Pope Francis, the official pop star!

It is difficult to find a person who hasn't heard about the Pope of the Catholic Church. Less than a year old in his papacy, Pope Francis is a well-known pope not only among Catholics but everyone irrespective of faith, religion, race, seems to be talking about him. He is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, but the only one who joins the ranks of pop star icons like Janet Jackson, John Lennon, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, who featured on the Rolling Stone magazine cover. But does Pope Francis set the stage on fire like people who normally are featured on this magazine?

Rolling Stone is a magazine known for its musical coverage and for political reporting. So what made the magazine have Pope Francis on its cover page? Did Pope Francis’ millions of Twitter followers draw the magazine to have him on his cover or is it the five magic words - "Who am I to judge?" - that did the real magic. 

"Who am I to judge?" said Pope Francis when he was asked by a reporter about the status of gay priests in the church. These five words uttered by the pope undoubtedly surprised the catholic world, but in the bargain the respect for him increased a thousand fold (Carroll, J. 2013).

The Catholic Church for long has been known to impose a set-of-dos-and-don't on Catholics around the world. These set-of-rules has made many Catholics move-away from the church. But the septuagenarian Pope Francis seems to have changed this by becoming the youth icon of today. The young and the old love him. Like Pope John Paul II, Catholics might not nominate Pope Francis to become a saint, but would want to emulate his style and personality. 

Pope Francis is featured smiling and waving in the Rolling Stone magazine. But I won't be surprised if very soon we'll have a fashion magazine feature him sitting on his Harley Davidson. A pope owning a Harley, I mean really? I don't mind going to mass everyday if the head of the church comes riding on his Harley. Isn't that cool!

It’s not the first time that the pope has featured on the cover of a magazine. A few months back Pope Francis was named 'Person of the Year' by the TIME magazine. The TIME magazine justified its cover story looking at the way Pope Francis captured the imaginations of millions of people in a matter of few months since he took office (Dilts, E. 2013). TIME magazine official say Pope Francis was selected by editors of the magazine who considered suggestions and inputs from the magazines more than 2-million Twitter followers. The magazine believes that pope has given hope for a million of people who moved away from the church. 

Social Media finds its new meaning

Social media which began as a thing for entertainment and for simply having some fun has now found a new meaning. It is no longer a platform just to greet your friends. Organizations, professionals, individuals, political parties and politicians have taken on to social media as a platform to communicate with people.

I didn’t even in my wildest of dreams think that politicians would take on to social media. But they did. Today, a 140-character tweet has a power to reach-out to millions of people in a matter of a few seconds. So why not use this powerful platform. And to sum it up with Mr. Bill Clinton's tweet, "Where else can you hear from @BillGates @PaulPierce34 @SenJohnMcCain @TheEllenShow @Usher in one day?"

Look at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who has effectively used Twitter to communicate with people across the globe. The people of Iran may not be allowed to access social media sites but that has not stopped the nation's president from tweeting almost every hour. The world has been suspicious of Iran's nuclear ambitions. For over decades, the United Nation has imposed sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear enrichment ambitions. But President Rouhani seems to have managed to convert these sanctions to diplomatic talks.
Social media has played an important role in making this happen for President Rouhani. Twitter made Rouhani look like a moderate politician who was serious about talking with the rest of the world. Unlike his predecessor President Ahmadnejad who was a non-negotiator, President Rouhani comes out like this warm and friendly negotiator. And Rouhani certainly needs to thank social media for playing an important role in building his brand.

Social media has the power to make politicians win electronic campaigns. Social media has a key role in President Obama's 2012 presidential win. President Obama spend $47million in the digital campaign spending in the 2012 presidential run vis-a-vis Mitt Romney who spend only $4.7 million in digital campaign spending (Rutledge, P. 2013).

Social media gives opportunities to people to get involved and participate in a discussion. It is not a one-way-communication. Everyone has already started to talk about the 2016 presidential election which is less than two-years ahead. And the most talked about presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has recently joined Twitter. In her bio Clinton has signaled that she is a “glass ceiling cracker.” 

Reference list
Rutledge, P. 2013. The Media Psychology Blog. How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012 Presidential Campaign. 

When PR agencies get entangled in political scandals

The nation is criticizing Governor Chris Christie’s administration for being involved in a traffic scandal to punish a Democratic mayor who had refused to endorse Governor Christie's reelection bid. The social media world calls this scandal a #Bridgegate.

Governor Christie clarified his position in the scandal and came out clean saying he didn't know anything about it. He went on to say that he fired the executive involved in the scandalous bridge closure. For now the New Jersey Assembly has set up a committee to investigate Gov. Chris Christie’s administration in the bridgegate scandal.

But in the midst of the bridegate scandal, Gov. Chris Christie is facing another federal investigation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development over allegations that he misused Hurricane Sandy relief funds. The investigators claim that the governor used the Sandy relief fund for an advertisement on the "Stronger Than the Storm" campaign during his reelection run.

The public relations agency MWW has been dragged into the probe initiated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. MWW made the "Stronger than the Storm" campaign for the now embattled Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The total cost of the campaign was a whopping $25 million.
MWW has however welcomed the probe. The PR agency executives say that their ad campaign proposal has no mention to include the governor and his family in the paid advertisement campaign. And that the decision to include the governor was made after the PR agency was awarded the contract.

Well there’s no problem with the campaign if it was only meant to increase tourism and for economic recovery of the Jersey shore. But the inclusion of Governor Chris Christie and his family in the campaign made it look more like a reelection campaign than a tourism campaign and there’s where the problem lies.

MWW is also dragged in a controversy of winning the ad campaign because of its political muscle in the state. The Park Press revealed that MWW has a history of making donations to both Republicans and Democrats. The paper also revealed that MWW hired a former state Republican official just before making the bid for the Sandy campaign. Governor Chris Christie's spokesperson said that these revelations were not true and that MWW won the contract purely based on merits.

Well while investigations of these never-ending probes made on Governor Chris Christie’s administration goes on, it appears that there are many more skeletons that are waiting to fall from the Jersey shores. But one thing is for sure whether you are a politician, a PR agency, or an NGO, it is very important to play a fair game. Because dishonesty in business might not land you in a mess when you are committing it, but some day down the line when it unexpectedly shows-up it can ruin not only an individual’s image but also the brand of the organization will sink with it.  

So while the federal investigations are on, why not just enjoy the parodies and jokes made over the whole scandal. Governor Chris Christie is the topic of discussions at every talk show. You name it – Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart or Jay Leno – Chris Christie seems to have beaten even Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s record today. Even Bruce Springsteen poked fun on Gov. Christie by singing a parody song on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

Well if you ask me, whenever I’m stuck in a traffic jam these days, I start thinking and discussing Governor Chris Christie.