We can do that--and they dont need to be "bigger" nor will they likely be---but they easily can establish a solid position in the space....
15 Seconds of Fame (15sof.com): A Broadband, Social Media-Based Version of "American Idol"
Andy Warhol's famous quote that "everyone gets their 15 seconds of fame" is the inspiration behind a new web site called 15sof.com that is like a broadband, social media-based version of the hit show "American Idol," but created and promoted at a fraction of the cost.
15sof.com is meant to capitalize on the growing subculture of society (that tends to skew younger) who are either seeking fame and fortune or want to influence the process of who attains it. These motivations have been the key forces behind the explosion of reality-based contest shows now running and arguably drive many of the most outlandish stunts seen on YouTube.
15sof.com's founder/CEO John Bonaccorso explained to me that the site offers aspiring contestants a simple but novel proposition: pay $1 to submit your 15 second (max) video to one of the myriad contests running at any one time on 15sof.com. The community then votes on the submissions and moves a handful of contestants on to subsequent rounds where lengthier videos are accepted. The prize money is funded from the contestants' fees. Contestants can enter as often as they'd like, but precautions are in place to prevent voting fraud. 15sof uses a white-label social media platform from Reality Digital, which I last wrote about here.
New site by Michigan company puts performers in the spotlight with a talent competition for short attention spans
Published by Curve Detroit, (Pontiac, MI)
What do Justin Bieber, Andy Samberg and Susan Boyle have in common? They all owe their fame and fortune to a short video clip on the internet.
A new social network from a team of Michigan entrepreneurs is helping performers jump the velvet rope. 15 Seconds of Fame (15sof.com) is a platform connecting fame-seekers directly to an international audience and entertainment industry big wigs.
“It’s YouTube meets American Idol with the attention span of twitter,” explains Jon Bonaccorso, founder and CEO of 15 Seconds of Fame, a new entertainment company.
15 Seconds of Fame hosts more than 30 talent competitions with cash prizes every week. Singers, dancers, actors, comics and daredevils perform their best (and sometimes worst) material while the world serves as judge and jury for each 15-second submission.
“It’s hard to find an hour to watch a talent show on TV. In two minutes on 15sof.com, you can laugh, cry, and clap through eight performances. It’s snack-sized entertainment,” says Amy MacIntosh, who sits on the Board of Directors for 15 Seconds of Fame and is also a founding partner of Curve Detroit (curvedetroit.com), a Michigan-based strategic marketing and creative design firm.
With over 15,000 entries from 26 countries and more than a million votes during its limited beta release, 15sof.com is quickly becoming a hot bookmark in internet browsers world wide.
“This project is all the interactive, engaging stuff we love to create for our clients,” says MacIntosh.
Curve Detroit has worked closely with 15 Seconds of Fame since the company’s inception. “Initially, 15sof.com was a client. We believed so strongly in the power of the project that we invested. It is the perfect outlet for Curve to do what we do best and to work with new technology,” says MacIntosh.
“We’re ready to shake up the worlds of entertainment, social media and talent searches,” says Bonaccorso.
“The next break-out star is on 15sof.com, and it might be you,” says MacIntosh.
Reality Digital Powers 15 Seconds of Fame Talent Discovery Site
Reality Digital's Flexible Social Media Platform Enables UGC Contests on 15SOF
Reality Digital, Inc., a leading provider of white-label social media solutions for businesses, today announced that it is powering the newly launched 15 Seconds of Fame (15SOF.com) web entertainment site. 15SOF.com combines social networking and video sharing to create a unique online talent competition where people can share their exceptional talents in short 15-second videos. Entries are submitted to various contest categories and the community votes for their favorites. This unique implementation highlights the breadth of functionality and ease of use that Reality Digital's Opus platform can offer to providers of online communities.
Using Reality Digital's social media platform to manage its user-generated content (UGC) and social networking community, 15SOF.com is adopting a business model that is novel for community sites. For years, brands have used contests to drive membership, brand awareness and engagement on and off the web; however, for 15SOF.com contests are its actual business model. On the site, entrants pay a nominal fee each time they enter a daily contest and the winner, based on highest average rating from user votes in each category, will receive a percentage of the entry fees. The pay–to-participate model is a unique way of monetizing social media without relying on advertising.
"The idea that anyone with a little talent can become famous is an exciting prospect. 15SOF.com takes the talent competition online and opens it up to people everywhere. For a nominal fee, anyone can enter the competition for a chance to win up to $1000 and be the next Internet superstar," said John Bonaccorso, CEO, 15SOF.com. "To power our contest site, we couldn't have found a better partner than Reality Digital. We needed a social media platform that could not only handle our digital assets, but also manage our pay-to-play monetization model. Reality Digital has delivered on all counts while offering a seamless and enjoyable experience to our community of users."
Reality Digital's Opus platform is specifically designed to handle the rigorous video, UGC and media management needs required by the most media intensive deployments. For the 15SOF.com deployment, the Opus platform introduces custom features unique to 15SOF.com's contest model, including: a video and photo wall of latest entries on the homepage, filmstrip navigation of other entries in a category, as well as the back-end reporting and functionality such as promo codes, payment override, and contest duration.
"This is an exciting experiment for a new model of social media monetization. Social media contests have been successful in attracting users to participate, but have rarely been considered as the sole business model," said Cynthia Francis, CEO and co-founder of Reality Digital. "Our flexible social media platform allows businesses to adopt different methods of monetization, including advertising, sponsorship, membership, eCommerce, and now pay-to-play contests. We look forward to evaluating the performance of this model and leveraging the potential that it can deliver."
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