‘How could anyone have predicted that #AskJameis would go horribly wrong?’ public relations, social media, and hashtag hijacking

This research explores how a Twitter public relations campaign was hijacked by audiences through an investigation of the #AskJameis campaign employed by Florida State University (FSU). A thematic analysis of 1214 tweets revealed that the hashtag was hijacked through audience members mocking and criticizing both FSU and Jameis Winston. The results suggest that PR professionals must account for the anticipated “pulse” of the audience before launching campaigns on social media. Underestimating the capabilities of the active social media audience can further exacerbate crisis situations, suggesting that at times, not using social media is a more effective public relations practice.