Week 13-

The royal twitterati: how the monarchy learned to love social media

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/16/the-royal-twitterati-how-the-monarchy-learned-to-love-social-media

The Queen almost never takes to Twitter personally – just twice, it seems – but for her aides, social media has become as important as the walkabout, the garden party and her Christmas broadcast in promoting the monarchy brand.

Buckingham Palace and Prince Charles at Clarence House have recently advertised for digital communications officers to sustain their online presence and keep the royal palaces at the forefront of new technology.

Forget the court circular tucked away in “establishment” newspapers. Today’s announcements, and reports of audiences and ambassadorial hand-kissing, land in the Twitter feeds and Instagram timelines of followers almost before bowing guests have departed Her Majesty’s white drawing room. Images are swiftly pinged out into cyberspace – and without the sometimes unflattering filter applied by mainstream media.

For the royals, social media platforms are becoming a huge success. Prince Harry and his “mic drop” antics with granny and the Obamas, promoting the Invictus Games, went viral on Twitter. The prince was broadcast live on Facebook being tested for HIV, garnering enormous publicity and audience reach.

PewDiePie angrily accuses media of 'out-of-context' reports on antisemitic video

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/16/pewdiepie-antisemitic-video-media-wall-street-journal

The YouTuber, who lost support from Walt Disney Company and Google for posts featuring neo-Nazi ‘jokes’, claimed Wall Street Journal was ‘scared’ of him.

YouTube star PewDiePie has released an impassioned, 10-minute diatribe in which he blames the mainstream media for cherry-picking parts of his videos to make him look like an antisemite.

On Tuesday, the Walt Disney Company and Google severed ties with the 27-year-old YouTuber, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, after the Wall Street Journal highlighted the fact that he’d posted several videos featuring antisemitic or neo-Nazi “jokes”, including one where he paid two men to hold a “Death to All Jews” sign. Another video features a man dressed as Jesus saying: “Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong.” 

Kjellberg, who rose to internet fame making videos about video games, is angry that the Wall Street Journal referred to his antisemitic “jokes” as “posts”.