Using Social Media to Honour a WW2 Veteran

Last month Harold Jellicoe Percival died peacefully at the incredible age of 99. Harold served in the RAF Bomber Command during World War II and upon his death, he had outlived all his friends and relatives, meaning he would not have anyone to honour him at his funeral. His obituary was posted in the newspaper of course and when local readers got a hold of the story out came the social media posts. Pictures were taken of the article and tweets were made wishing that people could attend his funeral, especially any service personnel. What happened after that, in my opinion, was amazing. Hundreds of citizens showed up to pay their respects to a war hero they had never even met, among them was plenty of service personnel to give Harold the proper send off her deserved. Numerous pictures were taken and uploaded to Twitter during the service showcasing how many people had come out to support the Veteran. Without social media, Harold Percival would have not been able to have anyone attend his funeral and honour him in the way he deserved. Times like these makes me very thankful for living in the 21st century.

Check out the story here and the tweets along the way: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/a-veteran-died-with-nobody-to-attend-his-funeral-what-happen?bffb

Others discuss this incredible story too:

• Crowds turn out to mourn ‘unknown soldier’ Percival after public appeal (theguardian.com)
• Veteran’s funeral after media plea (bbc.co.uk)
• Harold Jellicoe Percival: Funeral of RAF veteran gets underway with ‘hundreds of strangers attending’ (metro.co.uk)

#ShowYouRemember

Today being Remembrance Day, I thought I would talk about the social media campaign known as #ShowYouRemember where people are encouraged to use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram to show how they remember those who fought for our freedom years ago. Whether people want to remember personal connections, a family member or friend, or just simply show their gratitude for all soldiers alike, this campaign allows for both. People have been uploading pictures and videos to various social media sites showing different ways they pay their respects, along with “tweets” or Facebook statuses all using the hashtag #ShowYouRemember. I personally love this campaign and its a great way for people to interact, share their stories and learn of others’ stories as well. In today’s society, social media is key as we all know, and sometimes it can get to be too much. Sometimes we just need to hit the “off” button and put down the technology. However, it is on days like today that social media can actually shine and be used for only good, not bad. Without these sites the ability to share Veterans’ stories and images would not exist, and what a shame that would be. It is important for everyone to take a step back at times and remember how we got to where we are today. Seeing a photo, reading a heart wrenching story, or viewing an emotional video can really make the difference sometimes.  The overwhelming about of times this hashtag has been used today to share ways in which we remember our Canadian soldiers makes me extremely proud to be Canadian. Lest We Forget.

How did you remember today? Share your stories or images with everyone here…

 

See what others are saying about Remembrance Day:

• A Time of Remembrance (teaandtreble.wordpress.com)
• This year in Canada, Remembrance Day is 95 years old (nikkeivoice.ca)
• Remembrance Day (jerri42.wordpress.com)

To Follow or Not to Follow: That is the Question

Twitter is a great way to follow the lives of celebrities and get to know them on a personal level. Only problem is, they tweet every 5 minutes! I don’t know about anyone else, but whenever I watch a reality TV show I go on Twitter and look up all of the contestants to follow them. But now every time i go on Twitter, my entire home page is covered in Big Brother, Kardashian, and Jersey Shore news (yes I am ashamed of the last one). Don’t get me wrong, I love a good celebrity tweet, and it’s great to feel as though they are living lives just like us (even though I’m guessing they don’t have car insurance, phone bills and student loans they can’t pay!) but I could definitely use a few less tweets per hour. It gets to be too much and I forget that I have my own friends on Twitter – living, breathing people who I see on a day-to-day basis! So to all celebrity tweeters of the world, please tone it down so we can remember our own lives!

Social media and fashion, the perfect fit?

  CNBC posted an article on their website on September 9th entitled “Pin, post, tweet it: Vying for Fashion Week’s ‘it’ moment” showing the influence of social media on fashion week. Given the exclusivity of fashion week and the multiple …