FPRA - Florida Public Relations Association Blog

On September 17, 2007, at 12:00 p.m. ET, U.S. Senator John Kerry addressed a Constitution Day forum at the University of Florida in Gainesville, which was organized by the university's student government. Toward the end of the question and answer period, University police forcibly removed Andrew Meyer, a 21-year-old fourth-year undergraduate telecommunications student, from the forum, restraining him through direct force and drive stunning him with a Taser.

Several videos of the episode were then posted on the Internet. The video shot with Meyer's camera had 2.6 million views by October 19, 2007 and was considered a viral video. The New Oxford American Dictionary listed "tase/taze" as one of the words of the year for 2007, popularized by the widespread use of "Don't tase me, bro!" The Yale Book of Quotations designated the same quote as the most memorable quote of 2007. Mick Jones, former guitarist for The Clash, wrote and published a song inspired from the event, "Don't Tase Me, Bro." (Wikipedia)

Coming up next is University of Florida Associate Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations Joe Hice, APR who will give insight into the social media incident heard round the world. Blogger Kelly Donovan will have a session summary posted shortly.