Meme Riding not News Jacking
I've been hearing a fair bit about news-jacking recently, both in terms of the descriptor and the actual activity of brands contributing to something which has captured people’s attention.
Now don't get me wrong I'm right behind the activity in fact I blogged about it in my 2009 post about social currency. However, I've been using a different term, meme riding. Which brings me to the point of this post, I don't like the term news jacking, let me explain why.
First off it has connotations of hijacking which is not the right mind-set to be in at all. This is about joining a conversation not hijacking it, would you attempt to hijack a conversation in a pub, no of course you wouldn't.
Secondly, I don't think ‘news’ is broad enough. A meme is an idea, activity or information that is gaining attention, they are conversations which are growing and getting louder. Can the news media be the springboard or the platform that helps them grow? Sure but that doesn’t mean we should call it news-jacking, because these memes don't have to come via the news media.
T-Mobile’s Flashmob in Liverpool Street Tube station is a great example of how a brand joined a meme that was a growing trend not a news item and a number of brands jump on-board the Chatroulette meme to the benefit of their marketing efforts.
I think the reason this label is being used is partly because this activity is related to a PR tactic, but this meme riding opportunity is quite different and a new label is useful in order to make this point.
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