Here’s what happened across the week on social media in Sri Lanka and around the world
What Went Viral in Sri Lanka?
Sarath Fonseka invited to accept new position to implement discipline in the country.
This video of Minister Rajitha Senarathne stating that the President had requested Sarath Fonseka to step down from his position as minister and accept the position of Army Chief or Overall Commander in order to bring some discipline into the country, especially when it comes to issues like protests went viral. With over 10k views, most of the comments stated that Sarath Fonseka would first have to bring discipline into the members of the parliament before doing so with the general public of the country.
Photoshopped image of the sacred Jethawanaramaya Stupa filled with the Meethotamulla garbage causes social media outrage
A facebook user uploaded a photoshopped image of the religiously, historically and culturally eminent Jethawanaramaya Stupa filled with the massive Meethotamulla garbage dump. The post went viral with almost all the comments on the negative. The creator of the image replied stating that this is no way religiously or politically biased and this was merely his interpretation of the incident that occurred and the indifference of the Sinhalese Buddhist people which he sees as hypocrisy. However, the unclear nature of his statement and lack of justification as to why he specifically decided to do this did not help the backlash that he received. While it must be remembered that artists may perceive certain situations differently than the normal masses, it is also worth noting that while on social media, it’s best to tread carefully on sensitive territory such as this.
The 01st of May Rally Quiz
A social media quiz has been set up asking viewers to comment who they will support on May Day. The options provided are Maithreepala Sirisena, Ranil Wickramasinghe, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The post has gone viral with over 142k views. The strategy used in regard of the upcoming May Day is a clever one. While creating awareness among the public about the rallies that will be held, it also increases engagement for the respective page.
This Week’s International Hubub
20-year-old girl planned her own funeral
A 20 year old bone cancer victim, Racine Pregunta, confessed when her doctors told her that the treatment was failing, that all she wanted to do was to die pretty. She picked out her outfit and her family had brought in the best beauticians to do the dressing and make-up for her body. The members of the family confessed that they sensed a feeling of peace at haveing being able to fulfill her final wish.
Carter Wilkerson’s tweet at Wendy’s is on track to becoming the most retweeted tweet of all time.
16 year old Carter Wilkerson tweeted Wendy’s asking them how many retweets it would take for them to give him an year of free chicken nuggets. Wendy’s came back with a staggering 18 million to which he replied, “consider it done”. Asking help from the Twitterverse, Carter was not disappointed as he rolled on ahead with 01 million retweets as at present. He is only 700,000 tweets away from breaking Ellen Degeneres record tweet at the Oscars. He surpassed Barack Obama’s viral tweet with 940,000 retweets. We think that Twitter really understands the tersm “for the love of nuggets”.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
Stats of the Week
Good interrelation between facebook and youtube in HIRU FM
Fastest Growing Media Facebook Page in Sri Lanka -HIRU FM
Total Subscribers -22,995
Total Videos -1,574
Total views -8,984,295
The fastest growing media Facebook page went to Hiru FM and it was backed by the very good cross-promoting and interrelation that they maintain on their YouTube channel. This proves a social media strategy that has been recognized widely, that good cross-promoting helps to build brand image, exposure and increase engagement across all social media platforms that are in use.
Disparity between Facebook and YouTube for Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa has 1,198,469 Fans on Facebook but has not grown YouTube Subscribers.
Fastest Growing Society Facebook Page in Sri Lanka -Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa YouTube Channel statistics
Total Subscribers -2,207
Total Videos -304
Total views -719,925
This disparity could mean two things: one, is that the amount of exposure on YouTube is not adequate and the other could be that the likes on Facebook may have been bought.
Things you should know
Facebook lets content owners claim ad earnings of pirated videos
Facebook has introduced a method where the true owner of content published will receive revenue instead of those who could possibly be stealing or free-booting it. The Facebook Rights’ Manager tool is responsible for this feature. Instead of manually reviewing the content, the tool allows you to set an automated rule for one of four options when it comes to infringement of content; block immediately, upload but let the owner see the viewing metrics, set revenue to go to the owner or manually review.