Beavis and Butthead are back, and they’re current.

The original show aired from 1993-1997 on MTV, and gained an instant following. Of course, it was also met with criticism for its frequent lewd humor. But as Butthead would say, those people suck.

The series spawned the 1996 movie Beavis and Butthead Do America, which starred the vocal talents of not only Mike Judge, but Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Greg Kinnear and David Letterman.

And last night, they were back in classic form. Though the topics of conversation have changed, the animation hasn’t. Butthead is still rocking the AC/DC shirt and Beavis still with the Metallica shirt. And for a half an hour, things felt quite nostalgic. Check out the episode below:

Here’s some of the Twitter reaction (both positive and negative). I’d have to say, most of the reaction so far seems pretty positive –

Did you watch? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.

This is definitely not lost on Wayne Coyne, frontman of The Flaming Lips.

Today, it was revealed that the band will be playing a special tribute to Steve Jobs at the O Music Awards, a celebration of digital music and other things internet-related, run by MTV. The “O” in O Music Awards stands for “offbeat, outrageous and online.”

The special Steve Jobs tribute that The Flaming Lips have in mind is a version of The Beatles’ classic “Revolution” played entirely on an iPad.

Coyne tweeted out a video that shows the eccentric singer messing around with the Mugician iPad app. Is this the app that’s going to handle the heavy lifting for the tribute performance?

The performance will be streamed live from the event, which will take place on Halloween night at 8:30 pm Pacific.

The Flaming Lips are no strangers to experimental music. They have plans to release a 24-hour song on Halloween night, encased in a human skull. The song will come on a portable drive and once inserted in the skull, will be covered in chrome and elegant packaging.

This comes on the heels of a 6-hour song that the band released to benefit the Central Oklahoma Humane Society. Fans could donate $100 to the cause and have their name inserted into the song.

And then there was that whole Zaireeka thing, where they released a four-disc album that was intended to be played in 4 separate players simultaneously.

But tackling the Beatles on an iPad? That’s a tough task. Do you think they can deliver?

Here’s something for nostalgia’s sake:

Now? Not so much, but that doesn’t mean people still watch the award show when it airs.

Nevertheless, by most reports, the 2011 VMAs were a hit, as over 12 million people tuned in. They also tweeted about it–en masse, apparently–but the Twitter count hit another all-time high in regards to tweets per second when Beyonce’s pregnancy was announced, which takes place in the video leading this post. For those that haven’t seen it, the announcement comes after her performance.

According to various reports, Beyonce’s “I’m with child” announcement broke the TPS (tweet per second) record, one that was set during the Women’s World Cup Final. The title for TPS has switched hands a few times, but now, thanks to Beyonce’s announcement, MTV is, vicariously, the proud owner of the new TPS title.

So yeah, more people tweeted about Beyonce’s pregnancy than any other event since the inception of Twitter. For some reason, when I think about the societal impact of such knowledge, I keep going back to this song by Trent Reznor. It’s fairly NSFW, but it definitely captures the tone of what motivates such reaction quite well.

Digression aside, did Beyonce’s announcement improve the ratings for the VMAs? If you listen to Twitter, perhaps, but then, there’s another perspective that blows the idea out of the water.

In a post over at Forbes, Brandon Mendelson scoffs at the idea that all these Beyonce tweets did much to impact MTV’s rating count for the VMAs, regardless of the propaganda offered to support such a claim:

Is it possible that Twitter could lead to an increase in the ratings of a television show? Absolutely; however, since the service rolled out in 2006 this has yet to be the case…

But when you consider Twitter is only used by 13% of Americans (according to PEW), and that of those 13%, less than a quarter of them are responsible for the majority of tweets sent, the truth disproves the fiction. Not to mention, given the number of people like me who use the service to write jokes, how many of them do you think are watching the thing they’re mocking?

It’s a compelling argument, especially the 13 percent aspect, but when you see headlines that say stuff like “This year’s VMA ratings reach record-breaking levels,” then maybe social media as a whole should be given credit.

Granted, that 13 percent sticks out like a sore thumb, but it’s highly doubtful Twitter was the only social media platform where the VMAs were being discussed. Facebook, I’m sure, was also a conduit for the discussion, which could very easily contribute to the ratings increase as well. Of course, then there’s the idea that nothing was on that Sunday, except for new HBO Originals episodes–True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage–and Breaking Bad.

When you consider the average age of the pop music sycophant who uses Twitter–no data here, but just from a quick glance at the various pop music trends that show up daily on Twitter–they probably weren’t allowed to watch those mature shows, and so, they resorted to living vicariously through Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Whatever the case, Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement now holds the tweets-per-second record, and that’s kind of sad.

That means subscribers now have access to episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba, more episodes of Spongebob SquarePants, True Jackson VP, iCarly, and Dora the Explorer from Nickelodeon, so the children have more things to watch on Netflix.

The content expansion also includes new episodes of MTV’s Jersey Shore and The Hills, as well as episodes of The Buried Life and The City. It also has new shows from BET like American Gangster, and more Comedy Central content like episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program. There is also some amount of unspecified content form VH1, Logo, and Spike.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer programs to suit different ages and tastes and, as always, remain committed to bringing you more great TV shows and movies to watch instantly when and where you prefer,” wrote Netflix VP Content Acquisition Cindy Holland on the Netflix Blog.

Netflix is rapidly expanding its streaming on-demand offerings. Last week, the company announced a multi-year deal with Miramax, which will see the addition of a whole bunch of movies, which when combined, account for 284 Academy Award nominations.

In addition to expanding upon its content offerings, Netflix has also continued to expand upon the number of devices it supports. Recently, the company announced a new Android app that works for some Android devices, and said that they were developing for additional Android devices. As Google’s mobile platform continues to gain market share of its own, compatibility here will be key for continued Netflix growth, especially considering that Google is now renting movies directly from the Android Market and YouTube.

In regards to viral marketing, while the concept has been around before the Internet became popular — see the first Star Wars movie and how word of mouth assisted in its uptake — the connectivity of the Internet, not to mention the speed with which messages travel, has completely changed how viral marketing is conducted nowadays. Naturally, online videos play a big role in this marketing approach, which brings us to the Beastie Boys and their upcoming new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.

Recently, to help promote their new release, the Beasties released a trailer that featured a list of cameos that served as a who’s who in the comedy section of Hollywood. Notable faces like Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, John C. Reilly, Will Arnett, and Jack Black appeared and once word about the video hit the blogs, it spread like wildfire. In two weeks, the video has amassed over 2 million views, and while that’s not Rebecca Black numbers — I guess the tweens aren’t too familiar with the Beastie Boys — it’s quite a bit for video that serves as a trailer for an upcoming song/new album.

Another area of surprise concerning this viral marketing effort comes from the Beastie Boys’ use of MTV’s video service instead of, say, YouTube. Granted, the “M” in MTV used to stand for music, but in today’s society, it might as well stand for “My God, What Happened To This Channel?”

To put it mildly, MTV is to music what drunk drivers are to safe roads. Furthermore, and while this is only a hunch, it’s a safe bet that more people equate YouTube with music videos than they do MTV’s video service. I’d even hazard a guess that says YouTube has more music videos in its index than MTV does.

Nevertheless, MTV was the initial conduit of choice for B-E-A-S-T-I-E (What up, Mike-D? Aw yeah, that’s me…); although, once the video hit the blogs, it didn’t matter what video service they used. Another item of note is the Beastie Boys’ official site is powered by Tumblr’s service. For some reason, I find that rather interesting because it means artists aren’t relying on the expensive design houses to construct their sites. Clearly, ease and usability is the goal instead of a pretty Flash-based site that limits visitor interaction.

One last aside: The Internet also deserves credit for the rise of video trailers for upcoming music releases like the following offer from underground rapper, Murs:

The newest of these mini-docs centers around Facebook and it appropriately titled “Diary of Facebook.”  Those of you burnt out on The Social Network and the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to billionaire might be interested to know that the special doesn’t really focus on him.  Although he is a part of the show, it mostly focuses on two employees at Facebook, an engineer named Pedram and a consumer marketer named Erin.

From MTV:

For the first time ever, we get an inside look at Facebook’s famous “hack-a-thon,” a 24-hour, no-code-barred event in which employees are directed to ditch their normal duties and instead break ground on those pet tech projects they’ve always wanted to create but have never found the time to pursue. Not only does Pedram innovate, he does so under pressure, and overnight.

And then there’s Erin, a driving force behind Stories.Facebook.com’s effort to highlight users’ life-changing social-networking stories, from one woman’s quest to locate long-lost family members to an ALS-stricken man who finds in Facebook a way to engage with the world around him despite the limitations of the debilitating disease.

The doc will air this Wednesday at 11 pm Eastern time.  Check out a preview below:

"Bieber is calling on young people to join him by posting an action to stop digital abuse on Draw Your Line, MTV’s virtual map tracking actions taken across the country," Facebook’s Andrew Noyes tells WebProNews. "Each time someone posts an action today through March 31st, they’ll be eligible to enter to win one of several prizes, including a personalized voicemail greeting recorded by Justin Bieber."

The Grand Prize is a trip for two (and backstage passes) to a taping of MTV’s "The Seven" and a personalized voicemail greeting recorded by Bieber himself. There are also three first prizes – just the voicemail recording. Ten second prizes will get 250 Facebook Credits? 

What’s that a plug for Facebook Credits too? Also a smart way for Facebook to get Facebook Credits in front of more eyeballs. They are the future of payments right? Who better to help spread the brand than Bieber? See aforementioned influence. 

In a related story, a new study finds that too many Facebook friends can be quite stressful. 

The topic of the closing keynote at BlogWorld today was "The Future of Web Videos". One audience member asked the question that was surely on most of the minds in the room: will broadcast media be disrupted like the music industry was disrupted by Napster? 

"I don’t think the Napsterization will happen to television," said MTV’s Digital Head, Dermot McCormack. He said he doesn’t think it’s going to be disruptive, adding that "smart companies will adapt like they always do."

"We’re smack in the middle of a transition period," he said. 

It’s clear that the emerging technology is very much on the minds of professional video content creators though. McCormack is excited about mobile and tablets. The whole panel, which also consisted of Revision 3 CEO Jim Louderback and Funny or Die CEO Dick Glover seemed to agree that focusing on an app strategy across as many devices as possible should be a high priority. 

Sony is apparently showing off their new Google TV model in the Expo hall. We’re going to have to swing by to give it a test drive.

Original Article: It came to my attention today that one of the 18 finalists for MTV’s TJ (Twitter Jockey) job is from just up the interstate a piece from our headquarters, so I figured that was as good a reason as any to reach out to him for his take on the contest and his hopes of being the chosen one.

"MTV took a unique approach to finding all of the candidates by scouring the web for what they called some of the most immersed pop culture enthusiasts in social media," says 22-year-old Ryan Lytle who lives just outside of Cincinnati.

"I have been using Twitter for almost two years and have a website dedicated to pop culture and entertainment," he says.  "All of this plus a YouTube channel, a LinkedIn account and a DailyBooth account.  I have made an effort to be a part of the social media push and it has paid off with this opportunity with MTV."

"I have made a conscious effort to be a part of the social media landscape," he says. "As an online journalism major at Ohio University, I knew that this would be something very important to marketing not only my work, but my personal brand as well." Here is more of his bio.

For fun, I asked Lytle  if he thinks Twitter’s frequent "Fail Whales" will interfere with the job if he gets it. "I wouldn’t think so at all," he says. "I think the ‘Fail Whales’ are just part of the game. When Twitter goes down, we all are affected by it! I can’t see that changing the game plan at all for me."

He’s certainly not alone there.

I also asked who his favorite VJ from MTV’s history was. "I’m going to have to say Tyrese.  I just remember when I was younger, Tyrese was on top of the world. He was a famous singer, an actor, model and an MTV VJ. I thought the guy was amazing. Even today he’s still putting together a solid career as an actor. He was in ‘Four Brothers,’ so that puts him on top in my book!"

I don’t expect that Lytle’s love for Tyrese will affect MTV’s decision one way or another, but at least he didn’t say Jesse Camp. My guess is that MTV will be more concerned with statements like this one he gave us: "I want to be a part of the conversation, no matter what it is and social media has really helped me be a part of it."

MTV says it still has two spots left in its top 20, which will eventually be narrowed down to five, at which point the winner will be picked on August 8th.

Starting Thursday, July 22, daily live shows will be hosted by MTV Movies Editor Josh Horowitz and will stream on MySpace and MTV’s homepage. Users will be able to post comments and questions in real-time for a chance to have celebrities answer live.

The lineup includes the following:

Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 3:00 pm ET/12:00 pm PT
Guests include Seth Rogen from THE GREEN HORNET; the cast from RED; director Robert Rodriguez and Danny Trejo from MACHETE .
 
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 3:00 pm ET/12:00 pm PT
Guests include Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and director Joseph Kozinski from TRON: LEGACY; Michael Cera, Anna Kendrick, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong and director Edgar Wright from SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD .
 
Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 6:00 pm ET/3:00 pm PT
Guests include director/writer/producer Joss Whedon and surprise appearances.

MySpace and MTV will also offer coverage about Comic-Con via blogs, videos and photos.