Crowdsourced Facebook comments set the lyrics to a new punk song

Punk rock isn't a particularly diverse genre.

That’s why as part of its ongoing Women’s History Month campaign, Facebook teamed up with all-female of color punk band Meet Me @ The Altar to create lyrics for its new single, “Hit Like a Girl.” 

The song, an anthem for female empowerment, was released on Spotify on Monday with an accompanying music video by Facebook’s in-house creative team, Creative X. 

The single was inspired by posts from women crowdsourced across Facebook’s platforms — Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook — with the goal of amplifying real examples of women leaning on each other for support.  

“Oftentimes, there's a stigma for women that relying on other women is a weakness,” said Kieren Sullivan, Creative X program manager. “But we're seeing on our platforms that every day, women are pushing against this perception.”

Facebook identified Meet Me @ The Altar after an extensive casting process led by an all-female team. The all-BIPOC, all-female punk band is something of an anomaly in the genre, and is pushing against stereotypes to redefine what it means to be a punk rocker. The band also uses Facebook’s platforms frequently to connect with fans.

Meet Me @ The Altar was already looking to write a female empowerment anthem when Facebook approached them with the idea, said Mona Lisa Farrokhnia, senior creative producer at Creative X.  

“We were supporting them to do something they wanted to do, which was in line with what we wanted to do creatively,” she said. “They are pushing for representation and inclusivity, which is very much aligned with what we believe.”

Once the band was selected, Facebook put a call-out on its brand Facebook page and Instagram handle for women to share comments with words of inspiration and encouragement for other women. The company then grouped the comments into themes for Meet Me @ The Altar, which used them as the basis for an original track. 

“We got hundreds of comments on these posts,” Sullivan said. “A lot of them were about support, encouragement, empowerment and being strong and confident regardless of what other people think. It’s a message we all need right now, given the last year.” 

The campaign, which was produced end-to-end by a predominantly female team, is the latest iteration of Facebook’s monthlong Women’s History Month campaign. The brand is also running a campaign called Hall of Her, featuring video spotlights of female community leaders, as well as Women x Women, which highlights anecdotes from women who have leaned on other women for support over the past year.  

“We are seeing the lives of billions of people every day: what they are responding to, experiencing and feeling,” said Amanda Goodspeed, managing director at Creative X. “Making sure we're finding and telling these stories is really important.”  

Creative X is also trying to live the values it’s preaching around equality. Half of the internal agency’s leadership team is female, and 56% of the agency overall is female. As for racial diversity, Facebook has pledged that half of its workforce will come from underrepresented groups by the end of 2023, and 30% of leadership positions will be held by people of color. 

“Having an all-women team develop a campaign for Women’s History Month is really important,” Goodspeed said. “It's not as much about setting a percentage goal as making sure [our team] understands how it makes the work better.”