Sri Lanka Social Media Weekly News Update

Sri Lanka Weekly Social Media News Update 19/06/2017

Here’s our latest social media update on what went viral the last week in Sri Lanka and across the world

This week our team wrote about:

Our Blogs

 

 

What Went Viral in Sri Lanka?

 

  • Dengue reaches epidemic levels in Sri Lanka

 

With the onset of the seasonal monsoons, the dengue fever virus has come back again, this time with renewed force. Many of the hospitals around the country have had to stop taking in patients, as their wards are completely full and they have run out of beds. This leaves patients at great risk as not everybody can afford private treatment. With over 160 people dead and thousands affected, the video discussing the issue went viral on Facebook, with many blaming the government of not handling the garbage disposal system effectively which could have significantly contributed to these unprecedented levels of the disease.

  • A survey was done on the suicide trend in Sri Lanka and if it is ethical to post these incidents on Facebook

There have been several suicides in Sri Lanka within the past month which have great similarities to one another. Most of these suicides were committed on railway tracks. The video below summarizes a survey which was carried out to find out the opinion of the general public on whether it is wise and ethical to publicize these events on social media. While several people mentioned that there is awareness created by social media which is positive, the majority also criticized the fact that on most occasions, the details given are too explicit, incorrect and can cause a serious invasion of privacy to the family of the deceased. Several people also stated that by the unwanted amount of publicity that has been generated on the matter through Facebook, there could be some kind of motivation for others who consider suicide as the solution to their problems.

This Week’s International Hubbub

  • Grenfell Tower catches fire in London.

The Grenfell Tower in West London caught fire in the early hours of the morning of the 14th June 2017. The death toll is now suspected to be 58 and many are missing. The videos and posts shared by victims on Snapchat, during the minutes after the fire broke out and they realized they were trapped inside,  have gone viral on social media over the past week.

  • Tom Felton, Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter takes to the streets with his guitar; goes unrecognized

The popular actor of Harry Potter, Tom Felton, was recorded playing his guitar and singing on the streets. However, strangely people did not recognize him and therefore seems to have missed a good opportunity to have had a chat with this famous star. The video, however, has gone viral on Facebook with over 32k views.

Stats of the Week

The media Facebook page for Madyawediya ranked among the top five fastest growing pages in Sri Lanka. They do maintain a Youtube channel as well, however, there is room for improvement on the Youtube end because the videos are not updated as much as their Facebook page. They do have a good number of views, but given the context of what they do, the numbers can be increased in terms of subscribers and even the total amount of videos added if the channel is regularly updated.

Madyawediya YouTube Channel statistics are as follows:
Total Subscribers -1,598
Total Videos -236
Total views -960,454

sri lanka weekly social media updates

Given the critical condition of the country these days, it is not surprising that the Facebook page of President, Maithreepala Sirisena has ranked among the top five fastest growing society pages on Facebook. While there are many videos uploaded to the Youtube channel, the number of subscribers and overall views remain low.

Maithripala Sirisena YouTube Channel statistics are as follows:

Total Subscribers -1,204
Total Videos -911
Total views -472,902

sri lanka weekly social media news updates

Things you should know

  • Facebook celebrates the GIF’s 30th birthday in style

Facebook celebrated the 30th birthday of the GIF by letting users comment using GIFs in instances where words failed them. They also carried out a poll asking users to comment on how they thought was the correct way to pronounce the word GIF.

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