“Type Bee” this week is brought to you by the Bee-Boys, Buttons, and other Buzz-words! Your comments, complaints, and queries will have to wait until minja returns from her search for a yellow and black bee outfit.

Bee-Boys in DA Hive

“Yo, where my bees at?” Häagen-Dazs has a Help the Honey Bees program (HDHB) to spread the word about the plight of the honey bee. According to their website, one out of every three bites of food taken by Americans is made possible because of the work of the humble honey bee. When I first visited the HDHB website at helpthehoneybees.com, I created a personalized honey bee. (She’s supposed to look like me, but I think not.) Häagen-Dazs must have dropped this neat feature because I can no longer find it, but it is a good example of viral marketing. The David Archuleta (DA) Honeybees are like the Bee-Boys. Both are using the techniques of viral marketing to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to them. Like a honey bee making a beeline to her hive, DA Honeybees have a high probability of sharing those messages.

DA Honeybees are Alpha Users with high SNPs. Some of the factors that determine our individual SNP are:

• participation in Social Networking activities
• membership in David Archuleta’s fan club and official website
• publication/editing/contributions to websites & blogs like DA Buzzing.
• frequency of distributing information within the DA network.

As we discovered on Hey! Nielsen, DA Honeybees are self-motivated. Marketers—I’m talking ‘Jive’ here—are interested in such highly-involved folks. H!N’s purpose was to identify the core group of fans for TV shows, movies, music, etc., and give them a platform on which to express their opinions, thoughts, and ideas. “If you build it, he will come,” said The Voice in Field of Dreams. DA Honeybees are building every day, using all sorts of materials. Just think how many times David’s image is spread by the use of our avatars whenever we post a comment on a website that recognizes them! I was delightfully surprised the first time I saw my avatar on the WordPress.org Forum. There was David’s hazel eye among all the other assorted icons of the WP blogworld. There among the geeks, gals, and gents was my idol!

Bees, Buttons, & Bows

Eons ago I wore an Army surplus jacket covered with buttons, badges, bows, and pins. There were peace signs, hearts, animals, flowers, and slogans. If I still had it, it would be a collector’s item. haha! Like wearing my heart on my sleeve, I felt proud to display these symbols in public. Over time I withdrew from such self-expression and almost forgot how much fun it was. Now that I’m a DA fan, I am proud to wear a David Archuleta t-shirt, put a Honeybee pin on my hat, and carry a David Archuleta tote bag. OMG, I just thought about a denim jacket in my closet that is too plain and boring.

Remember…the Buzz Formula!

Buzz Formula:

“Buzz = Word of Mouth + Word of Mouse”

Do Bees and Don’t Bees*

It’s time to head back to school. We David Archuleta Honeybees have already earned advanced degrees at the D.A. School of Buzzness, but a refresher course keeps our minds sharp. Let’s bring out the old chalkboard and review the basic “Do Bees and Don’t Bees.”

Dos:
» If one thumbs-up is the sign of approval, then two thumbs-up is the sign of dual-approval. DA, get it?
» Like when David asked his friend Ashlee to sing with him on stage, the spotlight grew.
» Christmas in August? Easy! Pre-order “Christmas from the Heart”, David Archuleta’s first holiday album.

Don’ts:
» Sting and you die; ’nuff said.
» Support DA Hive at all costs!
» Don’t be negative because then you cannot be positive.

The lesson for this week is to write your own “Do Bees and Don’t Bees” list.

• write three Dos and three Don’ts
• enter your list in a comment below
• make a copy for your records and to share with others

Next week I will put the best Do Bees and Don’t Bees on the chalkboard. Be brief because the board isn’t huge.

* My thanks for Romper Room “Do be a do bee” memories, a nod to Fred “Yabba Dabba Do” Flintstone and apology to Frank “do be do be doo” Sinatra.

Buzz-word

³bee n. [perh alter of been help given by neighbors, fr. ME bene prayer, boon, fr. OE bēn prayer — more at Boon] (1769): a gathering of people for a specific purpose <quilting ~>

The word ‘bee’ is used to describe a get-together, such as a spelling bee or quilting bee. In this sense, the word comes from the Old English word bēn meaning ‘prayer.’ I didn’t know that ‘bee’ is associated with the word ‘prayer,’ which in turn is associated with the word ‘collect,’ a brief formal prayer that is used in various Western liturgies.

If bees are praying when they gather to collect pollen, does that mean DA Honeybees are praying when we collect David’s music and listen to his honey-toned voice? I think it does! I’ve often thought David’s soulful sound is like a prayer.

If you didn’t like this column, you could go back to last week’s “Type Bee”. Catch you next week! Until then, here’s a thought….

“Yo, where my bees at?” No, not that one, this one…

Buzz-phrase

Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!

– J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 1997

Creating Sweet Buzz for David Archuleta

Songs David started his summer tour with Demi Lovato on June 21, 2009 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Fortunately I was lucky enough to be there. It was at this concert that David accompanied himself on keyboard, for the very first time, to sing a popular song called “Apologize.” It was beautiful. Not only was I left speechless, he also gave me the chills with his performance of that song.

The first time many of us heard David sing “Apologize” was when he performed it on the AI finale in May 2008. He sang it with the popular singing group OneRepublic, the band that not only wrote the song but had also made it a huge hit on the radio. David’s performance that night was amazing. He stood on that stage and sang with confidence. David held his own and showed the audience that he was not only a talented professional but a star!

During the Top 10 “American Idol” Summer Tour of last year, David included “Apologize” in his performance. It became a huge fan favorite. He sang it with so much emotion and power that you could see, hear and feel the crowd’s pleasure. The fans loved it, they wanted more!

It will once again be my good fortune to hear David sing on August 23, 2009 in Providence, RI. I will be seeing David perform in concert with Disney’s Demi Lovato. As their summer tour is quickly coming to an end, I am hoping that I will have the pleasure of seeing David sing “Apologize” again. Honestly, since I have heard David Archuleta sing it, I like his version the best. His cover of “Apologize” beats out the original for me, every time!

With that said, the song for this week is “Apologize”!

“Apologize” was written by Ryan Tedder, a member of the band OneRepublic, and produced by Greg Wells under the label Mosley/Interscope. It was released in its original version in 2006 and then reissued digitally for the band’s debut album Dreaming Out Loud. The song was also featured as a remix on Timbaland’s 2007 album, Shock Value. The single, featured on Shock Value, went Platinum three times (marking three million copies sold in the US) and five million copies worldwide. It peaked at number three on the UK official Top 40 Week on November 11, 2007. In North America, “Apologize” was the biggest hit in the history of Top 40 radio airplay charts with 10,331 spins. It is described on OneRepublic’s MySpace page as a song that “explores the personal pain of multiple relationships gone awry and the necessity of moving on.” It is a pop-rock tune with some edge to it. Here are a few videos of David singing “Apologize.” Enjoy!! 🙂

David’s performance of “Apologize” with OneRepublic, AI Season 7 Finale:

David’s first performance of “Apologize” on “American Idol” Top 10 summer 2008 tour:

David’s first time singing “Apologize” while he accompanied himself on piano. Summer 2009 tour with Demi Lovato in Hartford, CT:

“No one sings it betta than David Archuleta!” 😉

Previous Songs of the Week:
“Crush”
“Waiting on the World to Change”

David Archuleta, the Voice