Did TikTok Teens Thwart Tulsa Trump Rally? [Content Made Simple]
Also, a new Twitter feature worth checking out!
TOP OF THE WEEK
TIKTOK TEENS AND K-POP STANS SAY THEY SANK TRUMP RALLY
Did a successful prank inflate attendance expectations for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Okla.?
Quote:
TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music groups claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Mr. Trump’s campaign rally as a prank. After the Trump campaign’s official account @TeamTrump posted a tweet asking supporters to register for free tickets using their phones on June 11, K-pop fan accounts began sharing the information with followers, encouraging them to register for the rally — and then not show.
Commentary:
This article and related conversation dominated my Twitter feed this weekend. A few different powerful online communities, primarily made up of young people, banded together to troll the Trump campaign by signing up as “interested” in tickets for the President’s event in Tulsa on Saturday. The trolls didn’t cause the low turnout, but they did lead the Trump campaign to book an overflow site and to hype up the apparent interest in the event. The tactic isn’t new, but it was definitely a fascinating example of what can happen when a few active online communities band together for a joint project.
ON THE POD
Social Qs #010: A TikTok Primer
It’s all about TikTok! This week we explore the newest social media platform all the kids are raving about. What’s the deal with it? Where does it come from? What is content like there? Join us and get educated on TikTok!
HITTING THE LINKS
Link #1: Crisis Mode: How a CEO Was Pushed Out of a Company Via Twitter
I am all about people in power being held accountable, but the sort of mob justice encouraged by social media concerns me. This is an example of that.
The board’s swift response allowed for two narratives to emerge. Lublin’s friends and advocates saw a 25-year career up in flames without a thorough investigation. While such an investigation might not have saved Lublin’s reputation, it could have quelled allegations about a disgruntled Twitter mob. Her advocates, who The Verge interviewed at the request of her spokesperson, weren’t asking for her to be exonerated. They just wanted some kind of process.
But current and former employees say they’d tried to go through the typical channels and felt their concerns had largely been ignored. Now, a boss who they felt had been cruel to them was leaving, and they’d made it happen on Twitter.
Link #2: “Hell Is Other People”
Just some reflection from me on the perils of always being “on,” and how public performance has come to define our lives.
Were we built to endure the constant surveillance of friend and foe via social media? God knows the extent of social surveillance and pressure we endure today, but does he call it “good”? Or is it a result of the sin that distorted that which was good from the beginning? Does God look at our present state of being always on stage and see it as plight or prosperity?
Link #3: Twitter Rolls Out Audio Tweets on iOS
I don’t have this feature yet! But it looks really cool.
Twitter is rolling out the ability to record audio snippets and attach them to your tweets. The new feature is available first on iOS and launching today for “a limited group of people,” according to the company. “Sometimes 280 characters aren’t enough and some conversational nuances are lost in translation. So starting today, we’re testing a new feature that will add a more human touch to the way we use Twitter — your very own voice,” Twitter’s Maya Patterson and Rémy Bourgoin wrote in a blog post.
If you’ve got access to it, you’ll see a new waveform icon beside the camera icon when composing a tweet. Tap that, and a red record button appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can tap to start recording your message.
THE FUNNY PART
Now that I can share videos in The Funny Part, you may occasionally see some of my favorite clips of all time. Like this one.
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