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My tweets are my own…
Is this still needed in Twitter bios? Does it make you want to follow a person more if they have this written in the 160 limit?
I have some pet peeves about Twitter bios, that to be fair, everyone has.
- Don’t be an egg (upload an avatar already!)
- Don’t be a cat (please make the photo a pic of you ish)
- Add in your location! (I don’t need to know your house number, but a country is a great start!)
- Use your bio to show off you
My point is, having those examples is going to make me more likely to follow you, than tweets are your own.
Why you don’t need it.
I can tell pretty quickly if tweets aren’t personal. Most people can. If you keep saying how much you love a brand, or posting just work blogs, than it’s clear you’re using your Twitter for someone else’s purpose.
Instead, use that 20 characters or so and tell me more about you! I change my Twitter bio a few times over the year, but I’m quite happy with what I’ve got.
Yes, my avatar makes me look like a bit of an idiot, but that’s on purpose. I’m a fun person and I want the picture to reflect it.
My bio has everything you need to know about me, where I’m based, where I want to go and the common topics I tweet about.
From this, you can tell my tweets are my own, because it’s fun, personal and pretty awesome. (Ok maybe I should try more modesty). The point still stands though.
What are your thoughts on Twitter bios? Think mine is rubbish? Let me know in the comments!
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I’ve neglected this blog for too long…
BUT NO LONGER!
Except…well, I’m ill, so tomorrow I blog!
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Businesses! Remember the basics!
I can only apologise as this blog post is a bit of a rant towards a company. I’m not going to name the company because then it becomes a petty attack, and to be honest, I really like this company, but they have forgotten the basics!
Last weekend I posted on a Company D’s Facebook wall. On the Monday they replied back to my enquiry on which product to buy and suggested a better product than the one I originally asked about. It was a tiny bit more pricier, but they explained it was their best seller. Brilliant I thought, and with next day delivery guaranteed I purchased this item as quickly as possible.
Now this company works really hard at making sure their social media presence is top notch. They are fun, friendly and helpful, often have great competitions for great prizes and share interesting related content. They put work into it and it shows, it wasn’t weird asking for help on their wall because of previous experiences of how great they are to talk to!
Now I ordered at 1pm (Lunchtime!) the website, said there was available stock, but more importantly, in my conversation with Company D, I mentioned my love for next day delivery as well as that I was placing an order then and there.
At 2pm, I recieved an email saying my order was being processed by one of the team. “YAAAAY” I thought to myself (sidenote: should I ”” for my own thoughts? Or even thoughts at all?).
At 4:05pm I receive a phonecall, informing me that the product is out of stock, that they won’t get any more stock until the end of the month and asking whether I would like to keep my order. Now I’ll be honest, I was pretty devastated, but it’s 2 to 3 weeks maximum and I do love this company, so I’ve kept the order and excitedly await this product.
Now the problem is, four days later, the website still isn’t updated and nowhere during the Facebook conversation did Company D say “We recommend this product, but its not in stock right now”. I’m unsure if it’s laziness, incompetence or bad marketing but stock levels seem pretty basic stuff for a retail company don’t you think?!
I’ll end and summarise here, I just think all of the amazingness of your social media presence won’t compensate for ignoring the basics. Well… I mean it kinda, since I have stuck with this company, but it’s incredibly infuriating for the customer and I kinda feel let down by them.
So please businesses, remember the basics!
Have you had any bad experiences buying online like this? Let me know and we can share in each other’s pain! :)
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Video Game Advertising in the Cinema…
It was interesting to see how many video game adverts there were played before my film at the cinema on Friday. Adverts for resistance 3, dead island, rage and I believe one more. Going back to six months/a year ago that would be totally unheard of. As a video gamer I’m all for it (show me adverts for things I’m interested in buying!) but I wonder why it has changed.
Firstly, let me say, I went and saw Conan (and the answer to your first question is, avoid it). Now this may be seen as a film that has a more male audience and as such would show more video game trailers (video games still being more marketed to men despite the rise in female gamers).
Or could it be that video gaming truly is breaking out and becoming less nerdy and more for everyone. Kinect and Wii have gone a long way to sharing the gaming joy to everyone.
Now I’d want to go with the former theory because if you look at the games that were advertised (action shooters) they do cater to a more male audience (sorry for generalising) or if you want to avoid gender, action games suit action film fans.
Further still it interested me that there were less trailers than I would normally expect. I believe it was 4 compared to 5 or 6 I would expect. Considering the amount of adverts to trailers this is quite a lot of video game adverts!
Has anyone else noticed this? Am I just over analysing or are video game adverts becoming more prominent?
Let me know your thoughts.
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Why I am RT’ing more (And why you should too!)
I decided recently, that I simply do not retweet enough and it is limiting me and my use. So from now on I RT more. I don’t retweet for the sake of it though mind you. I choose what I am finding or funny and then instead of just reading them and moving on I am sharing.
Why?
There are two main reasons why I want to actively RT more.
1) It’s simply nice. That’s right. I want to do it because its a nice gesture to show someone you appreciate something they have taken the time to post. I’m super happy whenever someone takes the time to RT something of mine, so I presume they feel the same when I RT something of theirs.
2) I’m being more useful to my followers. Sharing the good stuff is what the social side of social media is all about. No longer do I just bore my followers with tweets about my favourite music or place to eat. Now they can benefit from some good jokes and breaking news and if they like it so much that they want to follow the original poster? Well thats what the networking in social networking is all about.
And the addage goes:
If you want to be RT’d, then RT!
How often are you RTing? And can you RT too much? Let me know your thoughts.
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Is Google + just a fad?
I’m not the first person to say Google Plus use is slowing down. In fact, I wasn’t the first when I said it about a month ago either. Why is this?
I think the easy answer is, “because my friends are still on Facebook”.
Full disclosure here and now. I prefer Google Plus. I have grown out of Facebook and really like how Google Plus works.
Why haven’t people jumped from Facebook to Plus? I think partly it still being closed off (despite the ridiculous number of invites there are to hand out) is making it seem a bit clique-y. I also think a lot of people don’t see the need to be on both (which I totally agree with, leave Facebook!) and I also know a lot of people personally who have never heard of Google Plus. A lot of my friends who aren’t into digital media only know about Google Plus because of me. When I say know, they have heard the title and have no idea about it.
Having just launched I suppose calling it a fad is a bit silly. Yes it only took a matter of days to get to 10 million users, but only a small percentage of those people stayed. You have your MySpace Tom, Scoble and Brogan’s who actively use Plus still, but the not so famous digital media players, are they still hanging around? If you can’t keep them how are you going to keep your average joe?
It’ll be interesting to see how Google Plus develops because it needs to get it’s current members to be more active again otherwise it has no chance. Can Facebook weather the storm? I’m unsure.
What are your thoughts? Add me on Google Plus and let me know!
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Kinect Hacks: The potential for advertisers.
Microsoft’s Kinect was launched towards the end of 2010 with the hope of making controller free gaming a reality and it came out to some rave reviews. The device itself is a motion sensing input device, which basically means it’s a webcam which can track your movements and for the most part does it well.
Like with any new piece of technology, the Kinect didn’t take too long to be analyzed and modified to perform different tasks than originally intended. The earliest hacking of the Kinect is thought to be in November 2010 where the company Adafruit Industries offered a bounty for an open source driver for Kinect. Hector Martin went on to become the winner with a Linux driver that allows the use of the camera and depth sensitivity.
Moving forward to where we are now in less than a year there has been various hacks for the Kinect allowing for multiple uses. This is also in part to Microsoft releasing a non-commercial SDK for the device at the end of June 2011. So far working prototypes have shown the potential of the Kinect and what it can do. For instance the shopping cart that can help the disabled or the virtual dressing room. Not to forget the interactive pornography game that was released which I won’t link to.
With Microsofts announcement recently of NUads the potential for advertisers has come a long way from just a few years ago. Being able to be more interactive and to be more social in their advertising, but what options do they have with Kinect hackers?
The neat thing about the Kinect is that there are some many different and wacky ideas on how it can be used, it really allows for a multitude of options using it from an advertisers perspective. Kinect has the ability to recognise products, track motion, record time, date and use of the device and take photos and videos. With 10 million units shipped the Kinect already has a big audience to reach to and the chances are 99% of them all have a personal computer as well.
That is a pretty powerful combination with some potential for advertisers to help hackers forge great products. How about an online poker program that lets you use the Kinect to see each others poker faces? It also has the potential to track what drinks you like during play, what brand clothing you prefer, and return the data to you for truly targeted advertising potential. How about a program that watches you run on the spot for five minutes and determines the best type of running shoe for you based on the way you run? Simply saying “Buy shoes” to start the ordering process right then and there. Or to use an example from earlier, help develop the shopping cart that follows you. The Kinect could record the products you bought at the shop and then offer you deals on similar products. Why does the shopping cart just have to follow? “Take me to cookies” could activate the cart to lead you to where the cookies are stored.
That last example is perhaps a way off and might not use the Kinect kit, but the potential is there. The USB connection on the Kinect really lets the device be free of just using the Xbox 360. Are there options to use Kinect hacks with the Xbox 360? With the system needed to be cracked to be used the majority of hacking is for home computers on Linux, Mac and Windows.
What’s the future like for the Kinect hacks? The products hackers release will start to become more sophisticated in design and ability and really start to help grow this niche section of computer users. I can see non Xbox 360 owners buying Kinects so that they can change the way they are using their computers. Advertisers should keep a close eye on the best in the industry and strike up partnerships to get in on the ground floor of a market that has potential.
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[VIDEO] What if ‘Game of Thrones’ Was a Buddy Comedy? via @jeremyorr #gameofthrones
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What’s going on in London?
This blog post wont be as pretty or well written as I would like. But I’ll break down whats happening for you.
Thursday night, police shot a man and killed him, because he was shooting them. Family and friends say he never would but he was found with a gun on him. Friday night a peaceful protest from family and friends gather in North London (where this happened) to protest the actions caused by police. Other people join in and things get out of hand.
Somehow skip forward three nights and the riots have gone from North London to South East London. Destroying pubs, shops and flats. Looting and arson common throughout. Not sure why but another city has started rioting as well. Now let me be clear, the family and friends of the deceased man are not involved. They have asked for the rioting to stop. The incident was just the spark and stupid idiotic unpatriotic youth have gone crazy.
A lot of friends live where this is happening right now and I am praying they all stay safe. Thats pretty much the gist of it. Police are stretched ridiculously as the riots have spread throughout several parts of London, also the prime minister and mayor of London are both on holiday.
I am utterly ashamed of my country and disgusted by the actions of the minority. It’s a real shame.
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Rebranding
I have a new personal website! In time to come it will include an online CV and a central hub for all things me.
I had a website before but I wasnt a fan of the design or the domain (even though I chose both). So I thought a whole rebrand was needed. Hopefully you noticed my tumblr has changed now to reflect this.
I tried to change my twitter to include the rebranding but unfortunately @talktoandy was already taken.
Suffice to say I am happy with the new look and feel and hopefully will help employers see how wonderful I am!
I have to thank Dan for all the help he has given me, including this addition.
I hope you like! Feel free to share your thoughts on my new website and any constructive feedback!
