German brothels, Microbooking, Canadians Who Shave and Stay Off Twitter

- George Parker on German Brothels in hard times like these.

- Microbooking is the new...?

- Social media IS like sex. (For the record, I don't pay for social media.)

- Microsoft blowing up on campus like Google used to.

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Can't We All Just Get a Blog?

There's decent amount of back and forth talk about a post Alan Wolk had over at Agency Spy. I came away thinking there are a lot of issues at work there lumped together under the single banner of why are ad people so damn angry. In talking offline with a few creatives about it, even more points were raised. At the risk of continuing the separation of church and state between creatives and the rest of the world, the focus for me becomes:

1) Why are anonymous comments overwhelmingly bitter/negative on ad blogs? (The flipside to why are ad people so damn angry.) Are we talking in the workplace? Or online. Two different things. If I was stuck in a lousy shop, I'd be angry too. I might even go online to vent about it anonymously. What if they're tired of reading fluff pieces about someone they know to be a prick. Sure beats the mall and rifle approach.

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Oprah Will Kill Twitter, right?

Okay, since signing on last week, she has 368,000+ followers. No really, in one day I'm watching her follow count go up literally 20,000 every 4-5 hours. Thing is, when she and all those Mommy Bloggers™ get bored and leave Twitter like Texas leaving the Union, will there be a disturbance in the internet's social media bmi? There could be as they all head to Plurck. How long before she realizes how much of a PITA it is actually is to update and turns it into a "Will Tweet For Oprah!" or "Win a chance to get @ed by Oprah!" daily contest.

So when does Oprah kill Twitter. Before the 4th of July? Labor Day? (By the way, is it proper netiquette to kill a social net after Labor Day?) Vote below adranters.

When Will Oprah Kill Twitter?

She won't.Before July 4th.Before Christmas.(Other-leave answer in comments)

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Volvo's In-Ad Twitter Feed, Linds Spoofs Self, BK Upsets the Mex

- Volvo embeds Twitter feed into YouTube ad. (Via.)

- The Domino's YouTube brand bust.

- Lindsay Lohan spoofs self -- and eHarmony -- for Funny or Die. Hey, that's almost (but not quite) as funny as...

- Manifesto on how Gaia made users love branded stuff that's not real. (Via.)

- Burger King pisses Mexico off. *condescending sigh.* What else is new.

Homer Simpson Invades French Rail System

On April Fool's Day, patrons of France's SNCF train service were greeted by the voice of Homer Simpson, who spouted frothy inanities in lieu of the feminine voice that normally makes arrival/departure announcements.

Eight major stations throughout the country were audio-penetrated by the Duff guzzler. Random prattle included stuff like, "The train from Alaska is waiting on platform 7. Watch out for bears!"

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Drinkable Yogurt, Cheerleaders in Bikinis An Interesting Combination

Bikinis. Cheerleaders. Baby oil. And a slip and slide. What's not to love about that combination? Not much but this is advertising we're talking about here so there's gotta be a product in here somewhere. Hmm. Where is it? Oh, there it is. Yogisip, a South African drinkable yogurt. Yea, there it is.

So what does a drinkable yogurt have to do with girls in bikinis throwing themselves down a slip and slide? When the baby oil and water supply run out, you will have your answer. Watch.

And watch the hundreds of other videos submitted to this video competition which asks people to show how the drink keeps them going all day long.

April Fool's Idiocy, Twitter Tweaks, Chainsaw Humor, Facebook Data

- Yes, it's April Fool's Day and the jokes are out: Becks redesigns its label. The New York Times downsizes. Xbox launches Yodeling game. Tom Brokaw sues Brokaw agency over domain name

- Ariel Waldman spots a possible new Twitter redesign which includes trending topics in the sidebar. It comes and goes and is not yet a permanent change.

- Alisa Leonard-Hansen comments on the Facebook redesign and how she thinks it has more to do with data portability as opposed to "competing" with Twitter.

- Don't like deathbed humor? Don't watch this DDB Auckland-created Stihl Machine commercial airing in New Zealand.

- Check out the Effie Awards winners here.

iJustine Saves Marketing As We (Will) Know It

See? There is life after internet stardom. Its not always an exciting life but it does pay the bills a bit better than making funny videos from your apartment.

Justine Ezarik (where were you during SXSW? Were you even there??) has been doing the online video thing for years. Over time - and hey, we all have to make a living - she's increasingly pimped products in her videos. And, for the most part, the work has been just fine.

Currently, she, along with seven other YouTube Elite, is pimping the Sanyo Dual Camera Xacti. Last Fall, she even stepped off the internet to appear in...OMG...a TV commercial for Mozy backup software.

Some claim Justine is selling out. Well, of course she is. Everyone does and there's really nothing wrong with it. To the high and mighty who decry these moves, the bills have to be paid somehow.

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Sears Appeals to Techie Moms with New Media Push

See it all on bustedmoms.com, which is pretty much just a frame wrapped around a Facebook page, slathered in Twitter media for good measure. Work by IZEA.

POLL TIME!

When last we covered Sears, it was getting all cozy and whatnot with Vanessa Hudgens and the rest of the tween-tastic High School Musical crowd. Gag us, man.

There is Something Wrong with this Picture.

You tell us when you've figured out what's so intimate about letting MySpace users orchestrate, then monitor, one of the most important days of your life.

The web series is casting for couples now. URL: www.myspace.com/marriedonmyspace, but it keeps redirecting to MySpace.com. Lucky lovebirds can expect to be exploited, pampered, dressed and coddled by the Zeitgeist across 13 episodes leading up to the big day.