Can one have too many Social Media accounts?

Last week, while presenting a Social Media 101 for an organization I am currently doing a placement for through UOIT with another placement student (and a fellow PR classmate), I came to realize that our current generation forget that not everyone is aware of what the heck we are talking about when it comes to Social Media!

The employees we were presenting to were completly thrown off when we used the example of the White House now  having a Tumblr account. After some silence, the audience all asked, “What’s Tumblr?!” and mentioning Flickr just completly confused everyone.

It is understandable, because our generation were born into when technology and social media were introduced and being utlized for personal and professional use. That’s not to say older generations do not know how to use Social Media – there are plenty of people, in fact 65% of adults ages 50-64 and 49% of adults over 65 use social media.

Most adults are on Facebook and Twitter, but now with the emergence of hundreds of new social media sites, how much is too much?

I realized by the end of writing this post I am active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram, MyFitnessPal, and embarassingly quite a few more.

However, it looks like the more I get involved with other social media sites, the less interested I am with Facebook. There are many speculations that Facebook is losing its appeal.

So, on that note, do you think Facebook will lose it’s popularity? Do you think Twitter and Instagram will follow? Do you think there are too many social media sites to keep up with?

The Power of the Hashtag

 

In my last post I talked a little bit about the hashtag #BreaktheInternet and how corporations utilize and bandwagon on trending hashtags to grab whatever attention they can get – and who can blame them? It is exactly how social media works.

But hashtags are also utlized heavily for social change. There has been a lot of debate with social media social movements and slactivism, however persistence and a strong group behind the efforts, social media movements can be very successful.

Recently, a fellow PR classmate introduced me to the hashtag #TakeDownJulienBlanc, a Twitter movement that worked hard to literally take down the racist and sexist self-proclaimed “pickup artist” Julien Blanc and the “Real Social Dynamics” (RSD). Julien Blanc, travels the world and offers lectures on picking up woman to hundreds of people for $3000 per person. However as soon as his videos of him grabbing women by the neck, commentary about the “easiness” of taking advantage of foreign women, and posts advocating violence towards women surfaced, it created a public uproar.

Soon enough, a young girl that goes by the Twitter handle @JennLi123, launched the petition after seeing the horrific videos to have Julien Blanc and RSD’s lectures cancelled. The petition up until today has 52,292 signatures and still 22,708 short of the goal. Yet, several hotels and places holding Blanc’s lectures have cancelled his appearance after thousands of people on Twitter tweeted them about the kinds of material he teaches, they were more than happy to comply. In fact, just recently, Blanc’s visa was withdrawaled, and Canada and Brazil and working to keep him out of the country.

Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister, responded to the hoards of tweets he recieved regarding banning Blanc and RSD:

After being publicly shamed, Julien Blanc hid his tweets and disappeared from social media for a bit until the other day where he agreed to come on CNN and make a public apology.

It is clear social media can play a HUGE role in making social change.

What are your thoughts on the future of RSD and Blanc? Do you have any examples of successful social media social movements? And failed ones?

#BreaktheInternet

I’m sure you have already seen the infamous Kim Kardashian “Break the Internet” photos for Paper Magazine that have been circulating on the web.

Whatever your thoughts are on the photos, love or hate Kim Kardashian, it did not take one second for average folks, celebrities, businesses, and just about anyone to talk about the photos online through social media.

One thing we failed to recognize was how Kim Kardashian’s photoshoot was definitley a publicity stunt and it is no question Paper Magazine will be making money.

According to theStreet, Kim Kardashian earned 578,000 mentions on Twitter in just the two days following the big reveal. The hashtag #BreaktheInternet also had 360,000 mentions. The hashtag also slowly evolved to other topics, other than Kardashians posterier.

It did not take long for other brands and corporations to take advantage of the popular phrase and hashtag.

For more click here.

Looking at the amount of retweets and favourites, you can’t really blame them!

Kim Kardashian is a brand, her brand will possibly lead to some higher sales for many companies, but it’s social media that really made it happen.

If Kim Kardashian did not tweet her photo of herself on the front page of Paper Magazine, do you think we would have heard about it?

My Thoughts on the Jian Ghomeshi Scandal

Jian Ghomeshi’s scandal continues to unfold and just when you think you’ve heard it all, something new comes along.

If you don’t know about Jian Ghomeshi, he is the host of CBC’s popular and successful show Q. He caught media attention when he was fired by CBC after a sexual abuse allegation made its way to CBC executives. Before CBC announced anything regarding the situation, Ghomeshi decided to announce and defend himself on his Facebook account where he states he was fired by CBC because of a “jilted ex girlfriend” who made false allegations.

Upon reading his message, I actually gave him the benefit of the doubt, it sounded like a heart felt message that first. If it was in fact true, Ghomeshi may have done the right thing. Well it appears that he may have 9 “jilted ex girlfriends”, because after one brave woman stepped forward about a horrific encounter, many others did as well. Now his message looks like a complete lie and it proves that there needs to be more discussion on this matter. It is no surprise his PR firm and anyone ultimately related to him on a professional level cut ties with him.

It is interesting to see how Facebook, a social network, was used as a tool to announce a serious matter. These kinds of scandals were often once expressed on the news – whether it was on paper or television. Facebook, to me at least, seems like an informal method for for sending such a message. Perhaps Ghomeshi and his PR firm at the time, saw it as the best way to reach out to the direct audience – the fans and the public. However, it’s interesting to see how social media changed the landscape of public relations.

Whatever the case, his message on Facebook showed in fact that it did help him – until multiple victims stepped forward. In a matter of few days, Ghomeshi’s fans continue to plunge.

Facebook Likes before and after his sob story:

(For more graphs click here.)

It is clear that I am not a fan of Ghomeshi, but I hope that this situation is handled correctly by the authorities and the women who have spoken out have the courage to continue being strong and move forward with their lives.

So on that note, what are your thoughts on Ghomeshi and how do you think social media played a role in this scandal? Has the fine line between social media and traditional media outlets diminished? Do you think Facebook was the correct method of reaching the audience or should Ghomeshi and his PR firm have chosen another way to better?