Review of “#AskJameis... Hashtag Hijacking.”
A Public Relations Review article by Jimmy Sanderson, Katie Barnes, Christine Williamson and Edward T. Kian titled “How Could Anyone Have Predicted that #AskJameis Would Go Horribly Wrong? Public Relations, Social Media and Hashtag Hijacking” suggests that PR pros need to know the “pulse” of their social media audience to avoid creating a crisis or elevating one. To do so, they explored how active social media audiences hijack social media campaigns through a look at a Florida State University Twitter campaign involving Jameis Winston. For those who are unfamiliar, Winston is a football quarterback currently playing for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and formerly for the NCAA’s Florida State Seminoles football team. On August 10th, 2014, FSU Football’s official Twitter account invited Twitter users to engage in dialogue with Winston through the #AskJameis Q&A effort.
Usually, engaging an audience in a social media conversation pays dividends for organizations and individuals. However, given Winston’s legal troubles leading up to the time of the campaign, it turned out negative results for FSU. Most importantly, Winston was accused of rape in December 2012. Although he was cleared of all charges approximately a year later, many people remained skeptical of the investigation process of FSU and the Tallahassee Police Department. In July 2013, Winston was accused of stealing soda from a Burger King near FSU’s campus. He was also accused of stealing crab legs from a Tallahassee grocery store in April 2014, a few months prior to the #AskJameis campaign.
Unsurprisingly, the campaign backfired in a hurry. The aforementioned researchers used data collection and data analysis to observe the response to the campaign and to investigate exactly how users hijacked the #AskJameis hashtag.
o Researchers used the Radian6 social media tracking program to retrieve tweets containing the #AskJameis hashtag only on the date of the campaign, August 10th, 2014. By the end of the data collection process, researchers were left with 1,397 tweets to analyze.
An analysis of #AskJameis tweets was conducted using constant comparative methodology to develop themes and classify themes into categories. Researchers also found that 193 of the tweets were not relevant to the study, leaving them with a final sample of 1,214 tweets. Five categories were identified that revealed how participants hijacked the hashtag (see table below).
The research by Sanderson et al. identified 3 key implications. The first implication is that the open-access of Twitter allows those outside of the intended audience to participate. In cases such as the #AskJameis hashtag, users are able to hijack the campaign. Although the campaign was tailored to Seminole fans, genuine questions asked of Winston comprised only 2.6% of the tweets analyzed by researchers. The second implication/recommendation is that organizations must consider the “pulse” of social media. What that means is that although a certain social media initiative may be a good idea in a typical situation, organizations must realize when the subject of their plan is controversial and what the public’s attitude is toward that subject. The third implication is that PR professionals need to “distinguish between ‘textbook’ recommendations and applied practices.” The authors went on to suggest that it may be equally beneficial to completely avoid using social media when it is probable that the narrative will become a negative one.
While I do agree with the authors’ implication that the openness and convenience of Twitter allow users to hijack hashtag campaigns and their recommendations for organizations to be attuned to the pulse of social media, I disagree with their recommendation to not use social media. I believe that holding a Twitter Q&A was a terrible idea, but there are alternatives. In the case of Jameis Winston, a campaign that limited user participation could have been beneficial. For example, FSU could have used a storytelling technique such as displaying positive impacts that Winston had on the Tallahassee community. A specific suggestion I would have made for FSU in this case would have been a social responsibility effort involving Winston, such as having him interact with women’s rights groups. The story would then be told on social media, making for a better outcome. Of course, much of this depends on the cooperation and efforts of Winston himself.
