With the News International/Hackgate scandal dominating the headlines for the foreseeable future it seems only right to dedicate our next blog to the effect on the media. With yesterday’s dramatic developments and Jonnie Marbles’ meteoric rise to notoriety (incidentally, did anybody see his alleged final tweet before the pie episode? ‘It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat’) there is no hotter topic.
As much as I sympathise with Jonnie Marbles’ attitude towards the Murdochs I can’t help but be a little frustrated by his actions. Despite almost getting a shaving foam pie to the face, Rupert Murdoch must be absolutely delighted at the opportunity to appear as a victim of such an attack. Directly after the incident, Twitter was a-flurry with responses to the day’s events. As I use Twitter constantly for PR I couldn’t help but notice the topics that rocketed to the Top Trends in the UK, once again underlining for me the powerful position that Twitter holds in the media today. Indeed, directly after Murdoch’s admission that yesterday was the ‘most humble’ day of his life, the phrase ‘humble pie’ began trending almost immediately.
Countless articles have since emerged including The Guardian’s Twitter ‘sentiment’ analysis. Whilst attitudes towards the Murdochs and News International remains negative, Wendi Deng, the lightning fast wife and defender of Rupert Murdoch, has herself shot to fame, garnering an overwhelmingly positive response from Twitter users worldwide.
When such abhorrent incidents such as the actions of News International come to the fore, Twitter becomes the outlet for the general public (and protesters such as Jonnie Marbles) to vent their frustrations, express their disgust and seize their 15 minutes of fame. More and more journalists are turning to Twitter as a source for quotes and stories. The playing field has never been more level and the thoughts of Joe Public now matter in a way that was inconceivable 5 years ago.
All this is proof, to me, that Twitter really is king. Can you afford not to be on it?
No comments:
Post a Comment