Friday, July 08, 2011

The power of Social Media - the new News of the World

News International has announced the closure of News of the World.

We all know this is the result of the hacking scandal - but why close?

Ultimately the masthead was being rapidly abandoned by advertisers - in part fuelled by a Twitter campaign.

And Facebook provided a place for others to vent anger. I heard a freport but can't find it that a Facebook group was encouraging people to confront anyone with a copy of NotW to get them not to buy another.

The interesting question is whether NotW is the only British tabloid to engage in the hacking, with one Australian academic speculating that others were at it too.

This is another example of "mob-rule" this time potentially positive. But in a highly connected world everyone in business and politics needs to understand how what once might have been a mere legal problem or embarrassment can turn into complete devastation very, very quickly.

Meanwhile the question remains how far up the tree there was knowledge of these practices?

Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est

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