How Social Media works. Really.
I get what he’s saying, and I agree. I don’t think it’s quite well enough done to really hit the spot. I think the Onion would have been better hiring a really top comedian to do it. (Apologies if yer blond bloke there actually is a really top comedian. 
)
But different people use Social Media in different ways. I think it works best just as a medium for communication between real, actual friends. But then again, I have friends who use it in other ways, for promotion to a wide, but selected group of people, for instance such as, say, flute players around the world.
The Onion’s clip is pointing out the futility, I suppose, of one particular use.
For some reason his ‘examples’ got me wondering if there were ‘consultants’ behind this sort of thing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania and hence to wondering if that this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds
was something that the social media entrepreneurs are cashing in on.
Is anything new other than the mechanism ?
(I think the delivery was fine and would work better in the context of other material from the same stable rather than a one-off link. The corny editing of the audience shots didn’t work for me though.)
The first time that I see a “consultant” actually accomplish something, I’ll let you know.
There are always ways for cheats to make money.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Take your pick.
Yup- I have several hundred “friends” who I’ve never met but who found me as a whistle maker. Some are amateur players, some are other instrument makers, others are just fans of trad music. Any time I post something on my Busman Whistles’ wall, a whole lot of people get to see it. Some of those folks have turned out to be pretty interesting too.
Channels of distribution… you are a low-level distributor (family & friends) whether you want to be or not. Direct marketing for the product/service you provide AND the crap on the sidebars full of blinking/flashing/popup/banner. Like it or not your it. 
Nah, Facebook is not that clever. It hasn’t yet suggested my wife as a friend (we both use it mainly in relation to hobbies we don’t share) and rarely shows adverts for anything I want.
The adds strip on this forum is another matter altogether. It often shows ads for things I am interested in - just after I have bought them online.
(hi folks, after having been away for a while!)
I think the point of this video is more to make fun of the TED talks than it is to make comments about social media. That really is how a typical TED talk goes!
Here’s the TED they are spoofing?
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html
I love the TED talks-- but some folks think they’re pretentious and self-congratulatory (“aren’t we geniuses?”). I think that’s what the Onion is making fun of.
Although, it’s always appropriate to poke fun at social media. 
Yes, that’s why the editing of the audience shots did not work for me. The first few seconds gave the game away that it was a spoof and had me reminding myself what The Onion was. For best effect I should have been fooled for a minute or so before I got it. Maybe they couldn’t afford an auditorium full of actors or another comedian to do a warm-up. But I will pay more attention to the editing on TED !
“We had no original ideas so we gave them Facebook page any teenager could have done it”
A teenager did his name is Mark Zuckerberg his FaceBook plan was in development way before the launch of FaceBook in 2004 at the Harvard University. This is as much a 
@Zuckerberg for the simplicity of his idea that netted him billion$ as it is a poke in the eye for any other entrepreneur who could create a web page but never had the brilliance to integrate a social network structure that is completely driven by the 1.15 billion monthly active, continually growing users, their likes and friendship circles, simple, perpetual generation of wealth.
Yeah!! hilariously funny 
Sorry, you do understand that The Onion is a satirical humor site, don’t you? Just checking …
Every Ted talk does start with that static of clapping before each episode, just not a view of the audience. The Onion version seemed to nail the way that non-actors, non-comedians often sound in cadence and performance. I think the word satire, not comedy, fits most of their work better.
Personally, I find the Ted talks to be hit or miss but mostly miss. They are mostly people advertising their work, posing as information, but at best are just entertainment. NPR seems to have jumped on the Ted bandwagon and even have a show rehashing the talks they think are worth playing. At that point the radio usually gets turned off. To me they are usually as enlightening as a bumper sticker.
I did know the Onion is a piss take. There are Irish that don’t like humour be it fun type or satirical. I’m the enjoy alcohol, music, good company and humour, satiracal or not type. I’m guessin’ you didn’t pick up on my satirical p.o.v. regarding all the geniuses that overlooked a teenager’s simplistic idea to provide a digital home for his fellow students that exploded outwards to encompass all walks of life … either way thanks for caring 