Here’ our latest review of what went viral on social media last week in Sri Lanka and around the world.
This week our team wrote about;
Our Blogs
- Wilpattu and Social Media; how are the campaigns working towards saving Wilpattu faring so far?
What went Viral in Sri Lanka?
- Violence in Ginthota
The fights that occurred between Sinhalese and Muslim communities in the Ginthota area caused many injuries and the destruction of public property. The law had to intervene, imposing curfew in the areas affected so as to calm down the situation and stop anymore live from being harmed. The incident is one that went viral on all platform of social media in Sri Lanka last week.
ගිංතොට සිංහල – මුස්ලිම් ගැටුමක් ඇති වි ඇත, දැනට එම ප්රදේශයට ඇඳිරි නිතිය පනවා ඇත. pic.twitter.com/r49k8rP39B
— Indrajith Bandara (@Indrajithonline) November 18, 2017
- The rally organised by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
The rally that was held in Anuradhapura by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the Joint Opposition was one that saw hundreds of people flock to the area. The Twitter account of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, tweeted these images that received good response from users.
The rally organised by the #SriLanka Podujana Peramuna and the Joint Opposition in Anuradhapura. pic.twitter.com/XJCVxU3tGa
— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) November 12, 2017
- Calls between Arjun Mahendra and politicians on treasury bond
The bond scam of the Central Bank is now no longer a secret to the public. The many telephone calls made between Arjun Aloysius and many politicians have been brought to light and investigations have gone in many directions. The politicians involved, claim that the calls being uncovered in such a manner is in violation of their parliament rights. The question is, what about the scamming of public capital? This video received a lot of comments, reactions and shares last week on Facebook.
This Week’s International Hubbub
- Zimbabwe army live broadcast
This video posted on Twitter of the Army statement that requested the youth of the nation to stay away from violent behaviour and not be enticed by money was something that received a lot of response on Twitter. This in the light of the various controversies with relation to Robert Mugabe who has served as president since 1987 seems to have piqued the interest of many.
Army statement live on Zimbabwe Broadcast Corporation. pic.twitter.com/3XOYkVXIw9
— Trevor Ncube (@TrevorNcube) November 15, 2017
- Japanese rail company apologises after train leaves 20 seconds early
The Tsukuba Express in Japan left 20 seconds earlier than the due time and the operator who believed that this is a grave error apologized to commuters for the “severe inconvenience” they may have experienced because of this. The apology is one that had millions around the world smiling and perhaps dreaming for a day when this level of attention to detail happens in their countries.
Insta of the Week
- The beauty of Sri Lanka in an image
This image of a tree climber swinging from a coconut tree on the beach was something that got many likes on Instagram last week, although we are not sure if the swinging is part of the tree climbing process or if it just for fun, it sure looks great.
- The Ginthota protest and attacks
This Indonesian Insta account posted an account of the Ginthota clashes as follows, after havo broke out on Friday, “Clashes between the Buddhist community and the Muslim minority occurred in the southern coastal town of Ginthota, Sri Lanka. Four people were reported injured, while police detained 19 people in clashes on Friday (17/11/2017)”
What’s Trending?
- Namal and Sujeewa’s parliament ruckus
The exchanges between ministers Namal and Sujeewa was trending last week on Youtube. The exchange took a bit of a rough turn with both sides insulting and shouting at each other trying to prove a point. The video has a total of 54,696 views.
- A long overdue reunion
Sherry, a Sri Lankan living abroad was looking for her biological mother in Sri Lanka for a long time and finally managed to track her whereabouts and meet her after 26 long years. The video explaining the turn of events posted by the News 1st channel gathered a total of 289.181 views on YouTube.
Stats of the Week
Bro is a Facebook page that has ranked again and again among the top five fastest growing community Facebook pages in Sri Lanka. They do not use YouTube in a timely manner and has no good relationship with it despite the fact that their Facebook page seems to be growing day by day.
Bro – බ්රෝ YouTube Channel statistics are as follows:
Total Subscribers -60
Total Videos -8
Total views -59,434
The UNICEF Sri Lanka Facebook page ranked among the top five fastest growing society pages in the country and they do not maintain a great relationship with their YouTube channel. However, an organization of this nature could easily reach a wider audience and show people the kind of work that they do, if they were o also start cross promoting on YouTube.
UNICEF Sri Lanka YouTube Channel statistics are as follows:
Total Subscribers -290
Total Videos -141
Total views -125,453
Things You Should Know
- Twitter confirms it’s testing a tweetstorm feature
Twitter has confirmed that it is indeed testing on a feature that will allow users to create tweetstorms easily. The series of tweets have served well to overcome the limited character count available on Twitter. However, the new feature looks at letting users write separate tweetstorm entries one by one and then publish to Twitter in a ‘staggered fashion’ with a click on a ‘Tweet All’ tab.