Last night I was exhausted after being in a meeting at work all day. I had to start studying for an online test I was taking for a class at USF. I was procrastinating and wishing Starbucks delivered. I found myself browsing my Facebook account as people often do when they should be doing more important things. I quickly caught myself clicking on profile after profile. I started off by glancing at one photo of a friend and thinking she looked much better than I remembered. I concluded the answer was because my friend had posted a photo of a celebrity in place of her face. I noticed a ton of people were doing it. I thought it was odd but I was intrigued enough to keep clicking away on everyone I knew. Apparently, a large portion of Facebook users were posting a photo of someone famous along with this message:
Doppelgänger week! During this week change your profile picture to someone famous (actor, musician, athlete) you have been told you look like…
A few weeks ago there was a similar situation popping up all around Facebook. My friends were constantly posting a color in their status updates. I wasn’t sure why but I did know it was picking up quickly. Finally, I got a message in my inbox.
The combination of word of mouth and quick clicks to share information got me thinking about the potential Facebook really has for marketing and SEO. Can you get quality brand recognition on Facebook? The doppelganger fad is kind of ridiculous, unlike the color fad which had a point and did a great job at promoting awareness to breast cancer. However despite the doppelganger fad lacking a point, people are still participating and rapidly spreading the word.The doppelganger group has over 8,000 fans. In addition, hundreds of people are changing their personal photos to a celebrity look alike every minute. There is a debate about rather or not this is legal. Is Facebook violating privacy rights which they promise to protect by allowing users to participate in the Doppelganger fad?
I eventually signed off Facebook and got around to taking my test for one of my online classes at USF. It was fifty questions and fifty minutes long! That is a minute per question. I couldn’t help but think about Market Motive where I am also a student. As of now, I have been watching videos each week followed up by weekly assignments. I will have a test shortly and I’m curious how that will go. I hope I have more than one minute to concentrate on each question. Market Motive does allow me to take the test up to three times which is VERY nice. Unfortunately, that is not the situation with the USF exam I took last night.
