Michael Jackson: 1958 – 2009
Yesterday afternoon, the news of the sudden death of Michael Jackson stopped me in my tracks.
To rewind:
I was a newspaper arts editor in Toronto when Kurt Cobain died one April Friday in 1994. I vividly remember that day’s somber staff meeting: we changed our entire editorial layout to create a Kurt retrospective. I spent two days writing and re-writing a heartfelt lead op-ed column, discussing the loss with other grieving friends and listening to all my Nirvana CDs.
(I went on to a career in PR and marketing for the Sony Music label in Canada, and I worked on the release of Michael Jackson’s “Invincible”. Although Jackson had become all too vincible by then, shaking that gloved hand for the first time ranks among my all-time most memorable career moments.)
15 years later, my paper’s days-late coverage of Cobain’s death seems so antiquated it borders on absurd, especially compared to the way the whole world was talking within 15 minutes of the death of Michael Jackson. The current seismic tilt in favor of social media is most powerfully on display in moments of grief like these.
The human instinct to gather together to grieve is universal, and spans all centuries and cultures, but how we do it in virtual communities today is frankly fascinating. By now, we all know that texts and photos from EMTs were circulated via hundreds of social media sites minutes after their response to the 911 call from Jackson’s home, and that blog and Twitter conversation proliferated exponentially. TMZ.com reported Jackson’s death several minutes before any traditional media outlet did; within the hour, celebrities by the dozen elected to use blogs and Twitter to express their official condolences.
One of my first calls Thursday night was to my colleague Robert (the head of MMC’s social media department) to compare notes on what we were seeing unfold, and what our profession might glean in the way of insights.
Here are a few things we discussed:
Opinion’s infinite capacity to expand online. This truly is an unprecedented time of public self-expression. The future for PR is about joining and influencing conversation; the days of “managing” it are clearly gone.
Who are the fire-starters? The Michael story was a profound case study of leaders and followers in today’s pop culture social media landscape. Weeks from now, I predict we’ll be talking as much about who said what, and when, as we will about Michael himself.
Trying authenticity on for size. I was moved to tears and laughter more than once on Thursday night by statements from celebrities and industry execs who knew Michael. People talked about how brilliant, reclusive, sincere, totally weird, and unpredictable he was, how he was an iconic artist and a pop culture freak and a plastic surgery addict. Sure, the dead can’t talk back, but I loved how people didn’t feel the need to morph Michael into a saint in order to honor him.
So, over to you what is this sad Michael Jackson news cycle making you think about?
