It is old news that Kanye West, pinhead par excellance, has yet again made a jackass of himself trying to be provocative. Kanye, just a bit of advice, drunk and disorderly is not provocative.
He has already started the apology tour of late night TV and morning talk shows but can a well thought out social media strategy help to rehabilitate the court jester of hip hop?
Perhaps but the mere fact that people are talking about him days after shows that his extreme tactics does help increase sales, even if its for one song or radio plays. So if he tweeted apologies will it help? Perhaps, but my ture question is: is this genuine?
Perhaps but the mere fact that people are talking about him days after shows that his extreme tactics does help increase sales, even if its for one song or radio plays. So if he tweeted apologies will it help? Perhaps, but my ture question is: is this genuine?
Oddly enough the blogosphere were banging away that this was a manufactured controversy on the part of MTV and that Kanye was more than happy to oblige, especially as he and Lady GaGa announced their upcoming tour a few days later. The only thing I don't think they anticipated was the Serena Williams incident at the US Open the night before. It was obvious that that was definitely spontaneous.
Hmm... what a coincidence with Kanye and Lady GaGa. But with Serena, she is infamous for her erratic behavior which is a characteristic trait of hers. It helps her make her different.
I don't think it matters with Kanye. People see by now that even when he apologizes it doesn't mean much. The guy is whacko. As for it being staged, I doubt it. Maybe they originally planned to stage something, but then they realized that Kanye was going to be there and he was probably going to be drunk. So they didnt' have to do anything
So going back to the original question, can social media help Kanye? Well, first it can. Second, US consumers can be a forgiving and totally forget about his antic in no time. Look at Chris Brown. His songs are still playing.
So going back to the original question, can social media help Kanye? Well, first it can. Second, US consumers can be a forgiving and totally forget about his antic in no time. Look at Chris Brown. His songs are still playing.
True about Chris Brown but this difference between him and Kanye is Brown's reputation was really good and his actions, though reprehensible, were related to a relationship. The American public is somewhat forgiving of bizarre behavior when love is involved. Kanye's actions were all about his massive ego and the American public loves to see egomaniacs crash and burn.
I am leaning more and more toward this being a publicity stunt to rev up interest in the upcoming tour because the video for this went semi-viral and it will probably cause more people to go see the show on the chance that he does something equally stupid and they can capture it on their iphones and be the first to post it.
I was watching the show and the response by Taylor Swift was not staged nor was Beyonces as far as I can tell. I could see that they were both upset... and the crowd was even more upset even when kanye's name was mentioned as a nomination Radio City was filled with people booing.
I was watching the show and the response by Taylor Swift was not staged nor was Beyonces as far as I can tell. I could see that they were both upset... and the crowd was even more upset even when kanye's name was mentioned as a nomination Radio City was filled with people booing.
Don't get me wrong, if this was a publicity stunt I in no way think or believe that Beyonce, Taylor Swift, or the audience were part of it. I would lay the blame squarely at the feet of Kanye and MTV might have been complicit.
To my original point, I think this could have been something that if done properly could have been PR gold for Kanye West's upcoming tour. His team could have used the video and turned it into viral gold if it were not for one thing. Kanye has been a jerk far too many times and it is just not interesting anymore, it is obnoxious. And that is why I asked the question of whether or not a well planned social media strategy could save him. My opinion is no, he has too much bad PR baggage.
We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.