Welcome to New York. (Photo: YouTube)

Here's a lesson for all the soon-to-be college graduates out there looking for work: get off your ass and create some ~viral content~. It just might work! Take Jannic Nielssen, a rather lively young professional who launched a Kickstarter-esque campaign, fit with an elevator pitch promoting his skills, that he created to get him a job.

Mr. Nielssen was looking to get his foot in the door in either social media or advertising (who isn't?), but needed an employment offer letter by May 1, or else the half-Jamaican, half-Norwegian citizen faced deportation due to his visa expiring.

Well, the campaign, which hit the spotlight online and received thousands of shares on social media, worked.

Thrillist Media Group told Betabeat today that they have hired Mr. Nielssen for an entry-level position. The offer was extended yesterday--a day before Mr. Nielssen's deportation deadline. He will relocate to New York from Illinois to serve as Marketing Coordinator.

Eric Ashman, a strategic advisor for TMG, lauded Mr. Nielssen's approach in looking for a job:

Jannic's unique approach to finding a job really reflected how we operate at TMG.  The use of all aspects of social media, and the KickJannic campaign in particular, was impressive. It showed great skill and creativity in using technology and media to tell his story and engage a wide audience.

No pressure, buddy!

(Screencap: YouTube)

You know that cup game that Anna Kendrick popularized? The newest viral video crazze is kind of like that, except it involves knives. Thanks for that, Internet.

A 16-year-old Norwegian girl named Hanna Fylling Ellingseter posted a video of her singing a song about trying not to cut off her fingers while stabbing a knife in the tiny spaces between her fingers. Though the song actually dates back to a 2011 YouTube video (and the game has been around forever), a Redditor posted Ms. Ellingseter's video  and mockingly dubbed it the newest Internet trend. Then, of course, Redditors couldn't help but try it themselves, with varying results.

Somehow we don't think this is the future Internet pioneers envisioned for us.

(Photo: Tumblr)

A photo was posted to Tumblr today showing former Presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry shredding some sweet tunes on a Guitar Hero game guitar. "My friend lives next door to Rick Perry and invited him over for a Guitar Hero battle," read the post. Betabeat was skeptical. Governor Perry's hand looked like it was at a weird angle, and his face appeared to be a different shade than his neck.

But as it turns out, the photo is real, according to a spokesperson at Governor Perry's press office. "It is a real photo," confirmed Josh Havens. "It's about three years old. The governor was at an event at his neighbor's house, and while there he was asked to pose for a photo with their daughter. She was playing Guitar Hero and he posed with the guitar."

So, not exactly the same story told on Tumblr, but pretty cute nonetheless. This should certainly raised Governor Perry's stock among Internet folk.

Ms. Klein (Photo: Pulse2)

On June 19th, just before a heat wave clutched New York in its punishing grip, a YouTube user named CapitalTrigga uploaded a video to YouTube entitled "Making the Bus Monitor Cry." The video shows a gaggle of middle schoolers from Greece, New York hurling vicious insults at a senior citizen bus monitor named Karen Klein, who is forced to don her sunglasses to hide the fact that she's crying. The cruelty drags on for a painful 10 minutes and 9 seconds. Anyone who was bullied as a kid will certainly find it difficult to watch.

The local school district quickly moved into damage control mode and held a press conference about the video, but several enterprising Internet denizens decided to take matters into their own hands. A Ukranian nutritionist named Max Sidorov started an Indiegogo campaign with a goal of $5,000 for Ms. Klein to help raise money for a much-needed vacation following the incident. As of this writing, the campaign had raised over $175,000.

Skeptical Internet sleuths were initially wary of Mr. Sidorov's campaign. When he first set it up, he hooked it up to his own PayPal account instead of contacting Ms. Klein and adding her information. When concerned users pointed this out, he contacted Ms. Klein's sister and added her to the campaign, changing the account information to hers. "I have spoken to Karen, her daughter, news agencies, and Indiegogo," he wrote in an update published late last night. "Please stop accusing me im getting nothing out of this, all i want to do is help."

But Mr. Sidorov isn't retreating into the ether empty-handed. He's officially become part of the story. ("Can someone tell LA Times my last name is Sidorov please lol!" he wrote in an update.)

Additionally, to reward him for his kindheartedness, another Indiegogo user named Case Prince set up a campaign to raise $2,000 for Mr. Sidorov. "Max Started the campaign that turned into a landslide of support for Karen Huff Klein and against bullying," wrote Mr. Prince. "I feel Max deserves a small reward himself."

When the Internet is nice, it's apparently really nice.

Mildly tainting this feel-good story, however, is the fact that Mr. Sidorov is advertising the campaign for himself--which has hit almost 50 percent of its goal, with 30 days to go--on Ms. Klein's highly popular campaign page. In an update posted about an hour ago, Mr. Sidorov added a link to the campaign raising money for himself, as well as a link to his own ebook on Amazon entitled "7 Steps to Health."

"Guy who raised over 100k for a bullied bus monitor is promoting a fundraiser for himself: over 1k," tweeted Buzzfeed's John Herrman. "Not how this works!"

Ms. Klein, for her part, has become a sensation herself, emblematic of the notion that anyone, anywhere, at any age, can be bullied. She appeared on Good Morning America and TODAY this morning to tell her story. "Everyone at Indiegogo was so proud this morning to see Karen Klein on television talking so bravely about her experience," Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin said in a statement emailed to Betabeat. "We hope that this Indiegogo campaign contributes positively to the important national discussion about bullying."

About to go viral

As Liz Gannes noticed yesterday, Chris Hughes has got himself a new project. The former Facebooker turned political wunderkind stumbled with his last project Jumo, a social network for do-gooders that was acquired by GOOD. Now he's working on something code named Cloud Tiger Media, which plans to create a viral engine for spreading progressive ideas. 

The site describes the project thusly: "Veterans of The Onion, MoveOn, and Facebook are joining together to launch a viral media startup that will spread important, compelling ideas to hundreds of millions of people online and make being a progressive fun again. Our first round of funding is complete –- now we need a few fantastic partners to help hit the ground running."

Hughes was instrumental in the online organizing for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. He's working on this new project with Eli Paiser, the former executive director of MoveOn.org.

They are hiring for four positions, three of which are technical, but for all you aspiring Jonah Perreti's out there, there is a gig as viral editor that might be your big break.

Here's our favorite part, the qualifications. "Send a cover letter, a resume, and the link to your Tumblr or personal blog to editorjob@elipariser.com. If you don’t have either, create a Tumblr and post 10-20 interesting things to it so we get a sense of your taste."

Any job where you can throw together a Tumblr as your entire resume sounds like the kind of bleeding edge project we want to be involved in. From Mr. Hughes post about the new company, there seem to be two other important qualifications: you must love Facebook and hate Fox News.

"So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn."

Word of this story began to bounce around Twitter and was confirmed by reporting from CNN and CBS. Once it became clear that Obama was going to give a formal speech the online communities the chatter accelerated, topping out at 4,000 tweets per second.

A Facebook page called Osama Bin Laden is Dead became the central repository for comment on the social network, quickly claiming more than 275,000 likes and moving towards 300,000 early this morning. Wall posts are scrolling by in a continuous stream: a mix of tributes to America, vitriol at Osama and purported images of his dead body.

Just after midnight The Atlantic published a Google Map with an entry for the compound where Osama Bin Laden was shot and killed. While that story quickly racked up more tha 4,000 likes on Facebook, numerous commenters pointed out that there was little way to confirm its accuracy and conflicting accounts in the media over the location.

Turns out the actual attack was caught live on Twitter by a Pakistani IT consultant taking, or trying to take, a vacation in Abbottabad. Crucial details, such as the fact that one of the two helicopters crashed, were live on his stream hours before anyone stateside was even thinking about Osama Bin Laden.

Look at us. Now look at your investors. Now look at us. Fantastic!

Earlier this year Old Spice premiered an ad campaign in which their spokesman replied in real time to users Twitter comments.

The partners and portfolio companies from First Round Capital, which has a strong presence in New York, are recreating that act to send out their holiday greetings.

"Hello Internet denizens, how are you this joyous holiday time of year," asks Managing Partner Josh Kopelman, who appears wearing a joke muscle suit standing in a coporate office. "Fantastic!"

First Round Capital's holiday card slash Old Spice homage has been blowing up on Twitter all day.

"Look at your term sheet, now look at mine." It's VC humor! Suddenly the stage set pulls away and Kopelman is in a closet, plugging on of First Round's startups.

Kopelman proceeds to make it rain, with both money and water, before stepping in and out of a magical uber-cab. "Imagine being waited on hand and foot by your very own venture concierge." Ding!

"Imagine all this being built for you by investors who have chainsawed mighty oaks into companies with their bare hands while blindfolded and locked in a straight jacket inside an ancient pirate captain's chest." And breathe.

In the crowded VC game, with investors competing hard for the hearts and minds of young web startups, it doesn't get more brilliant than this.

Bonus Round - All the First Round portfolio companies send their greetings from inside a shower.

First Round Capital 2010 Holiday Card