Just a few minutes ago, I logged into Facebook to see that one of my favorite ex-Jungle Cruise Skippers, Dr. David Marley (comedian/professor) had posted this:
So the GOP’s plan on stopping Kagan from getting on the Supreme Court is by attacking Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African-American Justice. Way to keep it racist, GOP!
Why am I posting this? Almost immediately, two women that I don’t know personally replied that they weren’t racist. Which would be a valid response if he had remotely been calling out Republicans as a whole. Marley does tend to make fun of the GOP a fair amount, but obviously, this was geared towards the Republican senators at Kagan’s confirmation hearing that were using the proceedings to bash Thurgood Marshall.
I was going to write about how common it’s become for people to automatically defend their political party without always reading the original post they’re trying to defend, but I’ve noticed that it’s becoming more and more common for people to skim Facebook status updates and tweets and simply respond.
In the last two weeks, I saw someone comment that they went to the Apple store for a wireless mouse, and someone asked what they bought. I’ve said that I made strawberry ice cream for dessert, and someone asked me what kind of ice cream I made. These weren’t verbose blog posts- they were short status updates or tweets that were around 140 characters. But somehow, reading them in their entirety was too much for people.
Obviously, I don’t believe that 140 characters is too many. I’m a big fan of Twitter, enjoy browsing Facebook statuses, and hope that you’ll read this much longer blog post. But honestly, if someone’s writing something that short- you might as well read it twice just to make sure you didn’t miss anything.
I admit, I’m not an expert on social media. I didn’t go to school to study it, but I have been on Twitter for 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days*. I’ve followed people and companies alike, and have seen a lot of tactics that companies and individuals have employed in promoting themselves. These are my thoughts on tips for using Twitter more effectively for promoting yourself or an event. If you disagree or agree, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments- mostly because there are no rules for Twitter Etiquette right now. Everyone has a different idea, and it’d be nice to discuss it openly as an internet community.
Using Twitter is easy. You can send a quick missive out into the ether and it’s so easy to keep following up. But at some point in time, you might wonder if you’re crossing over from having a frequent presence on Twitter to being in danger of spamming those who follow you. Read More…
Jim Carrey, once upon a time, I thought you were entertaining. Then you dated Jenny McCarthy and began spouting anti-vaccination nonsense. Yes, nonsense. There have been no studies that positively link vaccines to autism. Indeed, most studies seem to indicate that the timing of when certain vaccines are given is about the time that signs of autism begin to show in children. But studies haven’t been able to prove that it’s the vaccines. Not only that, you’ve blocked or ignored anyone who tried to offer scientific proof that you might be wrong. Not exactly a way to prove that you’re really an advocate for autism- instead, you came off like a pretentious jerk who is just using his celebrity to be heard, but doesn’t want to actually hold a discussion.
Now you’ve broken up with Jenny and felt it time to weigh in on the most relevant of topics- Tiger Wood’s infidelity. This is timely only in that he’s playing in the Masters, most of us weighed in on how we felt when the scandal broke at the end of last year. So, you’re Team Tiger. There are plenty of people who are. Not only that, you’re for the public staying out of their business. Which makes sense- because honestly, it’s their marriage. So why start saying it’s Elin’s fault? By claiming this, all it does is make you a hypocrite and completely out of line.
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One of the stories now flooding the mainstream news, but already over the Twittersphere was Kevin Smith being ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight. He was told it was because he violated their “Customers of Size” policy (which says that any customer who is unable to lower both armrests must purchase two seats). Interestingly enough, Smith HAD purchased two seats on his original flight, but when on standby for an earlier flight was only able to get one. And was able to lower the armrests. Yet was still asked to leave.
Southwest of course, is embarrassed. They offered him a voucher, he was able to get on a later Southwest flight (again, in a single seat where this pilot deemed he wasn’t too fat to fly). But by that point in time, he’d already tweeted to all his followers everything that had happened. And when Southwest’s official apology went up, it was basically too late.
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