Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!
Find archive Here's What's Awesome posts here.

Rebecca Black's not the only Awesomeness out there...

Alun Salt via Flickr/Creative Commons

It's Frieeday every day! Thirteen year old Rebecca Black becomes the internet’s new punching bag!

 There are remixes everywhere, from Bob Dylan to death metal.

 Physorg: ‘Worst song ever’ tops 30 million YouTube views

Mashable: How Rebecca Black Became a YouTube Sensation

 

 Alexandra Wallace and “Asians in the Library” – A student at UCLA makes a webcam video free associating on how her campus library has been overrun with “hordes of Asians.” You can imagine how well this went over – UCLA’s chancellor posted a video saying he was “appalled”and the remix community mocked the video endlessly. Wallace made an apology in the campusnewspaperand withdrew from the university. Yes, there were remixes here too.

 Urlesque: UCLA Student Posts Racist Video, Internet Fires Back

 

Casey fights a bully – This viral video is not as cut and dried as “Asians in the Library.” A kid in Sydney, Australia called Casey Heynes takes a punch from another kid. It looks like bullying – there are kids in the background cheering on the attacker, and another kid is filming. But then Casey fights back – he slams the attacker down, hard. And this spread across the web very quickly, especially as we learned that Casey has been bullied in school. Most commentators have cheered Casey on for defending himself, but not everyone. And as is so often the case, there’s more to the story. The boy who threw the first punch, who has apologized to Casey, says he’s been bullied, too.  

The Globe and Mail: Kid an Internet hero after fighting bully

 

Tweeting gone wrong – Chrysler disses Detroit drivers?The Red Cross sends out a drunken tweet?Why are companies sending out drunken tweets and angry rants? Probably because there’s a tension in social media between our professional and personal lives. Facebook and Twitter and other sites were really intended for each individual to have one account and one presence. But that’s not how we live and work. I have my own Twitter account, but NHPR has one too. And so does Word of Mouth. And so on and so forth. So you can post to one account while intending to post to another.

As for me, my life is so boring that if I accidentally posted something about myself to one of my professional accounts it wouldn’t cause much of a scandal. But if you’re out at night “getting slizzered,” well, that’s another story. At least somebody made lemonade out of this incident – the brewery that got referenced in the rogue Red Cross tweet took the opportunity to encourage their followers to give blood.

 Gizmodo: How This Drunk Tweet Got Sent From the American Red Cross’s Account

Consumerist: Chrysler Fires Social Media Firm After Tweeting F-Bomb

 

 Alan Simpson vs. Rap – The co-chair of President Obama’s deficit commission, Alan Simpson, already had a reputation in the political press corps for being highly quotable. Now the internet is in on the fun too.

 Break.com: Alan Simpson Talks About Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dog

Urlesque: The Best of Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dog

Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.