What’s Buzzing – March/April 2015

New Street Art at the Bloor/Perth Underpass. © Liz Frederiksen

In a recent Twitter Chat (#BlogChat), I had an interesting exchange with other bloggers about whether it’s a good idea to separate personal and professional blogs, or combine the two. There was no clear consensus and people were passionate about their chosen set-up. Personally, I prefer to keep them separate, since the look and feel of each is quite different. However, I also see the benefit of injecting a little of the personal into the professional to make you — and your blog! — more human, and interesting, to clients and colleagues. To that end, I’m starting a new semi-regular series to share things I’m finding interesting, exciting, intriguing, or amusing, along with links and suggestions about how you can get in on the fun. Here’s what’s got my mind buzzing at the moment:

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The Rantic Hoax: What’s happening and what it means for Emma Watson

In case you’ve been living under a rock or are otherwise out of the loop, this, in a nutshell, is what you’ve missed:

CREDIT: Getty Images

On September 20th, 2014, Emma Watson, the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, launched the HeForShe campaign by delivering a speech about feminism and gender equality at the UN. It was well received, with several media outlets calling it “game changing.” Not unexpectedly, there was a backlash, including one particular 4chan user who threatened to leak nude photos of the Harry Potter actress. He set up a countdown clock site, however, instead of the photos, the site revealed it was a viral marketing campaign by Rantic Marketing in an attempt to shut down 4chan and censor the internet. The site talks about the recent nude celebrity photo leaks and states that “none of these women deserve this and together we can make a change.” A couple of hours later, this, too, was determined to be part of the hoax started by the person, or people, behind SocialVEVO (AKA Swenzy) and Fox Weekly (not affiliated with Fox Entertainment). The Rantic site has added a disclaimer stating it is not associated with SocialVEVO, but who knows what to believe anymore.