After years of rumored drug use, rumors proved true, when pop legend Whitney Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hills Hotel bathtub on the eve of the Grammy Awards. The cause was an apparent overdose of prescription drugs, but that’s not really important. Once again, the music world lost another individual who possessed a great talent, but at some point lost control of her demons. You will be missed Whitney. And, for anyone who doesn’t remember the highlights of your career, a handy 60-second video mashup is making the rounds.
While the Whitney story could have eclipsed the Grammy Awards, it didn’t. Social media reared its semi-ugly head, not once, but two-and-a-half times. One – when two women in the audience were observed tweeting or texting when they should have been on their feet applauding living legend Glen Campbell. Two – when what must be the year’s lamest joke (so far), people began tweeting “who is Paul McCartney?”. And a half – when Twitter death-hoaxed rapper Chris Brown.
By midweek (that would be Tuesday), the Grammys were largely forgotten and Linsanity was upon us. Now, at first glance, one automatically assumed this had something to do with the usual crazed antics of actress Lindsay Lohan, but apparently that’s “Lind-sanity”.
Linsanity is the phenomenon that is New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who scored more points (136) in his first five starts than any other player since the ABA-NBA merger. While Lin’s points per game dropped as the week went on, Linsanity has not stopped yet. After all, when Sarah Palin throws her support behind the hottest trending Twitter topic of the week, things have truly gone Lin-sane!
What else are people talking about online this week?
- Hot new social media site Pinterest, your personalized online scrapbook – who cares how they’re going to make a profit!?
- Nostalgia for Craigslist and those Missed Connections;
- Self-made supermodel Kate Upton; and
- Self-posted naked photos of a Maine high-school football coach (he was quickly fired).
Photo sources: Gawker.com and Pacific Coast News.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
