The promotional power of controversy is well-known. But, what is also a pragmatic reality is that it is a marketing/public relations tool which has to be carefully managed.
Recently, as Insider reports, former Googler Patrick Shyu has, well, gone for broke in leveraging his use of controversy to get, retain, and grow subscribers for his YouTube Tech Lead Show.
On Twitter, in posts which he had since deleted, he gushed about how he used to tell females interviewing for coding positions at Google to go home and have babies. Yes, he contends to have actually said that, in real time. In addition, he had tweeted, also since deleted, why women shouldn't code.
Here is Shyu's LinkedIn site, on which he has 61,285 followers.
Whether there will be an escalation of subscribers to his subscription service or a flight out - only time will tell. In the current ethos of mean-spirited everything many might be attracted to Shyi's world view and his crass way of putting it out there. Social networks have elevated what is mean-spirited to the new cool.
When toxic Gawker collapsed my kind cheered. We hoped that was the end of that. However, it taught well other promoters how to push the envelope on mean to succeed.
Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.