#SongbirdStories - The Rest from the Nest of #SocialMedia

Happy Easter y'all! We've arrived at the end of March, the beginning of spring (we hope) and now we're all off eating chocolate to celebrate Jesus coming back to life, or something. It's been a difficult week, Brussels fell victim to an atrocity which cost dozens of lives, we said goodbye to Phife Dawg, one of the most vital figures in hip-hop, as well as former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. In the social media world, things were a bit more muted, but still interesting, so let's just dive in.

Adele's Private Photos Leaked on Facebook Fan Page

Adele.com

Yup, add Adele to the ever lengthening list of famous faces who have had their private photos leaked by way of hacking. This time around, rather than anything sordid, the photos were a mix of childhood shots and images of her ultrasound from her pregnancy. Somehow, that's even creepier, and it makes you wonder why anyone would want access to such sensitive, sentimental material. Supposedly they were access via a breach of her partner's email account, and then posted on a Facebook fan page, prompting immediate reports and complaints.

'Miserable Men of Instagram' Encapsulates Shopping Mall Woes

The face of #miserablemen

A photo posted by Miserable Men (@miserable_men) on Jan 24, 2016 at 4:37pm PST

Is it misogynist to suggest that men only go shopping because their partners dragged them along, and are bored to tears by it? Kinda, but it certainly seems to happen a lot. Everyone has seen it as they've walked between one shop and the next, a guy sat outside a changing room, or at the store entrance, so drained of happiness that you half-expect him to get blown over by a soft breeze. Well, now there's an Instagram page dedicated to capturing this curious, amusing phenomenon. 

Microsoft Face Social Media Backlash Over 'Schoolgirl' Dancers at Xbox Party

They were dancing on podiums.

(Deleted originals to blur faces of the dancers) pic.twitter.com/pG1BxmtbnO

— Kamina Vincent (@spamoir) March 18, 2016

Yep, you read that correctly. In a catastrophically stupid move that made Microsoft look about as out of touch as it's possible to be, they hired a group of 'exotic' dancers dressed as schoolgirls for an Xbox conference in San Francisco. Supposedly, the girls were there to 'interact' with male guests and invite them to the dance floor.

Thing is, there were a few women at the conference too, and a lot of them were pretty offended, enough to start tweeting about the whole thing and posting pictures of it on Instagram, causing Phil Spencer to apologise for it and insist that it wasn't consistent with the company's views. Sexism in gaming is already such a volatile issue that it's hard to understand how the organisers ever thought this would be a good idea.

Facebook Introduce Belgian Flag Overlay

Express

After the Paris attacks, Facebook faced a fairly pronounced backlash for introducing the French flag overlay. The argument went that introducing such a thing was lending unfair weight to Western issues when atrocities were happening elsewhere in the world, but no flag filters were released. At the time, it seemed like Facebook heard people's gripes, and took them on board, but lo and behold, now there's a Belgian one. There doesn't seem to be much of a pronounced backlash yet, but watch this space...

After Stirring Trouble on Twitter, King James Joins Snapchat

Think I just may join the Snap this week. Another way for my fans to ride with me throughout my journey

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 22, 2016

LeBron doesn't have to do much to court controversy. As gifted a player as he is, his relationship with the media is almost as tumultuous as his relationship with Cleveland. The two coalesced in a rather unfortunate manner a few days ago when the NBA player unfollowed the Cavaliers on Twitter and Instagram. The press asked him to explain why, and he just sort of walked off without saying anything. Mere hours later, he jumped back on Twitter to declare that he was planning on joining Snapchat. People are already wondering aloud whether or not this is another part of a bigger plan. 

Old Burger King Ad Dredged Up and Used in Solidarity After Brussels Attacks

pic.twitter.com/JlYNngIFxq

— Christophe Conte (@christopheconte) March 22, 2016

As you might well expect, the outpouring of sympathy and unity in the wake of the Brussels bombings has been massive, but one particular part of it is unexpected, yet fitting. In 2008, Burger King unveiled an ad poster (seen above) which shows fries arranged to resemble a raised middle finger. The ad was aimed at people who despaired of the $2 toll fee on a particular road in New Zealand, and offered a $2 discount for any customer who spent over $10 and showed the ad to staff. Now though, it's being purposed as a potato-flavored FU to those responsible for the attacks in Belgium, which is fitting, since the nation might well have been the birthplace of the food (if it wasn't France, nobody is really sure).

Domino's Introduce a Horrifying New Snapchat Filter

The latest ad campaign for Domino's uses face manipulation technology to 'boggle' people's mouths, making them move around cartoonishly, and freakishly, to say the least. Well, in addition to the advertising, we've also got a new Snapchat filter which enables users to apply the exact same effect to their own mouths. A purpose built GIPHY channel which allows customers to express how they feel about pizza.

Azalea Banks Crosses a Major Boundary on Instagram

Recently, a pretty hefty contingent of the world breathed a big sigh of relief as Azalea Banks decided to get rid of her Twitter account. The R&B star previously had one of the worst reputations of any celebrity on the platform, picking fight after fight. It seemed like maybe she was just as sick of it as everybody else, but then she started doing the exact same thing on Instagram. 

Her most frequent sparring partner has, for a long time, been Iggy Azalea, as Banks seems diametrically objected to her music, style, and more or less everything about her. During the week, Iggy posted that she'd been struggling so much with the backlash that she had even courted suicidal thoughts. Banks responded in a comment: “YAAS, slavemaster, drive that slave truck right off the canyon.” Most social media spats don't warrant any serious discussion, but speaking about suicide in a manner such as that, especially online, is utterly unacceptable.

The White Moose Strikes Again

Daily Mail

Only months after attracted a huge amount of online attention over a sort of pitched battle with a group of reactionary vegetarians and vegans, the owner of the White Moose Cafe in Dublin is up to yet more shenanigans, this time against a pair of dine-and-dashers. The couple had left without paying for breakfast, prompting the owner, Paul Stenson, to threaten to upload CCTV footage of them. They promptly paid the bill over the phone, claiming they had thought that breakfast was included in the price for their stay at the adjoining hotel. 

In a follow up post, Stenson maintained his claim that the couple had tried to get out of paying, calling them fat... erm... somethings and claiming that they'd been rude to the staff. People initially defended the couple against him, but before long a surge of support flared up, with people the world over expressing their desire to visit his cafe, purely because of the Facebook posts. In response to one woman, who claimed he was actually losing business because of the ongoing posts, he actually put up a poll asking the very question. The result? People overwhelmingly said they would go to his restaurant, 1,372 to 31. Go figure.

Callum Davies

Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @Songbird_Callum

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