Citizen Marketers

Chapter one of "Citizen Marketers" titled Filters, Fanatics, Facilitators, and Firecrackers really dug into the lives of web 2.0 users, and helped to explain all the different forms of online uses there are in this world.

I was most intrigued by how the chapter started off. I was amazed with how much power one person can generate. When Dave Muscato started his website, it created a revolt against Sony to release Fiona Apple's album. This eventually led Sony to re-record the album which they did not want to, and even release the record, that without Dave's help, might not have ever seen the light of day.

After reading this story in chapter one I googled Dave Muscato and his website freefiona.com was the first site to pop up. It was interesting to see how a simple website could generate so much hype and followers, and to witness how much power the Internet has.

The main thing that the chapter focused on was the "Four F's"

-Filters: These were basically just sites created by people who found a product interesting and who gathered all the information that they could find on this certain product. It was interesting that the people who chose to create a website about a certain product could actually make a living from doing this. It would great to be able to sit at home and do something that I love.

-Fanatics: These people wanted to see something get done. Basically, fanatics are people who believe in something and want to stand up and fight for it. If I had something that I was really passionate about I could do this. I bet it takes a lot of time to gather all the information and facts to start a petition.

-Facilitators: The book described facilitators as being "the mayors of online towns" (pg 17). These people seem to be the ones who are the best benefit to a company, partially, because they work closer with the company more times than any of the other three F's.

-Firecrackers: This group was my favorite because this is something that I would actually do. They are described as, "The one hit wonders of citizen marketers" (pg 19). It seems that these people are the ones who just do something for fun or create something that they think would be interesting. Sometimes the creations they come up with just spread and takes off, maybe even being seen by millions, even though this may never have been their original intention.

This chapter was full of useful tips and opened my eyes to a lot of different things. I never really had any interest in this kind of stuff before, but after learning more I am starting to think that some of this could actually be really fun, and I may even try to pursue it.