What do you think about completely going off social media for 1 week?

1 week? I am not sure that I can do that. I can’t even think about going off social media for 24 hours, let alone a whole week. I am way too addicted to Twitter (I am not calling it X), Instagram, Facebook an as of the last 3 weeks, Threads. Same for Youtube, and I keep checking for update, comments and replies. Sometime I am checking one of the apps on my phone while I am logged in on my laptop!

At night before I fall asleep I must be spending atleasts 20 minutes on my phone before sleep catches up with me. And if I wake up in between, I usually end up spending several minutes on the phone before I fall asleep again. If I am lucky, I will fall asleep in about 10-20 minutes. Otherwise it means that I get stuck on it and stay awake for 2 hours or so before sleep finally catches up with me.

I like social media and I enjoy using it a lot, despite the idiots and the conspiracy theory nutcases and the religious morons. It takes some doing to wade through that shit, but it is worth it.

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

So I finally it the bullet and signed up for Threads. Threads is a social media platform developed by Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram). It’s intended as a microblogging and text-focused alternative to Instagram, positioned as a direct competitor to X (formerly Twitter). Meta launched Threads in July 2023, aiming to attract users looking for a more conversation-focused experience. Here’s a breakdown of Threads’ main features, interface, privacy considerations, and growth so far:

Platform Overview and Concept

• Integration with Instagram: Threads is closely integrated with Instagram, allowing users to easily port their Instagram accounts, profiles, and followers into the Threads ecosystem. This integration makes it simple for Instagram users to join without starting from scratch, creating a seamless onboarding process.
• Content Focus: Threads is designed primarily for text-based updates and posts, though images, videos, and GIFs are supported. The platform emphasizes conversational posts and replies, appealing to users interested in real-time interactions and discussion threads.
• Length of Posts: Initially, Threads allowed posts of up to 500 characters, significantly more than the original character limit of X, and it’s continually testing expansions to accommodate longer posts.

Yesterday while chatting with my colleagues on Webex, I was reminded of something that I rarely think about these days and have barely given a thought to in probably 13 to 15 years – MySpace. MySpace was the biggest social network site online during the mid-to-late 2000s, with over 75 million users a month at its peak. Unfortunately for them Facebook took over and it became obsolete. The rise of MySpace can be attributed to timing and accessibility. The platform was launched in 2003 and was one of the first social media sites.

MySpace offered a service that was non-restrictive, let users customize their own pages, and added new features based on user demand. It also attracted a lot of creative people and allowed brands and users to interact with each other as a sort of precursor to modern-day influencers. MySpace’s success caught the eye of the media conglomerate News Corporation, which bought the social media site in 2005 for $580 million. According to former employees, corporate greediness and legal interference led to the downfall. MySpace became inundated with intrusive ads, many of which led to dubious pages asking users to sign up for credit cards and other services.

Ultimately, a failure to focus on what its community wanted and the usability of the site saw users leave for other platforms. The website still exists today as a social media platform focussed mainly on music, but it is much smaller in scale and nowhere near the behemoth it once was. Currently, Myspace has been placed in a read-only mode of sorts, as no new articles have been published since early 2022, the site is basically dead.

“Instagram envy” is a term used to describe the feelings of jealousy, inadequacy, or dissatisfaction that can arise when comparing oneself to others on social media, especially on platforms like Instagram. People often share the highlights of their lives—vacations, fancy meals, accomplishments, or idealized images of themselves—which can make viewers feel like their own lives are less exciting or successful by comparison.

This phenomenon can be exacerbated by the fact that Instagram promotes visual content, which often involves carefully curated or edited photos designed to showcase a certain lifestyle. Seeing these “perfect” moments can create unrealistic expectations, making people feel like they are missing out or not measuring up.

Do you ever feel affected by social media in this way, or are you simply curious about the concept?

Facebook and Instagram services were restored after an outage was reported in India and many other parts of the world Tuesday evening. Users complained about log in issues on both these social media platforms. They were logged out of both Facebook and Instagram. Some were unable to refresh Instagram pages. Many users were also asked to change passwords. Soon after, YouTube users also started facing a similar issue.

“Log in again; session expired; couldn’t refresh feed,” were some of the messages that popped up while using the Facebook and Instagram apps.  The disruptions started around 8:30?pm on Tuesday. There were more than 3,00,000 reports of outages for Facebook, while there were more than 20,000 reports for Instagram, according to the website which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, including users.

I think a lot of people thought that their fears of a Cyber Attack had come true. I noticed the outage at 8:45 pm when I took a break for dinner. As usual I pick up my phone an head to the cafeteria an as soon as I get my food and pay for it, I sit down with my plate and then as I ea, I check Instagram and Facebook. I didn’t know what the issue was and just assumed that it as a temporary glitch.

Is Social Media Making Us More Narcissistic?

Yes to an extent. With a free service like Instagram for example young girls and women especially are really becoming very narcissistic indeed. Lots of young men as well but I think in this regard women outnumber the males by quite a large margin. Because social media, particularly Facebook and Instagram, focus on sharing (and sometimes oversharing) one’s own image and opinions, young adults who use these platforms frequently are prone to narcissism. Research shows that higher amounts of social media use predict higher levels of grandiose narcissism.

All the young women I know aged 20 and above – these are women I know from work – all seem to have very active Instagram accounts where they upload a lot of variously posed and thought out pics. Bathroom pics, selfies, group selfies,  pics taken with makeup touched up in between, the usual poses, getting your friends to take the pics for you, buying outfits for the sole purpose of taking reels and pics in them etc. Am I missing something? Dare I say it, I also see a few of them sharing a few revealing images/reels.

In a 2018 study, researchers tracked 74 participants aged 18–34 over four months and used the NPI to quantify their narcissistic traits. Hence, they found that participants who posted large quantities of photos and selfies showed a 25 percent increase in narcissism. Specifically, those who used Facebook and other platforms that focus on images rather than words became more narcissistic over time. Now I am not saying all of them are narcissistic but a lot of them are bordering on them and a lot are positively narcissistic.

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

Should What You Say on Facebook Be Grounds for Getting Fired?

No. Social Media should be exempt from being able to express their thoughts and opinions, no matter how bad they are. I believe that actions should be the deciding factor. Now, as an individual business owner or a company they might have some factors and behaviours beyond which they cannot tolerate. In general, employers have the power to fire employees for any lawful reason–including for what they post on social media.

But for opinions, no matter how differing from what is considered politically correct or even right, I don’t think they should be fired. Even if someone says that they think Hitler was right or they sided on a country that invaded another or if they feel that certain races or whatever. It’s only when they act upon it do I feel like that something should be done to punish the person. But if they just say “I don’t like immigrants or blacks or Asians or Indians or Hispanics or white people and they should be here” I don’t think you should punish them by firing them.

They don’t like gays or transgender people – fine but don’t do anything. You don’t have to like everyone and you can disagree with their lifestyle as much as you want. They might not like yours but you cannot disturb them or do anything to do. Neither can you threaten them or make them feel uncomfortable. Just go on your merry way and do your job. That is how I believe things should be handled.

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

Do You Experience FOMO When You Unplug?

Not really. I supposed I could be but mostly it is excitement for the release of a new video on Youtube or a new post of some value on Facebook or a comment on Facebook. I love looking at reels, Instagram pics, Facebook posts and Youtube videos. But I don’t think I have FOMO.

The idea that you might be missing out on a good time is not new to our era. Since the advent of social media, however, FOMO has become more obvious and has been studied more often. Social media has accelerated the FOMO phenomenon in several ways. It provides a situation in which you are comparing your regular life to the highlights of others’ lives. Therefore, your sense of “normal” becomes skewed and you seem to be doing worse than your peers. You might see detailed photos of your friends enjoying fun times without you, which is something that people may not have been so readily aware of in past generations.

What we need to realize is that Social media – smartphones and tablets in particular – are there to help us and enable our lives. Keeping in touch with things, events and people is an absolute positive thing but it can’t ruin our lives and give us anxiety. We have all gotten so used to these gadgets that we tend to miss it a lot during times that it is not with us. And unless I am sleeping I do want the phone near me so I get all messages and calls. This is hard to do without. I need my phone with me but I don’t need to use it all the time to check things or get upset that I am missing out.

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

Are Parents Violating Their Children’s Privacy When They Share Photos and Videos of Them Online?

Done in moderation, like uploading family pics meant to show family & close friends on Facebook or Instagram, I don’t think it is. However, this is the age of Social Media and you have moms – why is it mostly the moms who do it – maintaining whole channels on Youtube & Instagram of their babies from the time they were in the womb and then probably a video of the crowning and the birth and then each and every thing that the baby does on a daily basis.

I think those are probably a little too much. Why would you want to have a channel focus on their child or children. I mean, I know it probably gets them the views that in turn leads possibly to money and possibly sponsored contents and even gifts that their followers send to them. I can understand and relate to channels that include the entire family, including the family cats and dogs. Make it a fun thing that the parents do and they include the kids in it as well. However when you make it all about the kid, you got to be careful.

Tastefully done it is adorable and can be a lot of fun. I do follow some of them. However in some it seems very obvious that the moms or dads are like “Come check out my toddler. So funny and cute and they say the oddest things. Ha ha, he he. Look, I dressed them up like a strawberry!” It borders on monetizing your child. I dunno. I think it is a very thin line.

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

1. Instagram users are younger than 34 in 64% of cases.
2. Instagram currently boasts 2 billion monthly active users. This makes it the fourth most used social media platform. And if you make use of the latest Instagram trends, you have the potential to exponentially grow your reach.
3. Every day, 4.2 billion Instagram posts are liked by users.
4. Instagram business account posts typically have an engagement rate of 0.83%.
5. It’s now the fifth most visited website worldwide. Although this puts it behind other platforms like Facebook and Twitter, it’s still one of the most popular social media sites.
6. According to Insider Intelligence, Instagram generated $43.2 billion in ad revenue in 2022. This is a slight increase from 2021 when the platform’s ad revenue amounted to $42.1 billion.
7. Instagram’s most active users are in India (201 million), the United States (157 million), and Brazil (115 million).

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.

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

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.

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