The secret to a successful online presence? Make everybody hate you.
I open Google. Type Katie. I’m greeted with two suggestions. First, Katie Price. I take a slow breath…not today. I lower my gaze. There she is. Columnist and TV personality, Katie Hopkins.
I stop for a moment. Is Google suggesting that award-winning actress Katie Holmes, all-talented Katie Couric, and presenter-model Katie Piper are less relevant? Less search-worthy?
And here lays the problem with what we define as ‘successful’ in the digital age.
As I click Hopkins’s name, guilt fills me. My click boosting her online presence, bank account, publicity. A click is a click. We can’t eliminate those accessing Hopkins’s website, tweets or columns out of anger, from those with admiration.
And because of this, the more controversy you cause, the more people you offend; the more attention you gain, and the more money in your pocket. 4 million dollars to be exact.
But how exactly do you create an online presence worth 678k twitter followers?
Hopkins's account first appears like any other middle-class nobody. A victim of self-delusion, she believes people care for her mundane routine. It’s no surprise that Hopkins had little online presence. If nobody knows you, nobody is looking for you.
Compare this to her 1k+ likes today. It’s clear that now we care. But what has changed?
Notice the inclusion of the ‘refugees welcome’ logo. She has grasped the attention of activists. Setting up an expectation of support, her hateful sarcasm soon destroys this. Hopkins knows she must provoke a reaction, and has mastered targeting those whom will give her one.
Tweeting at a time of high emotion provokes greater response and publicity. It only takes a glance at her Wikipedia page to see Hopkins has played by this strategy closely. The cycle goes; event reaches headlines, Hopkins comments, Hopkins reaches headlines.
Hopkins is flexible, she is aware of where her audience are. With people turning to mobiles, Hopkins created social media accounts. Her lengthy Daily Mail columns now advertised through short, dramatic statements on twitter. This has meant we cannot escape her.
Just unfollow her you say? Hopkins stated “ignore us, image the two of us shouting naked at the rain”. But, when people react, they want others to react. And suddenly my timeline is full of raging people venting online.
But is Hopkins a threat? Or merely a lonely, middle-aged women craving attention?
Take her interview on ‘This Morning’. Hopkins expressed disgust for geographic names. Before defending her daughter’s name, India, as “not related to a place”. An online presence is the sum of all identities you’ve created, and Hopkins knows these must be consistent to be credited. Pressured to hate on everything possible, she sacrifices common sense to ensure attention remains on her.
But her rants are becoming confused, pointless and bland. Can a career built on hateful tweets and article clicks stand the test of time?
Gordon concludes how “Katie Hopkins is a monster of our own making”. Audiences are as important as the source in creating successful online presences. We control who succeeds. We need to ignore the Katie Hopkins's of journalism, and spend our time reading valuable articles.
Pass me the Franklin.
