Fifi blocks, Fitzy flames and passive aggression with Ben Fordham
And so to the National Radio Conference and a panel looking at the 24/7 Radio Shift – or how talent deals with social media.
Of particular interest to Dr Mumbo were the very different approaches adopted by the panelists to deal with out of control fans.
The question was first put to Nova Sydney breakfast show host Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald, with the former AFL player taking a more aggressive approach than most:
“I actually like to have a bit of a niggle back, and I’ve got some points for ya. The best thing to do is go to their bios, because then you’ve got ammunition. You can say ‘mate, this is coming from a bloke who like Collingwood, Jim Beam and doing his mrs on the bonnet of his tourer, and you’re having a go at me’.
“I like going into his previous tweets as you always usually get some gold and they say ‘you got me’.”
However that answer stirred former Hi5 star and Sea FM DJ Charli Robinson into life:
“That’s really dangerous though because those people are tough on their keyboard but they’re not emotionally. I sometimes worry these are really vulnerable people anyway, and we in the power of authority and having a lot of followers smash them, then we’re sending back a really negative message back to them. That’s why I use the block.
“I worry when I see some of these celebrities tweeting back at these people – they’re like 13-year-olds, yes they had a go at you for what you’re wearing but still.”
“Jeez that turned over Fitzy didn’t it,” quipped panel host Sam Mac.
“If you don’t do this or make a stand they’re going to keep coming back at you,” Fitzy came back with.
Then 2GB’s drive host Ben Fordham chimed in: “I go the passive aggressive route. I worked with the social media guy from the Today show who’s no longer there, Dean, said to me once ‘I was going to your Twitter feed and I noticed you were saying thank you to a couple of people, but then I clicked on what they had said to you and they were saying some really nasty shit’.
“If you go through my page you’ll see me saying ‘thank you so much, love the support, and that just keeps me going’.
“Passive aggressive so no-one’s ever going through and seeing I’m saying nasty things to people, but I also think that must really give them the shits.”
Finally it was the turn of FoxFM breakfast host Fifi Box:
“I block, block, block, block. To be honest sometimes if it does get to you, particularly if they’re wrong and taken you out of context, I’ll draft it and save it. That’s what I do to my boss every day, I write a massive email.”