The women of Turkey rebel in laughter, Instagram’s big Snapchat challenge and celebs get personal

Laugh in the face of adversity

Kahkaha - the Turkish word for laughter became a trending topic last week after Turkey’s deputy Prime Minister, Bulent Arinc, controversially declared that women should not laugh in public. The conservative suggestion spurred on a trend for women not only to laugh in public, but to share photos of themselves laughing on Twitter and Instagram. The campaign drew support from newly appointed Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, Emma Watson, who tweeted an image of herself doubled over in laughter out in the public eye.

Instagram challenges Snapchat

Last week, Instagram launched Bolt, a new app delivering disappearing photos and videos to mobiles. The app is being tested in Singapore, New Zealand and South Africa to see how well the app will perform in the already-crowded ephemeral messaging market. Only time will tell whether Bolt will add any new value where Slingshot, Mirage and others have failed to upset Snapchat’s reign.

Celebs and their tweets

The Justin Bieber vs Orlando Bloom fight attracted much attention last week, gaining publicity across all media. The fight became a trending topic after Bieber launched a string of taunting Tweets directed at Bloom, who had earlier tried to punch Bieber in a club brawl. Celebs however, can and do take to Twitter to express their personal views on more serious subjects than trivial celeb bashing. Last week, Zayn Malik, from One Direction, posted a Tweet featuring “#FreePalastine”. Malik was soon receiving death threats forcing him to delete the Tweet and retract his opinion. Rihanna,Dwight Howard and Kim K have all suffered a similar fates when they posted Tweets with a political message.

When it comes to tweeting their fans, celebs may want to stick to what their fans expect. After all fans follow celebs to gather info about their favourite band or idol, imposing your personal opinion onto your fans can be information one step too far. Staying on-brand is one of the most important marketing rules and when broken can cost more than a few unfollows.