Does effort really mean as much as it should online?

No.
That's easy, "no".
Sorry to be so abrupt, but the answer to my title is a flat-out "no".
I'm serious, there's not even a way to say "yes" anymore.
No, definitely no, absolutely no, big fat no, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D76ia5P9Shc.
...Okay, maybe I was exaggerating slightly in terms of it, but that doesn't change that effort is turning more and more worthless towards gaining one's own popularity.
Let me create an example situation. Let's pretend that we have two YouTube channels with the exact same video coming out, the only difference being what creator is producing it and possibly being seen in it. Heck, make the product the exact same result for both channels, both of excellent work put into it and quality. The only difference so far is that Channel A has about 40 subscribers, whereas Channel B has around 300.
What will happen when the videos are posted? Channel A might get lucky and gain about 10 more subscribers after about a month, but Channel B will get a whole lot more right off the bat. Repeat the experiment, the same thing will happen over and over and over again. Channel A will be stuck with a small amount and flatline, whereas Channel B will gain tons and tons more subscribers.
See how little the effort of Channel A contributed to its own popularity? No? Then let's try this again. This time, insert a complete lack of effort into Channel B's video, the quality showing that, and start from the same point as before. The results will be the same. Heck, some people might watch Channel B's video and hate it, but it will still be noticed and the subscriber count will still grow exponentially.
What am I getting to, you ask? If you're popular, you're gonna get more popular, for better or worse. Even infamy counts as popularity. If you're not, and you don't have someone else helping you become popular, tough luck. Someone else is gonna have to pull the strings to put you in the spotlight in the first place. Once that happens, effort might actually matter to see how fast your popularity will rise.

Songs of the Week

My turn to do this. Hope you like music that's out of the norm, because I've got tons of that. All right, let's get started.

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 Five for Fighting - Superman (It's Not Easy)

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Jim Henson - It's Not Easy Bein' Green

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Katy Perry - Firework

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Fort Minor - Kenji

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The Producers - I Wanna Be A Producer

Earth to Advances in Technology! Get Us Off Of Earth!

Call me crazy, call me kooky, call me a monkey's uncle, but I think people need to rethink where they're focusing technology advances. We've disabled our space program due to budget cuts, and yet things like the sequel to the Google Glass are already in production. Why do we need glasses that double as smartphones in the first place? All that would accomplish is distracting us from what we see in front of us unavoidably as opposed to forcing us to look at a phone. Are we really that lazy? UGH.

Seriously, I've seen so many sci-fi and drama shows where the tech we have on Earth is incredibly more advanced than it is now, but we STILL haven't left the planet. Even in superhero mediums, a satellite can be easily set up in space but no one bothers to leave the planet to live on the moon and whatnot. We're grounded, quite literally, in the belief that where we are is the best place to be. No if's, and's, or but's.

I personally think that we should take a break from making the best phone, making the best car, or making the best weight loss program. Some of the money from each of that to getting us back in space. I'm not saying we should achieve warp 1 speed by 2063, like what happened in Star Trek: First Contact, but at least we should have something other than the ISS out there. We need to stop looking down to the ground and start looking up to the sky again. (And hopefully not say "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman!" since that would be too cliché'd for even me.)

Writing a post about multitasking while doing my homework. Talk about irony.

Multitasking (MULL-tee-tas-keeng) n. The handling of more than one task at the same time by a single person.

Ever wondered whether multitasking was beneficial or harmful to us overall? Well, I haven't. At least not until recently when it became evident that I was getting far too much to do at once out of the blue. It had worked fine for me up until a point, I was getting nowhere fast doing only one task and I had little to no change of quality with doing multiple at once, so long as one of them was actively involving my hands and one of them was done by reflex. I could answer trivia while playing Mario Kart, watch a primetime drama while reading a Skype conversation, et cetera. But when it comes to things that are not leisurely, I feel that more people should learn to multi-task. I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every time when I've been trying to answer a time-sensitive quiz for homework and also had an urgent phone call or e-mail come in plus every time I was trying to do my laundry while writing an essay. It's ridiculous how much I'm being forced to multitask. I don't see much of a difference in quality when I multi-task, just how much I get done when. If I never multitasked, things would not be done in time for neither academics nor religion. Plus, I don't have a job yet, but if I ever did have one I'd need to multi-task even more.