Would You Be Willing to Pay for Facebook or Google in Exchange for Your Privacy?

That is a tough question. How much would they charge per month or year to safeguard my privacy? Just what does the to companies know about us?

“Google knows what you search for online, where you travel, what’s on your calendar, who you take photos of, who your contacts are, which ads you click on and what you buy. For a lot of you, that’s more than your spouse or partner knows. Facebook is the same, only it doesn’t have to guess based on your activity. You told the company. You put it on your profile and posted the photos of your family on vacation. You tagged the location and everyone in it.

Both Google and Facebook track everything within the ecosystem of their platform, and sometimes even once you leave. Facebook, for example, tracks which of their advertisers’ sites you visit after you leave their site, so it can serve you ads when you return. There’s no question that if most of us had any real concept of how much of our personal information was being captured and stored, we’d feel differently about whether it’s really worth it. – (from inc.com)

So depending on the amount, I would be glad to pay – if it in Indian rupees and is very reseaonable and cost conciseness. Otherwise I will skip it for the time being.

What Do You Need To Do To Get Verified On Twitter?

Getting verified on Twitter — when someone has the blue check mark next to their profile — used to be how Twitter identified notable accounts, but it has since evolved and changed. It used to be that you needed to request verification on the social network; now, anybody with a Twitter Blue subscription ($11/month) and a verified phone number can be verified on Twitter.

1. You must be actively subscribed to Twitter Blue

To get Twitter Blue, simply click on the button for Twitter Blue once you’re logged in. On web, it will be in the left-side menu, and on mobile it will be under your profile. You can select to pay annually (for a discount) or monthly. The price of Twitter Blue depends on a few things.

2. Your profile must be complete with a display name and profile photo

Next, you need to make sure your profile is eligible for Twitter’s verification even after subscribing to Twitter Blue by having up-to-date and accurate account information.

Use your full name as your display name, and select a profile image so that it’s clear that your Twitter profile is being used.

3. Your account must be active

Twitter’s rules say they look for active accounts when verifying, so make sure your account has been active (posting, replying, liking) in the last 30 days.

4. Your account must be older than 90 days and have a confirmed phone number

Twitter has added a time element, so accounts must be over 90 days old to be verified. They also need to have a confirmed phone number — without this there is no way to get verified even with Twitter blue.

5. Your account must be non-deceptive

Finally, your account must be non-deceptive. Twitter asks that you not have recent changes to your profile photo, display name, or handle. They will look to see if accounts have been misleading or deceptive on Twitter, and they also look for signs that an account is engaging in platform manipulation or spam — if they deem that an account is deceptive it will not get verified.

After you apply: There is still a review process where Twitter’s team determines your eligibility based on the above list before the blue checkmark will appear on your profile.

Do You Use Twitter?

I used to be a lot more involved in Twitter back in the day. And when I say back in the day from the years of 2009-till 2017. I was quite active with many fellow Indian Twitter users in the state and especially the ones from Cochin. We used to have a few Tweetups in cafes around the city and I used to join them for a latte and a chat. Those were the days man. I made quite a few friends in and around the state and I still have quite a few friends from those days.

Since then I usually go on Twitter only when there are football games that I am watching and I look for comments and reactions and I give my own as well. I’ve bee doing that since the 2014 World Cup. And for so long, all I did on Twitter were the automatic Tweets from my blog posts – every time I posted on my blog, my connected Twitter app would tweet the link along with the title of the post and every week I would also share a few Youtube videos that I felt just had to share. But I wasn’t even checking Tweets by the people I follow for the longest time.

Nowadays, there’s a lot of porn stars and online nude models who send you a lot of stuff and well I do take a gander here and there. My old Tweeps and the newer ones, mostly who follow me for the football related tweets, are fun but the overall Twitter thing is a shit show. It’s terrible out there so I stick to my small circles.

Prompt from Over 1,000 Writing Prompts for Students at The New York Times Learning Network

Why I Got Into Social Media

What inspired you to get involved in social media?

It’s the same reason why I got into IRC chat way back in the day – to connect. As a younger guy I think it was more to just be connected with people across India and across the world. To share information related to interests that we share and images and entertainment. And to make new friends.

Once I started getting into sites like Orkut, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc for the same reason. To get & share info and share my points of view, opinion and ideas to as many people people as possible. To connect with people who share similar viewpoints. To laugh at funny stuff and to ogle at the pretty women sharing their pics.

I love social media as I have met and made friends with some awesome and wonderful people. Ofcourse there are so many nuts out there but it’s worth it just to get those 10-50 nice folks.

Prompt from 30 Days of April Writing Prompts at The Sits Girls

Five Tips From Experts To Get The Best Out Of Twitter

Learn what makes a good Tweet : Creating any stand out social media content is part art and part science. You’ll get a feel for the art and luckily, the science part can be expressed in a handy list.

According to Twitter, the best performing tweets:

  • Contain 1-2 hashtags
  • Are conversational
  • Are short and sweet (Tweets under 140 characters still perform best)
  • Use visual content
  • Are tested using analytics and tweaked
  • Respond to current events and trending conversations

You can find Twitter trends by navigating to the Trends section of Twitter’s Explore tab.

Use hashtags : Twitter hashtags make your posts searchable, a.k.a available to users who don’t already follow your brand. So, adding hashtags to your posts is a quick way to access new viewers and wider audiences. According to Twitter, you should add 1-2 hashtags to each tweet. Just make sure they’re relevant and, if possible, linked to a wider trend like #FridayVibes.

Use emojis : In a sea of text-only tweets, a well placed winking-face could help your post get seen. People are drawn to color, especially the yellow/red combo of many face emojis. So it makes sense to include a relevant emoji or two to help your Tweet jump out of your audience’s timelines. The more your Tweets are seen, the more followers you’ll gain.

Create Twitter threads: If you have a story to tell that can’t be contained in 280 characters, you need to run a Twitter thread. A thread is a sequence of Tweets connected in series. Twitter marks a thread with the ‘Tweet number/total number of Tweets in thread’ nomenclature, e.g. 1/6, 2/6, 3/6. Not only do people love a good story, but multiple Tweets also means multiple chances to get seen. To create a thread select the plus icon once you’ve drafted your first Tweet and Twitter will add the numbering automatically once you publish.

Engage, engage, engage: One of the best ways to build followers when you’re new to Twitter is to consistently engage on the platform. That means:

  • Engaging with your existing followers (answering comments, messages, etc.)
  • Tracking your brand mentions and responding to them
  • Keeping an eye on retweets and commenting on them
  • Posting comments on the posts of non-competitor accounts in your niche
  • Liking posts regularly, i.e. every day

Engagement shows the Twitter algorithm your account is active, which boosts your visibility in the Twitter feed. Plus, you’ll give your followers something to stick around for while getting your name in front of people who already follow similar accounts.

What Social Media Irks Me The Most

A social media trend you detest with every atom of your being and why

TikTok. I know that there are many talented people out there who make funny and awesome reels that they upload on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and TikTok. But of all of these TikTok seems to get the weirdest and stupidest people to make reels all the time. It is banned in India but I get to see the same reels that they share on FB or Instagram.

I am glad to see that the really dumb ones are getting what they deserve for their addiction. These numbnuts are creating TikToks while they are at work – in a store, cafe or retail business – or even when they are working from home. In a lot of cases these people are getting fired from their jobs because their boss or HR finds out. In a couple of cases, it’s because they recorded something they weren’t supposed to in the background or showed too much details of their work and/or workplace. Why would you do that? I mean it’s dumb.

Another stupid thing is saying that you need time off from work because you have pain in your lower back and then upload dancing videos! Seriously? Several retail workers and employers are doing this and it is beginning to be just so dumb. Also, so of the over-acting and smug faced yakking on this platform – Jesus Christ, get a life!

Prompt from 31 Writing Prompts for January 2021 | For Medium, Blogs and More at Lyucu.Medium.com

Slowly Starting To Like Twitter A Lot More

I used to be a lot more involved in Twitter back in the day. And when I say back in the day from the years of 2009-till 2017. I was quite active with many fellow Indian Twitter users in the state and especially the ones from Cochin. We used to have a few Tweetups in cafes around the city and I used to join them for a latte and a chat. Those were the days man. I made quite a few friends in and around the state and I still have quite a few friends from those days.

Slowly I stopped using Twitter for a while and then picked it up again a while later. Twitter became a shitshow for the most part. For so long, all I did on Twitter were the automatic Tweets from my blog posts – every time I posted on my blog, my connected Twitter app would tweet the link along with the title of the post and every week I would also share a few Youtube videos that I felt just had to share. But I wasn’t even checking Tweets by the people I follow for the longest time.

This year I have slowly started getting back to it. It’s mostly football related but also Science Fiction/Star Trek related stuff and yeah I also flirt online. I’ve become more and more available on the app and the Tweetdeck page that I normally use. But it still is my least liked social media app. But it’s better than the last few years.

Books & Social Media

How do you think social media has impacted the book world?

I think the best way that social media can impact the book world is reader recommendations, ratings and basic marketing. Like on Twitter for example you can share the latest book that you have read and rate it on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10. Authors or publishers can share the latest book in publication or even well before it gets published to garner eager readers to start wanting it.

Bloggers can write small synopsis and rate the books that they have read. I have done that on occasion but I don’t really read anymore. However it is a great way to spread the world. Facebook posts and on Page/Group posts are another excellent way to drum up interest in a novel or non-fictional book. I am sure that there are 100s or 1000s of Facebook groups dedicated to reading and books. Also you have websites like GoodReads and Book Riot that is dedicated to books and readers.

I suppose you can also use Youtube, TikTok, Instagram and any others to promote new books. All of them will only help get more and more business for the publishers and authors. So I hope you use some of them if not all or get left behind.

Prompt from 30 Post Ideas for Book Bloggers | Blog Post Writing Prompts at FRAPPES AND FICTION

What Social Network Could You NOT Live Without?

I am guessing it actually means social network app and that’s what I am going to write about. The one social network app that I cannot do without is Facebook. Facebook was the one that made most of us, especially me and my friends, addicted to social media. While I have enjoyed Twitter a lot in the past, I rarely use it now and Orkut died a long time ago as did MySpace. Those were the big 4 at one point and then Facebook became the giant that it is now.

At one point I had a big blogroll of people who loved to blog as much as I do. However most of them have abandoned the blogs quite a few years ago. They stuck with Facebook and found that they could share their thoughts and photos and more on this platform and can even join separate groups and pages for specific interests and likes. That makes it so easy for everyone to have the kind of reach that they want and not have to worry about writing and maintaining a blog. Plus it is free. And it is so easy that your grandmother can do it too!

Mainly because of that reach and being able to search for people you have lost touch with and finding them, Facebook is for me still the King of all social media platforms. I cannot imagine going even one day without out. Them buying out Instagram and adding reels to Facebook is pure genius. Now you have a lot of people spending hours and hours on Facebook, whether it is on their phones, tabs or pcs and that is where you can reach the people you want to the most.

Prompt from APRIL BLOG PROMPTS {12 MONTHS OF WRITING IDEAS} #BLOGPROMPTS at Food Fun Family

How Youtubers Make Money From Their Channels

Content creators can join the YouTube Partner program after accumulating 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. This gives creators access to monetization features such as advertising, fan funding and merchandise sales. Top YouTube stars make close to $20 million a year. However, most make far less or nothing at all.

Google Ads

The first step to making money on YouTube is to join the YouTube Partner program. Partnership gives content creators access to special tools, such as the ability to monetize their videos via Google Adsense. To qualify, content creators must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of accumulated watch time over the prior 12-month period. YouTube monetizes videos via pre-roll, display, and other advertising formats. Advertisers pay based on clicks and impressions. YouTube gives the content creator 55% of this revenue and takes 45% for itself.Content creators must adhere to advertising guidelines.

Brand Sponsorship

One lucrative form of advertising is brand sponsorship, also known in the digital marketing world as “influencer marketing.” A company will pay a content creator to promote a brand or product within a video. For example, early in her YouTube career, Michelle Phan drew the attention of cosmetics brand LancĂŽme with her popular make-up tutorials. As of 2019, there were more than 700 agencies that help match brands with social media influencers on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.

Fan Funding

Another popular way to monetize a channel is through channel memberships. Fans and followers make recurring monthly payments in exchange for bonus content such as badges, emojis, special videos, live chats, and other content. YouTube partners who have reached 1,000 subscribers can enable this monetization feature on their accounts. Third-party services such as Patreon also help video creators to monetize their fan base via monthly memberships. Top video creators earn as much as $40,000 per month from fan support.

Merchandise Sales

YouTube partners also have the ability to sell up to 12 items of merchandise to their audience by enabling this feature in their accounts. Jeffree Starr has made millions selling lipstick, highlighters, and eye shadow palettes to his fans.

Tweetdeck: The Best Way To Keep Updated On Twitter

Even though I don’t use Twitter that often, when I do I tend to use Tweetdeck for sending out those Tweets and pics. TweetDeck is a social media dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts. Originally an independent app, TweetDeck was subsequently acquired by Twitter Inc. and integrated into Twitter’s interface. It has long ranked as one of the most popular Twitter clients by percentage of tweets posted, alongside the official Twitter web client and the official apps for iPhone and Android.

Like other Twitter applications, it interfaces with the Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets and view profiles. What I really like about is the columns that you customize and layout as you want. That is something I so wanted on the actual Twitter. I usually have my Timeline first, Notifications, My Tweets, Direct Messages and then whatever user I am following or Hashtag that I want to check out in other columns at the other end, usually 2 or 3 at a time. That makes it easy to see and reply to all the interesting things that I want.

However as I mentioned I do not use it that much, in fact I usually spend the most time on it on the weekends whenever there is an Arsenal FC game on. And other days I usually just check updates on my phone app for Twitter. So I am a lite user but I do like Tweetdeck a lot. They used to have a Desktop app which worked fine but then stopped supporting that. You can go straight tweetdeck.twitter.com website or use the Chrome or Mac app.

Why Do Fellow Indians Post The Dumbest Questions On Quora?

I love social media and I am very active on Facebook & Youtube but a little less on Twitter. Recently, I think mainly in the last 2 months or so, I have been very active on Quora. Quora – if you didn’t know – s a place to gain and share knowledge. It’s a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers. So if you had some questions on a particular subject on anything, you can ask about it. Be it literature, politics, science, medicine, science fiction, sports, religion, atheism, festivals, mythology, etc etc.

What I have noticed is that there are some really bad questions out there. They assume so much and ask the stupid questions that we have heard a lot and have shown it to be silly many times over – but they are still out there. If it comes from a place of genuine unawareness and ignorance and they want to learn I guess it’s a good thing but a lot of them aren’t and it is really bad. And Indians in particular are so bad at it. Why are a lot of my fellow Indians asking the most obvious questions that are so obviously just to increase the number of questions that is asked from them? It is so obvious when an Indian is asking what is the reason for a religious festival that is so huge in India and everyone knows what is is about?

Or things that are easily answered via google? Like on what date will Christmas or Diwali be in a particular year? Or the reason for this or that – Google this stuff? If you have access to the internet you have access to Google. And everyone who has access to internet is aware of Google, especially in India (just in case Bing or something else like Yahoo is more popular in another country). But no – they just want to increase the number of questions their account has asked. I respect the genuine ones not the ones I am seeing on a regular basis.

How Do Influencers Make Money On Instagram?

People have asked can they make money on Instagram. In fact, helping creators make a living on the platform is a top priority for Instagram, especially as competition heats up from TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. There are four primary ways to make money on Instagram:

  • Work as an influencer to post content sponsored by brands
  • Be an affiliate marketer selling other people’s products
  • Earn money for your content through tips and ads
  • Become an entrepreneur and sell your own products

Sponsored content and affiliated marketing remain the top ways for creators to earn on the platform. Now Instagram is kicking efforts into high gear on the direct monetization front, where the company lags behind competitors.

Introduced in 2020, Live Badges allow followers to support creators during broadcasts by purchasing hearts, which range from $.99 to $4.99. Creators in select markets can also earn revenue share from IGTV ads. During Creator Week, the company unveiled a native affiliate tool, new creator shop options, and bonuses for hitting milestones with badges and Live sessions. Instagram head Adam Mosseri also teased subscriptions, gated content, merch initiatives, and even NFTs. Tests on an incentive that would give creators bonuses for posting Reels are also currently underway.

Creator funds are not off the table, either. But it’s unlikely that Instagram will hand out cash as freely as YouTube (which plans to dole out $100 million over the next year to Shorts creators) or come anywhere near Snapchat’s payout rate of $1 million per day.

The World Of Youtube Channels & Subscribers Base

As of November 2020, there are around 23,000–24,000 YouTube channels out there having over 1 million subscribers. YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki states that in 2019 the number of YouTube channels having more than 1 million subscribers grew by 65%. They are the foundation for the business model of the video platform and YouTube’s revenues. 700 of these YouTube “dinosaurs” already feature over 10 million subscribers.

Nearly half of all these 10M+ channels are from the US. The 2nd most popular country of top YouTube channels is India with more than 60 channels featuring more than 10 million subs. A small buffer zone of 500–1000 additional channels to reach the final number of 23,000–24,000 total channels to surpass the One Million Subscriber Milestone. I follow only 6 channels that have more than 1 million subs.

More than 40 channels are hitting the 100,000 subscriber mark every day and there are about there are around 230,000-240,000 YouTubers with over 100k.  Those channels will be the Silver Play Button for their efforts. Around 4 channels are hitting the 1 million subscriber mark every day. here are, as of now, exactly 36045 channels with 500k subscribers.

How Would It Feel To Take A Break From Social Media?

Hmmm I dunno. I think the last time I took a break from social media was for a single day. And the reason was that I was suffering a really bad fever with a case of the shivers and joint aches. Therefore I don’t really count that as a real break from social media, since it wasn’t planned and the decision was actually made for me. But I think that actually gives me some idea of what it would be like.

I would find it hard to take a break of more than a day. I tend to check my phone several times a day. Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Messages from various apps and banks and delivery apps and offers from Flipkart and Amazon. Discounts from Ola & Uber. Sports updates. Sometimes it is crazy. Also I am obsessive in that I keep checking Google app’s recommended articles based on my preferences. It’s so addictive that I can’t stop – the first thing I do as soon as I wake up in the morning is to pick up my phone and check for anything important. Even before I wear my glasses.

When can I try out to see if I have the ability to stay away from all social media – I will continue to blog ofcourse – for a week. No Whatspp, no Facebook, no Messenger, no Instagram, no Twitter, no Uber, no shopping apps, no nothing. I think I can do it and it will help if I am really busy during that week so I won’t want to keep checking my phone or log on to the websites on my laptop.

Prompt from September Journal Prompts, Affirmations, and Journaling Printables at Carrie Elle Dot Com

Friendly Co-workers Not Friends

Workplace Relations Advice

It is natural that you will make friends in your workplace. And maybe some enemies as well. And when I was younger I think I would become really close with some of those people. While I was working in AspinWall, I made some really good friends. 3 of them are still friends of mine with the 2 men in that list of 3 are my best friends from that time till now. There are others I am in touch with but less frequently.

Ok after that I made some really good friends in the next 3 places that I worked but by then I realized something. You can have friends in the office but in reality they are colleagues who are friendly with you. At a proper working environment you should be able to make friends with your co-workers but it is more important that you have friendly relations rather than making friends. You work with them and once the work is done, you may even go out for a quick meal or a few drinks but then you go home. It is always better to keep your personal life separate from your work life.

That’s what I prefer to do and have been doing for the past several years. My colleagues at work are my co-workers and I am friendly with them. While at the office, we used to go for dinner at the office cafeteria together, coffee breaks together and once in a while we would go to the restaurant near us to have a team dinner. And those are fun but that’s where I draw the line. I don’t go to their homes, I don’t go on weekend trips and go for drinks with them unless it’s an occasion.

I won’t even be Facebook friends with them. I have a whole list of people who have followed me on Instagram and that’s alright. I follow them back and it’s ok for me since it’s only Instagram. But I won’t accept Facebook invites until after either I or they have left the workplace. So while we are co-workers, I won’t add them to my Facebook list. Once they leave, go for it. I share too much stuff that is political or anti-religious for me to be comfortable to have them come and discuss it the next day at the office. That’s why I don’t add them.

Prompt from 255 Blog Post Ideas That’ll Tantalize Your Readers in 2021 @ SmartBlogger

Twitter vs. Facebook – For Bloggers

Twitter vs. Facebook – which is better for bloggers

I must say that even though I use Twitter less and less since maybe early 2020. I find that I most share a few images or pics of something significant and maybe one article or the other but it is quite less than previous years. The most time I spend on Twitter is during a football match in which Arsenal plays and I share my view points. Otherwise I kinda have been ignoring Twitter. I think it’s mainly because of the tons of nonsense that is usually on Twitter and trying to keep a track of everything is a chore. Though I must say that there are a lot of semi-naked or even almost completely nude chicks on Twitter.

While I do think it is easier to share your blog posts on Twitter, I have been trying to share my posts and even my vlogs on Facebook instead and trying to share them to specific groups as I target my audience. It hasn’t really worked out completely I think I should do it a lot more instead of one here and one there. So if I have a sports related post or vlog then I share it to a group of sports fans. Star Trek or science fiction related posts & vlogs go into the many, many groups I am a member of where you can find a lot of like minded people. Same for music and humour. Target your audience according to the subject of your post.

That is ofcourse you are a personal blog like I am. I write about a multitude of topics that I have an interest in and not everyone in my audience would be interested in each and every post. Hence I target them as much as I can. And therefore I think Facebook is better than Twitter for bloggers.

Prompt from 30 SUBJECT-SPECIFIC BLOG POST IDEAS AND PROMPTS