We may have been under the influence of too much chocolate candy or pink champagne, but if the public display of affection on Twitter yesterday is any true indicator, there's a lot of love for Philadelphia. Make no mistake, however: We are not all starry-eyed romantics here.
Emma Fried-Cassorla, editor of the Philly Love Notes blog, made it her mission to get the hashtag #whyilovephilly trending on Twitter. The hashtag is part of an ongoing social media campaign started in 2011 by Young Involved Philadelphia and Indy Hall. Their intention is to create a convenient, online, real-time space to express positivity, passion and pride for the city — both to other Philadelphians and to the world.
Mission accomplished. Twitter was blowing up with 140-character Valentines to Philadelphia all day long.
"Not only did we have it trending in Philadelphia almost all day," said Fried-Cassorla in a follow-up report on the stunt, "but we got it to trend nationally as well."
At some points Thursday, #whyilovephilly tweets poured in every second.
What I found interesting (but by no means surprising) was that, for every three or five positive observations about life in Philadelphia, there was a negative observation.
#whyilovephilly We boo Santa who delivers presents for everyone, but cheer Rocky who was a deadbeat dad.
I think some of the negative tweets may not actually have been sarcastic — there are folks who may actually love Philly for its segregation, its parking wars, and — yes — that one time all those years ago when people threw snowballs at Santa Claus.
All in all, though, the negative tweets were mostly playful and self-deprecating, a fine Philadelphian trait, which only proves the point: We're a proud lot, and we kinda dig it here.
Use the pulldown to filter comments based on other users' ratings:
Your comment
ABOUT ERIC WALTER
Eric loves living in South Philly and is very happy to be working in public media again as a NewsWorks web producer. Before moving to Philadelphia, he spent some time on the “dark side” producing web content at MTV Networks in New York. Eric did some freelance work for WNYC, but prior to that he lived in Minneapolis and produced websites and email newsletters for many of Minnesota Public Radio’s programs. Highlights from that time include meetings with a barefoot Garrison Keillor in his office, biking around the beautiful lakes of Minneapolis, and eating plenty of cheese curds, corn dogs and pronto pups at the Minnesota State Fair every year. Eric is originally from Michigan and wears his Detroit Tigers cap with pride.
With a month to go before Delaware has to finalize a budget for 2014, the group charged with money projections is giving the state a thumbs up and then some for how much money will More »
On Monday, Mark Desman from Exton, Pennsylvania, brought his son to Independance Mall in Center City, Philadelphia, to see the Liberty Bell.
At the same time, three dancers with the Miller Rothlein had spread out on More »
A long list of judges will be on tomorrow's Pennsylvania Primary Ballot. NewsWorks Tonight Host Dave Heller weighed the options for voters with Ellen Kaplan, Vice-President and Policy Director of the Philadelphia-based non-partisan Committee of More »
Your comment