This is my first effort at a weekly round-up of what’s happening of note in viral and social media in the Colorado Front Range. In general, I will be favoring projects and campaigns that have a big impact on a small budget, but will throw in other stories if I find them particularly interesting.

A highlight of my month was reading local advertising celebrity Alex Bogusky’s attempt at neighborhood detente:

I congratulate you on the turn of phrase, “septic scum.” The vitriol and imagery, and creative use of alliteration more than make up for the fact that it’s a bit redundant.

This is an excerpt from Bogusky’s post: Blogging on Telephone Polls, which has been viewed more than fourteen thousand times since he posted it on January 12th. While I doubt that Bogusky received his recent promotion because of this post, it does make me happier for him.

Another story I love is that of the Gatorade bottles that were modified to display “Unfaithful” labels, featuring Tiger Woods. This prank was executed by Longmont resident Jason Kay, and received a bit of national and international attention. Unfortunately, Kay now faces federal charges for product tampering. He probably helped sell more Gatorade, while also drawing attention to our commercial idolatry of sports figures. In my opinion, everyone wins except for Tiger Woods, so can’t they just drop the charges and stop wasting taxpayer dollars?

“Haiti” is one of the fastest-gaining search terms locally as well as nationally. While the tragedy of what is going on there is beyond description, I am glad to see people wanting to help in so many different ways. In one example, the vibrant Denver/Boulder software community is participating in a remarkable crowdsourcing project called CrisisCamps, where developers from around the world are creating and refining applications and tools that are contributing to the relief effort.

A few videos of local interest have gone hot on YouTube. The first features CU Senior, Paul Robinson. It is a Prana-sponsored mini-documentary of Robinson’s extraordinary climbing talents. Robinson also writes a blog with a strong following in the climbing community. The second is actually a series of videos featuring the National Western Stock Show in Denver, put up by Brad Hook. Hook also promotes the No Bull Auction, in Unionville, Missouri. The auction is a “sexed semen special event”. I really don’t want to know what that is, but Hook’s videos are very well done, and capture a side of American life that most of us don’t see.

And last-but-not-least, former Denver resident Jack (he’s a dog, he doesn’t have a last name) is getting some buzz for the fact that he has been nominated for the 2010 VPI Hambone Award. As prestigious as the award is, this is not the real cause of the buzz. The buzz is because he earned the nomination by almost being eaten by a carnivorous Australian lizard. In general, encounters with bizarre carnivores are an effective, if risky way to get attention.

I’m sure I’ve missed important and/or noteworthy goings-on, so please comment if you know of something I didn’t mention.