ZCA Social Media

ZCA in Social Media
With a combination of zombie cultural saturation and a willingness to buy into the apocalyptic narrative Social Media was ripe to latch onto these terrifiying stories and elevate them from interesting news stories to public frenzy material.

Findings
Findings

The Science Show: Bath Salts
After the media reported that the Miami Zombie had taken Bath Salts prior to the attack, it raised more awareness about the drug. Videos such as this segment of "The Science Show" were produced to help educate and inform people about the dangers of Synthetic Drugs. Read More

The Science Show: Bath Salts

The Media Selling Crime
The news about Rudy Eugene led to increased attention on bath salts from several media outlets. Bath salts became one of the most prominent topics discussed, and some claimed that the increased exposure encouraged curiosity towards the effects caused by bath salts. Read More

Bath Salts: The Media Selling Crime

Reason Tv
While the media led the public to believe that Rudy Eugene's behavior was caused by bath salts, other incidents of cannibal attacks emerged in the news. Bath salts could not be linked to these incidents, which prompted watchdog groups to question whether the media were reporting facts or merely using speculation about Eugene. Read More

Reason Tv: Bath Salts, Naked Zombie Cannibals and Stupid Senators

The Miami Zombie on Twitter
The Miami Zombie cannibal attack on May 26, 2012 launched a campaign of dark humor on social media. Twitter and Facbook accounts were created to poke fun at the incident. Here is an example of one of those, a twitter account named @TheMiamiZombie that uses Rudy Eugene's image as the profile picture. Read More

@Miami Zombie

Blogging with Gory Detail
Internet bloggers added fuel to the fire by going off of the mainstream media's narrative. Blog sites used the same frame used by the mainstream media that a crazed man who was high on bath salts stripped completely naked, attacked another man and ate his face before he was shot multiple times by police. These websites also showed a much more graphic visual of the victim after he was attacked. Read More

[[Miami Zombie Attack: WARNING GRAPHIC PICTURES]]

No Zombies, Just Mental Illness
With all of the jokes and dark humor poking fun at Rudy Eugene and his victim, there were still some who attempted to keep the jokers in line. Internet blogs such as this one called out the people who were makking the memes and jokes, and reaffirmed to all that it takes positive reinforcement to find a solution to problems around the world. Read More

[is no Miami Zombie Apocalypse, just Mentally Ill People with no Safety Net]

Imgur; It has Begun
Imgur is a popular image sharing and forum website. Here you can see the sort of frenzy which the internet community had been whipped up into. Even if this forum was meant to be humorous to an outsider, or one who is not internet savey it may not be. Read More

Imgur: It Has Begun

Miami Zombie Prank
Some sought to use the interest and panic in the wake of the Miami attacks to earn internet fame. In the case of youtube film maker Vitalizd this payed off wonderful as his video racked millions of views in only a couple of days, the video currently sits at 21 million. However he has been criticized for both taking advantage of the very real fear in the miami area at the time and for endagering himself and others, as he points out in the video one of the people he was chasing pointed a gun at him. Read More

Miami Zombie Prank Video