DemLabs blog

Mark Zuckerberg spoofs Brittany Spears hit 'I did it again'

Funny videos go far on social media. Spread your message with videos created with the free iMovie app.

"For Zuckerberg, profit trumps free speech. Zuckerberg frequently deflects criticism of controversial decisions, claiming they are a reflection of his deep commitment to free speech. But the Facebook documents reveal that Zuckerberg is willing to set his commitment to free speech aside to protect the company's bottom line." - Popular Information 

This 20 second video spoofs Zuckerberg's repeated denials while making billions selling ads that destroy civil society and democracy. Brittany's lyrics "Oops, I think I did it again... I'm not that innocent" capture it perfectly. This blog also describes three free apps to:

  • Create videos for free with iMovie
  • Convert videos of GIFs with ezGIF
  • Create GIFs of one face morphing into another with 3Dthis

Zuckerberg's not that innocent

Zuckerberg sings "I did it again. I'm not that innocent" in spoof of Brittany Spear's hit classic.

Share this video freely https://youtu.be/5wu3tyDH9hg
Share it as a GIF https://media.giphy.com/media/FSIPMiSibqfzwW7f6c/source.gif
Embed it in a website
< iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5wu3tyDH9hg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Facebook makes money spreading hate

"Facebook programmed the algorithm that decides what people see in their news feeds to use the reaction emoji as signals to push more emotional and provocative content — including content likely to make them angry. Starting in 2017, Facebook’s ranking algorithm treated emoji reactions as five times more valuable than “likes,” internal documents reveal. The theory was simple: Posts that prompted lots of reaction emoji tended to keep users more engaged, and keeping users engaged was the key to Facebook’s business.

The company’s data scientists confirmed in 2019 that posts that sparked angry reaction emoji were disproportionately likely to include misinformation, toxicity and low-quality news. “Anger and hate is the easiest way to grow on Facebook,” Haugen told the British Parliament." - Washington Post

Facebook posts that agitate users are likely to keep them on their platform longer.

How to make videos with iMovie

Create your own videos the easy way with Apple's free iMovie app. We created the Zuckerberg spoof "Oops... I did it again" in about three hours.

  • We chose cartoons licensed from Political Cartoons for this video. These were dragged into the "My Media" section of iMovie.
  • iMovie also provides free sound tracks you can use in the app. We used a few seconds of Brittany's song with attribution under the 'Fair Use' provision. (This blog is not legal advice. Please do you own research.)
    Next we dragged the images down into the 'Work Area' and adjusted each clip to play for about 4 seconds.
    iMovie allows you to zoom in or out of an image giving the sense of motion using the 'Ken Burns' feature.
    Next we added the sound track to our video and hit SHARE.
    The 20 second video we created can now be see on YouTube.
    The video was converted into a GIF with the free ezGIF app and shared on Giphy (that is owned by Facebook).

How to create an advocacy or campaign video with the free iMovie app

Brittany Spears and Mark Zuckerberg

In creating this video we checked for similarities between Brittany and Mark. We couldn't find any, but judge for yourself in this GIF created with the free 3Dthis app.

Are there any similarities between Mark Zuckerberg and Brittany Spears?

Share this GIF with https://media.giphy.com/media/98LyMp1sJDzNgav1JG/giphy.gif

Saul Alinsky: Ridicule is powerful

"Alinsky is right—ridicule is a powerful weapon. Ridicule works because it’s almost impossible to counter laughter. If a joke is funny enough, it can follow a policy or politician for the rest of their lives.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is best remembered for the line, “I can see Russia from my house.” Palin never uttered the line. It came from a Saturday Night Live sketch poking fun at Palin’s assertion that she had foreign policy experience because Alaska was close to Russia. Tina Fey’s portrayal of John McCain’s running mate was so effective, it became the thing people were most likely to know about Palin." - Grassroots Leadership Academy

What is 'Fair Use'?

"In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an infringement.

A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that, by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to “conjure up” the original." - Rich Stim, Stanford Libraries.

What is 'Earned Media'?

"Earned media, or earned content, is any material written about you or your business that you haven't paid for or created yourself. Earned media's nickname is "publicity." You haven't paid for this media to be created -- the way you would for, say, an advertisement -- and therefore your actions alone "earned" you this attention. Unlike paid and owned media, earned media isn't controlled by brands, which makes it less biased and more trusted." - HubSpot

TakeAway: Have fun. A little humor goes a long way when corporations own the TV channels and spend millions on buying social media ads.

Deepak
DemLabs

Facebook in cartoons

Facebook profits from surveillance capitalism and profits from selling privacy

Facebook profits by serving content that keeps people on their platform for longer so they can be served more ads.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram serve hateful content that is used to divide society and weaken democracy.

Profits from selling privacy

Facebook collects and mines data from its users in order to better target ads.

Facebook optimizes posts that will keep users on their platform for longer so that they can be served more ads.

Profits from spreading misinformation

Facebook offers a platform to sell misinformation and disinformation.

Facebook has been used to promote violence and voter suppression.

Racists groups using Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to spread hate and sow division in society.

Facebook i s dividing society for profit.

Facebook makes money from spreading division and lies that are destroying civil democracy.

Surveillance capitalism

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are part of the Attention Economy and profit by keep users hooked on their platforms so that they can be served more ads.

Facebook content can be harmful to children.

Lack of transparency

Facebook provides little information on its algorithm and how it decides what posts will be prioritized.

Election interference

Facebook is used for voter suppression and spreading election misinformation.

Facebook is used for foreign interference in American elections.

Facebook was used for foreign interference in American elections.

Facebook is culpable in foreign election interfernece.

Deny responsibility

Facebook denies its responsibility in spreading hate speech.

Zuckerberg has shown a lack of ethics.

Destroying democracy

Facebook suppresses free speech while sowing division in civil society.

Facebook in destroying free speech.

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DemLabs applies innovative technology and storytelling tools in service of democratic values. It lowers the barrier of funding for worthy candidates and non-profits by applying existing free/affordable solutions.