Social media movements real and imagined
Earthquakes real and imagined on social media
Earthquakes (real and imagined), and unrest have dominated social media of late.
First, the real earth shattering news this past Thursday from South America, via @mashable:
“A 6.5- or 6.4-magnitude earthquake has just hit parts of Peru and Chile, and tweets are flooding in from news sources and folks who were affected by the quake … Folks are using Twitter to share first aid information, including diagrams for treating fractures, and expressing feelings of concern for affected Peruvians.”
As it turned out there were thankfully but 11 injured and minimal damage.
DigitalJournal.com also reported on a highly unexpected Canadian quake:
“On Wednesday, a minor earthquake struck the Canadian province of Quebec with a magnitude of 3.0, according to the United States Geological Survey. The earthquake occurred near St. Lawrence Valley.”
This marks a decided trend where social media is used extensively to report on crises and major world events. As the Mashable story noted:
“We’re seeing a marked spike in the use of social media to spread news, find help and express condolences during and after natural disasters. Following the earthquake in Haiti several months ago, pictures swept across Twitter. The same happened following a Mexicali earthquake last month and recent flooding in the American South.”
Last week marked a very different sort of tectonic shift – “Boobquake”. Sparked by the outrageous comments of a goofball Iranian, Purdue University senior Jennifer McCreight decided half-jokingly to poke fun at extremism, using her blog and Facebook to rally the cleavage. From Wikipedia:
“Boobquake, which took place on April 26, 2010, was devised by Jennifer McCreight, a senior at Purdue University, in response to news reports that Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi had blamed women who dress immodestly for earthquakes … McCreight encouraged her blog’s readers to help her poke fun at Seddiqi by dressing ‘in your immodest clothing to represent Boobquake …With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake. If not, I’m sure Sedighi (sic) can come up with a rational explanation for why the ground didn’t rumble.’ “
From peaceful, even humorous, protest to the violence and upheaval in Greece, where the crowd did not tolerate proposed “austerity measures” at all. As reported by Reuters ”Groups of masked youths hurled petrol bombs, stones and sticks at riot police as nearly 50,000 striking workers and public servants marched to parliament, where a bill dictating pay cuts and tax hikes was due for debate.”
All that angst was terrifyingly captured on cell phones in pictures and video and shared on YouTube and photo sites. As Jolie O’Dell wrote on Mashable.com:
“As riots explode in Greece, pictures and videos are flying around the social web, shared from news sources and folks on the ground. The images and videos we’re seeing are nothing short of otherworldly and terrifying. Riot police don gas masks, violent protesters take over the streets, gun shots ring out and open flames burn in the streets.”
Even amidst the terror, there’s often a wee chuckle or a wry grin. Enter Kanellos, the Greek protest dog. As reported in the Guardian newspaper and subsequently in the Vancouver Sun “The hound has attended every major demonstration in Athens, Greece for the past two and half years … Judging from the shots taken by Reuters and AFP photographers, this mutt has dodged rubber bullets, tear gas and has even been photographed laying down in front of decorated riot police.”
And how, you might ask, does this relate to social media? Kanellos the Greek protest dog now has his own Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/kanellos.dog.
As usual, send me your feedback on Twitter at @dblacombe or via e-mail doug@communicatto.com.
Doug Lacombe is president of communicatto.com, a social media marketing agency.
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Tags: boobquake, Chile, crises, crisis, earthquake, feminist, Greece, Greek, Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi, immodest, Iran, Islam, Jennifer McCreight, Kanellos, Kanellos the Greek protest dog, misogynist, Muslim, Peru, religious, the Greek protest dog
