Sphinn - Are people really this clueless? Woman on the Street Interview!

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Are people really this clueless? Woman on the Street Interview!

Went Hot: August 6, 2008 - 11:30 am
Posted By: yourseomentor 334 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.fuelinteractive.com)
Category: Social Media

So if you haven't seen this interview yet it is a must see. Check out what the average Jane thinks about Twitter, RSS, Blogs, and Logs. Let's just put it this way this blonde thinks that RSS is a disease!!!

25 Comments

Who Desphunn This (4)

Comments

from LtDraper 334 days ago #

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I need to get my RSS treated immediately! I guess that explains why people outside of my family won't read my blog.

Sadly, even though the video is a just a joke, most of us live in a fairly isolated world where all of the people we know are technically aware. But there are still a huge number of people that can't distinguish between The Google and The Intarweb.

from bbcarter 333 days ago #

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Wow, my first post with desphinns! Belly belly intelesting.

from vangogh 333 days ago #

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I think the desphinns are from people who didn't watch till the end. If you only watch a little bit it's easy to think the whole point of the video is to make fun of her when she's really in on the joke.

But we all do need to remember that most of the common words we use all day are unfamilar to the majority. I wouldn't expect most people to know what rss is. The word blog has made it into the mainstream, though that still doesn't mean most people know what a blog is.

from JohnHGohde 333 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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who watched the video?

from Halfdeck 333 days ago #

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It wasn't funny or maybe I need another cup of coffee, but I appreciate the fact that marketers are going beyond just publishing words. Videos also save me time. While I can't read two articles simultaneously, I can run a video while doing something else on my second monitor.

from SpostareDuro 332 days ago #

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The video soooo didn't load for me.

from JohnHGohde 332 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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Videos that don't work are not so Cuil.

from yojpotter2 332 days ago #

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It works fine with me but I didn't really watch it until the end...I guess we need to inform other people about the Internet jargons and languages that way they will be aware.

from JohnHGohde 332 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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@yourseomentor

"Check out what the average Jane thinks about Twitter, RSS, Blogs, and Logs."

I hate to be a stickler for detail, but the only scientifically valid way to accomplish this objective is by conducting a totally random survey the results of which have been run through an appropriate statistical analyis software package.

So, whatever this video is supposed to be. It is totally bogus, and is not in very good taste.

from SpostareDuro 332 days ago #

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Is it actually news that the average person doesn't understand RSS? This just shows that some people don't need a reason to be cruel.

from MikeDammann 332 days ago #

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I hate it when we geeks make fun of those who won't understand what they do. I call it revenge of the nerds in real life, like people who used to get shoved into lockers now take it out by cyber bullying. I did have to laugh though at her attempts to answer stuff she had no clue about. ;)

from janecopland 331 days ago #

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This blonde average Jane thinks that your description is pretty thoughtless.

from MikeDammann 331 days ago #

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don't start dissing blond people now ;)

from evilgreenmonkey 331 days ago #

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Sphinn Editor is blonde.

from JamesDuthie 331 days ago #

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C'mon people... this chick is clearly an actor.

from MikeDammann 331 days ago #

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it kind of had the bumfights feel to it i must agree

from bbcarter 331 days ago #

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I think it's amazing how easy it is to be misunderstood, especially with copywriting and viral concepts that work- not that this is the hugest viral success, really it's not- but it's gotten the most sphinn comments of anything I've been involved in.

Just to clear the air, the point was:
* Let's have some comic relief in the industry
* Let's make fun of the words and acronyms
* Let's make it funny (no, it wasn't funny to everyone... even very famous comedians have haters and people who don't think they're funny at all... and no single joke or funny video works for everyone)

So here's the truth:
* This woman works at an interactive agency and does know what the topics we brought up are
* She had no idea ahead of time what questions we were going to ask
* Some of the questions and interview flow were improvised

Knowing all that, we thought it went pretty well...

And I thought that putting the out-take at the end would make it clear this wasn't totally real.

Now, it wouldn't have been funny AT ALL if we had started the video with "this isn't real- this woman is just trying to answer funny- she's not really this stupid" - I don't think- actually now that I think about it that might have been funny too... dunno. We didn't go that route.

I think some people don't welcome humor at all- too bad for them, IMO.

Still, our ideal would be to create questions that were more realistic and still get funny answers- relying on sexual innuendo isn't my ideal sense of humor- but this was achievable and worked, so we went with it for now.

To those of you who enjoyed it, thanks! :-)

from JamesDuthie 331 days ago #

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I'm with you Brian. There's been a whole lot of negativity and hate within the industry lately and I know I appreciate your attempts to bring a little humour to our lives.

Let's not take everything so seriously shall we.

from davematson 331 days ago #

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Making fun of ignorant people is the 3rd lowest form of humor (after making fun of someone's appearance, or someone's name), and is generally not funny.

So a parody or hoax of something that isn't typically very funny or clever really has to thread the needle to work.

Didn't.

from TrafficManager 331 days ago #

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I dont' think that the point of this video was to make fun of ignorant people - quite the opposite actually. It is more along the line of understanding that the foreign technical language that those in the industry frequently use is not commonly understood to those who may not consider themselves "techies". I think it is humorous to hear how ridiculous our abbreviations and Internet jargons could appear to someone who does not completely understand the language used in a technical evironment. By no means is that implying that someone is ignorant. I would never consider myself ignorant for not understand terms used by, say, a Phlebotomist, but would probably find it funny to seem them poke fun at themselves for using such ridiculous, hard to interpet terms. I can appreciate the fact that some may not find this funny or even slightly amusing, but to turn it into something cruel or harmful is just plain nuts. Come on people, aren't there worse things out there to complain about?

from Halfdeck 331 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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Like I said, this video is a nice attempt at taking SEO blogging up a level and I want to see more.

The downside is it just wasn't funny. At all. Ad lib stuff often sucks (e.g. A night at the Iguana); I think its better to write out everything in advance, or do an impromptu, tape it, and keep just the good parts, condense it, trim the "fat."

Maybe write skits about controversial SEO issues. I'm no comedy expert but don't stand up comics usually crack jokes about hot button issues, especially stuff people usually are afraid to talk about?

Making fun of SEOs is self-deprecating but it might also be funny.

Wallstrip used to post some cute/funny stuff or maybe I just liked the sound of Lindsay Campbell's voice you might wanna check out their archives.

from bbcarter 330 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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Half Deck: Again... you can't declare something wasn't funny as if it were true for everyone... humor is subjective.

Else I'd have to go tell the people I know who laughed at it that they were WRONG.

I should have told them, "How could you possibly be laughing? This video is not funny. Stop laughing! Half Deck says it's not a funny video! STOP LAUGHING! I MEAN IT!"

from Halfdeck 330 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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"humor is subjective."

I suppose every mediocre comedian has the luxury of that out. If you prefer to pat yourself on the back instead of learning from mistakes that's your loss not mine. Good luck with the next one.

from DivisiveCottonwood 330 days ago #

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ha ha lets all laught at the dumb blonde...

You people need to get out more - she displays no more ignorance than most people about technical internet terms or the features and services that the web has to offer...

from SpostareDuro 330 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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definition of subjective:

influenced by personal opinion

subjectivity applies to everything that exists. it also applies to things that do not exist. it is in the eye of the beholder.

fact, not subjection: Some 'beholders' are cruel.