Social Media In This Hobby

Discuss all things 'aviation' that do not fit into a more appropriate forum
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Tommy
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Social Media In This Hobby

Post by Tommy »

Credit to Sam for giving the heads up to this, which we've just been discussing privately - an interesting thread on the recent first flight from Touluse to Doha of the Qatar Airways A350-1000.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/pauls_trips/status/966325802458648582[/tweet]

Qatar Airways didn't fill the aircraft with standard-fare journalists, but rather 20-something Instagramers and Tweeters, who, of course, naturally, did nothing but praise everything and everyone involved, and the content that was provided, wasn't much more than a couple of pretty pictures and some accompanying hashtags. One of the most prolific is this chap, a self-proclaimed "Aviation Analyst": https://twitter.com/AlexInAir, http://nordic.businessinsider.com/alex- ... nes-2017-5

I think it's more of a testament to where we are these days, and not limited to social media. It seems the same for "bedroom websites", too. Organisations, air arms, companies etc give independent persons "access" that is normally reserved for a privileged few in the name of journalism, and said individuals are so happy with the access (and not wishing to spoil any future chances) that all they write is a happy-clappy all sunshine and daisies piece about how everything is wonderful, rather than the more traditional journalism (who aren't absolved from this) which would normally take a more nuanced approach.

Seems to me that gone are the days that nuanced articles were written and replaced by a selfie by an unqualified teenager and a couple of hashtags. That's to say nothing of people not making it clear that this is advertorial or paid-for content.

Likewise aviation enthusiasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook et al who will drum-up a Tweet and tag a big account because "RAF Typhoon! Best in the world!!" is more likely to get a retweet (and therefore more likes/retweets etc) from BAE and/or the RAF Typhoon team than a standard comment.

So, there's a lot going on in this post, but the question is, what are people's thoughts on the way social media is shaping this hobby?

vulcan558
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by vulcan558 »

I say fair play to the young man, 13.000 followers on is account is good publicity.
Some have 100s of thousands of followers on Twitter, facebook etc.its no mean feet to have that many intrested in your posts.

Vlogging is the big thing today, I follow some vloggers, there lifestyle they have got from it is unreal

Facts and figures are the big selling points today in this comercial world.

Now if you was wanting to sell and was looking at advertising in a magazine you would not go with a
Publication that sells 1000 copies per month, you would go with one that sells 10.000 copies per month.

Does not matter how nice your pictures are today, a smart phone is all you need.

The rest is just b...s..t . But it works.

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CJS
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by CJS »

Not just our beloved hobby but pretty much all forms of electronic communication these days. Wheres 20 or even ten years ago your average well written piece might have garnered an audience in the tens of thousands if you were lucky - via print media or latterly blogs (which are virtually old school now) - nowadays you can instantly have millions of people see your work.

Clearly that's going to effect a) how people respond to it, b) how it's written in the first place and c) the effect it has on whatever is being written about.

It works both ways though. As you suggest Tommy, the bubble can and does burst. Take whatever his name was on YouTube who posted the video of the apparent suicide victim in Japan. Hero to zero pretty much instantly.

Trouble is, it's the way things are going (have gone?) - a fuzzy photo of a Typhoon and it's guff (or whatever we're meant to call it) gets all the retweets and the stuff on places like UKAR gets, essentially, ignored.

I suspect the only realistic solution is for high quality photo/journalism sources to figure out a way to permeate into social media more than is currently happening.

Websites and magazines aren't going anywhere soon (much like print newspapers won't) because there'll always be those who value and appreciate the quality, but social media is here to stay and will no doubt continue to evolve - the trick perhaps is how to keep up with it.
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own"

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Ouragan
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by Ouragan »

A lot of print publications are much the same, however. When was the last time you saw an aviation magazine be critical of a museum's approach to its new display, or do something other than quote a squadron commander verbatim on how wonderful their expensive new toy is?

cg_341
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by cg_341 »

vulcan558 wrote:I say fair play to the young man, 13.000 followers on is account is good publicity.

You may have missed this bit then...

[tweet]https://twitter.com/pauls_trips/status/966325843667705856[/tweet]

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Dan O'Hagan
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by Dan O'Hagan »

It's been going on in the enthusiast side of the hobby for years.

A whole website (and briefly, a failed social media site) was set up on the premise of licking the RAF's balls for access because one or two people didn't like the fact that UKAR was openly critical of the RAF. Nothing more than "Operation Access". Thing is, endless interviews with the Tutor display pilot and features on Hawk simulators wears very thin, very quickly.

You only have to look at the Twitter feeds of the Coningsby sycophants, some of the worst photographers you'll ever see, yet because they relentlessly spam, retweet and tag the Reds and BBMF pilots they seem to get access and have their ear. Same is true of the chap who goes to North Weald and runs his own forum (membership: two) and seems to shoot exclusively after sunset.

Sadly in this hobby, it appears that sycophancy pays off and that critical journalism isn't welcome.

Count the number of mainstream publications who've openly questioned VTTS's methods and practices in their pages. I'll give you a clue, it's less than one.

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jalfrezi
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by jalfrezi »

Unfortunately the proliferation of bots, and people selling social media accounts (that already have thousands of followers), makes finding quality social media posts an exercise in sifting through faecal matter to find the hidden gems. Hell, I even see it on Flickr, where people run scripts/bots to favourite thousands of photos per day in the hope that they get their own photos explored. :down:

This is why I've always preferred forums, they're a little more personal and there's 'usually' a good level of knowledge, rather than just a bunch of happy clappers who will say anything is good just to garner likes.

Or maybe I'm just a jaded old fool who's been left behind in the social media rat race...

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Brevet Cable
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by Brevet Cable »

As with non-aviation social media....predominantly vapid dross produced by non-entities with over-inflated egos who appear unwilling ( or unable ) to get a real job in the real world, pandering to the vacuous masses.
panem et circenses.

It's a pity that more businesses & organisations don't take the same action as the Irish hotel-owner did a couple of months ago.

jalfrezi wrote:This is why I've always preferred forums, they're a little more personal and there's 'usually' a good level of knowledge, rather than just a bunch of happy clappers who will say anything is good just to garner likes.

And at least on forums if you disagree with what someone posts you're ( usually ) able to post your opinions without them being deleted and finding yourself blocked/banned.
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Shyft87
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by Shyft87 »

Brevet Cable wrote:And at least on forums if you disagree with what someone posts you're ( usually ) able to post your opinions without them being deleted and finding yourself blocked/banned.


Ah, this happens to me all too often...although admittedly I try to engage flat earthers in discussion and it doesn't go well for them...



This is fast becoming a pet peeve of mine, so here's a short list of things that aren't real jobs: social media influencer, blogger/vlogger, youtube star, instagram model....etc etc

Nige321
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by Nige321 »

There's a thread on 'Alex' over on the dark side...
How on earth does anyone take him seriously, he looks about 14...

https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/605366-who-alex-macheras.html

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effects
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Re: Social Media In This Hobby

Post by effects »

Dan O'Hagan wrote:It's been going on in the enthusiast side of the hobby for years.

A whole website (and briefly, a failed social media site) was set up on the premise of licking the RAF's balls for access because one or two people didn't like the fact that UKAR was openly critical of the RAF. Nothing more than "Operation Access". Thing is, endless interviews with the Tutor display pilot and features on Hawk simulators wears very thin, very quickly.

You only have to look at the Twitter feeds of the Coningsby sycophants, some of the worst photographers you'll ever see, yet because they relentlessly spam, retweet and tag the Reds and BBMF pilots they seem to get access and have their ear. Same is true of the chap who goes to North Weald and runs his own forum (membership: two) and seems to shoot exclusively after sunset.

Sadly in this hobby, it appears that sycophancy pays off and that critical journalism isn't welcome.

Count the number of mainstream publications who've openly questioned VTTS's methods and practices in their pages. I'll give you a clue, it's less than one.

To be fair it is not UKAR that is openly critical of the RAF just mainly you, with comments like accusing highly professional, combat experienced pilots of being cowards.
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