust is a house-building charity started by Irish philanthropist Niall Mellon. While on a visit to South Africa, he was so moved by the poverty he saw that he used his own funds to establish the charity.

Also this week, PRGN members begin a  three-day business meeting in Cape Town. The Network will be addressed by Premier Helen Zille, leader of the opposition party; Ferial Haffajee, Editor of the City Press, one of South Africa’s major newspapers; and Tim Hughes, managing director of ReadDillon International.

PRGN was formed in 1992 when Edelman Public Relations decided to disband its affiliate network. Some of those affiliates chose to continue their partnership by forming a new organization. Started in Phoenix, Ariz., the group adopted the name The Phoenix Network, as a nod to its rebirth from the ashes of a disbanded group and the city of its founding.

When the Network reached its 10-year mark in 2002, it began recruiting members internationally and changed its name to the Public Relations Global Network to better reflect the strategic growth of the Network.

Five of the original founding member agencies – HMA Public Relations (Phoenix), Stevens Strategic Communications, Inc. (Cleveland), Buchanan Public Relations LLC (Philadelphia), The Fearey Group (Seattle) and DVL Public Relations & Advertising (Nashville) – still remain active in the organization.

The mission of the Network is to serve as a resource to one another, openly sharing knowledge and contacts, in order to promote best practices and to provide global support for clients. Today, PRGN has 41 member public relations firms in 80 markets, each independently owned and operated. This week’s meeting is being hosted by HWB Communications in Cape Town. LCI is proud to be involved! Find out more at www.prgn.com and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/prglobalnetwork

Please comment below or send your thoughts to info@landispr.com.

 What’s your top story for today? 

 A few of our recent popular blog posts include recipes for: Guacamole Grilled Cheese, Chocolate Chip Salted Cookie Bars, and of course our Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies. 

Tell us about your dream assignment. 

I would love to travel to Italy to write about my culinary experiences. I’ve been before, but would love to go again and eat my way through the country. 

What was the wackiest recipe you’ve created for Two Peas and Their Pod?

My husband Josh created this Sweet Potato, Kale, Pizza with Rosemary, and Red Onion for me and now it is my absolute favorite pizza. I love all of the ingredients and they work so well together on this pizza. Josh usually isn’t a fan of “unique” pizzas, he likes sausage and pepperoni, but he even surprised himself with this one. He loved it too!

Tell us a little about yourself.

My husband, Josh, and I have a food blog, Two Peas and Their Pod. We have been blogging for almost four years. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We try to keep things healthy, but we always save room for dessert. I am known for my cookie obsession. We have over 120 cookie recipes on our site. We recently had our first baby and are enjoying every second with our sweet little pea. When we are not in the kitchen, we enjoy hiking, traveling, reading, and watching movies. Please join us in our culinary adventures-our kitchen is always open!

Please send your comments, questions or your favorite recipes to twopeasandtheirpod@gmail.com and check out Maria’s blog, Two Peas and Their Pod as well as her new cookbook Cookie Cravings  (which features our client, Lotus Bakeries’ Biscoff Spread).

As I type this, Facebook is officially shifting all business pages to the Timeline format. Think of it as a spring social media renewal. Or not, depending how you feel about it. Reviews are mixed.  Although March 30 was the final date for the switch, some 8 million companies have already adopted the new look, including our team here at Landis Communications, Inc. And we like it! Of course, as PR pros, we are generally early adopters of new communications trends and tools. Many of us began the shift to Timeline in our personal pages out of the gate – enabling us to familiarize ourselves with the features and offerings that would be useful to our clients.

So what is the consensus to date? From a communications standpoint, we’re excited.  So much of what we do as communicators revolves around sharing the stories and experiences of our clients, and describing what sets them apart in a crowded marketplace. In this digital age, visuals are a powerful- and necessary- medium to use in conveying those stories in an impactful way. With Timeline, companies can communicate a breadth of information – from history and background to core values and key milestones – in one compelling snapshot based on an easy-to-use template format. The features of Timeline also enable companies to engage with new and existing customers, constituents and fans in more effective and targeted ways.

The jury may still be out on the new format as users experiment with what works best for their business.  As you or your clients test it out, here is LCI’s Facebook page in full Timeline swing. Perhaps our page will offer inspiration and best practices on how Facebook Timeline can amplify your message.

How are you or your clients adapting to the Timeline shift? Email me at erin@landispr.com and don’t forget to comment below.

Happy Facebooking!

Landis Communications, Inc.

Last week, during the PRSA Western District Conference, I was looking forward to a lot of things. However, the luncheon keynote from Dan Schnur, a former political commentator for CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and National Public Radio as well as a communications leader in many presidential campaigns and current USC professor, was NOT one of those things. With so many viewpoints in the room, I was worried that a politically charged speech would divide the group.

Boy was I wrong.

Dan, it turns out, is not only hilarious but found a way to slip in both LOST and Survivor into his speech, but he also left me with one of my biggest lessons, which I would like to share.

When communicating a message, there are really only THREE types of audiences:

• Saints – those who are on your side and ready to fight for your cause no matter what
• Sinners – those who are on the opposite side and ready to fight against you no matter what
• Salvageables – those who see both sides and are willing to listen to your messages before making a decision on something either way

And here’s the thing – we spend way too much time and money on the saints and sinners.

Why?

We like to communicate to the saints, and should in order to keep them saintly, but tend to over-communicate to the group because it makes us feel good. They reinforce what we think is right.

Conversely, we over communicate to the sinners because we believe that somehow, someway WE can change their core beliefs. But here is the thing – we can’t. No, not even you.

Instead, we should be investing our time and resources in the salvageables – those who actually WANT more information so they can make an informed decision about our client, brand, product, candidate, issue, et al.

Love it. Loved Dan – even if he is a USC guy.

(Go Irish!)

Please send your thoughts to Alison Bailin at abailin@hmapr.com or info@landispr.com.

This week, we had the pleasure to speak with Melissa Griffin: columnist for The Huffington Post

What’s your top story for today?

Today I wrote about the trial of our newly-elected San Francisco Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, who has been charged with domestic abuse of his wife. As a lawyer who writes about politics, I bring a unique perspective when those worlds collide.

Tell us about your dream assignment.

I specialize in explaining complex matters and pulling back the curtain on why certain groups and people behave as they do. I think it would be a blast to cover a contentious political convention where I could break down delegate selection and the chess behind the scenes in a way that is accessible and entertaining. 

Describe the wackiest story you’ve written.

This is not easy! I’ve written almost 500 columns in the last three years and there is no shortage of craziness in politics. In San Francisco we pass legislation regulating foie gras, cat declawing and happy meals. At least once a year our Board of Supervisors demands an end to the war in Iraq. On holidays I write fake Christmas lists, Valentine’s Day wishes and propose Halloween costumes. But the article I felt most squeamish about was the one I wrote when a group proposed banning all circumcision – male and female. Whether it was constitutional was the point of the article (a legitimate, academic question) but I couldn’t help but wonder if all my internet research was earning me an FBI file. And I was sure that my sweet, southern mother would not approve. 

What is your PR pet peeve?

I get irked when people send me items even a cursory review of my profile would indicate are outside my scope of interest. (Law and politics, y’all.) Or when I write an opinion piece that is less than flattering to their client and they lash out at me because it wasn’t objective. As a columnist, not a reporter, I’m paid to write my opinions. And my opinions about people and organizations aren’t improved by being yelled at. Oh, and all PR people need to refrain from using my Facebook page as a bulletin board. (Since when is that okay? Bananas!) Allow me to take a moment here to say I was asked about my peeve so sorry if this is coming off as too negative. There are PR people I really adore and I admire the people skills required to do what you do. Unreasonable clients are prevalent in the legal field, too, so I feel your pain.

Top trend in the industry you’re currently covering or are interested in.

The objects of my obsession are law and politics (together and separate) so of course I’m interested in the tectonic shifts in sensibilities that are happening under our feet. The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street and the increasing inability of the two dominant political parties to maintain the uneasy alliances that have sustained them so far. Whatever one’s political leanings, no one can deny that change is in the air. And it’s different this time. 

Tell us a little about yourself.

Born and raised in Marietta, I was called to politics in the early 1990s when my congressional representative (Newt Gingrich) was shutting down the US government. Fascinated with this phenomenon, I went on to study politics at Mount Holyoke College and then law at Cornell Law School. In 2007, I started a blog where I wrote about law and politics and in 2008 I was picked up by the San Francisco Examiner where three of my articles can be found every Thursday. Because I have no life, I also emcee events, explain election initiatives to community groups, appear on television and radio and generally hog the microphone at every occasion, which is why I’m great on TV and terrible at dinner parties. 

Please click here to read more articles written by Melissa Griffin and chek out her blog!

Feel free to comment below or send us an email to info@landispr.com.

For a majority of the public, YouTube has become a legitimate go-to source for entertainment, discovery and even self-promotion. We’re now up-to-the-minute experts, reciting jokes from the latest internet memes at the water cooler. Some of us even re-create our own versions of popular videos. But what causes a video to go viral? And most importantly, whose stardom has been launched as a result?

Companies and individuals alike have found a home on YouTube. Viewers are willing to spend as much as 30 minutes of their bus rides, lunch hours or workout routines absorbing the latest in Internet entertainment. What makes YouTube so massively popular is that it can be digested in short chunks – filling the mundane minutes in the waiting room of the dentist’s office. Perhaps even more important, watching others on YouTube conveys the sense of watching yourself, or someone like you, with a video camera and a bit more time on their hands.

Who Uses YouTube?

 Companies: Vegemite created Happy Little Vegemite Cat (67.3 million hits) which became an instant YouTube sensation (viewed 50 million times this year). The video led to a wide variety of spin-offs and parodies, creating an international sensation.

 Individuals: The Gregory Brothers, a pair of and refreshingly “average” guys with a penchant for music-mixing, came up with an amazingly popular series called “Auto-Tune the News.” They gained fame by creatively re-engineering news clips into catchy songs. As a testament to their popularity, people actually dressed as Antoine Dodson for Halloween in 2010.

Creative types: Artists and filmmakers – from the serious to the aspiring – use YouTube hoping to get their work seen by the millions of users. Check out Marcel the Shell Part I and Part II and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Why Do Videos Go Viral?

In this recent TED Talk video, (posted by Gizmodo) Kevin Allocca, trends manager at YouTube, discusses why videos go viral. Here are the two key takeaways:

 Taste Makers: Influencers like Jimmy Kimmel can hurdle even the most obscure video into viral insanity with a simple tweet (think Alec Baldwin and the now uber-popular app game, Words with Friends).

Community Participation: Parody videos can boost both popular and obscure clips into the Viral Hall of Fame by simply creating buzz around the original video. Imitation is, after all, the most sincere form of flattery.

A third “viral-making” category I’d like to insert here is a sort of “top down” model, wherein celebrities whose claims-to-fame stem from outside the parameters of YouTube create their own virally sensational videos. Here’s one by actress Jennifer Aniston on just how to accomplish that. This week, we also delighted in seeing two of the Glee kids teaching us how to Dougie (12.5 million hits and counting).

Sensational vs. Stardom

YouTube as a platform for sensationalizing offbeat personalities has worked for many of its users, an excess of which have enjoyed internet fame. The laundry list of names includes (but is certainly not limited to) Justine, The Annoying Orange, Antoine Dodson and Yosemite Mountain Bear (the list is growing as I type).

 There are, however, those who actually step out of the YouTube-o-sphere and into the world of mainstream fame. Teen singer Justin Bieber is a prime example. He started his career on YouTube and has now reached mega-stardom. And, as recently covered in the New York Times, Kate Upton used YouTube to launch her runway modeling career and to land the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. It all started with this video where she performed popular hip hop dance, The Dougie.

 They were discovered. They became stars. And they have YouTube to thank for it.

Do you have a favorite YouTube sensation? Send your thoughts to jordana@landispr.com.