Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
The Samantha Brick Fallout
If you were on the Internet at all in the past two days, you probably came across an article or two (or 50) on the topic of Samantha Brick. And if you're like me, you were fascinated by the simultaneous absurdity and intrigue of what she wrote. If you haven't heard of her, Samantha Brick is a columnist for the UK's Daily Mail, and recently wrote a controversial piece on how women dislike her because of her looks. Along with her many anecdotes on the "downsides" of being beautiful, the column is accompanied by multiple posed photos of Brick herself.
I first came across the article not via the Daily Mail itself, but after clicking on a post from one of my favorite blogs, The Frisky. After reading their take, I, of course, had to read the column itself. I completely agreed that she comes off as vain and out of touch. And I was not alone. Within hours, the column had gone viral, and had been re-posted, tweeted, shared and talked about all over the world. And, not surprisingly, most of the comments were negative, mocking (a hashtag, #samanthabrickfacts was started on Twitter and is quite fun to read), and some were just disbelieving, thinking it was an April Fools joke a day late.
I bring up this event because, while I still do find the column pretty ridiculous, it brings up some good points about the power of social media, and how the masses often snap to judgement. On one hand, it's a lesson in learning the way social media works. Maybe the Daily Mail allowed the column to run because they were of the mind that all press is good press. And they wouldn't be completely out of line in that instance, since the article got more clicks, comments and retweets than probably most news that day. It proved to get people talking. However, since the column ran, Brick herself has been making the rounds, saying that while the negative comments have brought her to tears, she feels the reactions just prove her point. Which then had many people wondering why she would continue to put herself on the spot. One has to question whether she thought at all about how others, women especially, would react to the column. Didn't she realize that in this day and age nothing unique or controversial gets put online without it getting passed around? Perhaps she needs a lesson in PR.
My second point has to do with the way social media can often cause a mob mentality. Reading others' comments on a subject, or reading a blog post about an article before reading the actual article can produce a bias. By seeing what others are thinking of feeling about a topic, issue or product, it can sway you to think one way or another before forming your own opinion, hence the popularity of Pinterest and Facebook. But I think it can also cause people to form opinions prematurely. Take this article by Laura Davis at The Independent: In Defence of Samantha Brick: The woman who is “hated for being beautiful”. Davis brings up some good points, one I found interesting is that she said jealousy in women is somewhat of a faux pas subject, and that Brick does a good job of getting it out there. Whether you agree or not, it can be helpful to read up on both sides of an issue before forming a concrete opinion.
I'm sure in a few days the Samantha Brick fiasco will be long forgotten, and we'll be on to another controversy in the media. But it's helpful to see that there can be real topics of discussion from even something that seems so trivial. These are just my thoughts though...I'd love to hear what others think about this topic!
I first came across the article not via the Daily Mail itself, but after clicking on a post from one of my favorite blogs, The Frisky. After reading their take, I, of course, had to read the column itself. I completely agreed that she comes off as vain and out of touch. And I was not alone. Within hours, the column had gone viral, and had been re-posted, tweeted, shared and talked about all over the world. And, not surprisingly, most of the comments were negative, mocking (a hashtag, #samanthabrickfacts was started on Twitter and is quite fun to read), and some were just disbelieving, thinking it was an April Fools joke a day late.
I bring up this event because, while I still do find the column pretty ridiculous, it brings up some good points about the power of social media, and how the masses often snap to judgement. On one hand, it's a lesson in learning the way social media works. Maybe the Daily Mail allowed the column to run because they were of the mind that all press is good press. And they wouldn't be completely out of line in that instance, since the article got more clicks, comments and retweets than probably most news that day. It proved to get people talking. However, since the column ran, Brick herself has been making the rounds, saying that while the negative comments have brought her to tears, she feels the reactions just prove her point. Which then had many people wondering why she would continue to put herself on the spot. One has to question whether she thought at all about how others, women especially, would react to the column. Didn't she realize that in this day and age nothing unique or controversial gets put online without it getting passed around? Perhaps she needs a lesson in PR.
My second point has to do with the way social media can often cause a mob mentality. Reading others' comments on a subject, or reading a blog post about an article before reading the actual article can produce a bias. By seeing what others are thinking of feeling about a topic, issue or product, it can sway you to think one way or another before forming your own opinion, hence the popularity of Pinterest and Facebook. But I think it can also cause people to form opinions prematurely. Take this article by Laura Davis at The Independent: In Defence of Samantha Brick: The woman who is “hated for being beautiful”. Davis brings up some good points, one I found interesting is that she said jealousy in women is somewhat of a faux pas subject, and that Brick does a good job of getting it out there. Whether you agree or not, it can be helpful to read up on both sides of an issue before forming a concrete opinion.
I'm sure in a few days the Samantha Brick fiasco will be long forgotten, and we'll be on to another controversy in the media. But it's helpful to see that there can be real topics of discussion from even something that seems so trivial. These are just my thoughts though...I'd love to hear what others think about this topic!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Getting Storified
Social Media. The last few months I've been living and breathing those words at work, in school and in my personal life too. I even plan on integrating it in my upcoming wedding (more on that later.) Before I started using social media regularly, I had no idea how involved, complex and time-consuming it really is. The use of Twitter, Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn takes on a whole new meaning when it's utilized for company growth instead of personal recreation. No longer do I just post or tweet anything that comes to mind...instead I am now programmed to think about what I'm posting, who will be reading it and how it will reflect on me.
That said, social media can still be fun. For me, I've recently become interested in one site that has gained popularity in the past few months: Storify.
Per the site's About page, Storify "helps its users tell stories by curating social media." You can create your own story on any topic you choose, by compiling tweets about the topic. I plan on using it for my wedding--guests can use a designated hashtag and live-tweet during the ceremony and reception, take Instagram photos and post about what they are doing while in town. When our wedding is over (hopefully it won't go by too quickly!) I can take all the tweets to that hashtag and compile them in Storify, so I have a timeline of the weekend from our guests' point of view!
The site also just announced the addition of a search function, which makes it easier to find "stories" on any trending subject. A Tweet from my work handle, @CisionNavigator, was even storified in their announcement! So, for an example, I've searched for mentions of Google Analytics, and compiled a short "story" below.
Alright, it's late...more on these topics in another post! Goodnight!
That said, social media can still be fun. For me, I've recently become interested in one site that has gained popularity in the past few months: Storify.
Per the site's About page, Storify "helps its users tell stories by curating social media." You can create your own story on any topic you choose, by compiling tweets about the topic. I plan on using it for my wedding--guests can use a designated hashtag and live-tweet during the ceremony and reception, take Instagram photos and post about what they are doing while in town. When our wedding is over (hopefully it won't go by too quickly!) I can take all the tweets to that hashtag and compile them in Storify, so I have a timeline of the weekend from our guests' point of view!
The site also just announced the addition of a search function, which makes it easier to find "stories" on any trending subject. A Tweet from my work handle, @CisionNavigator, was even storified in their announcement! So, for an example, I've searched for mentions of Google Analytics, and compiled a short "story" below.
Alright, it's late...more on these topics in another post! Goodnight!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Let's get this thing started!
Kicking off my first social media blog posts. Today's topic: analytics. Since we're learning about Google Analytics right now, I found this blog post that I thought was helpful, from the Get Busy Media blog. I thought it was interesting how she points how Analytics can even help with blog post ideas. One of the advanced segments allows you to customize what it searches for, so that you can find only posts that ask a question, allowing you an idea for a post! I might try to see if I can do this to my blog.
Til next time, goodnight!
Gina
Til next time, goodnight!
Gina
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)