Seriously, what’s all the hoopla about Old Spice responding to your tweets via YouTube videos?

Groundbreaking? Really? Haven’t you done that?

Oh come now. You’ve probably even responded to people via video and yet you sit here giving Old Spice all the credit. This isn’t brilliance, this is what we’ve come to expect from global brands. This is the monster every early adopter of social media created. This is what we — ahem, you — asked for. We need to get used to it.

What’s the difference? Timing and scale (aka budget).

If Old Spice hadn’t done it, some other company would have done it a month from now. The simple fact is, you didn’t do it first, and I didn’t do it first; and even if you or I had the idea to do it first, neither of us could have pulled it off and grabbed as much media attention because Barney’s Plumbing Service wouldn’t have had the resources or the volume to do so.

The original positioning, strategy, and commercial were much smarter than the fact that they responded to your tweets via video. Actually, I’d go as far as to label the strategy, positioning, and original commercial brilliant.

But why are you making such a big deal about it?

Because Old Spice responded to you. Personally. Individually. And with a wonderful sense of humor that only gobs of money can buy — which, case in point, is a good reminder that social media that goes huge in a short amount of time is far from free, far from cheap.

That Old Spice guy had millions invested in him before he reached your laptop, desktop, or mobile device.

Think about the commercial that created the Old Spice guy — the commercial that actually made him a likable character we wanted to watch again and again (yes, I love that guy, and I want to smell like that guy). Above all, let’s not forget the account planning department that worked on the the positioning that was handed off to a flock of creative folk chomping at the bit to be the ones who created the next Old Spice campaign.

Killer creative? Hell yeah.

Brilliant social media? Nope — smart and first would be more accurate.

What do you think? And while you’re at it, what do you smell like?

I’m on a horse.

I posted this article on facebook about the Tallahassee Democrat’s launch of paid online content, under which Larry posted this great response. It’s re-posted here with his permission. Thanks, Larry:

As someone who worked in newspapers for most of my career, with the latter part helping pioneer the online version of one of the country’s top newspaper sites, I can say (and have been saying) that this is a bad move. Half of the newspaper site’s traffic comes from google. A large portion comes from referral site links. They are effectively snipping off a majority of their traffic. I do wonder how the current web advertisers have reworked their deals to reflect the drastically reduced number of eyeballs that the democrat will provide.

This is not to mention the recent research that shows nearly 8 out of 10 adults said they will not pay for online news sites. That ad revenue (assuming it is significant) will not be recouped by online subscriptions. What they are doing is telling current print subscribers that their rate will double, but they’ll be getting an online sub. I know many subscribers who are dumping their subscription — and many others who will grumpily pay it, even though they never go online. The democrat will count those as online subscribers.

The real shame in all of this, to me, is that the Democrat is damaging their brand as a ubiquitous news leader in the capital region of one of the largest states.

The old newspaperfolk will cheer this move (and they have), but that only further proves that traditional newspaper companies fail to understand the Internet. They continue to slide down the slope created by underestimating eBay and craigslist and overestimating the value of their product. People don’t pay for news these days, and if you aks for money, most will turn away and find another source for news. What those people will find, much to traditional newspaperland’s disappointment, is that they can live perfectly fine without the daily newspaper. They will have more free time and their heads will be less cluttered by not having sensational headlines and non-news stories forced upon them. They will find much more relevance in their immediate world, the people they interact with each day.

If there is something newsworthy, the television stations or radio stations or magazines or other online news sites or even their friends and co-workers can fill them in.

Trust me. I know. I was a newspaperman through and through. Ink flowed through my veins. But I am sickened by how far newspapers have fallen, especially my hometown paper. I still have many friends in newspapers and I love and respect them dearly. I despise what their corporate leaders’ mismanagement has put them through the past few years. It’s been absolutely awful how their staffs and budgets have been shredded.

Maybe one day we will again have a truly local newspaper — locally owned and operated. That’s a paper I can support.

Today, Starbucks moves to free wi-fi while the Tallahassee Democrat moves to paid online content. More coffee and less reading may not be a great combination, but it just might be how most of Tallahassee will roll until the ruling is overturned.

Of course, that’s only a prediction. I’ve been wrong before — ask my wife.

Here’s another prediction: I give it less than 15 days before web traffic plummets, 60 days before online advertisers find new places to sink their still meager budgets, and 90 days before staff begin soiling their pants daily, bring a dry cleaner in house so they can remain moderately fresh, and reconsider jumping back on the free train.

But hey, maybe the mother ship, Gannett, have convinced Dorsey and Gabordi that they’ve got this in the bag. Maybe they conducted their research and are just waiting to uncork champagne bottles and break them on the heads of us skeptics. Maybe they’ve gazed into their crystal balls and released of purple flying subscription monkeys knowing they’ll return with the wallets of eager local readers. (If that turns out to be true, expect to see a few dead purple monkeys strewn about town (How’d that be for a lead story?).)

Who knows what will happen starting tomorrow, but we’ll find out soon enough.