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NYPD attempts to crowdsource PR photos. Hilarity ensues.
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Never hire Wile E. Coyote to do your PR.Report
Not just clueless, but the acme of cluelessness.Report
New York City Cops
They ain’t too smart
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vhgYg_ktRdEReport
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/mynypd-hashtag-promptly-hijacked.htmlReport
You know how Jaybird always mentions that prison rape jokes make him feel something other than the ha-has?
That’s how I feel about this story.Report
It’s definitely not ha ha funny, but it reaffirms why I love Twitter. Whatever agenda you may think you’re working, Twitter will show you it has another agenda, and it’s louder than you are.Report
Great point. I don’t know how organic or organized this response was — and I do think spontaneous reactions and movements should be viewed differently (not better, not worse, just differently) than more calculated ones — but nonetheless it was a stellar way to not only highlight issues with police/civilian* relations, but also to point out the silliness of a group like the NYPD running such a disingenuous PR campaign. You want to improve your public image? Improve your actual public relations. Don’t just put up a bunch of pictures of happy people and say, “See? FIXED!”
* I don’t know if this is the right way to note the difference between the police and those they serve. Referring to the latter as civilians implies the police are non-civilians, which I find problematic. I’m just not sure what better language there is as a shorthand.Report
@kazzy
Referring to the latter as civilians implies the police are non-civilians, which I find problematic.
Perhaps we could switch to “public servants/citizens”?Report
That is certainly better, @mad-rocket-scientist , though it’s not quite as specific, since public servants is an umbrella term covering more than just the police. Police/citizens might be slightly better, but I’m not sure. I remember this being a fairly regularly topic of discussion in the blogs on Balko’s old site, which is what got me thinking about it.Report
Actually I think it is ROFL-LMAO funny.Report
I don’t think police abuse is funny. I think it is funny insofar as the NYPD look like complete and utter doofuses and the fact that they seemingly had no idea this could go awry is humorous. I imagine the planning meeting taking place and someone saying, “Great idea. What could go wrong?” and every slapping each other on the back. Jump cut to yesterday’s Twitter feed. That’s funny. To me at least.Report
I could see how someone would say that this is actually “sunlight”.Report
The PR people from the NYPD were saying that, fer crissakes!
(also: good job, random PR person. Admitting that something that makes you look really stupid might actually have some benefits!)Report
Agreed.
Let’s be clear… not every NYPD officer is a thug looking to crack skulls with a baton. Not every interaction they have is marked by violence, abuse of power, fear, or intimidation. And whenever you crowd source feedback — especially if there is a certain level of anonymity available — it is usually going to overstate the negatives; people are far more likely to take steps to lodge a complaint than they are to provide positive feedback.
Let’s hope the NYPD learns from this. Perception matters. Even if the instances of abuse are far less frequent than the Twitter campaign would indicate, if they represent how the public at large feels about the force, that is a very real issue to address.Report
Some people are always going to hijack a good faith effort to their own ends.Report
@notme
“Some people are always going to hijack a good faith effort to their own ends.”
true, but enough about what the nypd has done to the concept of police work.
#rimshotReport
My wife sent me a text the other day with hashtags in it.
I had to tell her, honey, I love you very much, but please don’t use hashtags when we converse, ever again.
So, @dhex: Honey, I love you very much…;-)Report
#oldpeople #getoffmylawnReport
Young people today, what with their MyFacin’ and their Twister hash-taggin’…in my day we just had pudding pops, and we liked it!Report
if it makes you feel better i say “pound” instead of “hashtag”.Report
Every once in a while R will put hashtags in text messages. I admit that it makes me roll my eyes, but I have been trying to come up with some really cheesy line about her hashtags trending in my heart.
Roses are red,
At leas the top part.
When you hashtag me, baby
It trends in my heart.Report
I don’t use Twitter and I’m not sure if hashtags actually “work” anywhere else, but I use them sporadically on FB, text, or email mostly as a joke. I think the longer and more convoluted, the better.
For instance, #hashtagsareawesomewhydontweusethemmoreofteneverywhereallthetimeReport
#octothorpeReport
@dhex
i say “pound” instead of “hashtag”.
Oh I can see that getting amusing in a hurry.
“pound-oldpeople”
“pound-getoffmylawn”Report
I think of it less as a hijack & more as (hopefully) a wake-up call.
Perhaps every government agency should have such a hashtag, great way to provide near real-time feedback as to how effectively it is serving the public.Report
They must be trying to top JP Morgan.Report
I can give a very tepid defense of the JP Morgan bit, in that genuinely trying to do a reddit style AMA is worthwhile (even if self-serving). Just ignore the haters and the trolls (and the hater trolls) and go at it. You will get some small amount of cred of transparency with me, if even on your own terms.
However, the NYPD launch was just a ridiculous and bone-headed attempt at some sort of positive brand identification; something much more like TSA for Kids
(yes, I know it’s a requirement left over from the Clinton administration that just about every US gov site have a ‘kids’ section)Report
Share your good experiences at #mygoldmansachs!Report
Gee,
If the NYPD has problems with it’s interactions with the public, maybe they should change their mode of interaction. I believe the term is “you got owned”.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer buch of fellows.Report