Not too long ago, if you did something embarrassing on television chances are it didn’t get much airtime beyond a few reruns or the odd recap of blooper TV moments. If you flubbed really big, you might have been at the receiving end of jokes for a few late night or drive time radio news shows, but beyond that an embarrassing moment was usually just that: a moment.

Do something embarrassing today, however, and in our state of hyper media awareness, you might wind up being talked about for days in the blogosphere and beyond, garnering more and more attention with every new link, comment and post. Thanks to widespread access to video capturing devices, greatly reduced thresholds for publication and distribution through sites like YouTube, and all the social indexing and link counting sites, your embarrassing moment might keep you at the center of attention for days like it did for poor Miss Teen USA contestant, Lauren Caitlin Upton of South Carolina.

Chances are you’ve seen the video that I’m talking about, but just in case you haven’t, here’s the video I’m referring to. In it, Lauren completely bombs on a question about U.S. education, painfully exemplifying the very assertion behind the question. It’s currently the number one video on Technorati, a site that indexes the live web and highlights the most linked to videos, photos, and of course blogs of the moment. [Disclosure: Technorati is a client of Sparkpr’s]

Now granted, Lauren was probably nervous. I don’t blame her. I’d be stumbling over my words too if I were up on stage on national TV in a blue beaded dress with Vaseline on my teeth, a microphone shoved in my face and little or no media training. With the limited amount of time provided her, Lauren was unable to buy time by asking for the question again or stopping and thinking about how to restate her answer, two techniques that I would have recommended.

What Lauren did manage to do, however, was quite clever and worked very well in her favor. Most likely through the help of Miss Universe’s partnership with NBC, Lauren was able to rectify her poor choice of words, recouping not only her public image but also the reputation of the beauties of our very own nation, with the help of a supportive Matt Lauer, in a virtually flawless appearance on the Today Show the following day.

Good job, Lauren!

-Jeff

My foray into social networking started in spring 2003 when I somewhat reluctantly joined the Friendster frenzy to snoop on my friends’ friends for date material and have my friends hype how cool I was (LOL).

Next I joined LinkedIn to beef up my professional network and start collecting an electronic paper trail of all the interesting people I’ve met along the way. You never know who so-and-so knows, right? Agreed, it’s opportunistic, but it’s honest and straightforward, and I never have to claim we’re “friends”.

Years later, I joined MySpace (very reluctantly) to support the CD release my musician husband. The experience of logging into and using MySpace was altogether irritating. So many people, so many dreams, and so little “genuine” community, despite the fact you have 2 million friends. Check out this funny clip on the topic. I’ve even spent considerable hours on Last.fm, a social music discovery site to find new music.

One thing I can say for all the sites: the time you put into (and that can be a lot) is only as valuable as what you want out of it. Each network has their own particular utility — whether it’s dating, professional networking, supporting or finding a musician. There’s no doubt, social networks are useful. Some more than others.

Most recently I joined Facebook to see what the fuss was all about. So far, it seems like a great way to keep a pulse on all the cool technology my “friends” are into. I’m even helping to contribute to the fray. Today, I added my client Jaman’s new Facebook application called Jamanation to my profile. Effectively, I told everyone in my network that Jaman is a place to find and download great global, independent titles in high definition. How convenient and cool.

“Social networks are a sad excuse for self validation,” says my husband who is certain social networks are just a fad. I don’t agree, but one thing that is true for this social networker — after going on a few dates with people I met on Friendster years ago, I ended up hanging up my Friendster shoes when I met my husband, who I did not meet online.

However, that said, he was just one degree of separation away — the friend of a friend. Long live social networks!

- June