What if Harambe never died
Hello friends,
This title just opened a big wound, didn't it.
For all who don't know who Harambe is: In 2014 there was a video clip that went viral of a gorilla called Harambe: A toddler fell into the place where all the gorillas were chilling. Zoo officials reacted immediately and tried to bring every gorilla back into the cage (away from the toddler). Three gorillas followed the zoo officials, but one stayed out: Harambe. The kid was in the water and Harambe grabbed the toddler by the leg, and picked him out of the moat full of water. Harambe was then shot by a zoo official. You can read the full story on Wikipedia.
This story went viral because of a YouTube video by an anonymous uploader. The reactions were going into two different directions: On one side, you have a gorilla that could potentially kill your child in a brutal manner, that fell into that cage. On the other side, there were parents that couldn't be responsible for the actions of their own toddler, and who could have clearly been more careful. Because of their carelessness, a gorilla died.
Back then, I was so much younger, and even I heard the news of Harambe dying. I remember being really sad about the fact that a gorilla had to die because of such an incident.
But this blog post is not about the past story. I am not denying, that Harambe ever died, and I'm also not some kind of conspiracy theorist. Harambe died. That's a matter of fact.
But what if suddenly a post would blow up on the internet, that Harambe had actually survived?
Welcome to a very interesting scenario.
Misleading others
The power of social media lies within reaching an audience with a post that follows you, because of the kind of things you post. Some people follow memes channels just for entertainment, others follow cooking channels to improve their own skills, and others enjoy following their favorite superstars, just to see a little bit more about their private life.
But the biggest strength of social media is at the same time the biggest risk: Everyone can post whatever they want.
And here comes the big plot twist: Size matters.
Not what you think, silly ;)
The more followers you have, the more people you can reach by publishing a single post.
If you have an account with around 10 subscribers, a video about "Harambe didn't die" would not make it very far. Because there aren't a lot of people trusting you, they would probably just report you, and before you've hit 1k views, your video is gone, and your account probably as well.
But let's say, you can crack an account with a lot of followers: You somehow get access to a global news account. And here you'll drop the bomb: A well-made post, with an eye-catching heading, a well written story, and a title that will shock the world:
"We have been lied to all this time: Harambe never died!"
The reaction would be massive: At first you would receive a huge amount of likes. Everyone would be thinking "What, no fricking way!" and start reposting the shit out of it. Most people will buy into it, because of the social status that you as a news agency have (considering your previous work was good, of course). On social media, people start to trust you. And because they trust you, they will believe what you say and show them more blindly.
Social proof is one of the strongest form of trust that exists.
If many people like you in a social situation, people assume that you must be a likeable person. If many people listen to what you say, people assume that you must be a trustable person. And if you have a lot of followers on social media, people assume that you produce good content.
But that isn't the case every time. Especially on the internet, where you can never be sure if the person behind an account is the actual person. Maybe it's just a social media manager.
That's why you should always try to keep an eye open on what you see. Not everything on the internet is legit. Most of you know that, but tend to forget it occasionally
Social media is fake, and a place where everyone is trying to get your attention for as long as possible. Obviously, it's always on what channels you follow, but if you follow your "recommendations" page (or how the cool kids say, your "feed") long enough, you'll see some weird shit to get attention. Everybody tries to be the center of attention, no matter what.
And with this Harambe post, the attention would be guaranteed. You'd have the biggest uproar ever.
But with the highest peak comes the biggest fall.
Most people would believe you at first, but then a few of them would search for other articles about this shocking news. Sooner or later you'd be called out by many people, who would find out that your post is fake. Your account would get shit on so badly, and you would lose a huge portion of your reputation. You will be now known for your scandal fake post, and not for the content you produce. You could have produced the best content ever, and from now continue to produce the best content ever, and you would still be known for this scandal.
If you abuse social proof, you will lose it forever. Breaking someone's trust is like breaking someone's heart.
With this fake post, you would have played with many people's emotions. The hate would be coming back up, most of the charge coming back to you. People who may have been involved back then would find it incredibly disrespectful.
But you know what the saddest part is? Many people would just see your story, believe it, and never see a post against that post ever.
You just fed them wrong information, and they start to believe by this word.
So because of this social media post, for a few people, Harambe never died: It was one big lie, and they are now the ones who are a tiny bit happier because of that.
Never trust anything blindly on the internet. You all know it, but you hardly ever remember it. Living by the truth is always the way to go.
RIP Harambe.
Our Challenge
If you use social media, I want you all to look at your last few posts on your personal feed. Why are you seeing these posts? Why did you click on that? What did motivate yourself to follow those pages, channels and so on? Do you let yourself be deceived?
Reflect on your usage on social media with those questions, and try to stay sharp: Not everything you see is true, and you don't have to agree with every opinion.
Let social media advice inspire you to think, and don't blindly do everything you see.
Of course, even if you don't use social media, you can look at newspapers, magazines and TV programs and ask yourself: Is this source legit? Can I trust what I see/read?
Try to become aware of what sources you want to take.
My song of the week
I'm in my Linking park phase. No one can stop me, MUHAHAHAHAH. (That's my way of saying "Enjoy this song").
Further Reading
You may want to reduce your social media consumption overall? This will motivate you!
A reminder to be grateful for what you have ;)
Thank you so much for reading today's blog post. I wish you an amazing week! Stay sharp!
Much Love,
Kim