Keyboard Warriors in Social Media: Neelofa's Hijab Launch Case Study

This essay delves into the phenomenon of "keyboard warriors" on social media, individuals who express opinions and engage in debates online, often without the same restraint as face-to-face interactions. It uses the controversy surrounding Malaysian celebrity Neelofa's hijab launch in a nightcl...Read More

Running head: KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Keyboard Warriors in Social Media
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Introduction
‘Keyboard warriors’ is a common phrase that has surfaced in the past few years, when the
world has been captured by internet and netizens. Keyboard warriors refer to those netizens, who
try to seek attention for random things or want to fight for a cause but lack the courage of doing
that face to face (Dennis, 2014). Social media plays a major role in the modern world in shaping
the dimension of the society. After the emergence of internet, Google and Yahoo have changed
the point of view of the people across the world and it has affected every aspect of life, including
the news. In the last decade, social network appeared and along came the social media. This
paved the way for the keyboard warriors. People get the access to any kind of issue through the
internet news and they start sharing their point of views on the social media. Some issues get
negative publicity due to these keyboard warriors (Gerbaudo, 2018). The following essay
highlights the issue of launching a hijab by Malaysian celebrity Neelofa and how it attracted
negative publicity in the media due to the posts by the keyboard warriors, who wanted to seek
attention through this.
Discussion
The news was based on the launch of a hijab by Malaysian actress and social media
influencer Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor. She launched the new Naelofar hijab under her attire brand
Be Lofa on her birthday in a nightclub. The news attracted huge amount of negative reviews
from the netizens for disrespecting her religion by launching a religious thing, such as, hijab, in a
nightclub (says.com, 2018). The Twitter users picked up this news and started pouring negative
comments, which attracted more netizens with the same opinion, who thought that this was a
cheap marketing strategy by Neelofa for her business. It is also found that, within 24 hours of its

2KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
launch and millions of negative comments in tow, the collection were sold out (Tan, 2018). That
reflects two things; first, some followers of Neelofa were least bothered about the negative
publicity in the social media and would anyway buy those; second, the negative comments
actually helped many people to notice about the new product and buy them if they found it worth
buying.
It is found earlier that, negative publicity often leads to a success for the brand. People,
especially the netizens love controversies (Gerbaudo, 2018). When an issue is picked up by the
keyboard warriors, people tend to notice or follow that issue more attentively than an issue with
a positive feedback (Fuchs, 2017). Keyboard warriors utilize the social media platform for
sharing their opinion. Either in Facebook or Twitter, they use their keyboards and hashtags to be
vocal about any issue that fancies them. It can be a serious humanitarian news, such as, bombing
in Syria, or it may be an issue like Neelofa launching her new hijab collection in a nightclub. The
social media gives freedom of speech to every user and either for supporting the cause or for not
supporting; the netizens share their opinion in the virtual world. Keyboard warriors are those
who mainly oppose the on-going issue and share more negative comments on that (Dennis,
2014). Social media is a powerful platform, where people can start a movement for a social
issue.
Virality of a news depends on many factors, religion and emotional content are two of
them. Religious matters often draw more attention from people as these are sensitive issues and
majority of people keep extreme opinion about their religions. Extremism and radicalism give
rise to intolerance and that has caused the topic to go viral. The news was published in print and
digital media. Digital media has increased convenience to the readers multiple times and social
network has added more to the convenience. Within 16 hours, the hijab launching video was

3KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
seen by 963,000 viewers, got 10,000 reactions, 8,300 comments and 7,000 shares on Facebook
(Tan, 2018) and the collection was sold out within 24 hours. Technology played a very important
part in this. Creativity of news headlines is the factor that draws attention of the readers. The
keyboard warriors also used catchy phrases that helped the topic reach millions. Identity of
Neelofa added to the virality of the news. She is a Malaysian actress and celebrity with
thousands of followers. Hence, her moves are being watched by many. The launch of the hijab
not only had a religious string attached to it, but the association of a celebrity also drew attention
of the world (Themalaymailonline.com, 2018). Newsworthiness is created on the basis of social
context. Social context includes many things, such as, religion, culture, socio-economic
condition and many more. In a Muslim country like Malaysia, people are sensitive about their
religion along with their culture. Hence, people’s reaction towards a hijab launch was perceived
as a trending topic and was reported in the news.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages of these types of controversies are the additional publicity and its positive
impacts on the sales of the related products. In this case, Neelofa’s brand earned more popularity
among the young people and independent Muslim women, who believes in progressive attitude
(Lund, 2018). On the other hand, the keyboard warriors put up a bad image and conservative and
regressive reputation for the women wearing hijab in Malaysia through the negative comments
and intolerance (Mokhtazar, 2018).
Conclusion
Social media plays a vital role in the shaping the characteristics of the societies. Majority
of people spend a substantial amount of their time in social media and hence, they get influenced

4KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
by the news. The keyboard warriors take the freedom and scope of the social network sites to
present their opinion about a news topic, and their negative comments make the topic viral, as in
the case of Neelofa and her hijab launch. Technology, creativity, identity of the brand or person
associated with the news, and its newsworthiness help a topic reach to a wider audience and
social media is the platform that provides opportunities for the news to reach to millions.

5KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
References
Dennis, J. W. (2014). The myth of the keyboard warrior: public participation and 38 Degrees.
Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Gerbaudo, P. (2018). Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto
Press.
Lund, K. (2018). Neelofa Unapologetically Launches Her Hijab Line at Zouk. JUICEOnline.
Retrieved 5 March 2018, from http://juiceonline.com/neelofa-serves-up-another-
controversy-by-lauching-her-hijab-line-at-zouk/
Mokhtazar, S. (2018). Netizens condemn Neelofa launching hijab collection in night club
[NSTTV]. NST Online. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from
https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/groove/2018/02/339491/showbiz-netizens-condemn-
neelofa-launching-hijab-collection-night
Tan, J. (2018). Here’s What Angry Netizens Had To Say About Neelofa Launching Her Hijab
Collection At Zouk. SAYS.com. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from
http://says.com/my/news/netizens-slammed-neelofa-for-launching-her-latest-hijab-
collection-at-zouk-club
Tan, J. (2018). Neelofa under fire (again) for launching hijab collection at Zouk. Marketing
Interactive. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from
http://www.marketing-interactive.com/neelofa-under-fire-for-launching-hijab-collection-
at-zouk/

6KEYBOARD WARRIORS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Tan, J. (2018). Neelofa-Zouk controversy: A marketing stunt gone too far or just far
enough?. Marketing Interactive. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from http://www.marketing-
interactive.com/neelofa-zouk-controversy-a-marketing-stunt-gone-too-far-or-just-far-
enough/
Themalaymailonline.com. (2018). Ends don’t justify the means, FT mufti tells Neelofa after Zouk
tudung launch controversy. Themalaymailonline.com. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/ends-dont-justify-the-means-ft-
mufti-tells-neelofa-after-zouk-tudung-launch#xBUrdmYs6jsXeWwl.97