Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. 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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The Beauty of BB Cream

Posted by spriglet On Saturday, 30 July 2011 22:09 0 comments
Image from Superdrug
A month or two ago, my friend returned from a trip to South Korea gushing about their beauty habits. Apparently, their nail varnishes last longer and chip less than ours; they understand the importance of skincare and realise that tanning is skin damage; and they use something called Blemish Balm, or BB Cream as it's known, to look flawless while looking after their skin. Well, lucky them.

Straight away, I took to Twitter and asked the beauty bloggerati if they knew of it or whether you could get it here - and judging by the reponses, it was very new on the scene in the UK but word was slowly getting around. I discovered you could get it on eBay but thought I would wait for a few more reviews before buying it. 

So what is it? Well, given that it's important enough to have a Wikipedia page, it's pretty special. As said in the text there and as explained to me by my friend, it was developed by a doctor in Germany and started out as something dermatologists used to help their patients heal and protect their skin as well as cover scars, acne and blemishes after laser therapy. It's sometimes tinted so basically acts as a foundation, primer and skin treatment in one. It also can have a whitening effect which is, I'm told, quite big in Asia. So we Brits want to look brown and they want our pasty complexions - are we ever happy?! 

Anyway, news got out about this fabulous stuff and it's become far more mainstream - and now, it's here. Everyone I follow on Twitter appears to be trying it, ordering it or just plain raving about it - and I ordered mine from Superdrug last night. I don't wear foundation but I have been hunting for a decent primer, and absolutely swear by wearing an SPF daily (currently using my Avene moisturiser).  I can't wait to try it out - though I have to say, SPF 15 is not exactly protection. Hopefully they'll up the SPF when more of them come out...

For before and after pics, check out this blog - thanks @Tsunimee for sharing! Have you used it yet? Does it live up to expectation?

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Blog Round Up

Posted by spriglet On Monday, 11 April 2011 23:06 0 comments
I may have skipped a few of the 30 Day Blog Challenges since some were for things I do all the time, but I liked this one since I've been addicted to looking at Blogger stats every single day of late. I'm amazed that I get traffic at all, let alone people from all over the world (I appear to attract the Russians, weirdly), so thanks for reading! 

As one of these bloggers who can't choose a subject and therefore writes about all sorts, it's interesting to see what people read more and comment on. In honour of today's challenge and to share what content gets the most hits, here are my top five blogs:


I am surprised this is my most read post and reckon it may be because I left it in the top slider for so long... that or you're all just looking for inspiration for New Year's resolutions! Now that we're a quarter of the way through the year there will be an update on those shortly...

Given the number of tweets about the dire state of public transport in my feed every day I am not surprised this is number two. It even got me a contributor's position at Grumpy Young Women and was published on a transport blog... now, Boris, if you're reading - let's get it plastered all over the trains, yes? 

This one gets me a lot of SEO traffic so I'm not surprised it's in here - it's a topic that is continuously debated about. I still think internships are a great way to get into journalism and necessary, but there are limits. Just make sure you know yours!

Actually, the next three most popular are my X Factor posts but here's the one that came up top. I enjoyed these and can't wait for the next series to start... Saturday nights just haven't been the same since Take Me Out finished!

After the X Factor posts, this one about the very weird repetition of three boys' names in my love life was the next most popular. Luckily I am not alone, but still, when I do (rarely) look at online dating sites, there are four names (three plus the ex) I most definitely avoid...

So that's three personal or 'Just Judy' blogs, one dating (Single Scoop) blog and one review/TV blog. Interesting... what would you like to see more or less of? Do you think it's better to specialise in one subject?
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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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