AC Transit Bus Fight - An evolving example of social media power.
Being that it is still an evolving issue, I thought I’d post it, for anybody that’s interested in how social media works to follow it as it moves throught its course. My interest is solely from an interactive social media point of view, but be warned it is very racially charged, violent and there is a lot of course language.
Sometime on 16 Feb a video of an interracial fight on a San Francisco Bus between an an older Caucasian guy and a younger African American guy was published on YouTube.
6 days later, the main videos have gotten over 2.5 million hits, and there are over 900 response videos, re-posts, and a bunch of tag on posts trying to capture the traffic and interest of this phenomenon. Search YouTube for “AC Transit Bus Fight” to see the growing list of results. The other social media are picking it up as well, with 34 pages on Facebook, for example.
It has a bunch of issues that strike right to the American psyche: violence, racism, senior citizens, veterans, political correctness and “land and order”. All this bound up in YouTube, and the digital space, with lots of follow-on commentary from self appointed pundits.
It is a feast of social science as well as social media. America speaks!
NOTE: there is strong language and violence in the following links.
Original AC Transit Bus Fight video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJFv9SMSMQ
The aftermath, outside the bus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5fnjFVPCek
Interview with the old guy (Epic Beard Man):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni08RoIh5jo
Interview with the female video author:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbsX5j-8T3Y
