People of SEPTA counterattacks Philly Mag in today’s biggest social media fight

Credit: People of SEPTA

Much like the well-known People of Walmart website, the People of SEPTA Facebook and Twitter pages exist to document the unusual people found aboard the various modes of mass transit maintained by the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority.

On Friday, a fan posted a video to People of SEPTA’s Facebook group showing a heavily under-the-influence mother, who swayed semiconscious in a bus seat while her young daughter looked on, leading to the daughter’s removal from the home by DHS and a pending criminal investigation.

Now, People of SEPTA is coming under closer scrutiny from local media.

Philadelphia Magazine’s Joel Mathis took a shot at the group today, calling People of SEPTA a “sad grotesquerie.”

“It’s a site that makes you despair. ‘Why?’ you think to yourself. ‘Why won’t some adult rush and help these poor people?’ People of SEPTA doesn’t pretend to care about the answer,” Mathis wrote.

Now People of SEPTA has responded on Twitter and Facebook in what could turn into today’s biggest social media brawl.

This guy from Kansas thinks he knows what’s best for Philly. Let him know what you think of him. http://t.co/j5dvK3HZWq
— People of SEPTA (@Peopleofsepta) March 12, 2014

@joelmmathis not exactly. You move to this city and expect it to change for you. Selfish hipster douche.
— People of SEPTA (@Peopleofsepta) March 12, 2014

The creator of People of SEPTA is anonymous. On Facebook, People of SEPTA has 65,000 likes; its Twitter account has 3,848 followers. Followers send, post or upload images and videos they capture of unique SEPTA riders to People of SEPTA.

Those videos range from hideous to unsanitary, quirky to hilarious, and include heavily inebriated people. People having sex in public are documented on the People of SEPTA page, as well as people just wearing strange and comical outfits.