Celebrity Deaths and Social Media

Warning: this newsletter contains content about suicide.

In today’s media landscape, most people find out about the passing of public figures via Instagram post or tweet. Publications ranging from NY Times to TMZ all rush to break this news as fast as possible, across every platform.

As a person, I find these posts tragic and sad.

As a social manager, I am curious about how these posts come together so quickly.

For today’s newsletter I spoke with social professionals from publications like The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly about what’s happening behind the scenes during tough breaking news moments.

When I asked Travis Lyles, Deputy Director, social, off-platform curation at The Washington Post, about this, he came back with a clear process they follow. “We try to think about the best ways to inform people that the person or people have died while being as respectful as we can about the whole situation. If they are well known, we try to highlight parts of their life that people resonate with or know them for. Overall, we just aim to keep our content simple and easy to understand. You kind of just have to prioritize getting the job done and serving your audience.”

Daniel Taroy, Platforms Director at New York Magazine and former Associate Director of Social Media at Vanity Fair, tells me, “The sad truth is that working in a breaking news AND social setting can desensitize you to a public figure's death, especially when that person is reduced to breaking social copy or a tonally-appropriate image select for Instagram.”

For some publications, a draft of what will be posted has actually already been decided well in advance. Daniel elaborates, “At the publications I've worked at, many people, such as Queen Elizabeth or Prince Phillip, have their obituaries/photo retrospectives/archival features planned way in advance—and there are enough false alarms over the years that by the time they actually pass, posting all that content can feel almost emotionless just because you've already gone through the motions of their hypothetical death numerous times.”

Still, no matter how many processes you put in place, there’s an emotional toll of what Alexis Wilson, social media editor at Entertainment Weekly, calls “Go Mode”.

“Go Mode” is when you hear of someone’s passing and immediately have to jump into getting a post up for your publication.

A social manager who works in news and preferred to remain anonymous echoes this, “The speed at which you must work at in social sort of makes you not process things right away. When you need to plan an obit to post for a famous person’s death, the thought process is like, (1) Let’s get this posted, is copy all set, is the photo right, hurry, wait did we get the date wrong, nope we're fine, wait the image should be in B&W, okay let's hurry faster, click, etc. and then (2) Wait…they died. It’s a very mind-fuckery thing that is often probably not recognized by someone just scrolling past a regular-looking obituary from a publisher.”

While desensitization is the norm, some have maybe become too desensitized. Alexis recalled a story from when she worked for a clothing brand. “I’ll specifically never forget working at Nasty Gal when Prince died, as I spent like two hours looking for a picture to post and was told to try again to ‘find one that matched the grid.’”

Even when dealing with something as serious as death, higher ups are still concerned about numbers and performance. Alexis recalls an example of this from her current role and how it can feel confusing when terms like “high performing” and “metrics” are thrown around. She says, “I have always loved Tina [Turner] and I think to this day the obit ‘thread’ I did on her is referenced as ‘high performing’ which is nice, but also just makes me feel weird. It’s kind of bittersweet…But in a way I think it’s really nice to think that my love for her performed really well. IDK it’s just weird.”

I think it’s important to remember, specifically for people who manage a social team, that social managers are people and it’s impossible for their own personal experiences or feelings to not creep in. Alexis tells me, “When Angus Cloud passed and I found it pretty rough just knowing he didn’t have the easiest time in general. Reading the TMZ article was hard for me as I lost my dad to suicide when I was seven, but have never struggled with suicidal/self-harm tendencies, so in those cases I try to do my job as quickly as possible then just step away from my computer/phone and get outside for a walk.”

If you manage a social team, check in with them after “Go Mode” has ended and the post is up. Ask how they are doing. Make sure they are okay. Give them time off if they worked overtime to get a tough post up. As Daniel put it, “You sometimes don't even know how emotionally tired you are until you've put your phone down for the night.”

Note: If you are feeling suicidal, thinking about hurting yourself, or are concerned that someone you know may be in danger of hurting himself or herself, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255). It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is staffed by certified crisis response professionals.

BTW this was meant to be a Logged On post for paid Link in Bio subscribers but I decided to make it free for everyone. You can learn more about the paid tier of Link in Bio here.