Everyone in the world was shocked by the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Yes, Michael Jackson was the “King of Pop” and he has his place in history for his influence on the world of entertainment. Most people genuinely mourned the loss. Some people were rejoicing at the death of the “child molester”. Some capitalized on the emotions and started looking for ways to make money off of the event. That is what I want to talk about. The death of Michael Jackson will produce millions, if not billions of dollars in sales and may have even been the tipping point in the transfer of power from traditional media to social networking.

My first reaction when Michael Jackson’s death was announced was shock, as with everyone. But then instead of drifting into memory lane about how I grew up with him, I started to explore “What’s Next?” From controversy to capitalization, this is the beginning a new post-Michael Jackson decade. In the realm of social media and Internet marketing, the Michael Jackson death along with the Iranian election protests have become catalysts for a new paradigm.

The Michael Jackson Empire will make millions in merchandise, CDs, videos, tribute concerts, and much more. We will see many new albums with unreleased songs, tribute albums, and who knows what. The only thing I don’t like about this is that Michael Jackson is famous for his originality and I predict that the future releases will lack the originality Michael Jackson deserves. It will be whatever it will be.

The Tipping Point of Social Media is the greatest surprise in all of this. Twitter.com has rocked the world recently by being the top source for critical world news. Twitter.com drew attention for their role in getting news out about the election protests in Iran. Twitter.com upstaged major media companies by breaking the news of Michael Jackson’s death. The community of everyday people inside the Twitter.com community are taking over. Major media step aside, the world community is large and in charge of getting the word out. Free speech is transforming from small impact to major impact and the impact is beyond our imaginations. There is a transformation happening that will impact the entire world. Will twitter.com be banned or censored? Will corporate media file law suits to try and stop twitter.com? Will corporate media learn how to break news faster? Aside from speed, what about accurate reporting? Will social media transform us into more of a tabloid world filled with gossip and irresponsible reporting? What is clear is that the popularity of social media as an outlet for breaking news has proven that the new world of community reporting is finally here.

Google.com Wave is just emerging as a new platform for communications and it is poised perfectly for this explosion of social media communications. Have you see the videos about it? http://wave.google.com has the video. It’s 90 minutes and you will want to see it all. Bottom line? Google.com’s Wave platform is transforming internet communications by merging email, instant messaging, blogging, and collaboration into a single underlying architecture. The impact is that all communications technologies are becoming more integrated and more realtime. The realtime aspect is the true impact. All the technology and possibilities of that technology all boil down to a more realtime approach to shared communications. From blogs to emails to photo albums … everything is getting more instant. Everything, everywhere, instantly. It’s a certain success as a product and if you imagine the Iranian protests and the Michael Jackson phenomenon inside of an instant platform such as Google.com’s Wave, you can see that instant is the Wave of the future and that future begins this instant.

The blogosphere will explode with tribute sites, scandal and conspiracy sites, and probably a whole slew of new celebrity reporters. Not just because of Michael Jackson, but because of all the attention paid to how the Internet is becoming more than just the Internet, but is actually becoming the infrastructure of information and media. The Internet is quickly becoming the hub of communications for important world news. It has always really been there, but people have always turned to TV news when they want the “real news”. That is transforming and the world just noticed it. The impact is that more people will jump into the blogosphere and the momentum will be explosive. Now is the time to consider the impact of this on your business model. Should you be blogging? Do you know how to blog in a way that grows your business? We will explore all this in future blog posts and articles on this site.

The Instant Economy is another exciting phenomenon that cannot be overlooked. I’m not necessarily talking about the buying community. We know buyers want everything to be faster, better, and cheaper. I’m talking about the competitiveness of business. Modern businesses are looking for ways to turn on a dime and respond to the ever-changing demands of the consumer. Because of technology, companies are able to launch new business concepts very quickly. The buying community demands instant gratification and the rewards go to the quick and nimble. Sales of Michael Jackson albums exploded within moments of his death and companies that offered these products set record sales as a result. It is impossible, of course, to be prepared in advance for something like this. But the wave 2 strategy is possible. Wave 2 is where the opportunities exist for fast acting business opportunists. Obvious opportunities exist in building fan sites, selling memorabilia, creating events, forming tribute bands, etc. But there are many more possibilities. I challenge you to think creatively about what types of business opportunities exist starting in a few days or over the next few weeks. If you take six months, you will probably miss the opportunity. But if you acted today, what are the business possibilities here? There will be new businesses erupting on the scene. Godaddy.com received countless new domain name registrations. Who knows what will happen. But the race is on. Buyers are waiting and they are very impatient.

I am a twitter addict more now than ever. Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/theebizguy and I will follow you back. Send me messages, emails, or comment on my blog. Let’s take this journey together. My goal is to be a part of this information transformation via the social media tipping point and to identify the best ways to market an online business through this transformation. This is going to be an amazing year. Let’s get started!

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