Author Jon Ronson learned his first lesson about public shaming when his identity was stolen on Twitter. His new book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, begins with the story of how some young researchers had forged his identity on Twitter into what they called an “infomorph” or spam bot as an experiment. He found himself “at war with a robot version of myself.”
Ronson eventually won his case in a long convoluted process that included a face-to-face meeting with the twisted academicians who claimed that the internet was not, in fact, the real world. Ronson had reluctantly made a video of the meeting and decided his only recourse was to upload it to YouTube. Commenters began crucifying the three identity thieves—some mercilessly—and eventually the academics took down the fake Twitter account.
Ronson’s book goes on to explore the concept of public shaming and what it does to its victims in a series of well publicized citizen uprisings that begin in social media. It’s all about the swarm.
There was the LA Fitness establishment that refused to cancel the membership of a couple who couldn’t afford to pay their membership after some financial setbacks. Chalk up one for the swarm on social media and a reputation hit for LA Fitness. The trouble with these social media stings is that they do not go away. Every time someone Googles “LA Fitness” the story rears its ugly head. The book is loaded with excellent case studies: journalist and author Jonah Lehrer (faked Bob Dylan quotes in a book), Justine Sacco (infamous PR pro who joked on Twitter she couldn’t get AIDS in Africa because she was white), Lindsey Stone (posted a mocking picture at the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier) and others.
“They were being brought down by people who used to be powerless—bloggers, anyone with a social media account. And the weapon that was felling them was a new one: online shaming. The silenced were getting a voice. It was like the democratization of justice,” Ronson wrote.
The book is fascinating because Ronson interviewed all these victims and told the story about how they lost their personal lives (and even jobs) due to a social media indiscretion from their perspective.
Ronson also writes in depth about Michael Fertik and reputation.com. He convinced Fertik to take on the case of Lindsey Stone so he could follow the reputation recovery process through and chronicle the results. What was interesting was that, in the end, Stone gets a version of her life back but she had to become a different person to do so. I will admit I had my misgivings about Fertik’s work, but after reading the book I have developed a professional respect for his company. Unlike others in his sector, he has morals of sorts. The power of reputation as a business asset has long been researched by such organizations as The Reputation Institute, and the need to cultivate a good reputation is now a part of everyday business operations for savvy brands. Some of this cultivation resides in responsible social media behavior.
There are an abundance of angles and case studies in this book. It is definitely worth a read for any professional in PR, crisis, or media relations. I also think it is a good read—period. We can all see ourselves a little in this book—our quickness to jump on the bandwagon when someone like Justine Sacco screws up and what happens when unscrupulous writers like Gawker’s Sam Biddle rally the troops to ruin somebody’s life in the name of being a watchdog. He compared his feat of helping to bring down Sacco to the civil rights impact of Rosa Parks. To me, that just cheapens what Rosa Parks accomplished. But, it is Gawker after all.
Ronson says of Sacco's demise: “If punching Justine Sacco was ever punching up—and it didn’t seem so to me given that she was an unknown PR woman with 170 Twitter followers—the punching only intensified as she plummeted to the ground.” Ronson does portray Sacco as a pathetic character in the end—someone whose life will never be the same because of her social media screw-up.
But he also takes a look at her social media history and how her habit of sardonic tweets had her walking close to the line before she got publicly crucified. He credits social media and people like Biddle (with large Twitter followings) with creating a feeding frenzy that is fueled by the anonymity and distance created by social media.
Ronson wrote about the evolution of public shaming on social media: “In the early days, we watched celebrities for transgressions. After a while, it wasn’t just transgressions we were keenly watchful for. It was misspeakings. Fury at the terribleness of other people had started to consume us a lot. And the rage that swirled around seemed increasingly in disproportion to whatever stupid things some celebrity had said. It felt different to satire or journalism or criticism. It felt like punishment.”
Ronson writes at length about the disproportionate consequences of internet shaming. “Shamings on the internet are not just. They don’t follow the rules of society that you have basic rights as the accused. You have your day in court. You don’t have any rights when you’re accused on the Internet. And the consequences are worse. It’s worldwide forever.”
Maybe the most interesting piece of the book was a chapter on the subculture of kids that hang out on an app called 4chan to organize bullying campaigns. 4chan is mostly an unmoderated bulletin board with everything from bullying to porn to requests for help with cyber-attacks. One 4chan user described her typical cohorts: “a lot of them are bored, under stimulated, over-persecuted, powerless kids. They know they can’t be anything they want, so they went to the Internet. On the Internet we have power in situations where we would otherwise be powerless.”
The scariest characteristic involved in most of Ronson’s stories? People who did not know how to or had no inclination to use their privacy settings on social media. This book is a huge case for social media responsibility education at every age level—from middle school to the corporate world.
Perhaps the most disturbing chapter of the book was the explanation of how trial lawyers are taught to shame witnesses to win their cases. In the book, Ronson followed a group of expert witnesses through a workshop on shame avoidance. It doesn’t do a lot to bolster your faith in the judicial system.
In the end, Ronson has given us an appalling but realistic look at the culture of public shaming and a road map, with signs, to help us navigate. Highly recommend.
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Reviews with images
Important topic, entertaining delivery, but ultimatley lacks substance—a missed opportunity
The author has chosen their topic well—an exploration of modern-day shame—and the book starts very strongly. A Twitter bot hijacks the author’s online personality, “I was at war with a robot version of myself.” The many stories throughout are entertaining and varied with Ronson’s writing style accessible and breezy.Yet by the end, I’m left with an overall feeling of disappointment. The narrative jumps from one thread to another leaving more questions than answers. I feel entertained but not that much more well-informed about the topic than I did before reading.Side note: I’d love to know how much business online reputation management firms Metal Rabbit and reputation.com got from being featured in this book.
Top reviews from other countries
Keyzer Soze
Imperdible para los tiempos que vivimos
Reviewed in Mexico on May 11, 2020Prahalad Rajkumar
Exposes an important problem In the Social Media age
Reviewed in India on July 15, 2020
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Brilliantly written and fascinating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2020