Since Japanese company Sharpe released the first camera phone in 2000 a revolution has occurred in the way we document our lives, writes Verandah Magazine’s Social Media columnist Lucy Burchley.

The intervening 14 years has seen the rise of social media, the selfie and citizen journalism. We now record what we eat, what we think and the events around us to share with our respective networks.  While this might seem like the attention seeking antics of a group of narcissists I believe that we can plot a direct link between the rise of camera phones (and social media) to the uncovering of a deep seeded problem in our society.

In the last few years’ public transport seems to have become the chosen platform for racial and sexual abuse. I’m thinking along the lines of the tirade launched upon ABC journalist Jeremy Fernandez while travelling with his daughter on a Sydney bus in 2013. Mr Fernandez took to his twitter page to describe the unprovoked verbal attack, which he coined as his ‘Rosa Parks moment’, referring to African-American civil rights activist who was arrested in 1955 after refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. A fellow female passenger on Mr Fernandez’s bus launched a verbal tirade against, calling him a “black c—“ and telling him to “go back to my own country.”

Unfortunately these stories are all too common and as these accounts of abuse become more publicised so to are the unique ways commuters on public transport (and people in their everyday lives) are developing to deal with the onslaught of hate. Over the last few weeks’ two stories in particular have appeared on social media, in which travellers use song to shut down or drown out real life Tolls.

First there was Rob Maiale, a copy writer and actor who sang ‘I’ve Got a Golden Ticket’ from Willy Wonka at the top of his voice to drown out the anti-gay rantings of a religious fanatic on the New York Subway.

Check out the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azZc4heoEGs#nf

And then earlier this month Chicago based writer Olivia Cole was riding the train to work when a man began aggressively harassing another female passenger for her phone number. How the other passengers reacted was brilliant and Olivia shared it with her followers via Twitter.

So what’s the take away from this situation? If in doubt sing ‘No Scrubs’ by 90’s girl band TLC to your harasser and hope that the other passengers know the words. (You can learn them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrLequ6dUdM)

While trolls are an accepted part of ‘online’ life and unfortunately I am not talking about the dolls with multi-coloured hair and jewels in their bellybuttons, we sometimes forget that abuse in all its many forms happens offline as well. This issue is far ranging and complex and I am by no means an expert but I feel that this behaviour reflects an acceptance of abuse in our society at large. How often do we stand by while people around us are targeted? Fearful to step in for fear that we might in turn be abused.

So maybe it is time for us to legislate a national repertoire of songs that can be used to let abusers know that their victims are not alone. Such a list might include Respect by Aretha Franklyn, Independent Woman by Destiny’s child or Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.

Regardless of how we as a society choose to handle online or offline trolling social media continues to play in important part in capturing these random acts of bravery and disseminating the message that victims don’t have to stand alone and we don’t have to accept abuse.

To contact Lucy Birchely for Social Media consultations go to her website: lucybirchley.com

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 Are you confused by Social Media?  Don’t know which ‘platform’ you should use?  Never fear, help is near – Verandah Magazine is bringing social media guru Susie Sullivan from Infront Communications for a special one day workshop.  We will also be ‘sharing’ our own personal Social Media tips so whether it’s just for you, or to build your business, we can de-mystify social media for you.

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You’ve heard of hijacking, and if you’re social media savvy you should have heard of newsjacking – perhaps you’ve even done it yourself.  If not, Lucy Birchley explains all in this apparently simple, occasionally complex way to bring attention to yourself or your business…

Newsjacking. Yes it is a real thing and you’ve probably seen it a thousand times without even realising it. Mostly found on social media platforms such as Twitter, and popularised by online marketing strategist David Meerman Scott, newsjacking refers to content specifically created to piggyback off breaking news or events to increase its normal audience.

‘Kate Winslet was staying with Sir Richard Branson at a private retreat in the British Virgin Islands when lightning struck the home, setting it on fire. Branson’s elderly mother was in the home, and Winslet carried her out of the fire to safety.

Pretty amazing, right? News outlets certainly thought so, and the story was picked up worldwide. But you know who else thought it was amazing? The London Fire Brigade who, within a few hours of the story’s release, wrote a story for their website in which they offered Winslet a chance to train with their firefighters at their local training center. They let reporters in on their offer, and with little or no money the London Fire Brigade had tons of site traffic, inbound links, and media exposure to do with as they pleased. And that, my friends, is newsjacking!’

Corey Eridon, HubSpot, 2012

While it might sounds like something cooked up by an evil PR spin doctor trying to leverage off someone else’s tragedy, newsjacking can actually be a positive experience. Take for example, Duracell’s positive approach after Hurricane Sandy. In the wake of the disaster, which brought down countless power lines, Duracell set up mobile charging stations for people to charge their smartphones so that they could contact family and friends. Of course once most of the recipients had their phones turned back on they were able to take photos and Tweet about the kindness of the battery brand. Not bad for a few days work.

These days brands are trawling for interesting news stories and then creating clever campaigns often using humour or shock to fashion content that is instantly consumable and shareable. Take for example this ad by Lynx, which was released after naked photos of Prince Harry in Vegas were printed.

Essentially this means that newsjacking can give brands immediate impact on social media putting them out front of new trends or evening making them a significate instigator of one. And let’s face it who doesn’t love being a trend setter? Just ask the Joneses.

However, newbies beware, newsjacking can be a double edged sword and has its risks. Done well a clever social media user can increase followers, grow engagement, build brand awareness and generally make their brand look super cool. Unfortunately as with all things published in the public domain when newsjacking goes wrong it can be a total horror show.

A brand that recently felt the effects of bad newsjacking was DiGirorno Pizza. Usually lorded for their excellent comedic instincts and brilliant handle on real-time tweeting, unfortunately on this occasion DiGirorno failed to follow one of the most basic social media rules, check what a trending hastag is about before you use it.

Back in September in response to a viral video of American football star Ray Rice punching his then fiancée Janay Palmer, women took to twitter to discuss their own experiences of physical and emotional domestic violence by using the hashtag #whyIstayed. With an outpouring of tragic stories and shared experiences the hashtag itself went viral and DiGirorno was quick to respond with a humorous, but contextually offensive, quip “#whyIstayed You had Pizza.”

Needless to say that the backlash was instant, overwhelming and DiGirorno’s social media team had to do a lot of scrambling to do in order to negate a titanic sized brand melt down that they had unwittingly created.

So what is the lesson here? Well, newsjacking in itself is an easy and inexpensive way to increase followers on social media by using a little creativity and humour but as with everything we post online it’s better to eat your pizza than have it thrown in your face.

Happy tweeting!

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