Pittsburgh: Redefining "Overnight Success"

Bacn, circa early 1900s... Via Apelad
On Saturday, the term bacn was coined at PodCamp Pittsburgh 2.

By today, Thursday, the term is already the 14th most-popular term on Technorati.

It has appeared on Wired, CNet and the Washington Post websites, among others.

It's even been parodied in the buzzword-spawned (and "classic") Laugh Out Loud Cats comic (above).

Today, bacn-related interviews have already been given to the Chicago Tribune and NPR, with more (undoubtedly) to come.

All 5 days after the term was first used.

Sound familiar?

Two weeks ago, Pittsburgh vlogger iJustine created a video about her 300-page iPhone bill. That video resonated with tech-savvy surfers and, within days, iJustine was on the homepage of Yahoo, not to mention interviews on CNN, NPR, Fox News...

Some of you might be asking yourselves: what are the odds that Pittsburgh would be struck by back-to-back social media lightning bolts? As a 10-year PGH resident, I'd be inclined to agree.

However...

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Pittsburgh is the third "bloggiest" city in the country -- behind only Boston and Philadelphia -- which accounts for some of the city's ability to generate a meme wave.

Hmm...

For a city that perpetually seems to have an identity crisis, we sure are getting something right these days...

Ironic side note: Did anyone else notice that Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston, the three "bloggiest" cities, are also having a PodCamp in each of the next 3 months?