Yes, people are still talking about the capture of Southie’s James ‘Whitey’ Bulger this morning. The Social Times, a widely followed blog focused on social media use, today highlighting the social media campaign the FBI initiated which ultimately led to his capture.

The FBI’s campaign was image focused — honing in on not only Bulger, but his girlfriend, Catherine Elizabeth Greig, who the bureau believed was harboring Bulger. The Feds blasted images of them not only on a billboard in Times Square, but over Twitter and Facebook.

The FBI also launched a video on YouTube, alongside a similar ad on traditional broadcast television in 14 cities. Here is that video, which has over 88,000 views:

After this media blast was set into motion, within just hours the Feds received tips from people in LA and Santa Monica, one of whom knew the exact apartment complex where Bulger lived.

From the article:

“Interestingly, it wasn’t the campaign itself that caught the attention of the caller; it was the media’s coverage of the social media campaign. If you look at the ads, you’ll understand why. The YouTube ad, for example, is such a textbook “FBI Wanted Ad”, at first I thought I might be watching a spoof. The content is presented in a very straight forward manner, with a serious female voice providing commentary while still images are presented on screen. It’s definitely not the kind of ad that typically goes viral.”

The Social Times’ takeaway is that interest surrounding a social media campaign can be just as material as the campaign itself.