Photo: O Music Award nominees Kanye West, Lady GaGa and Antoine Dodson.
The music world thrives online with a digital heartbeat, so it's about time the most viral samples of pop culture get gold stars from the masses. On April 28 at 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET, the first ever O Music Awards will celebrate your picks for the Open, Ongoing and Online music community.
Categories for the O Awards include: Favorite F**k Yeah Tumblr, Favorite Animated GIF, Best Fan Cover, NSFW Music Video, Best Music Hashtag Meme and, thank goodness, Best Animal Performance. (Cats from "Red Lights," FTW!) Browse nominees and cast votes here. If there's a biggie that's been tragically omitted by accident from the ballot, don't panic--there's room left over for write-in nominees. (Just don't be offended if your at-home cover of "Whip My Hair" doesn't make the final cut.)
The internet has democratized pop culture movements in an unprecedented way. We don't need a magazine or TV show to tell us what's funny or cool or on-trend. We tell them.
Likewise, digital platforms give power to the people to spark social and political change from the ground up. Though not exactly music-minded, we present three more categories for your consideration:
Viral Video Group Hug
Love Is Louder and It Gets Better proved that not only can people reach out and offer virtual support to strangers, but that we want to and we will.
Social Network Revolution
Meaning, literal revolution. This year's uprising in Egypt, called by some the "first Facebook" revolution, earned the hashtag #JAN25 a place in world history books to come. It might have been the first, but it's clearly not the last...
Rally for Relief
Echoing its successful viral campaign after last year's disaster in Haiti, the Red Cross issued a ubiquitous request for donations via text message, a viral mobile movement that worked.
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