While you’re clearly frustrated that your hockey team was unable to capture the Stanley Cup, your behavior after the game is concerning. For now, we can set aside the fact the lighting cars on fire is dangerous, destructive and illegal. I want to examine how you could possibly think that you wouldn’t get caught by the police and be in some serious trouble.
Have you seen how police investigate riots these days? They search Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for pictures and video of the events. They identify people doing constructive things (pushing police, breaking windows, lighting things on fire) and track them down. With social media, you’re only a few degrees separated by anyone, so it really isn’t that difficult for them to find you, especially when you identify yourself. And if you’re tagged in a photo it becomes even easier. There is even a website set up to help police identify people!
And did you not see the news crews that were everything? There was even a helicopter taking video of the riot, showing people flipping a truck on its side and lighting a police car on fire, before smashing through the windows. Did you not realize the police would have that video by sunrise?
In today’s world, privacy is hard to come by. Almost every single person has a camera and video camera at their fingertips, and can post whatever content they capture immediately, to share it with the rest of the world. Before people were even done looting stores on Wednesday night, images of the events were online.
Let me give you an example:
This picture (along with many others) was published by the National Post. The people burning and trying to flip this car are clearly visible, and you can bet that the police have this picture hanging on the wall.
I know you’re upset about your team, but take a second and consider what just happened. You broke a ton of laws, put a lot of people in physical danger, destroyed parts of your beautiful city, ruined people’s cars and stores and cost your city a ton of money in damages. And to top it off, all of this has been captured by pictures and video that are now online for everyone – including police – to see.
Next time you’re upset after a loss, try to use some common sense.
This graphic was on the front of SI.com most of the day on Monday, and it is currently sitting second, only behind a story about game 7 of the NHL finals. For not winning anything, LeBron James is attracting a lot of attention, and not in a good way.
There are so many areas where people are criticizing him: he didn’t play hard when it counted, he can’t live up to his championship promises, he’s crowned himself king before actually winning anything, he doesn’t understand that winning takes hard work, he’s alienated fans with one bad comment and decision after another.
If LeBron hasn’t hit rock bottom yet (in terms of his popularity), he’s awfully close. The other athletes who shared this unwanted spotlight at one time are another are few (think Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez). But no matter how deep LeBron digs his hole, the U.S. is a forgiving place for sports stars, and even LeBron can find some sunlight if he manages to make some good decisions. That’s why we have some PR advice for him:
Stop talking: Every time you says something it comes across as arrogant and self-serving, so right now the best thing to do is say nothing. Go sit by your pool or spend time with your family, as long as you don’t talk to any reporters or tweet.
Hire people that will tell you what you don’t want to hear: Yes, it’s that time, LeBron. You can’t just surround yourself with enablers that only tell you positive things. You need people that are critical, that say no, and that force you to say and do certain things no matter how much you don’t want to.
Apologize: Make a YouTube video and post it via your Twitter account. In this video apologize for your collection of bad decisions and degrading statements. Use whatever excuse you want (you’re young, immature, delusional, whatever), but take accountability, and say that you’re going to change. Apologize for humiliating Cleveland on national TV. Tell fans that like everyone else, you are going to work harder because you have to earn a championship, it’s not something God has planned for you. And explain that your comments after game 6 were said in the frustrations and pain of losing, and that you value the NBA’s fans.
Apparently, the advertising department at the Miami Herald is in denial.
This morning, underneath an article about the Miami Heat loss and elimination from the NBA playoffs, the Miami Herald ran a half page advertisement for Miami Heat championship gear. “CONGRATULATIONS MIAMI,” shouts the ad in bold capital letters.
Not only did the heat lose last night – but even if they won Sunday night’s game, they would have to win a game 7 as well in order to be crowned the champs. Ops!
Everyone hates paying extra money to check a bag when flying, but a group of US soldiers returning home from Afghanistan recently were particularly irked.
According to the soldiers, the US Army has an agreement with Delta in place where they can check 4 bags (Delta claims the 4 bag policy was for first class passengers only, but has since changed their policy so any soldiers can check 4 bags). Each soldier was charged $200 to check their 4th bag, which one soldier was carrying the weapon he was issued by the US Army.
While on their flight home, two US soldiers made a video and posted it on YouTube, explaining their frustrations with Delta. While the video doesn’t have a significant number of views yet, it is quickly gaining attention, and Delta decided to put out this fire before they had a United Breaks Guitars situation on their hands. Since the video was published, Delta says they have changed their policy so that any US soldier can have 4 bags on a flight.
The debate about which party misunderstood the policy can be determined by Delta and the US Army. However, Delta deserves kudos for understanding the power that this video could have, and acting swiftly to resolve the issue before it got out of hand.
If you’ve been watching the news lately, I’m sure you’ve seen the Rep. Anthony Weiner Twitter story. In short, he sent a picture of himself to a woman via Twitter. After denying he sent the picture for about a week (he claimed his Twitter account was hacked), Rep. Weiner finally admitted that he did indeed send the picture, but it was meant to be a direct message.
While the details of this story have supplied endless jokes for the late night comedy shows, it also shows that people have a fabricated sense of privacy. How many times have you heard about people mistakenly sending public tweets that were meant to be private, sending photos that weren’t meant to be shared, or posting a Facebook status that was meant to be a private message.
The social media snafus are endless, and a lot of high-profile people have been making them. Politicians, athletes, actors, musicians – everyone has had their fare share of mistakes. And it’s not just limited to people. Companies, such as Chrysler and Red Cross, have been victim of careless Twitter mistakes when employees published their own tweet to the company handle by mistake.
So what does this all mean? I think there are 3 valuable social media lessons we can learn from Rep. Weiner’s Twitter failure:
Learn how to use social media: If you’re not sure how to use the platform correctly, you’ll probably make a mistake.
Don’t be stupid: If you’re sharing something through social media, make sure it’s appropriate. Privacy is an illusion, just because you share something through a private message, doesn’t mean the person receiving that information won’t publicly distribute that content with one click.
Be honest: If you make a mistake just admit it. Rep. Weiner attracted so much more attention to this story by lying about it, which dragged it on for an entire week. If you mess up admit it right away and move it.
A recent survey from iPass collected data on business workers and travelers around the world, and discovered that people check their email constantly. How much, you ask? 35 percent of people check email first thing in the morning before doing anything else. Email comes before getting dressed, showering and eating breakfast.
Email addiction can also be disruptive. 32 percent of people admitted that their mobile technology causes friction in their personal relationships, and 90 percent of this friction comes between partners. While email addiction can be annoying for a partner at any time, I’m guessing that a significant amount of this friction comes at night, to the tune of 38 percent of people occasionally checking email while they’re sleeping. But it gets worse: 8 percent of people admit to checking email in the middle of the night every single night.
While we all can agree this would not be identified as “healthy” behavior, the Economist argues that these email must have some kind of dividing line:
Many jobs now demand constant connectedness, leaving little space for life outside of work. Indeed, while 64% of those asked said it was unacceptable to take a call in a public toilet, 29% confessed to talking on the loo. The line between work and private life has to be drawn somewhere. At the toilet door, perhaps?
Now it’s your turn to be honest with us. What’s the worst situation, place or time you’ve ever checked your work email?
The valuation of social networks has always been a tricky subject. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and others have been valued very highly at certain times, even though some aren’t yet profitable, and many not even have any revenue.
However, this morning LinkedIn officially IPO’d at $45 a share, and the stock price immediately shot up to over $100 per share (as I write this, it’s hovering around $110). While this gigantic share price leap is agonizing for shareholders that sold stock at $45, Facebook has to be watching this occur with a giant smile.
As the big dog in the social media world, Facebook not only is a stable of today’s life, but a very profitable company at this point. They’ve figured out how to turn their massive amount of data and information into a growing revenue stream and attract advertisers that want to directly reach their target audience. When (someday) Mark Zuckerberg and company decide it is time to IPO, they know with absolute certainty that their stock price is going to go through the roof, and will be one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in history.
During the first two weeks of May I went abroad on vacation, but did much more then change locations. While I was away I turned off my phone shunned myself from all social networks – including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – and took a break from the fast-paced world of social media.
While I did use the Internet for the basic purposes of looking up directions, train schedules, etc., I thought of these two weeks as a cleansing period, where I could be disconnected from the (social) world. At first it was strange not to be constantly updated by friends and online connections, but after a few days my new reality began to feel normal. However, what I noticed most upon returning home, was the different feelings I’ve had towards Facebook and Twitter.
As I left for the airport I forgot about Twitter almost immediately and didn’t think about logging in until I received an email alerting me of a DM after returning home. Even then, it took three days for me to check Twitter. I’ve also found it awkward to begin using Twitter again after a 2 week hiatus, as tweeting (and mostly, reading all those tweets) feels more like a project then a welcome activity.
On the other hand, I went through Facebook detox the first few hours of my trip, wanting to log-in while waiting for my plane at the airport. While that feeling passed once I was in the air, upon returning home one of the first things I did online was check Facebook, and I spent some time on the site checking to see what friends had been up to while I was away.
Reflecting on my vacation and social media hiatus, I’ve come to the conclusion that Facebook is a much more natural fit to human behavior (at least for me). The way it organizes information and enables people to observe and interact is easy and interesting. I felt like I could easily see what I had missed while I had been away. On the other hand, Twitter didn’t pull me in, at all. It organizes information for real-time monitoring and engagement, and in no way was I functioning in real-time. It took me a few days to catch up to that speed (I’m still not there), and at points it feels like I need to re-learn the fast-paced Twitter environment.
I’m curious to hear from others that have taken a social media vacation, and how you’ve adjusted upon returning home. Please share your stories and experiences in the comment section below.
I’ve done my best over the past several weeks to block out all of the royal wedding hoopla, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job. In fact, I didn’t even know the royal wedding was tomorrow until someone informed me they will be watching it tomorrow morning (EDT).
Regardless my my ignorance, this wedding is receiving a lot of attention, and businesses are trying to capitalize. While some attempts are a bit lame (i.e.: cardboard cutouts), T-Mobile did an absolutely brilliant job of capturing attention with a hilarious spoof of the popular JK Wedding Entrance Dance, which was also imitated on The Office.
This kind of marketing is so smart and creative, and reminds me of what Old Spice did last July. In case you haven’t seen the video, it’s embedded below.
On the other side of things, one of our long-time bloggers, Molly Galler, is moving on after two and a half years of blogging. While you won’t be able to read her social media analysis anymore, you can still follow her pop culture musings on her personal blog, Pop. Shop. Bop.
And in honor of this post’s title, here is a video for your entertainment:
