A Brief History of Amanda Chapel or Strumpette or Where's Waldo
The Blog is called Strumpette, the online personality "Amanda Chapel" and s/he/it/they has been active for some time, foiling and roiling some respected journalists and bloggers for a couple of years. Occasionally borderline droll, sarcastic to extreme and often potty-mouthed beyond being respectable. Amanda Chapel via Strumpette is a construct, (here too) that has been admitted too. And anyone who sees how the AC Construct is always online would think she must be totally loopy from sleep deprivation at the very least.
The AC Construct first appeared in 2006 and then "quit" in October of 2007...but not for long. Her creators brought her back. Likely with the increase in Social Media uptake, they couldn't quite kill her off and she was resurrected. This PR pro talks of his experiences with the AC Construct last year.
Exactly "why" will likely remain a mystery and one I won't be exploring much more. Most interestingly is that despite presenting a hatred of all things Social Media, the AC Construct uses Social Media very well to rally against it - fitting it's purpose very well. In this most recent "interview" the AC Construct did make some salient points - such as don't go charging blindly in as a company. Some speculate the AC Construct is a take on the original UK Spin Bunny. Perhaps. They certainly made more enemies than friends.
So some detail on the AC Construct:
The Creators: The creators of Amanda Chapel are from Chicago and most vociferously lead by Brian Connolly who now has a series of companies doing odd things, including Furthermore Inc. (which is a great gallery of a whopping 3 whole pics) and WePublishing Inc. (which is a Social Media platform, oddly enough! although the site is terribly designed.) No one knows who the rest of them are, and if they do, no one cares enough to say.
Strumpette's Picture: The picture of so-called Amanda Chapel is a free photo that was found on StockExpert of some model. It was available on 2 other photo sites as well. The main "voice" for the Construct is apparently a PR pro, but who knows what "she" really looks like and I don't blame "her" for not exposing her/their identity at this point!
Multiple Sexes: I did inquire with a linguistics professor friend of mine and an anthropologist who looked at some of the postings and they reflect both male and female elocution. Confirming more than one person responds/comments as the AC Construct - just in case anyone cared! Perhaps the original "female" has retired but they continue on.
So in the end, what does it really matter if the AC Construct is one or more people? Or even "who" the Construct really is? I don't think so. We know it's more than one person and I suspect that when it comes to their clients, they do get them involved in Social Media, albeit with baby steps, and with less haughty language. Eventually, the AC Construct will become boorish and given about as much attention as those emails from the rich guy in Nigeria who left all kinds of money in the bank who needs your help getting it out...for a small fee....
When the AC Construct presents logical business arguments, this is a good thing. Sober second thought, especially for a large company looking to delve into the confusing, turbulent and unknown waters of Social Media, is critical. But when the AC Construct rants with foul language and ridiculous claims, it comes across as an inexperienced teenager throwing a hormonal tantrum. But at the end of the day, it is the consumer that drives corporate change with their wallets, and if they keep pushing business to engage, then at some point (I think that's happened) business will have to learn how to work with unmediated communications. To the creators of the AC Construct I say "drop the teenage-potty-mouthed-ranting" and be aggressive, but grow up.
We have not heard the last of the AC Construct, the "team" will likely continue to engage willing authors to take on "her" persona. As long as they're intelligent and not childish, I will enjoy the reading and occasional sparring (when I've had enough coffee.)
1 comments:
I hope that this is the one and only time that I'll talk about this because it's my general rule to not add fodder to the fuel.
As a woman it's insulting for me to think that a man would take on this persona of "strumpette". It's the same as anyone who isn't black taking on the persona of the "n" word. If you haven't been in a minority position, you just don't have the right to fuel the stereotypes. Maybe if you're a minority you shouldn't have that right either.
But that's the point of this construct. To demean and be mean. And despite the hypocrisy of using social media to bash it, I don't participate in these antics. Frankly, there are other ways to engage an audience and to present logical business arguments. The more we as social media and PR professionals engage these constructs in "debate", the bigger their profiles grow, and in many ways the less credible we look.
I try not to bite when these types of trolls manage to trickle their way onto different platforms. That's all I can do, and all I strive to do in my personal fight against these blights on the profession.
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