Trident being Trident, has meant we have become something of an expert on social media. Like the Willem Dafoe Spiderman meme: “You know, I’m something of a scientist myself.” See?! We just wrote something relevant to the phenomenon of internet meme’s! Kiff! So yes, we are something of an expert on the socials. The whole point of writing all this Trident Surf stuff anyhow is for social media reasons, so – yup yup.
One of the side effects of the social media firestorm is how surfing has changed because of it. You’re reading this article right now, ain’t you? In other words, you read and you are a surfer – or are connected to surfing on some level. And here you are, reading surf social media stuff online.
Like everything online, surfing has blown up. Whether it’s in terms of the availability of surf images and clips, buying equipment or other surf related stuff online, like just about every human being on the planet, the internet is part of every surfer’s life. Sometimes the internet can be our lives, thanks to the ultimate fulfilment of Andy Warhol’s quote of everyone in the future having their 15 minutes of fame.
Think about pro’s like Mikey Feb, Medina (And all Brazzo’s we guess), Ben Gravy, Jamie O’ Brien. Thanks to the interwebs, they all have secondary careers. Careers as, – and we hate this word – er, “influencers”! Scoff. Now, we’re not anti- nor are we pro-shamelessly uploading daily selfies and clips of yourself looking suave on the beach besides a brand new board without any wax or grip on it. Yet, nobody can deny the influence of social media on surfing and vice versa. Trident isn’t here to judge at all – but we are living in the social media age and that won’t change any time soon. So we’re gonna make some pretty clever suggestions on how to get your clips and/or images to go massively viral.
Number 1: Get hurt.
Ah, the human condition – ain’t it grand! As long as it’s not us getting hurt, watching or seeing someone else get hurt is, well, if not funny – then at the very least it’s worthy of going viral! So sure, landing on your coccyx at Full Stop can’t be considered a pleasant experience for anyone but the most deviant among us. However, ensure you get filmed while landing on the infamous reef and you’ll soon blow up harder online than the blood filled pustule forming on your buttock.
Number 2: Get hot.
Look. Nobody will care if you can barely surf. But if you surf bare – that’s another story. Someone will care. Trust us! So pose on the beach next to that pristine white shortboard. Show off those tanned legs that have never taken a rail to the shin. Do the duck lips while you’re at it. Hey – if it’s an online selfie it’s almost mandatory to look like Daisy Duck!
You can hardly stand on a longboard? Who cares, you’re wearing a bikini that resembles a few strategically placed pieces of insulation tape – guaranteed 100k plus likes! You paddle like a drowning victim, but you’re pretty? Your duck faces are better than your duckdiving? You are better at taking clothes off than taking off? Don’t worry. Sooner or later you’ll have plenty of wannabe surf instructors offering to give you personal lessons when your clip of you falling over the handlebars goes viral (see above point?) Bottom line is, just look hot online. Surf related or not, you’ll soon have plenty of attention. Most of it is probably unwanted. Or even worthy of a restraining order.
Number 3: Get good.
Well this is obvious. Just absolutely shred, and people will follow you on the ‘gram. Make sure you have a reputation for ripping, and your full rotation air clips on the ‘Tube views will explode into the hundreds of thousands. The only hassle here is your actual skill level. Trust us, Trident would have several million followers if all our writers could land full rotation back flips. Well, welcome to reality.
Number 4: Get bad.
Just watched that oke slipping his moer off on the rocks. Again! Ha ha! Classic, can’t get enough of that clip! Or that other video of the dude jumping off a pier only to have his leash wrap around a post! It’s hilarious! He’s dangling there like snot from a kid’s nose! How about the video when the tool didn’t even wax his board, and he flew like a F22 hitting the sound barrier! See, there’s a reason why websites and pages like kookslams etc exist. (Ed’s note: Trident expects some royalties there, kookslammers.) Similar to seeing people get hurt, you don’t get much funnier than people making total poephols of themselves online.
Number 5: Get wild.
Look at Medina’s Olympics kick out that went viral. Sure, to the general mainstream populace his photo is impressive. And let’s face it – kicking out like that at Chopes is pretty damn badass. But to the surfing world? It’s kinda a big meh or even a big naw. Yet, it is apparently one of the biggest #trending searches ever in surfing. And hits and views in the millions can only mean surfing has hit Joe Public’s collective consciousness. Same same with Fanning’s live shark attack in the J Bay compo almost a decade ago. Google that to remember how wild and crazy that was. And thus Trident says; go wild. Play the wildcard. Do something nuts, cute, bizarre, surreal – whatever, just make it surfing related. At least tangentially so. There’s a reason people love watching dogs and cats surfing. It’s rad. It’s wild! Mad brah!
- Bonus Number 6: An honourable mention – Get combo-ed.
Not in the bad sense of the word like in compo’s – but combine two or more of the above. Like, get hot. And get bad. Presto! A million views on YouTube. Get hurt while going wild? Bing! 100k new subscribers. Simple. Thank us when you blow up.
