Reflection on Social Media Case 2: Ellen Degeneres and most Re-Tweeted Photo
Ellen is one of the most powerful
women in the United States and her tweet was something that was bound to get a
crazy amount of retweets. When she sent her tweet out, she didn’t know that it
could possibly reach the 3 million mark, but she knew the number was going to
ridiculously high. When Carter Wilkerson tweeted to Wendy’s on a quest to receive
free nuggets for a year, he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen and
probably would have been content with only a couple retweets. But that was not
the case, Carters tweet blew up. When it was getting close to Ellen’s tweet,
Ellen did what any smart TV show host would do and invited him to come onto the
Ellen show. When he came on she told everyone if they retweet his tweet then
they have to go retweet hers as well and started a collaboration with Carter.
She said it jokingly but I think she was a little bummed he was on his way to
surpassing her. Carter ended up receiving 3.6 million retweets, surpassing Ellen’s
tweet by over 200k making his tweet the most retweeted tweet ever.
This is a perfect example of how fast things can go viral, and I think it is something
that can be good and bad. Things can go viral on the internet in a bad way by
humiliating someone, making fun of someone or something, or criticizing a
certain topic. But a lot of good comes from things going viral, whether it’s a kid
seeking out free chicken nuggets for a year, or someone trying to find a
missing child.
Social media is a place where information can be spread
extremely fast. With our President being a "social media president" (https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/26/opinions/jones-trump-social-media/index.html) sharing a lot of his thoughts via twitter, I can send a tweet regarding my thoughts to the president of
the United States whenever I want, there’s a high chance he will never read it,
but it is something that anyone can do if they have twitter. I think this is a
beauty of social media, anyone can share their voice, even though one single
person’s opinion is small, it can still be shared on social media and have a
chance to go viral.
http://www.eonline.com/news/849503/ellen-degeneres-oscar-selfie-has-officially-been-dethroned-by-this-tweet-about-chicken-nuggets
https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/wendy-s-nugget-teen-carter-wilkerson-beats-ellen-degeneres-retweet-record-940420163565
I loved how you talked about how anyone can share their voice on social media. I think that is one of the most prominent ways you can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Chad, really liked how you talked about how social media is open for everyone regardless of followers, it gives everyone a voice. I like how you related it back to the president.
ReplyDeleteYou brought a interesting aspect of social media: potentially every person can have a voice.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it was smart of Ellen to collaborate with this kids. I bet him being in her show helped both of them.
Ellen has definitely come a long way to where she is now. Especially after Prof. Parker mentioned that he's seen her ever since she was a kid. I consider her to be unique and full of new ideas as the years come along, however, how in the world did a teenager pull that off?! I guarantee he's not the only one to have made that request for something but I find that astounding.
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