Personal Archives - Page 6 of 23

The seven sins of social media

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Farrah Kelly

I don’t want to potentially sabotage my career as something new-fangled and vaguely virtual, but I can’t hold this in any longer.

Social media is going too far. Going online is becoming more infuriating by the day. Facebook used to be a place for judging old classmates and Twitter used to be a place for posting your damning verdicts on old classmates. Everyone was happy. But now, big businesses have cottoned on and they’re ruining the fun.

Where the hell did this all come from? I feel like some spoilt CEO’s kid went ‘hey pops- I bet you don’t even know what a hashtag is, do ya?‘ and in a mid-life crisis CEO daddy went out and paid someone to tell him what Twitter was for, and he just got a bit carried away.

So here is my definitive list of seven things social media needs to stop doing, right now.

7. Listicles, listciles everywhere.

Never, in the thrilling history of lists, has any industry written so many. Go ahead and google any given number and the words ‘social media’. I’d bet my bottom dollar that the first, oh, I dunno, seven pages, are dedicated to “Nine social media essentials” or “Thirty brands with a great social media strategy”. There is a new list every day to detail the impact some real social media engagement could have on your customer’s brand awareness or client facing visibility. Never has so little been said so extensively.

I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE THAT NUMBER, GOOGLE. (The big long one. I know how to pronounce ‘twelve’. Shut up.)

6. Badly used memes.

I lurk on reddit. I’m obsessed with Tumblr. I read the Onion, check Oatmeal, watch Vine. I’m no special snowflake, neither- millions of other people do too. Millions of people, excluding, specifically, the social media managers of big brands. It is baffling how a meme is created collaboratively by the creativity and consensus of an unnamed virtual collective, all finding that particular penguin especially socially awkward, but the humour and warmth/wit of these tiny creations TOTALLY BYPASSES THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE MARKETING MEMES.

YOU CAN’T JUST STICK A LOGO IN THE CORNER PERSIL. ‘ME TIME’ HAS LITERALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHITER THAN WHITE WHITES.

5. Weird newsjacking.

Newsjacking, for those of your who live outside of the buzzword world, is when you jump on a bandwagon created by some news. It can be sweet or funny if the link between news and company is in any way relevant (a la Mothercare being psyched about the Royal Baby). Unfortunately, many brands seem to think world disasters, deaths or any manner of tragedy is fair game. Bizarre really- who would have thought a devastating hurricane would be the perfect opportunity to sell overpriced lycra hotpants?

Dear American Apparel. No one is bored during a natural disaster. They are worried for their homes, loved ones and lives, not how much they can save on spangly disco pants. You attempt to be edgy and relevant has only managed to piss everyone off. Is your mind literally made out of mud and spandex? Sincerely, everyone.

4. Inter-company bants

Every so often, one company will talk to another company. Like they’re a peoples. Like Tesco, Asda and Waitrose are in fact just a bunch of guys, hanging round, tweeting each other grocery jokes. Sometimes it’s kinda fun, but some attempts at brand banter are just a little bit too desperado. Brands talking to each other is usually a sign of them trying to get noticed by BuzzFeed, if they’re big, but it is also a sign of some poor community manager holding out for some attention.

3. PLEASE LIKE ME.

Hey you- friendly social media user who has already conveniently ‘liked’ or followed our brand page! We would like you-yes you- to not only be witness to a stream of corporate conciousness, but ALSO to be coerced into actively partaking in our social media bubble! Does that sound exactly like what you should be spending your valuable time on? It does?! Well come on down, because we have oodles of posts for you to pointlessly engage with. Hooray!

The worst bit about this Play.com post is that ‘liking’ the Facebook post has absolutely nothing to do with entering their competition. Nothing.

2. Virtual ‘Chugging’ (charity mugging)

Charities should use social media. It’s an important way to raise awareness, chat to volunteers, etc. All agreed? Cool. Brands, however, should not use charity to garner social media attention. You know why? BECAUSE IT’S UNETHICAL, THAT’S WHY, but also because it’s a bit creepy.

Durex are here implying that they help prevent AIDS, possibly the most infamous and horrible pandemic since the plague, if you- the unassuming audience- spread their name around for them. You know, the ol’ you scratch our back, we’ll fix AIDS. Which begs the question- if you knew you also had enough condoms spare/loads left over from your JLS over branding, why on earth should Jonny Blogs have to click a button before you actually do anything?

That aside, there is a whole world of pain attached to ‘clicktivism’. Surely this kind of irresponsible marketing campaign only adds to the feeling that by pressing a meaningless internet button you’re helping, instead of, you know, actually bloody helping. Anyway, I digress. Here is a relevant video.

1. POINTLESS HASHTAGS.

Nothing. Infuriates me more. Than pointless. Fucking. Hashtags.

Do you think someone is going to USE this hashtag? Or casually search for it? Do you understand that hashtags are supposed to be a way of people following discussions over time? Do you think that anyone in their right mind is going to tweet that they are going to #SwitchToLumia?? Or say they are on their way to #DiscoverDenim- as though they’d never discovered denim before??? Or that for any reason after battling with your so-called ‘gamechanging’ COFFEE MAKER to make a brew is going to joyously tweet about their #NESPRESSO???? Do you think we are all idiots? Blindly crunching out company hashtags like content creating consumer machines? IS THERE NO DIGNITY LEFT IN SOCIAL MEDIA???

*breathes deeply*. So there you have it. Things I hereby swear to never do on social media, and thigns that will cause me to instantly dislike your brand. I’m glad that’s settled. Now, I think I need a lie down. A lie down as far away from a wifi connection as I can physically manage.

(P.S. Relevant article here.)

When London breaks

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Farrah Kelly

You know how when it snows, everyone gets ready to make those “Southern pansy” jokes? The ones about how oop North, we rally through full force gales, shimmy over snow drifts and pick our way through the perilous icy peaks to get to the mines, but when a single snowflake lands outside Buckingham Palace, every Londoner goes into a full-scale meltdown as though they’d never seen the sky deposit such an unearthly matter on their beloved city before, and as a result they spend all day blankly refusing to go to work?

Yeah. I used to make those.

I lived on the edge of the Pennines for a year, where, in winter, it was safer to sit on your bum and slide one mile down the ice-covered road into oncoming traffic than to risk breaking your back by walking down said hill- and I still never missed my bus. I used to slide to college, voluntarily or otherwise, every day with only a few complaints and a twisted ankle. I felt my perils were just a simple part of winter, and coping with it was a simple job of getting on with your life despite external forces.

I used to look at Londoners, whimpering over the weather forecast, and think that they were pathetic. That was then. That was before I experienced The TFL Tube Strike.

I’m not sure if you noticed (…) but London just had a public transport freak out. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the situation, so do your fact-finding elsewhere, but I do know that for two days, it messed with my head.

The night before the strike, I’d been pretty smug. Meh, I thought, ignoring all warnings, this will just be another thing that Londoners meltdown about. Oop Norf, we rally through full force gales to get t’werk…(cont.). That was before what should have been an hour and a half round trip took me SIX AND A HALF HOURS.

I saw five people crying. I saw three arguments. I saw queues of one hundred people trying to bustle onto a single decker bus. I was in Waterloo East when it had to be evacuated and I was in gridlocked traffic for so long that I gave up and decided to walk the remaining stretch in the windy drizzle. I was on the only central-bound train from Clapham that thoughtful strangers decided to fart on. And you know the worst bit? I didn’t even have it that bad.

I’ve got a new found respect for Londoners. I used to think that the transport-drama headlines were hyperbolic, and simply proof that people were softer down south. But having experienced just a taste of what it’s like to be in a crowd of one thousand lost and late commuters, I sort of get it now. Because back home, when there’s a transport crisis, we’re not battling with crowds of hundreds of people who are getting in your way, or knocking you over to get on the bus. And there’s certainly no one farting into your handbag.

New Year Assholes

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Farrah Kelly

I’ve been struggling with something for the past nine days. It’s not been the biggest struggle I’ve faced- still not managed twerking- but nonetheless it’s been in my peripheral vision for over a week now. Like when you fall asleep wearing a contact lense and when you wake you’ve got a feeling it’s slipped round to the other side of your eye. Gross, internal, and bloody annoying.

So I’ll just come out with it.

What is up with the New Year Resolution snobbery?

There seems to have been a trend over the last few years to staunchly mock and deride the very concept of a New Year’s Resolution. Silly humans! cry the mockers (at every fucking opportunity), if you’re unhappy with your ridiculous life, you don’t need a set date to change it! You are puny in your attempts to better yourself. The coming of a new year ought to have NO SIGNIFICANCE whatsoever to your desire to quit smoking/lose a stone/learn Arabic- and if it does, it is somehow more meaningless than trying to do said resolution in June! Or September! Or any month other than January!!!

Well, mockers. The tables have turned, because I am here to deride YOU.

What is wrong, exactly, with having a new year resolution? What possible harm does it have for people to anchor positive life changes around a particular date? A date they can share with others, a date that by it’s very nature marks a new beginning? What I think has happened here is someone, probably Richard Dawkins/someone equally derisive-for-the-sake-of-it, spouted out some poo about the foolishness of the idiot humans who wholeheartedly want to change their life/outlook/health out of some sort of defence system for not wanting to change their own life/outlook/health, and their pessimism has spread like a snarky STD in a Magaluf bed and breakfast.

I for one will not be silenced. I am resolving to make my resolutions, with or without your approval, naysayers. In fact, as an act of spite, I have written a five page- FIVE PAGE- resolution detailing exactly how I want to better myself in the next twelve months. Every drop of ink that went into the 2014 edition of Shit I Want To Improve is not only going to become my bible, it is also intended as a tiny, -ink-drop-sized slap in the face of every person who thinks that it’s okay to chortle at “fatties” taking over gyms in January, because “let’s face it, they’ll be back in front of the fridge in February”, or leave patronising comments on someone’s Facebook declaration that it’s “a New Year and a New ME”. Ya’ll need to start being nicer. Incidentally, that’s on my resolution list. Page four.

The Alpha Course Weekend: A Review

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Farrah Kelly

“Sounds like a cult mate“. I laughed. My sister’s opinion on my upcoming weekend away with the Alpha Course was pretty clear. “It’s not a cult“, I told her. “It’s a weekend at the beach, with some talks.” Unconvinced, she changed the subject.

Friday evening rolled around and my colleagues asked me what my plans for the weekend were. Once I told them I’d be spending two nights in a Pontins with 300 Christians, eyebrows were raised. “Very rock n roll” one commented. “Phone me if it gets weird” another advised. I laughed, knowing they were overreacting. I was looking forward to getting out of London, if nothing else. Plus, my atheist-on-the-inside exposé was getting kinda dry, and this would be good blog fodder.

We drove down later that evening, arriving just in time for the last serving of food. My group sat around chatting, mostly about Miley Cyrus and the benefits of buying your food from the reduced section. We pottered off to our rooms- I was sharing with one of the girls from my group- and fell asleep. So far so good.

The talks

Each talk was prefaced with a song from the band. They’ve been singing the same songs each week at Alpha- in order to familiarise the audience with the words I guess- and I decided to let my guard down and join in. I’m the party-pooper that point blank refuses to join in at karaoke or SingStar (it’s for the best)- so I kinda relished being able to sing in a room where no one could hear me over the crowd. I was getting quite into this Alpha lark.

Charlie Mackesy, from Week One, spoke first. He was his usual, relatable funny self. He told us the first time he came to Alpha, he left every five minutes for a cigarette -“I don’t even smoke”. The talk centred on who the Holy Spirit is. He noted how crazy it all seemed, and told us of his reluctance to accept Christianty. He told us that the only time his ADHD pauses is while in prayer, and the peace that brings him. He told us a beautiful and intimate story of his fathers death that brought me to tears. We dispersed, and went for a chat in our groups.

The second talk, given by Emily Layzell, was another touching, funny speech. Hers was on what the Holy Spirit does. To be totally honest, although she was wonderfully eloquent and had some interesting insights, the only thing that I really recall from her speech was her anecdote of the time she accidentally drank a bottle of her son’s urine. I’m not sure how the Holy Spirit relates to sipping wee, so I’ll leave you guessing on that one. Again, we dispersed, ate lunch and chatted. I was feeling pleased with how un-culty this all seemed. I congratulated myself on being so open minded.

The tongues

The next group discussion centred on gifts from the Holy Spirit. I was asked to read out a passage mentioned in the talk: Corinthians 12. In this passage, Paul (total guess) tells the apostles (another total guess) that they can receive gift from the Holy Spirit. This comes in many forms, from healing, to knowledge and prophecy to speaking in tongues. You get the right gift for you, at the right time for you, so no point writing up a wishlist. My group leader asked us all what we thought of it, and which gift we’d prefer.

I had no clue, but I was the only one. Responses varied on personal preference, and I was surprised to hear some anecdotes of gifts in action- people seeing miraculous healing take place or knowing how to speak in tongues. Gifts of knowledge proved to be a popular choice, as did “discernment”- being able to accurately judge someone else’s stage of faith.

The next talk was by Toby Flint- of disastrous week three fame-and once again his examples failed to impress me. One popular reason for speaking in tongues is to say what our limited human vocabulary can’t- the way he exampled this was by telling us the average human has a vocabulary of just “5,000 words”- which as a linguistic graduate and a fellow speaker of words, I can tell you is total bollocks. Another example was of the profound nature of tongues speaking to non-believers. This example was a story of a preacher speaking in tongues when an atheist native Italian was in the audience. The preacher was saying “I love you” in Italian. Apparently not one person noticed this guy on stage shouting “ti amo“- despite it being a hugely popular phrase in a local language- other than this ONE Italian chick in the congregation, who instantly felt the Holy Spirit. I call BS on that one too.

While I stewed over his shaky arguments, he welcomed the congregation to ‘invite the Holy Spirit’. He told us that we may feel different sensations, like warmth or peace or giddiness. He told us we might feel nothing. The guitarist was quietly singing and people were praying. Looking around, almost everyone had their eyes closed, and a few were silently weeping.

The noise

Toby began speaking in tongues. As did the guitarist. He kind of looked like Harry Potter did when he spoke Parseltongue. The noise of people whispering in prayer was getting louder, and one man in front of me began shouting. I’d been told tongues was harmonious, but the guy in front of me was strangely aggressive and percussive. He fell to the floor and kept shouting- he sounded like he was begging. Toby could see that this was something of a distraction to others, especially those who’d never seen this before. “Focus on your own experience, don’t worry about the people around you”. I was alarmed. Toby invited us to sing in tongues.

I looked around, getting teary myself. People in my group were speaking in tongues, and a few began singing. It wasn’t the gibberish I expected, but sounded like no language. As the room got louder, I could hear the person next to me rising in volume. I closed my eyes to stop myself from crying. The man on the floor in front of me was shaking, still shouting. Knocking a chair, I ran out, my boots clomping on the wood floor.

Me.

I burst out of the room and looked around. One of the group helpers had followed me out, and led me outside. I slumped against the wall and started crying. It was too much. I had “What the fuck” swimming around my head. The helper asked if I wanted to talk.

I was upset because of how naive I felt. Church services are emotional, and I’d seen people crying and praying before. I thought I’d be able to handle hearing people speak in tongues, but I couldn’t. It was too dramatic. I felt a total idiot, like a Mrs Lefty-Liberal on a jaunt to prove how open-minded she was. These people weren’t trying to convert me, they had their own beliefs to deal with. Dying families and breaking relationships and financial troubles and entire lives. I’d been silly.

After a while, I decided to go back in. The room was quieter now, no singing. It looked like a hospital ward, full of wounded victims. People were sat in groups praying and comforting each other. A few people still stood, their hands upturned and eyes closed. Everyone seemed to be having a spiritual experience. I couldn’t get over that we were in a fucking Pontins.

A friend, with best interests, prayed for me with his hand on my shoulder. I was uncomfortable, but didn’t want to interrupt. If anything, this whole course has simply solidified to me that I’m an atheist. Embarrassed, I left my group to go for dinner and went to ring my best friend from my hotel bathroom floor.

The come down

Lying half in-shower and half out-of-shower, idly considering locking myself in for the rest of the weekend, I got hungry. I shuffled towards the canteen, where I ate in near silence with my group, who were happily chatting about football results and the upcoming pub quiz. We returned to our rooms, where my roomy asked why there were towels on the bathroom floor. “Oh, I’ve been sitting on them for a bit”. She nodded, understanding. Nothing was weird this weekend.

Joining the rest of our team for the pub quiz, the room that had previously held three hundred crying Christians now held three hundred laughing Christians. I downed a glass of wine and ordered a second. Interspersed between quiz rounds, different acts perfromed in a sort of variety/talent show. The band that had been singing Christian rock all weekend did a medley of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” and Kelis’ “My Milkshake”. One guy used his hand as a kazoo to play ‘Happy Birthday’.

Next up, before the “Cheese or Font” round was vicar Toby Flint. He was going to dazzle us with his ability to make an accurate siren impression. Readying himself in front of the microphone, the audience were silent. He approached the microphone, and a single voice sprang out of the centre of the audience: “Speak in tongues!”. The room burst into applause and laughter. I looked around at this community, where everyone looked happy. I wondered what the Pontins staff made of us.

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You’ve just read 1600 words (or skipped to the end), so you might as well read a few more. I hope I’ve given a fair portrayal of my experiences, and maybe provoked some thought for you. More than this, I hope I’ve respected the experiences of the people on the weekend away with me, and indeed of Christians. If I’ve not, I’m sorry. Especially because many of the people involved here have become good friends.