Ok,

Case Study Number 1 I guess...

Amanda Palmer (musician) has taken UGC and used it to great advantage - a regular blogger, webcaster and Tweeter.

In particular, in recent months, she has begun to use Twitter almost obsessivly, to keep her fans update with every movement. However, rather than the usual "brushing teeth," "eating toast," garbage she tends to use it for far more creative ends.

Whilst on tour, sitting in hotel rooms or waiting for flight transfers etc she has organised spontaneous Twitter gigs - she posts a time and place where she will play (usually a pianist, often these impromptu gigs use uekele) and fans in the area are able to see her play for free. As these gigs are so small and exclusive they can often become private parties. When touring with her band The Dresden Dolls (before the dawn of Twitter of course) they regularly used the internet to find fans who would give them a bed and a meal.

Other applications of Twitter include Twitchhiking - on the 24th of June she posted this...

going out on a limb, since the force is with me: anyone near hermosa beach want to give me a ride to hollywood at 1:30? will save cab fare.10:54 AM Jun 24th from web ....

and the following updates...

RT: @amandapalmer is TWITTER-HIKING from hermosa beach to hollywood today, care of a twitter-found ride from @devilsnight. will post pix.11:36 AM Jun 24th from web

....and thank you to everyone else who offered. i swear to god, i'm going to end of doing an entire twitter-hiking tour if this keeps up.11:35 AM Jun 24th from web

first twitter-hiking experience ACTIVATE! with @devilsnight!!! i sort of know him, so i'm not TOTALLY taking my life in my hands.11:35 AM Jun 24th from web

going out on a limb, since the force is with me: anyone near hermosa beach want to give me a ride to hollywood at 1:30? will save cab fare.10:54 AM Jun 24th from web

Later posts discussed the fact that she did not coin the phrase Twitchhiking. However her experiment was successful and she was given a lift across LA at no charge. Using an iPhone she documented her journey on Twitter and in video.

LOFNOTC (Losers of Friday Night on Their Computers):

i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker. 9:15 PM May 15th from web

This was the Tweet that started LOFNOTC. The #LOFNOTC hashtag took 4 hours to reach the #1 Trending Topic spot. T shirts were made. Rules were drawn up. Twitpics were posted. A month and a half later, LOFNOTC members are still gathering on a Friday night, unitied by some odd commeradery. I will admit - I paid the $25 for a t-shirt.

Since this first night there have been several others - notably one in which LOFNOTC members began RT (ReTweeting) and posting on their bodies - using the langauge and rules of Twitter - taking photos and posting them on Twitpic. The end result was this...

Not being a chart topping artist (other than on Twitter on Friday nights...) Amanda Palmer is famed for her lack of funds. In what she felt was a rather optmimistic venture, she advertised an auction of her personal belongings, which would take the form of a webcast, hosted by herself, and her friend Beth Hommel (photographer). Bids would be taken via e-mail and further questions could be posted to @amandapalmer on twitter.

A few hundered people tuned in, many just happy to sit back and watch the show.
All the items sold - some for unbelievable prices. AP was suprised by the success of the auction, but as you have probably gathered by now, her fans are NUTS (myself included).

The sales included -

A ukulele bought in Ireland for £20 - sold for $640

A glass dildo - $560

A copy of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything - $280

Torn stockings - $200

and the wine bottle Amanda and Beth drank from - $320

They also sent signed postcards to anywhere in the world for $20.

She later wrote on her blog : "i think the internet and us undisciplined exhibitionist workaholics were simply made for each other."

That seems a fair conclusion AFP.