Sri Lankan social media is no newcomer to drama. This latest popped up when @90skiddo tweeted:
Why is that the same set of people represent all the events on behalf of the so called #SLTweeps ?
— Darth Shen (@a90skiddo) May 6, 2017
There was immediately a flurry of comments that were clearly divided between two “camps”. The ones that agreed and the ones that disagreed.
The majority of replies to the tweet seemed to assume that this was in regards to the Jetwing Lake opening that was trending under #AyubowanDambulla. A rather familiar group from the #SLTweeps were present at the event. #SLTweeps refers to all the Twitter users in Sri Lanka.
The question that was raised was taken rather personally when it should not have been the case. The trend of using social media influencers to market brand and launch campaigns maybe new to Sri Lanka, but it is quite the norm elsewhere in the world.
Who are social media influencers?
They are individuals with the capability of influencing, as the name suggests, the decisions and opinions of any target audience, mainly, owing to the strength of their following on social media. A very analytical overview of this was provided by Chuti Nona under “Tamasha on Twitter”
The decision, therefore, to have a familiar set of faces at the launch of this new resort by Jetwing, could have been a business related one for the PR and branding of Jetwing, The tweet that questioned this scenario was taken personally, to the extent where a blogpost was written about this matter.
Another blog was written by @90skiddo on medium.com as a reciprocation to the tornado of tweets, personal jabs and other insults that were thrown his way in the light of this one tweet!