As the line between advertising and entertainment becomes more and more blurred, so also does the line between why something is good and bad, so it seems.

The overly popular song “Friday,” by 13-year-old Rebecca Black is the newest in the world of jokes some people get and others are patently oblivious or just, well, who knows.

The truth of the matter is, Black’s parents paid to have her record a song at Ark Music Factory. The song “Friday” was her choice of from a selection of pre-written songs. After it was recorded, the video received little exposure until “Tosh.0” put it up on its list of videos to be ridiculed.

Usually, the videos seen are just laughed at for the remainder of the week, and life goes on, but “Friday” captured the attention of the online community in ways that defy logic.

This brings to the forefront the question of why? Why is this joke still going? There is little doubt that the song is awful. There is little doubt the lyrics are insipid; the product of marketing and little more.

And there is no doubt that the appeal of the song initially and likely still for most people, apart from teenage girls, is that Black’s performance is only tolerable because it is so bad it is funny.

Why then, have a great many people taken Black’s song to be something other than a joke?

For anyone out there citing their reason as, “I feel sorry for Black and appreciate her efforts,” appreciate the royalties she is receiving from “Friday’s” downloads on iTunes.

Appreciate that her idol — the also annoyingly adored by teenage girls Justin Bieber — performed a cover of the song. Appreciate that Rolling Stone praised Black and her charm. And especially appreciate that Simon Cowell applauds Black; well, Cowell applauds the joke and tells Black to enjoy the fact she is one of the most talked about singers in America currently. But still, he is even giving her some encouragement.

And the coup de grace, Stephen Colbert appeared April 1 on “Late Nite with Jimmy Fallon” to perform “Friday.” This April Fools Day performance was clearly a joke, yet even in the two days following — and in the number of other parodies parading across YouTube — there are people listening to “Friday” that are not laughing, that are singing along and enjoying the song as being “good.”

Yes, people should be allowed to enjoy whatever they want. Maybe everyone gets that the song is horrible and the celebrities appreciate the fame and social media drive of events like this and not the actual “talent” or “skill” of Black, but it is doubtful.

Social media events like this are surely spectacles to be applauded, but most of the time, the actual event is not. “Friday” is a joke, the situation around it is astounding and, with that in mind, please, everyone out there, keep laughing, keep applauding, but know why you are doing so, rather than just following the flock and not knowing the reasons things like this are famous.