Recently, the Los Angeles Times published an article about the growing importance of ‘online influencers’ —ordinary people whose actions are followed by thousands of supporters on social media. These influencers have a “trusted voice” that speaks to their own personal audience.

Marketing firms like Instabrand are now including influencers as an essential part of their advertising campaigns.

In 2007, the emerging world of social media was spoofed by a video featuring a bride-to-be having a meltdown and cutting off her hair in a hotel room just an hour before her wedding. The idea of the video “Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out” was to get attention for a new hair product.

Did we just witness a similar video with “Woman Loses Mind Learning BC Ferries are Full”? The video shows a woman screaming hysterically when she (apparently) is told that it’s too late to board the ferry at Tsawassen. According to one news report she is heard yelling, “You have no idea what it means to people” as she walks out of the ferry terminal.

Vancouver Islanders have witnessed BC Ferries services decline while the fares steadily increase.

Could this video have been the brainchild of some marketing company trying to gauge how fed up people are over BC Ferries? Maybe this disgruntled passenger might want to take a “reliable, dependable fast, passenger-only ferry service between downtown Nanaimo and downtown Vancouver” such as the proposed Island Ferries.

Councillor Bestwick mentioned at the last council meeting that getting Island Ferries up and running is a number one priority for the City of Nanaimo.

Despite all the problems with BC Ferries, it’s still a lot safer than taking a ferry in Greece.

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