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Welcome to Vrbish #007, where we discuss how artists can tap into culture to expand Vrbs reach!
Spreading Vrbs through meme culture
The importance of Artist & Builder collaboration
Builder Spotlight with Torii Stories
As our lives move increasingly online, timing is more important than ever when it comes to relevancy. You could call it first-mover advantage. But I think there's more to it. Relevancy in the online world requires having a finger on culture's pulse at all times.
This requires recognizing culture-defining moments, like the attempted assassination of former-President Donald Trump, and having the creativity to react immediately.
Vrbs Artist Dakimici did just that. Reacting quickly to the news and creating a Vrbs version of the now iconic photo.
Memes are inherently viral and allow Vrbs artists to expand our reach!
Another great use case for Vrbs Artists:
Nzib created a Vrbs Theme Series: Animations focused on current community initiatives. If you read Vrbish #005, you learned about "SolarPunk Living" from Vrbs Builder, Cool Beans.
When Vrbs Artists collaborate with Builders, the result is a win-win! Increasing attention on positive initiatives and an artist's work.
[Curtis] You recently were accepted to run the Vrbs Farcaster/Warpcast account. As part of your application for the Grant, you referenced over a decade of social media experience. I’d love to start with your background and learn more about that!
[Torii] In college I studied mechanical engineering, but was really drawing to other fields. I ended up switching to a Visual Communications major, I just really preferred the visual aspects. After college I went to work for Viacom, in their TeenNick, The-N, and The Splat departments, and stayed there for about 10 years. As social media, like Facebook, began to take off, my community role transitioned towards social media management, where I was part of a team of eight people running their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. After Viacom I moved on to more local initiatives. For example I worked with a Crossfit Gym to plan content surrounding their class schedules.
[Curtis] So you must have a very unique perspective, having seen the formation and evolution of social media to become what it is today. What has been the biggest shift in social media that you’ve seen from then to now?
[Torii] I grew up using Xanga, LiveJournal, and Myspace. Back then there were no advertisements, no clickbait. It felt like a living room, hanging out with your friends. Now everything is everywhere, all at once. It’s a barrage of noise. Honestly I became a bit jaded watching young people get sucked into this attention ecosystem. Farcaster brings back those living room vibes.
[Curtis] These algorithm-driven platforms seem to be promoting the most shocking and enraging content, whatever gets the most views gets them the most advertising dollars. I’d say that poses a particular challenge for brands and communities. How can we break through the noise?
[Torii] Most people that identify with a brand are looking for more than a transaction. If we can create an image that is non-transactional, more people will naturally find their way in.
[Curtis] Jumping back to your days working on Nickelodeon socials, could you share some examples on how you connected with the community and broke through the noise?
[Torii] A lot of our content was pre-planned, things like community quizzes, reactionary GIFs, contests, and live tweeting a show premier or major event. Reacting quickly to major events was especially important. While I didn’t work with Oreo a great example of a quick turnaround was their tweet during the Superbowl blackout*. I also had to practice speaking the language of the audience. Using popular language and memes to relate to them.
[Curtis] How can some of these principles translate to a community-run organization like Vrbs?
[Torii] A lot needs to be driven by the community’s work, which makes coordination of content challenging. An example I have in mind is pichi’s artwork. She mints them on Zora, many of which reference popular memes. If we can create NFTs surrounding a community launch or initiative, we can create this reciprocal benefit loop. The artists get attention on their work, and attention is driven to the community initiative and to Vrbs as a whole.
[Curtis] I agree, that could be very powerful! I’m actually funding a grant for Vrbs Artists to create memes and other content for my Vrbs Coffee Socials, so I’ll get to see it firsthand! What other ideas do you have that would help Vrbs?
[Torii] We could gamify and align incentives through a Rounds (example rounds.wtf), creating contests or pools to encourage participation. I also want to work with Buoy, which is a better search engine for Faster, where we could set alerts for key conversations that Vrbs Builders can contribute to. By providing useful information and assistance, we open the door to Vrbs for others.
Thank you for reading!
Vrbish has one mission: To amplify Vrbs and the creators that support it.
Please share this with a friend and help us share these stories. We could all use some more good in the world.
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Next theme on Vrbs Theme Series:
cock-a-doodle-dooo!
Memes are Culture, it's time to tap in I am still trying to find a good flow with my help with /vrbs, — but I my background was made for this 🤘🏼