The internet makes us feel like rock stars

It's not out of the ordinary these days to see a television commercial end with "Find Us on Facebook" or "Follow Us on Twitter." If ever there was a question about the true integration of communication efforts across mediums these days, you don't have to look to hard to find the answers. I'm always weary, however, of brands jumping on the bandwagon into a space that I think of as personal.

But I'm a huge advocate for brands entering the social media space because I think it offers a truly unique opportunity to have a real voice in a marketplace that can be stifling for the brand and confusing for the consumer.

Professionally, I can, and have, made the argument for integrating social media into a communications campaign. But personally, I haven't really gotten there yet.

Until last night.

I was at a concert at and was surprised to find myself making this comparison throughout the show. The first act I saw, K'Naan, started telling a story in the middle of his set about a girl he was really inspired by on YouTube. Just by doing a quick search of one of his songs he was able to find this young artist's cover of his song "Fatima." He was so moved by her performance of his song that he investigated further and found that she had posted a video of her singing and playing acoustic guitar to all the songs from his most recent album, Troubadour.

But here's the amazing part -- he then brought her on stage to perform one of her original works for the packed house! This girl could not have been more than 13 years old. She stood on the stage with her guitar as the band played in the background and K'Naan provided the melodies. THEN he kept her on stage to sing a duet of the first song he saw her play on YouTube, "Fatima." AND NOW the video of their performance together is on YouTube as well.

I couldn't believe this. All thanks to YouTube.

It's true that the internet provides everyone a voice, the opportunity to be published and chance to indulge in the unique aspects of each of our personalities. And perhaps stories like this performance last night are becoming more common, but this was an incredibly concrete representation of the internet's true power for me, and I've never personally witnessed anything like it.

Before the next performer's set, a member of his...shall we say "posee"...stood on the corner of the stage with a cell phone in hand. My friend guessed that he was updating his Twitter status and hopped on over to the site from his Blackberry to check out the performer's page. Sure enough, he had updated his status to read "Live @Metro in Chicago ANOTHER sold out show!! I love ya'll Chicago."

Now as silly as this might seem, I felt such an irrational love for the artist, the venue and this city after reading that. I felt like this person who's music I appreciate was actually appreciative of me too.

This story might not make a perfect transition into an argument for social media in a board room, but this is why social media, and the internet at large, is the perfect place for brands to connect with their audiences. I felt like I was a genuine part of these artists' brands, and I liked them a lot more for it.

It might seem like an obvious relationship, because people already feel such a deep personal connection to artists, but brands and companies impact our daily lives just as much. And if the interaction is real and makes that leap across the void of one-way communication, then the connection will be strong, lasting and mutually beneficial.