A More Serious Side of Social Media

In Public Relations, social media is often highlighted on the softer side of a brand or cause.  Large social media campaigns are often used to increase brand awareness, positioning or help influence thought leaders in an industry.

But the recent explosion of the Bill Cosby accusations have highlighted the more serious side of social media and its effects on public opinion and mass media news. 

Longstanding accusations against Cosby for rape were highlighted in social media last week due to an onstage "joke" that went viral about Cosby's rumored actions.  In a perfect storm of happenstance, Bill Cosby had just put out a challenge to those who followed him in the digital world to meme pictures of him. Little did he know he was adding fuel to the fire, and most who participated "memed" him with allusions of Cosby drugging and raping women. Probably not what he had in mind when putting that challenge out there!

These two actions, the onstage joke and the memes, both went viral, bringing a long dormant accusation to light and blowing up the mass media everywhere.  Essentially, shredding Cosby's reputation and leaving many asking why this didn't get more attention earlier.

The answer is because social media is now bringing issues to light.  There is far less space to hide anymore- and some argue that there is nowhere to hide!  It will be interesting to see if this sad revelation brings more issues in Hollywood to light.  And for Cosby and his accusers, this trial by Twitter seems to have just heated up.

Is GIRL POWER the fastest way to go VIRAL?

We've gotta talk about #AlexFromTarget. 

I mean, if nothing else, we have to just bring it up.  It's only been a week since this young man's picture was tweeted as a "cute" bagger from Target.  But the week has certainly been eventful.  With his handsome smile and boyish good-looks, Alex has - without doing a single thing other than unknowingly had his picture tweeted - gained half a million followers on Twitter, been featured on the Ellen show and CNN and become one of the fastest and most popular memes of all times.

But perhaps the most unique aspect of the #AlexFromTarget phenomenon is that it might have been set up.  Strangely, earlier this week a company called Breakr claimed that it was behind the rise to fame of #AlexFromTarget.  

Breakr's CEO, Dil-Domine Jacobe Leonares, claimed that his company's goal of helping small content creators spread their content was the force behind the viral sensation of #AlexFromTarget.  And the key to this viral nature, Leonares claims, is girls.

"If you rally the fan girls, you can translate that following into a career," Leonares claims.  Sure enough, "fan girls" are powerful.  A lady sees a cute boy and tells her friend who tells her friend who shares it with everyone she knows.  I mean, really, the Jonas Brothers and Justin Beiber are just modern day version of Beatles fandom!  And, with social media today, the fandom rise is just that much faster.  Or in the case of #AlexFromTarget, takes place in a week!  Heck, he is in LA now looking for an agent!

So, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding #AlexFromTarget, who tweeted this morning that he had dever heard of Breakr. Hmmmm.  Well one thing I can agree on is that fan girls are really the key to getting anything to go viral.  That's why our firm, Casey & Sayre, always strives to bring young celebrities that appeal to teen girls to our client events!  Their tweets and instagrams go a long way in attracting interest and building fans!

What do you think of the sudden fame of #AlexFromTarget?

Is this real life, or a plot for the latest RomCom?!

I’m sure you’ve heard of people using social media to help with their vacation planning before.  But a popular story this week takes that to a whole new level!

A Toronto-based man, Jordan Axani, has used the popular social media news site, Reddit, to post a once-in-a-lifetime offer: a free, round-the-world trip to one lucky female!  There’s only one catch.  Your name has to be Elizabeth Gallagher.

Strange as it sounds, it’s true.  Axani, a 28-year old adventurer, booked this dream trip earlier in the year for himself and his then-girlfriend named... you guessed it, Elizabeth Gallagher.  Well, since then, the couple has broken up, leaving heartbreak and some open tickets!  Due to restrictions around the plane tickets and cancellation policies, it is apparently a mega-headache to try to get anything for cancelling the tickets.  So, like a good millennial, Axani went to social media to try to salvage some good from the tickets.

His Reddit post, just published Monday, has been shared thousands of times and it looks like several Elizabeth Gallaghers (with Canadian passports, the other element needed) have come forward.  I’m not surprised, Axani’s post actually sounds pretty convincing, he sounds normal and realistic that he isn’t looking for anything in return, just doesn’t want the tickets to go to waste!  No “winner” has been selected yet, it seems.

Fingers crossed that he finds a great trip mate.  And, of course the romantic in me sees this as a great plot to a romantic comedy movie!  What if he and the woman who claims this fall in love and then have a great story to tell the grandkids!!

Seems too good to be true!  Possibly even worth changing your name for!?