Showing posts with label social. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social. Show all posts

Twitter: where is the love?

Posted by spriglet On Wednesday, 7 August 2013 21:46 0 comments
Pic from http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/ 
We all know I am a self-confessed Twitter addict. It's the first thing I check in the morning, the last thing I look at before bedtime, it's where I go when I'm sad, when I'm happy, when I can't sleep, when I need to SHOUT SOMETHING IN CAPITALS to vent frustration. But recently it's turned into some kind of playground where anyone who's anyone is looking for a fight.

And when I say playground I mean full on, bitchy little kids' playground. Like primary school stuff. Attention seeking, bickering and - much worse - bullying; not to mention the far more serious and vile threatening behaviour that led to the police getting involved. Let's not go there.

It's not that this stuff shouldn't be talked about. It's not that this stuff shouldn't get us #ShoutingBack and shutting down those 'trolls' (worst term ever, trivialises the whole thing… sigh) when they act up but can we please, maybe, at some point, give it a rest? Every day it feels like someone's got their pitchfork ready to do battle and is just waiting for something to leap on. Anybody mention feminism? YELL AT THEM. Someone mention interns? YELL AT THEM. Journalist say the word 'blog'? YELL AT THEM. Someone say they like the Blurred Lines song? YELL AT THEM. And repeat. This is what Twitter's like at the moment and it's really bloody boring. Enough of the drama. Drama is for Facebook.

So instead, I've devised a list of the stuff we should go back to that Twitter is good at:

  • LOL cats
  • Louis Walsh jokes (at him, not with him)
  • Tranzizzling shizzle on Gizoogle and sharing dem crazy ass shizzle
  • Telling Katie Hopkins to shut up, Holly Willoughby style
  • Praising Willoughby's boobs in that dress
  • More cats
  • Cats dressed as sharks on hoovers
  • Drunk tweeting emotional rubbish 
  • Telling commuters how to commute like a good commuter, just like you
  • Asking inane questions that Google was actually built for 
  • Posting photos of meals you didn't even make yourself
  • Friends quotes
  • Tweeting through <insert any TV programme here> and spoiling it for anyone who's planning on watching on +1
  • Retweeting a picture of Kate Middleton holding a baby just in case the other million RTs didn't get through
  • Ripping X Factor contestants to shreds (metaphorically speaking, obviously) then doing it all again a week later
  • Complaining about the Daily Mail
  • Breaking news that's already been broken a gazillion times

I could go on. Twitter used to be a happy place full of distraction and fun and in-jokes against those people who think Facebook is the best thing on the internet and that selfies are what Instagram was built for. We need to get back to that brilliant, sarcastic, hilarious place that Twitter used to be.

Until then, I'll rely on Tweetdeck and my list of 'friends' aka 'nice people who don't argue with power users and always make me laugh' to keep me sane. 
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Check Out My Pins...

Posted by spriglet On Sunday, 22 January 2012 02:04 0 comments
It's not like I needed a new social network to take up more of my time. Twitter is already a way of life for me now - I probably tweet even more than I text - and Facebook, despite my general dislike for it, is something I visit daily even if it is just to spy. So when my boss told me about Pinterest I wasn't in a rush to get involved - but then I pinned my first thing and it got a little out of control...

Pinterest is essentially an online scrapbook, or mood board, of the pictures, photos, illustrations, whatever, that you love. Whoever came up with it is an utter genius. It is so simple; all you need do is drag the 'Pin it' button into your browser and you can pin anything, wherever you are on the web. A little like Tumblr, I guess, but faster, simpler, easier.

You can create different boards (I've already got a beauty one, a travel one, an art one, etc) so you can collect different images of things you love, things that inspire you, and things that simply make you smile, all in their own little online pinboard.

What I can't get over (and the reason I was on it until 1am midweek) is that there is just no reason to stop. I can pin for hours. Unlike Twitter or Facebook where once everyone's in bed or starting to talk utter rubbish it's time to close the laptop and stop, Pinterest doesn't require other people. They just make it better. So there I was last week, Googling my favourite David Downton illustrations so I could have them in one place; finding screenshots of Friends scenes that make me cry with laughter; looking up inspirational quotes and my favourite artists. I could have kept going, but the impending shrill of my alarm clock made me stop.

Of course, it is about being social, and other people's pins just make it even more addictive. Your homepage will be filled with the images that your fellow pinners have been discovering, liking and commenting on - a wealth of inspiration all in one place, all on different subjects which you can search within if you're looking for more of a certain topic. Follow people, follow specific boards - use it however you want to.

As much as I love writing, and I love tweeting, the problem with having a Tumblr or a Twitter account is that so many of the great things you link to get lost, as newer posts knock them back down the timeline. With Pinterest, it's all images - brilliant for those photos that speak for themselves, and more effective, with more immediate an impact, than reading something; and you can keep going back to it, admiring all those dreamy pictures you've found with ease. Like I said, genius.

Spoken like a true addict, eh? See my pins over at http://pinterest.com/judy_jay/ - and feel free to leave your username in the comments so I can follow yours.
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A Year (and a bit) of Life as a Twit

Posted by Judy Johnson On Saturday, 30 January 2010 23:17 3 comments
Just over a year ago I started working full time at Wahanda. Part of the job involved doing the PR for the company, and to get me started I was told that the future of PR was in social networking, and some site called 'Twitter'.

Well, I wasn't impressed. Pah, I thought. The status function of Facebook is one of its most irritating features (do I need to know that you love your boyfriend very much, coochy coochy coo? No, I think that's implied in the equally irritating Relationship Status, thanks) so who wants a website that's basically just status updates? Not me.

But in the name of work, I joined, tried to figure out how it worked and tried to quash flashacks of those awful chatrooms from when I discovered MSN as a teenager. I never used to write anything in chatrooms, because I was convinced they all knew each other and I'd be butting in - Twitter was a little like this at first, as I tried to look for tweets to reply to and tweeple to follow. But, save for a couple of weird ones who slightly stalked me and attempted to befriend me on Facebook (thank goodness for Block buttons), it didn't take long for me to feel part of the wave of the Twittering sea of people.

That was just over a year ago, and now, over 12,000 tweets later I cannot remember life B.T. (Before Twitter). What did I do when I had a random question? Who did I talk to at one in the morning when I was bored, awake and alone? How did I stay up to date with the very latest news? My year of Tweeting certainly made a dull 2009 a little less dull, for many reasons...

  • Friends - Obviously, number one is the people. Or Tweeple, if you can say that without cringeing. I talk to some of my favourite Twitter folk on a daily basis - that's probably more than I speak to some of my own friends. Whether I need to laugh or cry, learn or help, they are there to make me giggle, think, dream and share. I've even met a few of them and they're as lovely in real life as they are in their tweets.
  • Colleagues - As well as keeping in touch with past and current colleagues through the art of twittering, I have been introduced to new ones too. Someone who definitely falls under bullet-point one is Emma, who interned with us at Wahanda after messaging me, and has since become a great fellow writer, tweeter and friend who seems to know every website inside out. I've also discovered a brilliant bunch of writers who make me laugh out loud on a daily basis, and it's an honour to be listed with them in the slightly-old-already Twitter lists.
  • Bloggers - I never knew there were so many blogs out there. Beauty blogs, fashion blogs, gadget blogs, dating blogs... there are so many to choose from and there's such quality writing to enjoy. I talk to a lot of bloggers through Wahanda to help exchange links, and have also met some inspirational people whose blogs have grown already in the year that I've known them.
  • Charity - Penniless writer that I am, I rarely manage to contribute much to charity. But having spoken to some wonderfully inspirational people and hearing their stories of cancer survivals and battles, I just had to get involved for Breast Cancer Awareness month. From Pretty Stylish London's wonderful ladies night which Wahanda sponsored, to JJ's tweet up in Chelsea, through the power of Twitter money was raised for this fantastic cause and I was proud to be part of it. Let's continue to #kickcancer in 2010, starting with the Speed Dating!
  • News - Where were you when you heard about Michael Jackson? I was on Tweetdeck. I saw one tweet about a suspected heart attack and all of a sudden, the All Friends column filled up with the shock of the nation and Twitter went down. Twitter has become my instant news resource, whether it's to tell us it's snowing in W1 or to reveal who's won X Factor. All very important to know as and when they happen.
  • (Over) Sharing - Ah, the ultimate point of Twitter. To share stuff. I discovered Spotify and shared my playlists with friends through tweeting. I replaced drunk texts to people I really shouldn't text with drunk tweets to people who are happily entertained and not judgemental. I can tweet that I'm sad and a flood of support comes in; I can be excited and others want to hear the good news. I need a new dress, someone helps me find it, or sends me a discount code. If I don't know how to do something, I ask (this even involved me trying to figure out putting a bulb in my new lamp. Thanks guys). If X Factor's Jedward are driving me insane, I can rant, and tweeple rant with me. And, a great testament to how I started on Twitter, I can share Wahanda's MobDeals with people that I know love a bit of pampering or a cheap fitness class.
To the people I follow - you're brilliant. Keep doing what you're doing and I'll see you in Twitterville!

Special mentions...
I couldn't write this without pointing you to the friendly, funny, talented people I know through Twitter. Here's just a few (listed by Twitter name to make it easy for you to go follow them)
Love_London
Tsunimee
Emma_Cossey
Lornamedia
LondonDarling
TeenyTinyLeanne
SteveTheBlack
GlennyT
HelenHenry
ElleTucker
Mullies
HelenWrites
JasonArnopp
LisaVen
Ok this will take a while. Just follow everyone I follow!

Xx


Image courtesy of http://www.chris-wallace.com/
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