Strategically Communicating

Selected from NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/01/554846774/o-j-simpson-released-from-prison

On October 1st, 2017 O.J. “Juice” Simpson was granted parole after serving nine years for armed burglary in 2007. O.J. Simpson is best known for his possible involvement in the murder of his then wife Nicole Brown Simpson. His initial incarceration in 1994 was a shift in the way the public consumed the news. After this most recent incarceration, I was curious if this scandal held people’s attention the way his original one did.

I shared this story with my mother by FaceTime, My girlfriend by tagging her in an instagram story, a friend (I consider left-leaning) by text message, and another friend (I consider right-leaning) also by text. As far the mediums I chose, I was spot on. My Mother responded promptly in a sincere way (watch video). My girlfriend, an avid instagram enthusiast, responded in a funny way. Finally, both my left and right-leaning friends responded with a short statement I can summarize as: “Meh, he did his time”.

My Mother Reactions

Key takeaways: It was interesting to me that someone who had such a polarizing story in American pop culture, is now so disregarded by the public. I also found it interesting how the type of platform I used to reach them influenced the tone of their responses. My girlfriend gave me a funny response, my Mother’s reaction was genuine, and the text messages landed me the least personal responses. It shows the importance of the platform used to communicate a story.