Vine Violence Goes Viral with the social media #smackcam

In a world where privacy is becoming a rarity, some are striking back – literally. The U.S. is seeing surge in #SmackCam violent videos being uploaded to Vinewhere the perpetrator smacks a stranger or friend in the face. This is being accepted under the premise of “social trending” but what happens when it moves from smacking to crying?

21-year-old physical therapy student Max Jerry is loosely credited as being the first person to turn #Smackcam from a hashtag into a fully fledged trend. Jerry started the #SmackCam videos — which involve a filmed clip where he “smacked” someone unawares and then uploaded it to Vine — on June 27 from his home in Boston. “I didn’t like the idea at first,” he said. “I didn’t really think it would go this far.”

Accidentally or not, SmackCam has taken off. And these #SmackCam uploads are rising in popularity every day. A quick search on Topsy (the social search engine) shows that the #SmackCam tag has been used 17,000 times in the last week. Today it has been used 2,557 times and that number is rising.

“My friends didn’t really like getting smacked to begin with, “ Jerry confided. “They would shout at me, and I would go run behind my Mom (Jerry lives at home) while I would upload it to Vine. Since this has blown up and gotten them on TV they’ve changed their minds.”

A quick look at the latest #SmackCams show a wide variation in video types. They range from pies to the face comedy, more disturbing videos that show fisticuffs, fire-play and unhappy looking victims.

“The smacks I do don’t really hurt,” said Jerry. They sound like they do but it’s not painful and I don’t go red.” Read more…