Home › Blog › News spreads even faster…the power of Twitter and Instagram
After another glorious day with team P1D there I was, urgently making my way through the herds of people using the Northern line. Time was not on my side, and neither were the scheduled tubes which were running late! After having to pass up on two tubes because of overcrowding, I finally made it on board and even found a seat…not quite.
I arrive at Kentish Town and hurry to meet my two close friends who were joining me for the concert of a lifetime, well at least in our minds. US rapper Cam’Ron was performing at the Forum, it was his first concert in the UK for 10 years, ‘excited’ was an understatement. We get to the queue and we’re at the front of the line, and even get first choice on seats. So far so good… A few hours later, all of us were eagerly awaiting Cam’Ron to come out on stage, by this time the Forum was jam-packed with people. At 10:30pm the DJ stopped the music to make an announcement that due to unexplained reasons Cam’Ron was not going to be performing. What then ensued was something that I will never forget, as people stormed the stage and began to tear the place apart to show their frustrations, or so we thought at the time.
After making it out we began asking ourselves what could’ve happened to prevent Cam’Ron from performing – enter TWITTER! Thanks to the amazing wonders of the Hashtag, we were able to view the thoughts of hundreds of furious fans. It wasn’t long either before video footage of the incident surfaced, really hitting home just how volatile of a situation it was. People took to Twitter to vent their frustrations at the rapper; my personal favourite Hashtag was #CamRun, genius! Rumours starting spreading quicker than a rash, Cam’Ron had apparently been run out of the concert by a promoter looking to claim back a debt that he had created 10 years prior. That wasn’t all, it was claimed that the people who jumped the stage were in fact part of the promoter’s entourage, strategically placed and ready to pounce at the first sight of the rapper.
As a native of the ghettos of Harlem, Cam’Ron has always been known as a tough guy, someone who is seemingly untouchable. Now, with his public image up in smoke surely there was no way of coming back from such negative press? Cam’Ron and his team finally broke their silence on Instagram, posting a hilarious video of him and his girlfriend Salsa dancing at home during the stage crash. Cam’Ron also noted his extensive version of the story in the ‘comments’ section, but he wasn’t done there. A day later Cam’Ron posted another entertaining video, which for me, was enough to swing the pendulum back in his for favour! I was a restored fan once again, albeit extremely gutted about not seeing him perform. View all of the videos here
So, what to take away from all this you may ask? Well, I would like to simply examine what happened from a digital perspective; how Cam’Ron was able to turn hundreds of negative stories about him ‘no-showing’ to his own concert, the topic of days of Tweets, by simply uploading a few 15 x second Insta-videos that essentially poked fun at the entire incident – a truly clever move. If this doesn’t convey the influence of social media in today’s society I’m not sure what else will!? Moral of the story, a strategic content plan will always benefit in the short and long-term so make sure you start planning your content, and wait for the right moment to post! It can mean the difference between sustaining your existing fan base, and broadening out to the masses. PLAN AHEAD.
Photo Source: www.mobilemarketingwatch.com