Edmond, Okla., On The Map (and Ellen)

Earlier this week I was treated to a seat at the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)-hosted Young Professionals session at which Ubercool Michael Tchong delivered an excellent presentation titled "I'm Going To Tweet You Up."

His presentation title smacks of inspiration from Tom Cruise's character in "Tropic Thunder." I loved his fast-paced information sharing and his Cruise-like shift from calm to dramatic delivery.

At any rate, one of Tchong's key presentation points regarding learning to spot trends versus fads in social media conversations.

Tonight one of the latter -- the fad of everyone and their mother filming a Lady Gaga-inspired video -- crossed my screen, and it ties back to my hometown, Edmond, Okla.

Turns out a middle school kid who lives not far from my family recently performed a Lady Gaga song at a recital. Someone taped it (did Flip Cameras other than mine really make it to Oklahoma?) and put it on YouTube. Some Tweets here, some hyperlinks there. BAM! The kid is on "Ellen" this week as the web sensation (fad) du jour sharing a TV conversation with Lady Gaga (who, by the way, has been driving a lot of other fad videos of late -- I am intentionally not hyperlinking these since everything she touches already has gazillions of hits).

So, as happy as I am to find a news story of a fellow "Edmond kid done good" (the Lady Gaga piano player, named Greyson Michael Chance, is likely the biggest news personality out of Edmond since Olympic champion Shannon Miller), it is unfortunate that at least a portion of Chance's 15 minutes in the spotlight got picked up in fad-dom.

Questions start coming to mind: How is he possibly going to top this before graduating from high school, let alone the eighth grade? Did this kid really want to go down in Edmond history as "the boy with Lady Gaga's voice?"

Perhaps he could be the first to create a trend of some sort ... YouTube Lady Gaga wannabes asking Lady Gaga to the spring dance?

Photo via Ellen