If you are not familiar with the concept of newsjacking, read on…

Last November, in a blog post titled “Three simple tools that may not have hit your radar,” I wrote about a tool that Twitter users could use to determine how many of their followers were real ones vs. fakes such as web robots (bots) and the like. In an attempt to show how it works, I took a snapshot of my fake followers and compared it with that of Rob Ford. Yes, the same Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto – the fourth largest city in North America.

The intent was to show that celebrities and public figures tend to have a larger number of fake and inactive followers, unlike regular people like you and I.

In a freak coincidence, the day my blog was posted, the Mayor was ordered to vacate his office for conflict of interest charges – soliciting donations for his football foundation.  

As the news made big headlines and the media took sides, I felt a little sheepish about the timing of my post.

Inadvertent newsjacking!

David Meerman Scott, a marketing strategist and an accomplished writer, describes newsjacking as “the art and science of injecting your ideas into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage and social attention for yourself or your business.”

Back to Rob Ford.

As news channels around the world, including Saturday Night Live, cover the Rob Ford story, I decided to go back and check on how the Mayor’s popularity has grown over the past year.

As you can see, the number of people following the Mayor, and the quality of his followers have nearly tripled during this period. Unlike a year ago, his followers are active and engaged. This may have something to do with the fact that, in a matter of months, the Mayor’s persona has transformed from boring to unpredictable to unbelievable!

Almost a year and a few juicy scandals and outbursts later, the Rob Ford brand is beyond newsjacking. Rob Ford’s fame – or notoriety – has surpassed that of any recent political figure, dwarfing the likes of Anthony Weiner, whose sexting scandals cost him a potential run at the New York City Mayor’s job.

As the Mayor keeps digging himself into a bigger hole by the day, I wonder if there is any such thing as bad publicity, especially, on social media!

So, what’s your take on this?