Christmas Number 1 – A social media success?
Whether or not you like either of the two songs that have been battling out for the Christmas number 1 spot this week – and whether or not you watch the programme X-Factor, you probably haven’t been able to miss the media coverage of the story. It seems to have been social media – in this case FaceBook – that facilitated the campaign for Rage Against the Machine to be the Christmas number 1. You could say that Jon and Tracy Morter, who started the campaign, have been incredibly successful and proved that a grassroots movement, with the help of social media, can topple the “establishment”. Which is a good thing – probably…
I do wonder though if it’s not just the good old British grump at work. This campaign wasn’t about supporting a great song (it isn’t, particularly), it was about halting the success of Joe McElderry (X-Factor winner) and sending a message to Simon Cowell. In other words it was acting out of a negative impulse – to stop something. Of course, I can appreciate the idea of challenging the automatic X-factor-equals-Christmas-number-one that has been the case for the last few years, and approve the idea of a genuine battle for number 1. But it would have been easier to put one’s support behind a more worthy contender: the band are even signed to the same record company as Joe McElderry.
Happily the band have donated much of their unexpected earnings to charity, and the FaceBook group itself is now raising money for Shelter, undoubtedly an appropriate Christmas charity. The band have also promised a free UK concert. As Jon Morter himself has said in interview, it’s not really about spoiling Joe’s success. He will have many other weeks to top the chart, and the battle with Rage Against the Machine’s hit “Killing in the Name Of” was a one-week wonder, designed to put the fun back into the Christmas chart race. And it is rumoured that Simon Cowell even offered the Morters marketing jobs after the success of their campaign…
So a success for social media but also for the British “bah humbug”?
Originally published on reachfurther.com
Christmas Number 1 – A social media success?
by Tasha Harrison (not verified) – Mon 21 Dec 09
Hi Helen
Some interesting points but I think that the success of the campaign was as more about the choice of a great song. Rage Against the Machine are one of the biggest rock bands in the world and Killing in the Name is a song that defines the teenage years of many people. I sat around with friends yesterday evening, listening to Rage and reminiscing.
Social media was the most logical way to mobilise people to make this happen. Facebook is completely integrated into people’s lives now, so a clever idea will create a following. It is more the idea of this fantastic song being number 1 that got people talking, rather than about the platform that is used to publicise it.