What's Next?

When it comes to new developments in social media, the sky is the limit. The chain of websites that we all immediately open on our smart phones the second we wake up in the morning ( Oh come on, you know you do it too!) seems to be growing longer and longer by the minute. To the founders of these new, up and coming websites-it’s okay, really, you can stop. I personally spend enough time scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. I can hardly eat a really good meal without feeling guilty if I forget to take a picture of it to upload to my Instagram account.  People like me are in trouble, because there are always going to be more websites for us to get addicted to. Let’s explore some of the latest and greatest, shall we?

First let’s talk about We Heart It. This is a new social media platform where people go to be nice to each other. What?!  ::Gasp:: Sounds like an oxymoron to me.  According to creativemarket.com, weheartit is a place where people go to express themselves, and all while being extremely nice to each other.  It is a site that hosts both business and personal accounts. I’m honestly not quite sure I totally understand what it’s about, but it sounds wonderfully intriguing.

Impossible.  That’s the name of the site, and I have a feeling it’s called impossible because to my ears, it sounds way to good to be true! Apparently it’s an interactive Wikipedia-you can type in whatever you want to know more about. You can even ask it a specific question, and it tells you exactly what you want to know. Figures I find out about this as I’m about to graduate college.

Finally, there is Shots of Me. What is Shots of Me, you ask? It’s a social network centered around a bunch of pre teen to college age kids taking selfies of themselves.  I wish that I could be speechless, but I’m honestly not surprised. Everyone I know  including myself  has developed into a selfie-taking narcissist.

It is nice to know that the future of social media includes positive energy, school reports made easy, and selfies. I am both looking forward to and dreading becoming addicted to another three more social media sites.

https://creativemarket.com/blog/2014/02/06/2014-social-media-sites-you-need-to-know-about

http://socialmediatoday.com/sashattuck/1949426/6-social-networks-watch-2014

My Favorite Youtube Celebrities. Laugh a lot and be really super fit.

 Today’s topic will be about my favorite people to watch on Youtube :-)

 It’s really crazy to me that there are people who have managed to become famous by creating and uploading their own videos. I respect and admire these people very much-in fact, I myself tried to become Youtube famous years ago. I had my own health channel, known as  123beehealthy.  Well, I shouldn’t really say “known.” It was known to me, and a few of my friends. And my parents told me I was amazing. I was a freshman in college at the time, and I had started my own health and wellness channel, because that was my thing back then. It never really caught on, but I loved  doing it it. Unfortunately, my busy school and work schedule got in the way with production, which is just a fancy way of saying I no longer had the time to sit and fool around with iMovie for hours on end. If you feel like having a good laugh, visit https://www.youtube.com/user/123beehealthy. You’ll find me three years and twenty five pounds ago, happily chirping on about what I bought at the grocery store.

Anyway enough about me. It’s time to learn a little history about my top three favorite Youtube celebrities, where they came from and why you should check them out. 

Jenna Marbles-Internet Comedian

Where She Came From:

According to her blog, http://jennamarblesblog.com/about/, she’s from Upstate New York. She received her undergraduate degree in Psych, and a master’s in Counseling and Sports Psychology. She started making videos because she felt like it, and everyone loved them. Talk about a success story. 

Why You Should Watch Her Channel:

Because she’s hilarious, duh.  She films her own videos on her iMac every Wednesday-it’s difficult to sum up her videos in a nutshell. Basically, anything goes.  There are celebrity impersonations, sarcastic what “_______” taught me (insert examples such as rap music and video games), and playfully sarcastic how to’s such as “How to Trick People into Thinking You’re Really Goodlooking”. You’ve probably heard about her, unless you’ve been living under a rock.  If not, don’t waste your time-go and check out her channel, and spend the rest of your day watching her videos and being happy. I recommend you start with either What a Girl’s Make-up Means, or the video about tricking people into thinking you’re really good looking. They’re my personal favorites.  Disclaimer: If salty language offends you, please don’t check it out.  Otherwise you’re going to be disgusted and/or mad at me. 

Cassey Ho, Fitness Guru 

Where She Came From: According to her website, http://www.blogilates.com/about-me/. Cassey Ho is a fitness apparel designer turned pilates instructor turned Youtube phenomenon of the workout series known as Blogilates. She’s from California, which is no surprise, given her sunny disposition. Yeah I did just write that. 

Why You Should Watch Her:

To get fit and fabulous! Cassey has videos of all different time lengths, which is great for busy people. Please consult  with your doctor before attempting the videos, as if you hurt yourself in the process of doing them , I will feel really bad for suggesting them.  Some of her videos are insanely hard,  but that only means that  you’re  really going feel the burn. Do her videos, and then you can feel really super strong and good about yourself. And be super jacked with like a six-pack  and everything and feel really fabulous. Just kidding, that probably won’t happen. Disclaimer: If you’re easily irritated, and/or don’t like super perky people, you might want to watch the videos on mute for awhile, as Cassey has a tendency to be super perky, which can come across as mildly obnoxious/annoying. Just saying. 

Kingsley

Where He Came From: Another Planet. Obviously. 

Why You Should Watch Him:

Because He’s Hilarious. He’s this guy who wears this silly hat with strings and makes people laugh just by talking and giving his opinion about everything from hashtags to creeps on the Internet. I watch his videos whenever I’m in a bad mood, because he just makes me too happy. Sassiest  man on the planet. Everyone needs to get a Twitter account and ask Kingsley to talk about their own favorite most random thing and the world. He will do it, and it will be hilarious, and you can thank me later. Disclaimer: more salty language from my boy Kingsley. 

So there you have it. My Favorite Youtube Channels. Check them out. You’ll laugh your ass off again watching Kingsley and Jenna Marbles and be really fit and fabulous from watching and hopefully doing the Blogilates videos. You’re welcome. 

Clickbait...

Ah, clickbait.

The spam of the Internet. The shiny, sparkly, million dollar promise that is, for the most part, nothing other than a hoax to get your personal  information. Readers beware: It will almost always sound super enticing. Clickbait comes in the form of clickable (duh) links that make glamorous, nearly irresistible offers, such as the “Best Way to Lose Bellyfat-Forever!”. They will deceive you by sucking you in, making you feel as though there might actually  hope to lose the beer belly you’ve been sporting less than proudly since freshman year-until you click on it, and are directed to a website asking for your credit card information. Boo. 

 You will usually find click bait on popular, frequently visited websites. A great example of this would be Facebook. Nearly everyone I know uses Facebook. I love Facebook, so much so that I’m actually on it right now. There’s click bait boldly staring me in the face, promising me an opportunity to try out this gambling website for free. Free? Really? Nothing is free… 

Just a word of advice-if something sounds way to good to be true…it probably is. Your best bet is to a pessimist and don’t believe in anything. Well, not really. That sounds so negative. Just try not to be so gullible. I know it’s hard. In the world we live in, we want to believe in something great. But clickbait is not your friend! Do not trust it!

Advertisers create clickbait because they want you to click…no, they need you to click…literally, it’s how they make their money. Just from a bunch of people like you and me who really want to lose weight and gamble for free.  But we can’t and we won’t, because advertisers won’t let us. Sigh. Clickbait is mean and unfair. It attempts to exploit people like you and me every day.

I say that we all start a massive chain and stop clicking on clickbait! Maybe then they’ll have to stop making it.

…Yeah, I know. It will never happen. Until then, we must do our very best to be stay above the influence of click bait. Seriously, just say no. 

Complainers...

Today, I’m going to share one of my biggest pet peeves in the whole world: people complaining on social media. In fact, it irritates me so much, that I sometimes take to my own Facebook page to express my discontent over those who complain.

Before you think, “This girl is a heartless bitch” please take note that I do not begrudge single people, or anyone for that matter, of their fair share of complaining about their feelings regarding the overly commercialized holiday that is Valentine’s day. Just please don’t do it on Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever social media website you use to share your every fart and fizzle with the whole world. It's depressing and annoying, and nobody wants to read that crap. 

As I said, I really, really hate it when people complain on social media. So to express my feelings, I too complain on social media. About people who complain... I honestly didn’t notice my own  hypocrisy until I started writing this blog entry. I’m now disgusted with myself. Actually, I was already disgusted with myself, because I ate too many carbohydrates today…

But anyway, I would really like to step outside of myself today and explore the positive side of complaining on social media. I’m not referring to personal problems that no one cares about. I’m talking about customer satisfaction…or rather, customer dissatisfaction made public via social media….

According to an article that was published on www.bbc.co.uk, many people are now taking to their social media accounts to blast companies when they are unhappy with products they have purchased, or the services that have been provided to them. Sometimes, it actually works.     According to the article I read, there was this guy who complained via Twitter about a company delivering a microwave to his house when he ordered a computer. The company called him up and immediately corrected what had happened.  There was another girl who tweeted at the customer service team of a rail company after she was forced to wait for service on a crowded train platform. The company immediately contacted her to apologize.

See, I  can respect that kind of  public complaining. At least that kind of complaining is productive. The way I see it, if you can use social media to be productive like that, that’s totally useful.  I now have the urge to go and complain about services/products that pissed me off all over my personal pages. Hmm, I could start by complaining about Wegman’s, and the awful lobster bisque soup that my boyfriend and I brought home from there for dinner a few weeks ago...as hard as I tried, I swear to you that I could not find a single trace of lobster in that damn soup...or maybe I could make a status whining about New Jersey Transit, and that idiot bus driver who literally drove right past my bus stop a few weeks ago, even though I hit the stop request button…the possibilities are endless.

To form your own humble opinion, check out the original article by clicking here

Wow...Who Cares?

 I have just read what is easily one of the most mind blowing articles of my life.

Apparently the writer of this article on technologyreview.com is calling London out for being the least active of the Informational World cities in terms of usage of social media. What’s more, he/she is dissing the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, for not knowing enough about social media. 
Um, what the hell?

 Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m the weird one. Maybe I’m from another planet, and clearly do not belong in this world we live in today. Because I cannot seem to wrap my brain around why this article was even written. It is, in my humble opinion, (and it is, in fact, only my humble opinion. Literally, look up at the address bar ;-) a complete waste of time to be ranking cities based on their usage of social media. Like seriously? Honestly, who cares?  You find out whose on top and then what? They get a medal or something? Congratulations, the people that live in your country are bored enough to have x amount of tweets per month! Seriously…

The article was written following a study that was conducted by some chick named Agnes Mainka along with her colleagues at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany.  Apparently, Agnes and company wanted to find out how the thirty one informational cities ranked in terms of their use of social media. The article goes on to explain that high informational means cities with hi-tech infrastructures. I didn’t quite understand it right away either.

But from what I do understand, Berlin came out on top. So if there were a medal, they’d be getting it. Which is fine… I guess. If the people of Berlin really were bored enough to publish “well over 500 tweets each month”, I suppose it's wrong of me to judge.

But it's also wrong for the authors of this article to pick on poor Boris Johnson. I happen to think Boris is a cutie. But that's just my humble opinion...

Just kidding!!!

To read the article for yourself so that you can form your own humble opinion, click here