America’s Best Dance Crew is down to its top two crews. Voting is going on this week and the winner will be announced at the finale show this Thursday.
I find it interesting to see the type of web presence each crew– Beat Freaks and Quest Crew has. Does it have any bearing on their dancing? No. But this show is not just about dancing; it is a popularity contest as well. Fan votes will ultimately determine who wins, and the web has become an important additional factor in rallying their bases.
Beat Freaks
Beat Freaks have fully utilized the social networking tools at their disposal. They are doing a good job of engaging their fans. None of it– aside from the Freak the Vote site– is anything that you can’t make for free. This is the underdog group in the sense that they don’t have the same recognition as Quest Crew. They
They have a wordpress blog with a populist feel to it. Lots of fan appreciation and interaction. It is frequently updated and pulls in youtube videos and fan submissions.
There is also a facebook fan page
A FREAK THE VOTE website– this looks like the official site. It is a professionally created and hosted site with voting information. It has a retrospective of their performances if you want a quick refresher. I initially thought the crew had engaged a publicist to create and maintain this page for them. Then, I noticed something on their blog that says: “FREAK THE VOTE! is a 3 month movement strategy to create awareness of the BEAT FREAKS participation on Mtv’s America’s Best Dance Crew. We are a pro-bono, non-profit grassroots movement of Fans.”
A YouTube channel featuring professional-quality interviews with each crew member, and favorited videos of them and other dancers.
A fan created MySpace page that aggregates a lot of information about the crew and has things such as fan-submitted dance videos.
BeatFreaks on Twitter. Very actively used to notify followers of new videos, blog posts, and of course, how to vote.
Quest Crew
I had to giggle when I saw their official website, which includes member bios, photos, videos, and booking information. Mr. P said the other day that he thought Quest sounded more like a corporation than a dance crew. The source of the giggle was the mission statement on their website. Yes, mission statement. And a very corporate sounding one at that (excerpt: “to provide awareness of the facility that remains a viable resource of knowledge and growth for the community” tell me how this appeals to the average ABDC viewer).
The group has a MySpace page though they haven’t used it much to promote themselves for the show.
There is a Facebook page, but likewise it is not very active nor has it been used much in the service of the show.
I searched for, and was unable to fine, a blog or a twitter feed.
With So You Think You Can Dance alums Hok, Dominic, and Ryan on Quest crew, it’s no surprise they have a more established feel on the web. The slick official website definitely has a publicist behind it. Is this a good thing for a popularity contest? Not so sure. On one hand, I’m more drawn to the populist feel of Beat Freaks. It makes me feel like my vote is more appreciated. In fact, most of the existing web content for Quest Crew appears to pre-date America’s Best Dance Crew. There’s something to be said for branding, but this is pretty static.
In the contest for best web content and best use of social networking to mobilize support, there is no contest, the Beat Freaks win. Now, let’s see who wins the dance and popularity contest on Thursday. This is a pretty equal contest in terms of originality and dance prowess. Could web presence play a part?
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March 2, 2009 at 3:36 am
Chris
The members of Quest (Steve, Hokuto, Victor, Ryan C. and some others not included in ABDC, were members of the group called Sickstep (those guys who keep auditioning on SYTYCD). When Ryan and co. broke away from Sickstep, they added, Feng and D-trix. They were struggling for a while until Quest Learning Center took them, thus the corporate name and “mission statement”. More like mascots of that studio.
The official site was obviously created very recently, maybe a requirement, I dunno.
I agree that Quest is kinda out of touch with the fans. The info I get in the members respective myspace were hardly updated, the most recent being early January, curiously enough, their log in date is up-to-date. I’m not sure if they reply to the comments though, like the Beatfreaks.
Fortunately for these guys, they may be showing no effort in usage of social networks, they are clearly winning in the forums. But like what you said, I want my vote to be appreciated and I want more interaction with fans from the group.
March 2, 2009 at 8:33 am
Maria
The point about forums is a good one. TV forums are really active and probably where most of the communication about the crews is going one. Since I don’t really dabble in forums, I hadn’t thought of them.
March 2, 2009 at 10:02 am
BloggingBestDanceCrew
This analysis is really on-point. Last season, there were concerns that SoReal Cru would ’steal’ the title because they did a better job of using social networking tools. That didn’t happen, but Beat Freaks has done so much more than any other ABDC crew on this front.
I’m linking to this post today on my blog (BloggingBestDanceCrew.com).
March 2, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Ed Penano
Despite the media bonanza that Beat Freaks seem to overpower, just remember that Quest Crew has a nice little package already set-up and ready to be delivered. That in the end, will garner a group more marketable, and thus…more profitable.
Beat Freaks are bad-a$$ no doubt, but left me a little unhinged during their last routine. Was it clean enough? Not for me. Quite the opposite can be said of Quest Crew.
Either way, its been one helluva ride in season 3 – with counts of 8 and hippidy-hop ya don’t stop a rockin’ running all season. Can’t wait until the finale show! Yee!
March 2, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Doger
Wow are you kidding?
I’m for both dance teams because they’re both so talented, but there is some serious bias in your post.
“full advantage of free tools including a WordPress blog, a Facebook page, a Youtube channel, MySpace page, and twitter.”
http://www.questcrew.com
They USE all of the above, just maybe not twitter. Besides, they have a guestbook that members themselves reply to and even a place for fans to submit their own art to be posted. Does BF’s have those? Probably not.
If you’re going to root for BF, you should do it more subtly so people don’t easy know that you’re all for BF’s to win.
March 5, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Johnny Seed
America’s Best Dance Crew or America’s Best Marketing Crew? Yeah, yeah, I know the reality…
March 9, 2009 at 12:22 am
Hilde
I think the Quest Learning Center website was overwhelmed with hits when Quest Crew won. (It went down for a while.) They probably asked the group to create their own website in order to divert traffic. I don’t think it was created by a publicist. There were several spelling and grammatical mistakes which a publicist would have caught.
The mission statement actually reminded me of the many mission statements I’ve seen over the years from small arts organizations and independent theater groups. Far from being “slick,” it struck me as charmingly old fashioned and idealistic. The fact that part of their mission is to promote the learning center and their listing of community events in their bio suggests that despite any national exposure, they still tend to think of themselves as a small, community-based group. My only wish for them is they’re able to expand this definition of themselves enough to take full advantage of the opportunities that will be presented to them as a result of winning.
April 3, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Dancing and Interactivity « Nicole Fiorella’s Blog
[...] posts consist of master classes she has taken and exciting things she has encountered with other dancers on the Internet. Did you know that America’s Best Dance Crew, Quest Crew, has a MySpace and [...]
October 24, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Anonymous
Who is Quest Crew really?
What I have to say about Quest Crew is all from my firsthand experience with them. One member in particular, who goes by the stage name, D-trix. Along with everyone reading this I’ve watched Quest Crew on ABDC 4 and was intrigued by their creative and innovative moves. I even used to think they were cool…key word is “used” to. It all started about a month ago when me and my girlfriend would go to watch ABDC 5 or she would go with her girlfriends. On a particular occasion when she went with her girlfriends, they had the opportunity to hang out with Quest after the show. My girlfriend and her girlfriends exchanged numbers with the members in order to hang out later on a casual basis. After the meet, two of the members (Aris and D-trix) began hitting up my girlfriend and flirting with her knowing that she had a boyfriend. At first it seemed casual because my girlfriend is gorgeous and it happens all the time, BUT that is before they guy ever finds out she has a boyfriend. D-trix continued to do this well aware that she was taken but persisted without regard, Aris never went past texts that were sometimes obscene. D-trix, continuously asked to hang out with her (only in the middle of the night, past 1 am) and actually drove out from L.A. one night in hopes to SEDUCE my girlfriend regardless of the fact that she had a boyfriend. And no, I am not speaking out of presumption or paranoia of his intentions. Taking advantage of my girlfriend being a sweetheart, called her out to the car, preying on the fact that he drove so far to see her. He then drove her to a nearby high school that was of course empty because it was 2 am. He then proceeded to flirt with her and hit on her. He moved to the back seat and pulled her on to him by grabbing her hand and his persistent urging. He began to attempt to seduce her by taking off his shirt, several failed attempts to kiss her, and even copped a feel WITHOUT her consent. Needless to say, with such persistence he did get a kiss in after which my girlfriend felt guilty and demanded to be taken home. She had told me all of this and even still Dominic Sandoval aka D-trix is STILL trying to talk to her. So who is Quest Crew really? Are they really a positive influence on the youth as they say OR are they just boys attempting to take advantage of the minor level of fame that their dance skills had brought them. Think what you want but I don’t view Quest as those same guys promoting their learning center to help out the youth in their area. As long as they have guys within their crew such as D-trix, I find it hard to believe what they claim to be.
Thanks Quest Crew
-Anonymous