Sunday, April 19, 2015
Post a selfie on social media and join in the new revolution...
Now here's a good example of social media for social change. The second annual Fashion Revolution Day is coming up this April 24th. It's a holiday in memory of the 1,133 dead and over 2,500 injured during the collapse of a building composed of multiple clothing factories in Bangladesh. For this occasion, people will post selfies showing the tags on their clothing, then tweet the companies behind them and ask who made the garment. The intention is to bring awareness to the dehumanizing conditions so many garment-makers in poorer nations are subjected to. The hashtag #whomademyclothes will be used. Keep an eye out on Twitter, or maybe participate yourself!
"What is Instagram?"
Recently my mother asked me this question. To put it simply, it's just a platform for photoblogging.
"Okay, but what's photoblogging?" she asked, as may you. A Photoblog is basically "sharing various photos with the world".
How do you use Instagram? Simple!
First, find the app on your cell phone's app store (Google Play or iTunes).
1. Download the app and create your account.
2. Then you can do one of two things:
A: Click the camera button in the middle of your bottom toolbar OR
B: Exit the app and go to your phone's camera.
Take a picture using either of these methods.
If you went with option A, then simply choose a filter for your photo from the selection provided for you. and hit "NEXT". Write a caption if you'd like (may also include hashtags), share on your other platforms if you want to as well. When you're done with this, tap the blue and white checkmark button up top and you're done! Welcome to Instagram.
If you chose option B, then the first sentence of the previous paragraph doesn't apply to you. Instead, click the camera button on the toolbar and then go into your phone's photo gallery. Select the photo you want and then proceed with choosing a filter and with the rest of the steps.
People use Instagram for various purposes. Some like to promote themselves with it, some use it as a very casual social thing, some just like to take pictures...or any combination of these. If any of that appeals to you, try it out!
"Okay, but what's photoblogging?" she asked, as may you. A Photoblog is basically "sharing various photos with the world".
How do you use Instagram? Simple!
First, find the app on your cell phone's app store (Google Play or iTunes).
1. Download the app and create your account.
2. Then you can do one of two things:
A: Click the camera button in the middle of your bottom toolbar OR
B: Exit the app and go to your phone's camera.
Take a picture using either of these methods.
If you went with option A, then simply choose a filter for your photo from the selection provided for you. and hit "NEXT". Write a caption if you'd like (may also include hashtags), share on your other platforms if you want to as well. When you're done with this, tap the blue and white checkmark button up top and you're done! Welcome to Instagram.
If you chose option B, then the first sentence of the previous paragraph doesn't apply to you. Instead, click the camera button on the toolbar and then go into your phone's photo gallery. Select the photo you want and then proceed with choosing a filter and with the rest of the steps.
People use Instagram for various purposes. Some like to promote themselves with it, some use it as a very casual social thing, some just like to take pictures...or any combination of these. If any of that appeals to you, try it out!
Monday, April 13, 2015
Something a bit different
No tutorial or anything this time. Rather, I'd just like to bring an aspect of social media to your attention. There are people who condemn social media for various reasons--the vast majority of those reasons being ridiculous and untrue--but one thing that cannot be debated on is its ability to aid when there is a dangerous situation afoot.
Missing Person and Missing Pet posters cannot reach as many people as tweets and blog posts, and the same can be said for alerts about criminal activity. Check out this news item about a family using social media in hopes of someone being able to identify the two burglars who robbed their home.
Missing Person and Missing Pet posters cannot reach as many people as tweets and blog posts, and the same can be said for alerts about criminal activity. Check out this news item about a family using social media in hopes of someone being able to identify the two burglars who robbed their home.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Not to tweet my own horn...
Now that we've gotten an introduction on how to convey tone through text, let's use that knowledge on Twitter. Don't know how to use Twitter? That's alright, I will walk you through it.
Upon putting www.twitter.com into your url bar, you will see this box
You can input your full name if you want to, but it's not mandatory. You will need to fill in the email and password sections properly, though.
After clicking the yellow button, you will be brought to this page:
Pretend I put in a valid email while signing up, rather than leaving it blank. As you can see, the username I chose is already taken-- by me. Choose a username that makes you recognizable, and that fits you and/or your brand. Try to avoid an overly-complicated name, but that can sometimes be unavoidable due to how many usernames are already taken on twitter.
After you complete this step, twitter will give you the option of following various people. It's up to you whether you want to do that or not.
To upload a profile picture, change your banner, your name, and your description, go to your profile (www.twitter.com/yourusername) and click Edit profile.
Once you've personalized your twitter, go to the Home tab up top and tweet away! Being a social platform, it helps if you've already got friends or family to converse with. You can address someone in a tweet by typing @theirusername at the beginning of your tweet. They will get a notification of this mention. If your reason for using twitter is to promote your brand, it's good to use hashtags pertaining to you/your products in order to best reach your audience. For an explanation of hashtags, click here.
Alright! That's it for a basic introduction to creating a twitter account. I hope it helped even a little bit.
Upon putting www.twitter.com into your url bar, you will see this box
After clicking the yellow button, you will be brought to this page:
After you complete this step, twitter will give you the option of following various people. It's up to you whether you want to do that or not.
To upload a profile picture, change your banner, your name, and your description, go to your profile (www.twitter.com/yourusername) and click Edit profile.
Once you've personalized your twitter, go to the Home tab up top and tweet away! Being a social platform, it helps if you've already got friends or family to converse with. You can address someone in a tweet by typing @theirusername at the beginning of your tweet. They will get a notification of this mention. If your reason for using twitter is to promote your brand, it's good to use hashtags pertaining to you/your products in order to best reach your audience. For an explanation of hashtags, click here.
Alright! That's it for a basic introduction to creating a twitter account. I hope it helped even a little bit.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
I don't like your tone
Let's talk about conveying tone through text.
Sometimes it can be difficult to gauge a person's feelings or intent from just reading words they've typed. Here is an example: Dennis just posted on Facebook about how beautiful his garden has become. You reply "that's great, dennis". Dennis may not know how to take your comment; was it sincere or sarcastic? Now, if you were being sarcastic then you've done a fairly good job of conveying that. If you were being serious, though, a better reply would have been "that's great, dennis!". A smiling emoticon at the end is optional.
Exclamation points are helpful tools because they prevent comments/sentences from reading as flat! Sometimes you will want a more deadpan sentence, but if you're trying to communicate in a friendly, cheerful way then exclamation marks can help! Adding a question mark to the end of a question (that sounds a bit redundant, I know), also helps to convey genuine curiosity. For example, "why would he do that" vs "why would he do that?".
Excess punctuation is something many people use (I sure do, multiple times a day) when communicating. Sometimes ! is just not enough, and you need !!!!!!!!!. Likewise for ?/?????? and ./.......". Excess punctuation marks convey intensity/urgency/confusion/hesitation, depending on the type used. In the same vein, CAPSLOCK is also used for intensity, SOMETIMES IN COMBINATION WITH EXCESS PUNCTUATION!!!! Of course, do not use anything I've been talking about in this paragraph in situations in which you are trying to put forth a professional image.
People have their own typing styles. Do you know yours, and do you know how to effectively use it?
For more on this subject, check out this website.
Sometimes it can be difficult to gauge a person's feelings or intent from just reading words they've typed. Here is an example: Dennis just posted on Facebook about how beautiful his garden has become. You reply "that's great, dennis". Dennis may not know how to take your comment; was it sincere or sarcastic? Now, if you were being sarcastic then you've done a fairly good job of conveying that. If you were being serious, though, a better reply would have been "that's great, dennis!". A smiling emoticon at the end is optional.
Exclamation points are helpful tools because they prevent comments/sentences from reading as flat! Sometimes you will want a more deadpan sentence, but if you're trying to communicate in a friendly, cheerful way then exclamation marks can help! Adding a question mark to the end of a question (that sounds a bit redundant, I know), also helps to convey genuine curiosity. For example, "why would he do that" vs "why would he do that?".
Excess punctuation is something many people use (I sure do, multiple times a day) when communicating. Sometimes ! is just not enough, and you need !!!!!!!!!. Likewise for ?/?????? and ./.......". Excess punctuation marks convey intensity/urgency/confusion/hesitation, depending on the type used. In the same vein, CAPSLOCK is also used for intensity, SOMETIMES IN COMBINATION WITH EXCESS PUNCTUATION!!!! Of course, do not use anything I've been talking about in this paragraph in situations in which you are trying to put forth a professional image.
People have their own typing styles. Do you know yours, and do you know how to effectively use it?
For more on this subject, check out this website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)