Golden Triangle Digest: February 25th, 2021
Busy week for foreigners in Land of Smiles. From a kick in the face in Pattaya to a hippie bust on Koh Samui. But not all hope is lost for you readers out there.
Dear expats and readers,
One thing that’s been proven to be true time after time while writing stories at True Crime Thailand is that we like to read stories about ourselves.
When I’m glossing over the Thai press in the morning to pluck a story or two to bring to my readers on social media for their daily fix of crime, I look for the stories that are going to get the most clicks, shares, and comments.
What? You didn’t think I’d just plain admit the obvious?
Facebook especially operates on algorithms that pump up content that invokes emotions: anger, sadness, joy, shock.
If I pulled the curtain up and gave you a peak at the numbers of what stories get the most reach, shares, and clicks, you’ll quickly recognize a pattern.
Anything to do with foreigners does the best. This stands to reason. We want to read stories about ourselves, and most of True Crime Thailand readers are foreigners — but not always farang. The story I did on the Malaysian man who packed meth in instant noodle packages in Bangkok did very well in Malaysia.
Anything to do with shocking crimes with kids as victims. I think this stands to reason, too. Most of my readers are 35+, and many are old enough to be grandparents (or even great-grandparents — no shame, you know who you are). Take the case of a man who had raped his 4 year old daughter and tried to escape that was a top story that we put out the past week.
Funny stories. Not everything has to be shocking or press the deep-seated instinctual buttons of fear or rage that crime stories often do to get clicks. Take this case of a woman who stormed the wedding of her legal husband trying to hitch up with a younger gal. Guys love to chip in with their 2 cents about their love woes, crazy women stories, and the like on these ones.
Crimes involving celebrities — even if they’re Thai celebrities and the foreigner has no clue who they are. This one seems a bit counterintuitive at first glance. Why would anybody care about a celebrity from another culture, whose music or shows you’ve never heard or seen? Dunno, maybe a TCT reader’s got a good idea — but if it has to do with a Thai celebrity, the stories do well even with my largely foreigner readership. Take this case of a famous Thai rapper who lured an 18 year old fan to his home for sex.
There are other examples that don’t fit the above, too.
Big drug busts can drive a story to the top of the heap — but not always. Surprisingly, some of the biggest busts, like this historic heroin bust, were lukewarm in the rankings.
Village murders are so common in Thailand. If I covered every single one I come across on the daily, then I’d need another 5 hours in the day just to get them all into English. The ones that get clicks usually have an element of some of the above bullet points: perhaps a funny or strange detail.
But at the end of the day, it is the stories involving foreigners, no matter how innocent the story, that outrank anything to do with Thais, no matter how salacious.
Take the case of the French nationals busted on Koh Samui for playing music at a self-described hippie-festival. That one did very well.
Or, how about a double-whammy: massive scam case that’s hit the headlines with the Shopping Mall app, and the first suspect arrested was a man from the Netherlands. This actually became the story that brought the most traffic to my website out of any other story I’ve done. Shocking even myself.
And finally, a story from today.
The Chilean national who had his face kicked in. Video and full details at that link.
Now I’m gonna give myself a bit of a pat on the back here. I woke up and got on this story quick. I was actually the first to cover it in English — beating out even the Pattaya dedicated news outlets (just a bit of friendly ribbing, I know one of the guys that works down there).
When I posted the story on my Facebook page and group, I knew it was going to get pick up by Zuck’s algos and push into the feeds of farangs through Land of Smiles.
What I didn’t expect — although in retrospect, I should have — was that some of the commenters seemed to blame the victim without knowing the motive for the beating.
“There must have been a reason,” they said. “There’s always a reason.”
“Tourists cause trouble and get beatdowns. Simple as…”
“Probably mouthed off with a ‘fuck you’ to Somchai.”
And on, and on…
Now, I’m a diplomatic kind of guy. But I don’t suffer fools lightly. And I’m not a person that throws out a story into the swamp that is social media and lets the piranhas come to feed on its guts without a fight.
So of course I jumped in and countered with, “Did you watch the video? Did the Chilean look aggressive? If he said a cross word, a slap to the face should’ve ended it — kicking him in the face could’ve killed the man.”
And so the day went on like this as the comments racked up and the stupidity piled onto itself as it is wont to do on Facebook.
Until the update came through.
The motive behind the motosai driver kicking in the face of the Chilean?
Annoyed that the Chilean asked him for a ride and the driver couldn’t understand him. Annoyed that the Chilean talked too much.
He was a man who becomes annoyed easily, so he says.
The problem with this story is there isn’t a flood of tourists coming into Pattaya right now. The foreigners that are in Thailand are basically the foreigners that Thailand is gonna get for the time-being — I know, there are those with flush pockets over in Phuket in the luxury Anantara villas, God-bless ‘em.
Thing is, attacks like this aren’t common. In fact, they become a big story like this and takes over social media for the day or week because of the fact that they are so rare.
But the attack happened. And it’s a horrible look for Pattaya in these times.
There was a bit of public relations after the fact where they gave the Chilean some chicken noodle soup for his busted up nose. I mean hell, if it can heal the soul then what’s a broken nose?
I probably don’t have to tell you, but I will anyway, this story did very well. I mean for my numbers.
You see, I do track how stories do. I want to know what makes readers tick. What gets clicks, readers, shares, comments — and what stories people poo-poo and leave on the wayside like an old dirtbag who’s been hitching for too long.
My goal is to grow True Crime Thailand, and one of the most effective ways to do that is to get people to share the stories that I put out.
It’s why I do daily crime stories that hit on the bullet points I outlined above.
But you know what’s surprised me the most?
My long-form, most nuanced work that I put out on this newsletter actually gets more reads and engagement than any of the above.
This is exactly why I want to double down on long-form written content (which I will also cross-produce with audio content in the form of podcasts).
I will raise the bar of production and quality here because it’s actually what gives True Crime Thailand the best bang for the buck — the most reach, the most clicks, and the most engagement.
I’ll never give up on the daily crime stories. It’s where I find fodder for bigger stories and a laugh with a big share of my social audience.
If you want to take a look at the projects I’m working on here at True Crime Thailand, I’ve set up this public Trello board where you can see what I’ve got coming down the pipeline.
I think it’s a nifty way to keep readers updated on stories that I’m working on and what to expect in the future. I’ll add to it regularly and update when I can.
If you have friends or colleagues that you’d think would enjoy True Crime Thailand, give the newsletter a share with the button below. It’s how I’ve grown the audience to over 5,000 readers in less than 3 months.
I appreciate everybody that’s given me tips on stories, leads, and insight into the stories that I’ve put out. You’re invaluable to the writing I’m doing.
Well, that’s probably a good place to end it.
Stay safe my friends,
True Crime Thailand