Power of social media seen at Olympics

A social media expert has told a Hamilton audience about being at Valerie Adams’ side when she broke down after failing to win gold at the London Olympics.

Troy Rawhiti-Forbes was guest speaker at the first Hamilton Social Media Club meeting for the year, held at Wintec on Wednesday February 19.

He spoke about the three years he worked as social media editor for the New Zealand Herald from June 2010, including covering the 2012 Olympics where Adams won silver in the shotput.

Rawhiti-Forbes said the news media environment was changing very quickly during his Herald stint.

Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook were being used by a lot of people, and many more people had smart phones.

On the New Zealand scene, two major crises occurred around the same time, he said:

“First there was Christchurch [earthquake], then Pike River [mine collapse], then Christchurch again.  Those events changed everything.”

The dynamic between the media and the public suddenly shifted.

While established media outlets had the stamp of credibility, it was recognised that community contributors also needed to know they were valued.

That led media outlets to question the way they went about reporting.

Rawhiti-Forbes’ power point presentation highlighted in large letters: “Take advantage of a co-dependent relationship.”

He said when Adams finished second at the London Olympics, while other journalists and support people were able to offer condolences, in his role something else happened.

Rawhiti-Forbes began reading the social media feeds to Adams, who began responding directly to what her followers were saying.

Adams was the voice and Rawhiti-Forbes was the means through which these messages were being sent.

The whole process was instant, he said.

“There was no editor, no sub-editor to get approvals from.”

The credibility and trust people have in the media combined with this new-found access through technology, meant the public could now direct where the story went.

Rawhiti-Forbes’ eight years in the mental health sector shone through as he told the social club audience about seeing himself in a role of “duty of care”.

He is currently employed as the communications manager at Telecom New Zealand in Auckland.

• The Hamilton branch of the Social Media Club meets every second month at 6pm, Block R, Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) to share information, ideas and strategies. Students, business people and members of the public are welcome.
• The next Social Media Club is Wed, April 30. For further information, go to  https://www.facebook.com/hamiltonSMC or Twitter @theprofitwizard.