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Digiorno’s #WhyIStayed #WhyILeft Social Media Disaster
Twitter and Facebook alike are trending with the hashtags #WhyIStayed & #WhyILeft. The trend is in response to Ray Rice domestic abuse tape being released this week and the response of his now wife, Janay Rice on social media. Janay, the victim of the video, expressed the following statement on her Instagram account this morning:
“I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I’m mourning the death of my closest friend,” Janay Rice wrote. “But to have to accept the fact that it’s reality is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that [the] media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass [off] for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific.
“THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don’t you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you’ve succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is! Ravensnation we love you!”
After her post the world of social media began weighing in on the victimization on domestic violence through the trending hashtags #WhyILeft & #WhyIStayed. Both male and female participants shared their stories of survival with the social media universe. These personal stories have given everyone a glimpse into the mind of not only the abused, but the mind of abusers also.
Here are some of the responses:
Social media trends like #WhyIStayed & #WhyILeft hold a lot of power if they are used correctly. Unfortunately for someone at Digiorno Pizza it can also be a super fast way to anger your fanbase if used incorrectly. As pictured below, someone from Digiorno made the mistake of tweeting out an extremely inappropriate response to the #WhyIStayed #WhyILeft hashtag trend. The tweet stated: “#WhyIStayed You had pizza.”.
Twitter users were less than thrilled with the company for trying to promote a product by hijacking a personally touching subject. Some users even went so far as to try to oust the individual responsible while others commented on the harsh backlash that the Digiorno social media team was facing.
The Internet can be a very unforgiving place. Anyone working in social media can empathize with the social media team over at Digiorno today. By trying to save a few minutes on researching a hashtag, because of 140 characters or less, a person could be looking for new employment by tomorrow. Whomever is responsible has been working overtime to try to make things right. Everyone that has tweeted about the mistake has received a personalized apology from the companies Twitter page. Hopefully for this management team, a little groveling can go a long way. You can guarantee that this person will never post about a hashtag again without a lot of research.
The Future Of Twitter Dims As Twitpic Says Goodbye
Twitpic Is Closing Up Shop & Giving Twitter The Blame
Twitpic is closing up shop and it’s placing the full blame on Twitter. Founder and CEO of Twitpic, Noah Everett, made the announcement this week that his company would stop all operations on September 25, 2014. According to Everett, Twitter’s legal team made contact with Twitpic’s attorneys and insisted that they abandon their trademark application. If Twitpic refused to comply then Twitter threatened that it would remove the service’s access to their API, the code that allows Twitpic’s users access to share their photos on Twitter.
“Unfortunately we do not have the resources to fend off a large company like Twitter to maintain our mark which we believe whole-heartedly is rightfully ours,” Everett wrote. “Therefore, we have decided to shut down Twitpic.”
“We’re sad to see Twitpic is shutting down,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Twitter responded to questions about the Trademark inqury: “We’re sad to see Twitpic is shutting down. We encourage developers to build on top of the Twitter service, as Twitpic has done for years, and we made it clear that they could operate using the Twitpic name. Of course, we also have to protect our brand, and that includes trademarks tied to the brand.”
What Will Happen To Twitpic Content After September 25, 2014
All of the content on Twitpic will be gone forever after Septemeber 25, 2014. Don’t fret though, users won’t have to work too hard to get copies of their content before the site is shut down. A download feature where users can retrieve all of their photos and videos quickly and easily will be added to the main site in the upcoming days.
#RIPTwitter May Be Sooner Than We Think
The sad news of Twitpic’s demise isn’t as much about losing one service attached to Twitter, it brings a level of uncertainty to future developers. Why create compatible sites if you are unable to trademark your work? We will have to wait and see what type of affect the Twitpic decision will have on the future of integrated Twitter applications but it’s sure to have some sort of effect on the Twitter’s future.
Twitpic’s closure news came in hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter is planning to debut a Facebook-style, algorithmically curated newsfeed which created a huge backlash among Twitter users, even coining the hashtag #RIPTwitter. If the social media giant continues to lose support of users, investors, and developers it could follow in the grim footsteps of other extinct social media dinosaurs such as Myspace.
Are you sad to see Twitpic go? Does this change your outlook on the future of Twitter?
Social Esteem Media 