Despite being one of its best sources of online traffic, the Mail really doesn't like Facebook very much. Any story with even a hint of the social networking site's involvement sees Facebook's role blown out of all proportion - it has recently been blamed for everything from murder to paedophilia.However, it seems the OTT publicity for Facebook is a one-way street. Several of today's papers report on developments in the case of Ann Pettway, who is accused of kidnapping a baby two deacades ago and raising the child as her own. Here's what the Mirror has to say:
News outlets from around the world report that Pettway first made contact with the police via Facebook. Some, like the Mirror, overplay it a little. Many others mention it in passing. The Mail, however, makes no mention of Facebook whatsoever. I wonder why that is.
News from the Primly Stable Foreign Service:SLOVAKIA: A student won £18,000 in damages after an Austrian newspaper mistakenly used her Facebook photo on a story about a murdered Slovakian prostitute with the same name. Lucia Rehakova, from Bratislava, said the image was seen 'all over the country'. The 23-year-old said her teaching dreams were in tatters. The paper will apologise.
This appears in a couple of papers this morning but I've yet to spot an online version. However, given the tabloid habit of lifting photos from Facebook profiles when someone is involved in a high-profile court case, how much longer will it be until a similar problem occurs here?
I think I'm on pretty safe ground when I say that the Daily Mail hates Facebook. Over the past 18 months the Mail has blamed Facebook for murders, falsely claimed that Facebook provides a safe haven for paedophiles, alleged that Facebook is behind a massive nationwide crimewave, blamed Facebook for an outbreak of syphilis, said Facebook is responsible for rising insurance premiums, accused Facebook of causing riots at parties, and this being the Mail and the natural order of things needing to be maintained, said that Facebook gives you cancer.So it took me a while to stop giggling when I read the following paragraph in Press Gazette's coverage of recent speech given by Martin Clarke, publisher on Mail Online:"Emphasising the importance of social media for the marketing of news websites, Clarke said that 10 per cent of Mail Online's UK traffic now comes in via Facebook, making it the biggest source of traffic for the site after Google."
So remember boys and girls - social networking might give you an STD, turn you into a rioter and make you an easy target for kiddy-fiddlers, but you can't argue with its potential for driving traffic figures.
