WLOGLOBAL NEWS

The Mask King of New Jersey

183:821474383 (Webster Lewin) — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 20:46:12 GMT

I am the Mask King of New Jersey

Since the very beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in January of 2020, I began thinking about masks. Having lived for a year in China earlier in my career, I was familiar with the culture of mask-wearing and the way masks can be used to help prevent the spread of infection and as fashion. I began researching where to purchase masks. I bought a carton on 3M N95 masks and I started to wear those when going out shopping in early February, of 2020, well before any of the U.S. authorities were recommitting masking in public.

I was also tracking the news out of Wuhan, China carefully on WeChat and other Chinese social apps i those early days. One thing that I saw right away, is that people not only started masking up in public, but were also wearing goggles and other face coverings, some people were even wearing homemade hazmat suits. That's when I started wearing goggles and nitrile or latex gloves too whenever I went out to shop.

As I started acquiring more masks, I became more aware of the pros and cons of various mask materials and designs. I started sharing photos of myself wearing the masks I liked on my Instagram . I was also learning about the wide range of mask options that were available on Chinese websites, like AliExpress and TaoBao , including some powered masks that had been designed for the China market prior to the pandemic, but that offered high levels of protection against viral infection.

I'm a video maker who has been active on YouTube for many years, so of course after purchasing these (and other) masks I had to show them off. First on Instagram, then later on YouTube and TikTok. I posted my first photo with the hashtag #MaskKingNJ on Instagram on June 9, 2020. On YouTube on August 3, 2020, and on TikTok on August 26, 2020.

Since then, I've been running an active social media campaign to promote mask-wearing and vaccinations as the Mask King of New Jersey across all my social media platforms. It's a lighthearted way to encourage people to think about doing a little bit extra to keep themselves and their families safe in the pandemic.

One of my videos went viral and got over 18,400 views on TikTok .

This video here is the one I'm most proud of. I filmed it over 2 days at the Mall at Short Hills. I'm wearing the AIR X mask from MicroClimate .

I don't wear this mask much anymore, but I'm still exploring this topic as the pandemic evolves. In the meantime, I've also written the following articles about The Mask King of New Jersey's adventures on Patch.com.

Please follow the #MaskKingNJ hashtag on social media for more about masks, mask life, and the ongoing adventures of the Mask King of New Jersey:

YouTube: http://youtube.com/wloglobal

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wloglobal?

Instagram: http://Instagram.com/wloglobal

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/wloglobal

Facebook: http://facebook.com/wloglobal

@WLOGLOBAL NAMED AS FINALIST IN THE 2021 REED AWARDS

183:821474383 (Webster Lewin) — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 17:28:34 GMT

The start-up agency is recognized for their work on the successful Tayfun Selen for Morris County Commissioner campaign in 2020.

CHATHAM TOWNSHIP, NJ – April 22, 2021 — @WLOGLOBAL, the non-partisan agency founded by digital strategist Webster Lewin in 2019, has been named as a Finalist in the 2021 Reed Awards. The agency played a lead role in digital communications and advertising related to the successful 2020 campaign of Morris County Commissioner, Tayfun Selen, who received more total votes than any other Republican in the history of Morris County. The recognition from Campaigns & Elections ’ Reed Awards comes for the video ad entitled “Cary Doesn’t Know” which was written and directed by Webster Lewin. The ad can be viewed on YouTube below:

This was the only contrast ad, which mentioned Commissioner Selen’s opponent, run during Selen’s 2020 campaign. “Tayfun and I worked closely on the concept for this ad, which was based on public statements by his opponent which allowed us to quickly highlight a major difference between the two candidates,” said Lewin.

The video ad launched on October 24, 2020, just nine days prior to Election Day on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. It was viewed over 24,000 times by Facebook and Instagram users in Morris County. It was seen by YouTube users in Morris County over 87,000 times, with over 35% of those views delivered on television screens. The ad also appeared on the News 12 cable television station in Morris County during the final days of the election. It is a Finalist in the category of Best Online Video on a Shoestring Budget (Republican). The ad was shot (on an iPhone) and edited by Webster Lewin.

Lewin, a digital communications consultant with a background as a humorist. “I am a registered Independent and I am open to working with candidates of any political party in local races where national partisan politics should not be the focus. It should be about who is best prepared to do the work of the people”, said Lewin. He has lead digital strategies for various political races in New Jersey, including the 2019 Reed Award finalist Trad Jay Webber social media campaign, and the digital campaign of the 2014 Democratic nominee for the NJ-11 Congressional race. Lewin has over 25 years of experience leading brands and digital marketing agencies to succeed in digital communications, marketing, social media, augmented reality, and mobile applications. He is also known online as the Mask King of New Jersey ( #MaskKingNJ ).

About the Reed Awards:
Named after Campaigns & Elections founder Stanley Foster Reed, the Reed Awards are the most exacting awards in the political campaign industry. The Reeds embody excellence in political campaigning, campaign management, political consulting and political design.

Media Contact:
Webster Lewin, Founder and Lead Strategist
@WLOGLOBAL
201-323-0428
webb@wloglobal.co m

Americans Need Recurring Federal Stimulus Payments Now

183:821474383 (Webster Lewin) — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 21:08:18 GMT

At least 25 to 30 Percent of Americans Now Have No Meaningful Income

We are now over three months into a pandemic that has led to a health and financial crisis not seen in many generations. June is here, which means another round of rent and mortgage payments are due for millions of Americans. Small business owners are scrambling to stay afloat, and financial anxiety will have its new cycle as bills come in and remain unpaid. Together, we find ourselves in an extremely fragile and desperate state. The people’s trust in the federal government is at an abysmal 17% according to a recent New York Times article, and something must be done to restore that.

The one-time $1,200 stimulus payments sent out by the government were not enough, Many members of our community are going through this pandemic without substantial financial security and it is costing this country more lives and economic loss than is necessary. Over 38 million people are unemployed, with our State Department of Unemployment's call-centers, online systems, and food pantries maxed out.

This is now an existential crisis and something must be done to offer immediate and ongoing support that will protect the American people from a job market and economy that is in free-fall. Pushing 38 million of us to our State's unemployment systems has been a failure. It's not enough, and anyone with an issue collecting their benefits (like myself) can't get through their overloaded systems. Economic hardships are only exacerbating the other issues that have been tearing our country apart. George Floyd was arrested for trying to use what was allegedly a fake $20 bill. Our country is disintegrating before our eyes and now is not the time for worrying about who is qualified for help and who is not. Many of those over 38 million jobs will not be coming back anytime soon. Ordinary people need help now, and if they don't they can use their extra money to support others in their community or to stimulate our sagging economy by spending it or actually creating some jobs.

I am grateful to U.S. Senators Harris, Sanders, Gillibrand, and Markey , co-sponsors of Senate Bill S.3784, the Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act . I urge our New Jersey elected Representatives in Congress to join them and support this bill that will provide the American people with the main thing that will help them now and which was not included in the HEROES Act: ongoing, monthly payments to the people for the duration of this crisis.

Beyond that, I urge voters to ask ALL of this year's candidates for ALL levels of government where they stand on cash relief to the people. Putting money into our hands is clearly the right thing to do. Our Municipal, County and State officials are the eyes and ears of our Federal elected officials. If those local officials do not support cash relief it makes it far more likely that our Representatives and Senators will not. Let's figure out who really represents us in office and get behind them. Fortunately, we in New Jersey now have candidates we can support like Russ Cirincione who is running for Congress against 30-year incumbent Frank Pallone in NJ-6. We also have local elected officials like Councilman Robert Mathieu , 5th Ward Of Roselle Park, NJ who have come out in favor of recurring cash relief.

The vast majority of Americans know that recurring cash relief is the right thing to do. If elected officials and candidates don't support cash relief, they need to go. We need to put political pressure on ANYONE who is running for elected office so that if they are against cash relief, they lose.

This story was first published on Patch.com and was later published on the TapInto.com Network.

Please wear a mask when you go out.

Tue, 05 May 2020 23:35:45 GMT

Now is not the time to be selfish. Let's work together to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

I was very disappointed this past weekend to see so many people lingering around the downtown streets of Chatham without wearing a mask. I saw large groups of young people, parents, and small children, and only a handful of masks. Most were not social distancing as they lined up for ice cream at Scoops, lingered on the library grounds bare faced, and picked up their take out pizzas at Arminio's. Apparently, these individuals are not very concerned about our current pandemic, or the health of the masked employees at work inside these businesses.

You don’t need to be a doctor, or a scientist, or an expert or anything else on this particular issue. You just need to be able to see in front of your nose.

You are not the center of the universe.

Nor am I.

Hourly workers in these business, and others who need to go downtown to shop, have parents and children and spouses who are medically fragile. They simply want to work and shop in the safest possible environment.

Your medically fragile friends and neighbors can stay home to a point. They do need to eat. They might want to pick up a pizza, or buy an ice cream too. They do need to pick up prescriptions and visit the post office. No one is asking you to wear a mask while riding a bicycle (though there are some masks made just for that ), but is carrying a mask with you to put on when you end up downtown and decide to buy something or just hang out too much to ask?

No business owner wants to end up being sued when a worker gets sick or infects a bunch of people. Because let’s face it, the government’s promises to handle the financial impacts of this hasn’t exactly panned out for businesses so far.

Just imagine the amount of privilege and comfort one must live in to be so insulted or tortured by what is, at worst, a mild inconvenience.

So, before you get all Scarlet O’hara, just stop. Ask yourself if of allllll the battles to pick in this whole wide word right now, this....THIS...is going to be the hill you want to die on?

Maybe this is all for nothing. Maybe face coverings aren’t as efficient, or fool proof, or comfortable as we’d like. But, you aren’t being tortured or oppressed. Do those hard working pizza makers, ice cream scoopers, and fellow citizens a solid and get over yourself.

We are asking many of our healthcare workers to wear bandannas and t-shirts as masks. You aren’t above it. There are school children all over this country who are sewing masks to give away. If a 7 year old can be a decent person and choose to make the world a little more comfortable or safe, then so can you, and so can your child .

There isn’t a Burger King drive-through in downtown Chatham, and no we can’t have it our way. This disease, infection, pandemic, whatever you wanna call it, doesn’t give a damn about you or me. Doesn’t give a damn about black, white, short, tall, age, gender. It’s not our battle to dictate.

The bottom line is, don’t be a jerk. Just put a mask on your self-centered, mouth breathing face and let the staff of our local businesses see the smile in your eyes as we head off with your large pizza or ice cream to consume at a safe distance.

This article has first appeared on Chatham Patch (Webster is the "Mayor" of Chatham Patch), and has since been published on the TapInto.net network of sites.

Yang Gang Hang Livesteam 4/24/2020

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:25:45 GMT

@WLOGLOBAL founder Webb Lewin joined fellow Yang Gang members for a live stream during the COVID-19 lock down.

Yang Gang leaders from New Jersey and New York City chatted live on the Juhl Media YouTube channel recently. This live event was on 4/24/2020 at 4 PM. It was hosted by documentary filmmaker Ching Juhl, with guests that included fellow New York and New Jersey Yang Gang activists Joy Lo, Jodi Sarda, Shane Moynihan, Phil Lam, and @WLOGLOBAL founder Webb Lewin.

This 90-minute live steam covers topics such as the changing face of political activism in the age of the coronavirus, discussing quarantine tips, their hopes for the future, reconnecting with each other, and reminiscing about the work they each did for Andrew Yang campaign.

The Role of Parody in Negative Social Media Campaigns

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:02:09 GMT

Mocking your opponent can be an effective way to diffuse their attacks.

Some of the most amusing online content comes from parody or spoof accounts on Twitter and other social media platforms. Many of them are political. But, can political parody actually play a role in political campaigns? If so, what are the best practices, and how can you have the most impact on a race? As someone who has led digital campaigns for various political offices, including for the House of Representatives, and with over 11 years of experience leading brands and agencies to success in social media, I believed that online humor could be a powerful weapon for politicians running for office. To prove that, I spent most of the 2018 midterms discovering just how powerful humor can be in a Congressional campaign.

It’s true that some political parodies, such as @walterowensgrpa are so on-point that they are frequently mistaken for the real thing (search on the hashtag #Waltered ). However, they shouldn’t be equated with the fraudulent fake accounts which often pose as real voices on social media.

Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms require that parody accounts clearly disclose that they’re, in fact, not the people they are imitating. That’s an important difference, and the right to parody is protected free speech. Still, this is an area where consultants should tread carefully while exploring.

This past cycle, I was inspired by the success of accounts such as @RoyMooresHorse and @nexttokimdavis , the brainchildren of comedian Dave Colan. So in July of 2018, I decided to lead a negative social media campaign targeting New Jersey Assemblyman Jay Webber, the Republican then running for a hotly contested open House seat in NJ-11, which happens to be my own Congressional district.

Here’s what I learned from that experience:

Define the strategy pre-launch.
Because of Webber’s low national profile, I knew that it would be difficult for any parody of him to attract a large number of followers from around the county. His Democratic opponent Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal Prosecutor, was far ahead of him in terms of social media presence.

Early polls showed that she was narrowly favored. Against that early optimism, though, it was worth remembering that the seat had been in Republican hands for more than 30 years. Everyone expected the race to be very close. I began focusing on reaching the most people possible via purely organic impressions, no sponsored posts. This allowed the effort to operate without the need to get certified as a political advertiser on Twitter of Facebook.

Define the persona early.

My goal was to take many of the things Webber was using to present himself in a positive light, and flip them upside-down. He ran as a moderate family man, focused on bringing the benefits of Trump’s rising economy back to New Jersey. He’s a conservative Catholic and father of seven, married to a stay-at-home wife, who like him is also a Harvard Law graduate. Using that background and his voting record in the state Assembly, I launched Trad Jay Webber .

The goal was to satirically tie Jay Webber to President Trump as well as some of the most troubling aspects of online culture in the age of Trump, the rise of white-nationalism. Webber’s character fit closely with the “Trad Life” subculture that one can find by searching for the hashtags: #Trad, #TradLife, #TradWife, #TradRevolution, #WhiteCulture, and #whitegenocide. Being “trad” has become one of the core values of the alt-right and white nationalists. It means living by traditional values, abstinence before marriage, having as many white children as possible, and stay-at-home wives who take care of the family while the husband works.

Block staffers and passionate supporters.

Not surprisingly, those managing the Twitter account of the candidate who is being parodied were not amused. My first version of the Trad Jay Webber Twitter account was reported for impersonation and suspended by Twitter after five days, even though it clearly said “PARODY” in its bio.

When I respawned the account that same day with the new handle @NotJayWebber , I made it even more obvious that it was a parody of @JayWebberNJ . Then I began blocking any accounts that belonged to Webber’s campaign staffers, and anyone who was an obvious passionate supporter who frequently responded to his posts.

They would never be dissuaded from voting for Jay Webber anyway. Besides, the real Jay Webber had become notorious in the New Jersey for blocking hundreds of his potential constituents on social media (myself included), even during the NJ-11 Republican primary. To this day, Jay Webber has still not blocked @NotJayWebber on Twitter.

Post frequently and respond rapidly.

From July 20th through Election Day 2018, some 2,250 tweets were posted by my parody Twitter accounts. In order to maximize the number of impressions for each @NotJayWebber tweet, it was essential to be able to respond quickly to all of candidate Webber’s posts. At first, I was cautious to not @ the candidate’s account directly.

But, as it became clear that Webber’s team was actually not seeing my updates (because they were blocked), I soon transitioned to responding directly to each @JayWebberNJ post. Most tweets also used the #NJ11 hashtag, so that anyone searching for tweets related to the race would be certain to see Trad Jay Webber content. It was also important to use any hashtags that Webber’s account promoted in his own tweets, such and #WebberForCongress and the regrettable #MontclairMikie (which he apparently coined because Mikie Sherrill is from the liberal Montclair portion of the district), and to use the #TradLife hashtag to help the audience understand what Trad Jay Webber was all about.

Use a lot of memes.

Amusing memes are the lifeblood of social media and are essential for driving engagement with content. Nearly all of the memes created for Trad Jay Webber were put together rapidly using free iPhone applications such as Phonto, OKJUX, Catwang, VaporGlitch, R4VE, and Eraser (for creating PNG’s with transparent backgrounds). They all included the Trad Jay Webber for Congress logo for branding purposes.

Respond to national trends and key Twitter accounts.

Trad Jay Webber responded in real-time to many tweets of prominent individuals, publications, and journalists who were discussing the NJ-11 race, including NJ 11th for Change , and Democratic candidate Mike Sherrill herself. The key to driving impressions and engagement was doing things that the actual candidate could not or would not do. Trad Jay Webber inserted himself into every relevant trending topic possible.

Engage with off-platform content.

During the final month of the campaign, Trad Jay Webber launched a Facebook page and an Instagram account. This expanding of the platform allowed for increased engagement beyond the Twitter account, in part, because I was then able to respond directly in the comments section of articles related to the race. As a bonus, I could also troll Facebook users that posted negative comments on Sherrill’s Facebook page. Trad also satirically endorse several other local Republican candidates on their own Facebook pages, which caused quite a stir .

Overall, Trad Jay Webber was able to deliver nearly half a million organic impressions on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram during the 2018 midterms, with a very high Twitter engagement rate of 2.5 percent. While the account didn’t garner a significant number of followers, it still received more than 21,000 profile views, and videos posted online were viewed some 1,100 times.

The Trad Jay Webber social media campaign was recently named a finalist in the prestigious Campaigns & Elections 2019 Reed Awards , which will be held in Austin, TX on February 21st, 2019

Webster Lewin, @wloglobal , is a digital content strategist with 20-plus years of experience. He has led digital content strategy for many global brands, and for various Democratic campaigns in his home state of New Jersey. An earlier version of this article was first published on Medium .