The pervasiveness of Facebook

While sifting through some of the powwow music on YouTube, I found myself looking through some of the 49’er songs. For those not acquainted with powwow music, a 49er song is usually a type of powwow song that includes English lyrics. These songs aren’t traditional; but they are a lot of fun – I used to sing them when I was a kid, and still enjoy terrorizing my neighbors by singing them as an adult! I’m not aware of any hard rules with these kinds of songs; but at least when I was involved with drumming and dancing groups, the custom was that these songs would have some sort of connection to love, even if it was heartache. From what I found on YouTube, it seems like this is still the case.

So, as I was clicking and enjoying, I found a song that nearly made me jump from my chair in shock:

This is Conan Yellowbird’s remake of “Facebook Drama,” originally from Northern Cree. Although I like Northern Cree, I like this remake from Yellowbird better (even if the sound recording is entirely too quiet) … I learned to sing in the southern style, and the slower, deeper tones just seem better for this song. But none of that is what I found shocking: it was the thought that Facebook has managed to reach so deeply into various cultures, that it’s a theme in a popular powwow song! I guess I just find it bizarre – I don’t even have a Facebook account, and when I visit Websites that try to load Facebook scripts in my browser, I don’t allow the scripts to load – it’s difficult for me to fathom that Facebook has managed to reach so far in the world. What will come next?

I guess the better question is: is this a good thing? Is this what we really want? Are marketing experts and advertising agencies to be the new priest class in this digital world of ours? I’d love for readers to offer some thoughts to this topic ….