On March 25, the Bronx Zoo released a statement saying a 20-inch Egyptian cobra had escaped. Zoo officials found the snake a few days later, but not before the poisonous snake had made a name for himself in the social media world. The cobra remained a top Twitter trend for at least two days, and a separate Twitter account was created for the snake. The account has generated over 230,000 followers and is still being updated, with tweets such as "It's one of those days where I could just eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Mice Cream."
The cobra wasn't satisfied with just creating a Twitter account. Even after being found in the Reptile House in the zoo, he carried on with his tweets. But in addition, the snake hijacked the Twitter account of
American Idol's host, Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest elaborately staged his account to appear that the cobra had taken over as an April Fool's joke, with the tweet:
I doubt the cobra's Twitter account can keep up its success for too much longer, but it made for a good laugh these past couple weeks.
This is a prime example of the many ways people are using social media. We've mainly been talking about ways we can use it for marketing purposes, but it is also used for fun. Not to mention it probably gave The Bronx Zoo a ton of attention and it helped Ryan Seacrest become more "humanly" with the funny joke. This just proves that social media is all around us, and it helps spread news for things we may find interesting, but may not hear on a news channel. It was also a very unique way to draw attention to the issue at hand.
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny. I heard about the snake getting loose but I didn't know about the Twitter account. There are many ways to use social media and as we discuss in class there are a ton of marketing opportunities but some come in the most unexpected ways. This was not something that The Bronx Zoo started but yet they still have gained alot of publicity from it.
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ReplyDeleteThe types of things that make it big in social media baffle me. It is amazing the amount of attention a lost snake can acquire through social media. I think some people take things a little too far sometimes using social media. While things like the snake's Twitter account are entertaining and get attention for the zoo where it was housed, I find it unnecessary and somewhat annoying.I barely have time to maintain my own Twitter account, let alone an account for an animal. Each to his own, I suppose!
ReplyDeleteKatie all I have to say is that great post. Crazy that really happened?? Man if snakes are getting out of the zoo’s its game over. It’s funny to me to see what will grab the reader’s attention. It can be something simple as the title “snake escapes” and all of the sudden there is a following of 23000 people. In this day in age it’s whatever is catching and to the point.
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