The Social Deck by Soma

I do not consider the "Social Deck" by Soma a fail, however I would consider this a misguided effort. But first to all of those who do not know what the "Social Deck" is, it is a set of printed gaffed cards, that revolve around Facebook. Here is the trailer:



When I heard of this a while ago, my intital thought was different from what is shown in the trailer. Since the main things about social networks are about following, sharing and making friends, I thought maybe the tricks that are offered with the project would be going in that direction.

Maybe a card trick that leads to people following you on Facebook, Twitter or whatever. Or a card trick that invites people to share this, by allowing them to record the performance on their phone, then uploading it to their Facebook account. Or card tricks that are so personal, that they are the perfect icebreaker to get to know more of you. Stuff like that.

But instead we get this! A gaffed deck that you can use, using a bunch of double lifts and some color changes. I guess it makes sense from a business point of view. To get suckers to believe they have the next great, up-to-date thing, while counting their money. However I still feel that in the long run magicians would be helped more by offering them a project that I have outlines above.

Here is an example, that is not even cards. Ask the guy to get out his mobile phone and to set it up to record a short video. Then do Paperballs over the head with the camera and the guy holding it. Then allow him to upload the video to any social media and then to link to your profile on said media.