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Using Vine to Do the Least You Can Do

Authors: Jay Baer Jay Baer
Posted Under: Digital Marketing
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In this edition of The Baer Facts, I talk with Kyle Lacy of ExactTarget about Project (RED) attempting to set a world record for the most Vine videos created for a cause in a single day.

Also a noteworthy episode of The Baer Facts, because it was the first show since Salesforce.com agreed to purchase ExactTarget for $2.5 billion. Yet, we still don’t have a glamorous studio, and Kyle didn’t renew the license for his ecamm call recorder software, as shown in the video below. Sheesh! Where’s the respect, people!

A World Record?

32 years ago, AIDS was discovered. To raise awareness that the scourge is still with us, (RED) partnered with Mashable and RecordSetter.com (a website that lets you create your own world records) to try to set a new record for Vine video creation. The goal of (RED) is to have an AIDS-free generation, beginning in 2015.

It’s a great cause, and one of the first mass-participation Vine programs I can recall. Plus, it was well-timed, given that Vine just launched for Android devices on the same week. Smart.

But, come on. A world record? For most Vine videos created in a single day? That’s a pretty thin premise. Do we really need to invent a world record to get people to take an incredibly lightweight action on behalf of AIDS awareness? Maybe so.

Some excellent Vines were created (see below), but as with the DOMO situation a few weeks ago that we covered on the Baer Facts, I’m not a huge proponent of these social awareness projects, because making a Vine video on behalf of AIDS is the content equivalent of kicking the can down the curb. If you want to stop AIDS, don’t make a Vine video. Don’t change your avatar. Don’t use the hashtag. Instead, write a check. Or better yet, write a check and then do all those other things.

We celebrate this kind of activity under the auspices of “look what we did! we banded together to make a difference!” But did we?

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