Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Lisa
1. Selfie Game (not so) Strong
This week, Russian police launched a set of guidelines for their citizens, instructing them on how to take safe selfies following a spate of fatal incidents.
The brochure features illustrations that tell people to avoid taking selfies while they are standing in dangerous positions such as next to wild predators, on skyscraper rooftops, next to live wires, or in front of speeding trains.
The guidelines have aptly arrived at a time where we are seeing a rising trend in public places and events banning imposing selfie sticks due to ‘safety concerns’, including football grounds, theme parks, concerts, festivals and the current Wimbledon championships.
The result of this is that people are encouraged to just enjoy the moment, the location, and the people around them instead of recording it all through their sticks for social media.
Selfies have been at the centre of many marketing campaigns in recent years, with brands who are desperate to capture and increase consumer attention. These are often pretty powerful but it isn’t always easy to measure success, because how do you really tell the difference between the genuine brand advocates, and the hopeless attention seekers?
It will be interesting to see if these selfie stick bans and safety guidelines change the way brands use selfies to market themselves.
2. #DontJudgeMeChallenge
Young teens aren’t letting selfie rules or bans get in the way of their fun, as they embark on the newest social media vanity trend in the #DontJudgeMeChallenge.
Participants are sharing videos of themselves with ‘ugly’ features drawn onto their faces, before wiping them off to reveal their ‘natural’ beauty.
I’m too ugly to not take advantage of this opportunity ?? #dontjudgechallange pic.twitter.com/yfOQ9nBOX0
— C Monster (@CaseyyRenea) July 6, 2015
Why? Because apparently it is the new way to tell the world that we shouldn’t immediately judge people by how they look. The #DontJudgeMeChallenge has received a lot of criticism online, from those who feel it does nothing but poke fun at imperfections. Haters have retaliated with a comeback #BeautyInAllChallenge to encourage people to flaunt their flaws instead, and others are simply responding with all kinds of silly parodies to mock the narcissistic challenge.
I CANT BREATHE ??#dontjudgemechallenge pic.twitter.com/yfcV3vGvTa
— Scott Disick (@DisickReactions) July 8, 2015
3. Facebook updates logos
Facebook made a subtle change to its iconic logo this week, tweaking the typeface to make it appear ‘more friendly’.
They’ve also reworked the small silhouettes of a man and woman that linger in the top corner of the page. This change brings the female forward, in a bid to express gender equality.
These updates are tiny, but Facebook is such a massive brand, that people really do feel affected when things change.
4. The Football Association makes a balls-up
The Football Association created a stir on Twitter this week when the official @England account claimed female players could go back to “being mothers, partners and daughters” following their huge success in the World Cup campaign.
The statement didn’t go down particularly well with fans, who stated that the men’s team wouldn’t be described with these labels, but simply as athletes….
For those of you wondering what twitter would have looked like in the 50s, @england has helpfully obliged #Lionesses pic.twitter.com/loQJFPQDV3
— Lee Jenkins (@Lee_T_Jenkins) July 6, 2015
Our #lionesses go back to being professional footballers today, but the FA will always be a bunch of blundering bellends. — Eddie Robson (@EddieRobson) July 6, 2015
For one event paradigmatic of the discrimination the English women overcame, hard to beat *their own FA* not recognizing them as athletes.
— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) July 6, 2015
And the FA hastily removed the tweet, less than an hour after posting it. This PR blunder goes to show that it really doesn’t take long for a single (badly worded) tweet to cause a huge amount of backlash.
5. Wrap music
A Reddit user took a laser cutter and turned a tortilla wrap into a playable music record, creating the most authentic version ever of ‘The Mexican Hat Dance’.