the world according to schmogel.

confession time: i’m erin vogel and i have the sense of humor of a 12-year old boy and the music taste of a 15-year old girl. don’t judge.

based on the above fact about music… i listen to taylor swift, and i did before kanye made it cool to do so. because I also like to look too deeply into everything, i tend to pay attention to the lyrics.

lucky for me, it does not require too many brain cells to figure out the deep meaning behind taylor swift lyrics. so as I listened to her song “you belong to me” i couldn’t help think about an old song that has the same premise.

The old song… was #1 on the charts in 1992. the singer, a former miss america- one Ms Vanessa Williams.

If you can get past the fact that i know this… then the next question is: why do I care? well the same reason you should care; everything old is new again. Like it or not… any ‘new’ idea you have has probably lived in some way, shape or form before. I just happen to be using taylor swift to prove this.

Lyrics from Taylor Swift:
Oh, I remember
You driving to my house
In the middle of the night
I’m the one who makes you laugh
When you know you’re about to cry
And I know your favorite songs
And you tell me about your dreams
Think I know where you belong
Think I know it’s with me

Can’t you see
That I’m the one
Who understands
Been here all along
So why can’t you see?
You belong with me.

Lyrics from Vanessa Williams:
all of the nights you came to me
when some silly girl had set you free
you wondered how you’d make it through
I wondered what was wrong with you
‘cause how could you give your love to someone else
and share your dreams with me
sometimes the very thing you’re looking for
is the one thing you can’t see

Yes, yes… if you go on to listen to the full songs – Ms. Swift does not end up with the guy while Ms. Williams does indeed end ‘standing face to face’ – it doesn’t change that… everything old is new again. and stealing a premise or an idea and making it better isn’t a bad thing. just put a new spin on it and target it to new people.

I am sure there are very few of me out there that 1) know, 2) like 3) remember the lyrics to both of the above songs and 4) draw the comparison. that is probably true with any idea you are mulling over right now. an idea for a client, an idea to get rich, and idea to make something better, or just a fleeting idea. and if you do happen to come across someone who remembers the original, just make sure yours is better. or at minimum, not worse.

now sit back, turn up your speakers and enjoy the story of boy doesn’t know what he has 17 years apart.

Over the last few months two things have happened to me often:

1. I have had a few clients ask what the best practice is for composing tweets
2. I have had clients and/or other agencies submit pre-populated twitter and facebook copy to be integrated into share features on websites.

One thing is for sure… everyone knows and loves the number 140. I don’t. I like things that make sense and solve problems. 140 character tweets often don’t think everything through. Many folks on twitter practice and love the art of retweeting and @ing. They usually fall into one of the following buckets:

1. Brands. They want you to retweet them, often asking to be retweeted
2. Self-promoters. They want to be retweeted. often asking for it.
3. Ass-Kissers/I-know-important-people-ers. The retweeters that like to retweet anything (and i mean anything, even if it is not funny or useful) from a few core people. They like to brag, thank and give off the perception they are BFFs with people they think will give them street cred.
4. Firsts. The people who retweet articles and things overheard first (ironically, second as they are not original- but first to their friends)
5. Mockers/I’m Righters. They like to tweet opinions and then add @_____ to prove their point or call someone/some brand out for something.

So, a new formula exists that solves many of the aboves’ problems…

If your main twitter objective if to be retweeted. Or if you notice that you are the object of someone’s affection and are often rewtweeted… don’t fill the whole 140 characters. Use this formula.

The URL shortener gets longer with custom endings and as they get more popular (bit.ly is running out of 4 character URLs and is, at times, using 6 characters).

subtract even more if you want to live beyond generation 1 retweets. if you want to be part of the “RT @_____ RT @_____” bloated tweets.

With even fewer characters to work with it is important that you get to the point, be interesting and if you are going to toss grammar and punctuation out the window make sure it makes sense- i don’t want to use my ovaltine decoder ring to figure out your deep thoughts. and if you fall into bucket 3, we know who you are. you aren’t fooling anyone.

any other thoughts?