Lynch Mobs,

New Media Moguls

and the Socially
Promiscuous
Themes in UK Social Media 2009

By Mark Iremonger
Head of Digital & Planning
iremonger.m@proximitylondon.com
Proximity London
February 2010
 Content
Introduction 1
Lynch Mobs, Social Promiscuity 2
New Media Moguls
and the Socially New Media Moguls 3

Promiscuous Lynch Mobs and Lobby Groups 4

Themes in UK Social Media 2009 – Bra Wars 5

– Subverting Xmas 7

Pemanent Influencers 9

Conclusion 11

Links 12
 SOCIAL MEDIA

Introduction
Humans are social. We always have been. This makes it a good time to look back at what has
This is why social media platforms have massively been happening in the UK and see what we can
outpaced traditional content providers online. learn that might perhaps be useful or entertaining,
that can be applied to advertising and marketing
So the past six years or so has seen web technology in social media.
enable what we like to do best: catch up, exchange
views, swap stories, find partners, power or allies. We “Lynch Mobs, New Media Moguls and the
laugh, argue, smirk, smile, nod, agree and offer a Socially Promiscuous” identifies themes that have
helping hand. Whatever. been drawn from watching what is going on in
social media.
In the UK, February 2010 is the month that New
Media Age, the UK’s main digital industry news
magazine reports that Facebook is now challenging
Social media platforms have
Google’s Adwords for direct response advertising outstripped traditional content
spend. NMA reports that market leading brands like
O2 (Mobile Telco), Virgin Media (Cable Telco) and platforms.
Vodafone (Mobile Telco) are switching spend away
from paid search towards Facebook advertising
placements. This is a significant indicator of
how social media has grown up in the UK. It has
dramatically changed people’s behaviour online
and is a mainstream part of people’s lives in the UK.
Facebook is the biggest social media platform in
the UK and yet is only six years old. In this short time
it has grown dramatically and quickly integrated
itself into people’s lives, becoming part of their
everyday rituals for staying in touch with friends
and family.

1
 SOCIAL MEDIA

Theme 1 – Social Promiscuity

Social media has given people a new dimension Dunbar’s Number –150.
to their social lives that is fun and convenient. It has
given people new ways to find and make friends, as More recently Professor Dunbar assessed Facebook
well as created new ways of seeing people, through behaviour using the criteria ‘friends you care about
their profiles and networks. and contact at least once a year’, and found that
this number still holds true.
Research in 2009 from nVision confirmed two
interesting facts: About a quarter of people on This Social Promiscuity in new ways to make friends
social media sites in the UK have friends they’ve and meet people is here to stay, but expect a
never met, (who they have regular contact with). backlash against quantity being an indicator of
These are people they have never met face to quality, and see people start to prune their friends
face. These friends are more akin to pen pals of a and followers over the coming year. Expect lots of
non-digital world. More surprisingly than this, nearly ‘defriending’ as people put quality before quantity.
a third of people go on to meet people they’ve Although Social Promiscuity is seductive, if you are
met on social media sites in the flesh. investing time in social media concentrate on ‘who’
So we are finding new ways to make friends and rather than ‘how many’.
the barrier between off and online has really broken
down; online is mainstream, and social media is Social Promiscuity has
central to online.
opened the door to the
At the same time people’s number of friends, New Media Moguls.
followers or contacts is becoming important to
people’s perceived status, which makes it not
unusual to find people with networks of hundreds
and hundreds of people.
Back in the 70s, Robin Dunbar, Professor of
Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University
posited the idea that there is a “cognitive limit
to the number of individuals with whom any one
person can maintain stable relationships.” This
became known as Dunbar’s Number, and is broadly
accepted to be between 135 and 150, and is
based at looking back at society from early tribal
days up until today.

2

Theme 2 – New Media Moguls
One of the new beliefs created by social media is
that people have much more power as consumers.
But the truth is, that for every person who manages
to create real change as a consumer, or a person,
there are millions of people who fail to create any
influence whatsoever.
There is a big gap between the influence most
people like to think they have compared to their
actual ability to influence anything at all.
The Influence Gap.
The difference between
people’s belief and actual
ability to influence.
3
SOCIAL MEDIA
The New Media moguls are the exception to this.
Jon Morter and Beckie Williams are good examples
These are the New Media
of the New Media Moguls. Two people who Moguls. Social media allows
created big waves in the UK in 2009 that are hardly
heard of six months later. Jon is 35, from Essex,
them to connect and motivate
and works for a hi-fi company. He generated networks of people to create
more music single sales than ever before in the
UK. Beckie, a 26 year old Brighton Based writer,
real change, through Lynch
persuaded a leading UK brand to reverse a pricing Mobs and Lobby Groups.
decision and publicly apologise over a period of
about six weeks.
“
Oh bloody hell,” he said, as the consequences
of what he had done became clear. Composing
himself, he said: “I think it just shows that in this
day and age, if you want to say something,
then you can – with the help of the internet and
social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
If enough people are with you, you can beat the
”
status quo. Jon Morter
“
This is absolutely fantastic news. I just want to thank
all the women who have stood up for what they
”
believe in. Beckie Williams
 SOCIAL MEDIA

3 – Lynch Mobs and Lobby Groups

Lynch Mobs and Lobby Groups are
what have driven the observation that
consumers have more power these days.
When conditions are right they can form
very quickly and create real change.
Two examples in the UK in 2009
dramatised the power of the new social
media lynch mobs and lobby groups.

‘What people say

about you is more
important than what
you say to them’.

4
 SOCIAL MEDIA

3.1 – Bra Wars. Beckie vs M&S

In mid 2009 Beckie, created a group called
‘Busts4Justice’ as a vehicle to express her
dissatisfaction that bras at M&S, the UKs market
leader for underwear in the UK, were priced at
£2.00 more for larger cup sizes. How can this
be fair? she asked, when other clothes are not
charged differently for different sizes. She set up
a Facebook group and a Twitter feed.
Mainstream press picked up the story quickly,
dubbing it Bra Wars. This prompted M&S to respond
formally. In their press release they put forward a
fair and considered response that explained their
reasons for charging more. Beckie’s Facebook
group started swelling in numbers and soon
attracted 17,000 members. Beckie bought a single
share in M&S to challenge the company at their
AGM, and everyone followed the story closely in
social media.
The Bust4Justice network grew rapidly. Everyone
had an opinion on bra pricing policy and was
happy to express it online. The story attracted
mainstream press and in the face of a growing
stack of digital content that saw M&S pricing as
being unfair, M&S folded under pressure and did
a dramatic u-turn. They turned this into a positive
and ran an advertising campaign to let people
know they had listened and responded. An
M&S spokesperson said: “We’ve heard what our
customers are telling us that they are unhappy
with the pricing on our DD-plus bras and that
basically we’ve boobed. So from Saturday 9 May
no matter what size you buy, the price is going to
be the same.”

5
 SOCIAL MEDIA

3.1.2 – Bra Wars. Beckie versus M&S

The Bra Wars happened very quickly. Over a space
of several weeks M&S reversed their pricing policy 1,000,000
search results
and invested in an advertising campaign to let worldwide
people know. Looking at the search volumes for connect
Busts4justice in the chart below you can see that Bust4Justice to
there was a big spike in search interest that ended M&S in its digital
footprints
as soon the campaign did.
A more interesting and permanent legacy that
is now attached to M&S for the foreseeable
future is the wealth of content in social and
traditional media that chronicled and tracked
this event. From discussions about the relative
merit of size pricing, to mainstream news stories
and video content.
In the UK a Google search reveals about 50,000
discreet hits for Busts4Justice in the UK and nearly
1,000,000 worldwide.

M&S quickly lost the bra war,

reversing its pricing policy in
a dramatic u-turn in the face
of a determined lobby group
made possible by social media.
Search and news
reference spike
over just four
weeks

6
 SOCIAL MEDIA

3.2.1 – Subverting Xmas. RATM versus X Factor

UK Xmas Number 1s have been dominated by the Sir Paul summed up the situation nicely in an
TV talent show The X Factor in the UK for the past interview with Sky News: ““Everyone expects Joe to
six years. The show attracts up to 19 million viewers do it, and if he goes to No1 then good luck to him.
(63% audience share) in the UK and 10 million votes He’s just some kid with a career ahead. I’ve got
where cast in series six. It has been taken as a given nothing against that, but it would be kind of funny if
that the winner of the infamous TV talent show will Rage Against The Machine got it because it would
enjoy taking the Xmas Number 1 music single slot, prove a point.”
because of the timing and popularity of the show.
In an incredible two week period in December
2009 the UK saw millions of people mobilise across
Facebook and Twitter to generate unprecedented
music downloads, the X-Factor winner Joe
McElderry was pipped to the post.
Millions of people in the UK celebrated Xmas 2009
with the most unlikely of songs at Number 1. Little
known rock band, Rage Against the Machine had
an unexpected and unimaginable moment of
glory when their single, Killing in the Name beat
X Factor winner, Jo McElderry’s The Climb. At the
end of a nail biting week that broke UK singles
sales records, as the mainstream TV show X-Factor
battled it out against a determined and huge social
media movement to disrupt what was seen as the
inevitable. Facebook
groups often
This campaign was very different from Bra Wars. had up to one
It mobilised millions of people in the UK and million fans
spawned thousands of pieces of user generated
content. The band Rage Against the Machine
stepped in, offering a free concert in the UK, and
to contribute sales proceeds to charity. The social
media movement came under intense media
speculation. Everyone from X Factor TV producer
Simon Cowell to Sir Paul McCartney had a view.

7
 SOCIAL MEDIA

3.2.2 – Subverting Xmas. RATM versus X Factor

The campaign was kicked off by New Media Mogul
Jon Morter, on his second attempt, having failed to
get traction the year before.
A record breaking 4.22 million singles were
purchased in the UK over the 7 day period.
The charts below show how X-Factor search volume
has matched the shows increasing popularity over
the past six years, and how the RATM campaign
generated massive news volume. At the peak of
the campaign Rage Against the Machine briefly
out stripped ‘X Factor’ in search volume. This is a
powerful dramatisation of the power social media
has to raise awareness over a very short period. Generated
st £93,700
charity donations
In the words of RATM, this was “A historic grassroots on Justgiving
rebellion made our song ‘Killing in the Name’ the
number one Christmas single of 2009. The people
of the UK toppled the X-Factor giant, raised a great
deal of money for homeless charities, and shocked
the world. As a thank you to our UK fans and
freedom fighters we promised to play a free show.
Well...here we come. June 6th, Finsbury Park, the ‘X factor’ news
reference volume
celebration/party/revolution is ON!!” - Tom Morello
‘X factor’
search volume
Lobby Group or Lynch ‘X factor’ (red)
& ‘rage against
Mob? RATM versus X Factor the machine’
(blue) search
dramatically demonstrates volume and
news volume

how networked consumers

can create change, generate
value and disrupt established
media power.

8
 SOCIAL MEDIA

4 – Permanent Influencers – identifying and

influencing the real directors of consumer sentiment
While the New Media Moguls will come and then they should be an immediate priority when
go, briefly creating dramatic Lynch Groups and considering social media activity.
Lobby Groups the Permanent influencers have
always been around. These are the people who If you can’t build a relationship with them, watch
have a vested interest; a personal or professional them closely and have a strategy that at the least
connection with a given subject or community. balances content that they may be producing.
Social media has made it much easier to identify In the UK Proximity London reached 11% of young
and observe more of them. people in the UK by embarking on a co-creation
They are a tiny, but influential subset of Forrester’s project with just 12 YouTube video bloggers.
‘Creators’ group (that make up 15% of online Online conversations are facilitated by people,
adults in the UK). ‘Creators’ are identified as either networks and search, and fuelled by content. The
publishing a blog, web pages, uploading video or Permanent Influencers are the content generators.
audio they created, or publishing articles or stories
online at least once a month. The Permanent
Influencers have a disproportionate effect on the
The Permanent Influencer
conversations that play out on and offline. dilemma is ‘What am I going
This is because they are the people who are to say today?”. Brands can help
pushing content and opinions into the social media
space. What they publish is what stimulates debate.
answer this question because
A brand can choose to try to be a Permanent
they have resources, insights
Influencer, and/or to build relationships with existing, and expertise the influencers
established Permanent Influencers. Identifying
Influencers using listening and social media tools
can benefit from accessing.
like Proximity’s ‘Six Sense’ is simple, and analysing
the types of conversations they stimulate gives
a valuable insight into what is important.
In some cases
Permanent Influencers need to be listened to, it will be better
responded to, understood and held close. to invest
If you can build a mutually beneficial relationship in influencer
with them, this should be a key step in influencing relationships
online conversations. If you can identify the rather than go
Permanent Influencers who relate to your brand directly to
consumers.
9
 SOCIAL MEDIA

Conclusion
Social Promiscuity, New Media Moguls, Lynch Mobs, Lobby Groups and Permanent Influencers have
all made themselves felt in the UK in 2009.
Social Media is a natural part of people’s everyday lives in the UK, and as social media platforms mature
they are opening up incredible opportunities for brands to gain insight, engage and influence consumers.
In 2010 in the UK expect to see people cutting back their networks to put quality ahead of quantity.
New Media Moguls will come and go, bringing Lynch Mobs and Lobby Groups with them. Listening to
and responding to these new social phenomena opens up real opportunities and challenges for brands.
The Permanent Influencers are here to stay, and for brands, identifying, listening, understanding and
responding to these key conversation starters and sentiment builders will be key to social media marketing
over the next 24 months.
If you’d like to find out more about how Proximity helps brands connect with consumers in social media,
or have any questions about this paper please get in touch.

Proximity Worldwide Proximity London

Simon Bond Mark Iremonger
Global Head of Business Development Head of Digital Planning
simon.bond@proximityworld.com iremonger.m@proximitylondon.com

11

Links
Bra Wars
Busts 4 Justice Facebook Group –
http://www.facebook.com/group.
php?gid=18589103563
Busts 4 Justice Twitter Feed –
http://twitter.com/busts4justice
Telegraph reporting –
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2286647/
Busts-4-Justice-Marks-and-Spencers-defends-extra-
tax-on-bigger-bras.html
12
SOCIAL MEDIA
Subverting Christmas
Rage Against the Machine BBC Interview, YouTube –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPYIShaX1s
Rage Against the Machine Website –
http://www.ratm.com/
Rage Against the Machine Killing in the Name –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-
S6OY&feature=fvw
Joe McElderry singing The Climb on X-Factor,
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jEca0ZnzOKw
Joe McElderry official video, YouTube –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLC-DGiPBRU
Joe McElderry YouTube page –
http://www.youtube.com/user/JoeMcElderryTV