So who’s afraid of Barbra Streisand?

In 2003 Streisand attempted to sue photographer Kenneth Alderman and pictopia.com for $50 million

In 2003 Streisand attempted to sue photographer Kenneth Alderman and pictopia.com for $50 million

Streisand claimed the publication of this picture – as part of a 12,000 image archive hosted by the

California Coastal Records Project – risked her personal privacy and security

The Project countersued and Streisand lost

The Project countersued and Streisand lost

But by pursuing legal action, Streisand attracted public interest and attention. 420,000 users visited the Project’s image of her Malibu home during the

month following the filing of the lawsuit

And that’s ‘The Streisand Effect’

And that’s ‘The Streisand Effect’

A phrase coined by Techdirt founder Mike Masnick

And that’s ‘The Streisand Effect’

A phrase coined by Techdirt founder Mike Masnick

A social media phenomenon where attempts to restrict accessibility of information or content sparks an – often exponential – increase in public attention

‘The mob doesn’t think’

Spencer Tracy in Fury

But – more often than not – thereis remarkable power in the collective

wisdom of crowds

‘The mob doesn’t think’

Spencer Tracy in Fury

#trafigura

#trafigura

On 13 October 2009 a Swiss-basedmultinational trading in base-metals and energy

sought to prevent the reporting – by The Guardian newspaper – of a Parliamentary Question...

The peaks in the graphs show the instances of web searches and mentions of the phrase ‘Trafigura’. It

clearly shows the huge lift in volumes as news spread of the attempt to suppress the

story.

Trafigura will become a milestone event in the potency of social media to harness popular

opposition to the intervention of private individuals or institutions in matters of public interest

‘The more you tighten your grip. The more star systems will slip through your fingers’

Carrie Fisher in Star Wars

It’s not your brand anymoreYour brand exists in the public sphere, so failure to play an active and useful role in wider society is anti-social

Shut up and shareWell do you enjoy the company of people

who only talk about themselves?

It’s not your brand anymoreYour brand exists in the public sphere, so failure to play an active and useful role in wider society is anti-social

Shut up and shareWell do you enjoy the company of people

who only talk about themselves?

It’s not your brand anymoreYour brand exists in the public sphere, so failure to play an active and useful role in wider society is anti-social

The medium is the messageReputation rests on how your brand engages in conversation and not what it has to say

With all that in mind, how does this statement stack up?

The general public needs to learn to ‘tolerate inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all’?

Lord Griffiths, Vice Chairman Goldman Sachs International

21 October 2009

With all that in mind, how does this statement stack up?

www.twitter.com/ianthomas_mrm

Slideshare: http://bit.ly/2Vfk52

Sources / Acknowledgements1 Image of Barbra Streisand: Photos by Mavis photostream hosted at Flickr (http://bit.ly/3Uq11C)2-3 Image of Streisand home: Kenneth Alderman; pictopia.com; Californian Coastal Records Project

http://www.californiacoastline.org6 Content based on Wikipedia summary of ‘The Streisand Effect’ (http://bit.ly/1eoTFZ)7 Image of Spencer Tracey – ‘Life’ image hosted at Google (http://bit.ly/489wit)14 Trafigura trending data: Google Trends (Top); Trendistic.com (Bottom)16 Image of Carrie Fisher – Jimivr’s photostream hosted at Flickr (http://bit.ly/4lD4oF)17 Image of crowd: James Cridland’s photostream hosted at Flickr (http://bit.ly/14ewZW)19 The phrase ‘the medium is the message’ was first articulated by Marshall McLuhan in his book

‘Understanding media : the extensions of man’ (London: Routledge, 1964) (Current imprint: http://bit.ly/3afEIk

21 Paraphrased from news report at guardian.co.uk (http://bit.ly/1O5PYC)