Franchise Asia Philippines 2012 Trends on Twitter For the Wrong Reason (#fap2012) [Updated]

Posted on July 26th, 2012. Written by Rico.

Franchise Asia Philippines 2012 is a conference happening right now at the SMX in Pasay City. Organizers and attendees sought to promote the event on Twitter through the #fap2012 hashtag—apparently without realizing “fap” is a colloquial term for male self-entertainment.

Update: In response to what happened below, the organizers have changed the hashtag for the event from #fap2012 to #franchiseasia! As shared by @pauljohnpena:

It all started when local blogger Jayvee Fernandez asked an “innocent” question through his Twitter account:

is #fap2012 a conference about fapping?

Then it all took off from there, with many creating their own puns. Some highlights:

@peterjuan: Congratulations to @FAP2012 for promoting great personal endeavors! #fap2012

@marga_deona: I wonder about the extent of the participation of women attending #FAP2012.

@mistervader: Updates about #fap2012 are trickling in very slowly as all delegates are typing with only one hand.

Some were confused about the whole thing:

@momblogger: haha asked my hubby what fap meant. He didn’t know. I googled and found out what FAP meant. whahaha RT @carloople: #fap2012

Especially those actually attending the event:

@josiahgo: why? “@carloople: Whoever thought up of that ridiculous event/conference hashtag should get reprimanded lol. #fap2012″

Though Frederic Levy of CashCashPinoy was aware of what was happening:

@fredlevy: on stage at Franchise Asia 2012. i really LOVE their hashtag!! #fap2012

At least one found the whole proceedings annoying:

@jakrelucio: The hashtag #fap2012 may sound funny to everyone, including me, but repetitive use of puns is quite annoying and immature.

Eventually enough people tweeted with the #fap2012 hashtag—with most making fun of it—that it trended on Twitter (pictured)! I only wonder how the event organizers will adjust, especially since the conference will end this Sunday. That’s two-and-a-half more days away, which is eternity in online time.As mentioned above, organizers have changed the “official” hashtag to #franchiseasia. Though people are still using #fap2012 to represent the event.

In any case, the whole #fap2012 saga should serve as a lesson for businesses and organizations who want to avoid becoming targets for smart alecks online. TJ Dimacali of GMA News Online summarized the whole debacle best:

@tjdimacali: Hashtags –like brand names, among other things– demand imagination and focused thought. They are a part of one’s online branding #fap2012

Twitter users employ hashtags to categorize their tweets—short 140-character messages that they post online—under a particular subject or topic. When a hashtag “trends”, it’s a sign that many people on Twitter are using the hashtag, usually talking about things related to it. Such visibility can be exploited for marketing purposes, but in this case, Franchise Asia Philippines 2012 created a different kind of discussion entirely.