Tag: social media

Reflecting on Life Before Social Media

~ SA Otey

What does it really mean to go back to the old days? What are the old days and how do you define them?

To me, the old days is life before all the social media and other technologies that are supposed to make our life simpler and easier, but really just complicate things and cause anxiety

Who knows what’s next, because before there was TikTok, there was Instagram, and before Instagram, there was Facebook, and before Facebook, there was MySpace. Before that, all we had were blogs. Then that deviated to Twitter. Twitter was supposed to be microblogging because people didn’t have the attention span to read an entire post. They just wanted to read a few sentences and look at a pretty picture.

Let’s go back to blogs, delete all of your other social media, it’s time.

1. Telegraph (1830s–1840s)

  • Invented by Samuel Morse.
  • Used Morse code to send messages over long distances via wires.
  • Revolutionized long-distance communication.

2. Telephone (1876)

  • Invented by Alexander Graham Bell.
  • Allowed real-time voice communication.
  • Quickly became a staple in homes and businesses.

3. Radio & Broadcast Media (1890s–1920s)

  • Wireless communication began with radio.
  • Became a mass communication tool with news, music, and entertainment.

4. Television (1930s–1950s)

  • Added visuals to broadcast media.
  • Transformed communication into a visual storytelling platform.

5. Email & Early Internet (1960s–1980s)

  • ARPANET led to the birth of email and early internet.
  • Email became a fast and efficient alternative to postal mail.

6. Mobile Phones & SMS (1980s–1990s)

  • Made communication portable.
  • Text messaging (SMS) introduced concise, fast communication.

7. Internet Boom & Instant Messaging (1990s–2000s)

  • Services like AOL, MSN Messenger, and ICQ enabled real-time chatting.
  • The web allowed people to share information instantly worldwide.

8. Social Media (2000s–Present)

  • Platforms like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
  • Transformed communication into a constant, global, multimedia experience.
  • Emphasized user-generated content, connectivity, and community building.

Make Your Hashtags Readable: A Simple Guide

~ SA Otey
beach footprint hashtag island
CSharp

There is a time and place for hashtags. They are supposed to be short and readable. #dontdoahashtaglikethis #notproperhashtagusage. Those are hard to read. At a minimum, if you are going to build a long hashtag, use camel casing. #itMakesTheHashTagMoreReadable. If your hashtag is that long, just spell it out as a sentence.

Older folks read the hashtag as the pound symbol. So be careful when starting a hashtag campaign that starts with the pound symbol such as the #MeToo movement. Also, #hashbrowns are delicious.

The Art of Bragging: Test Your Friends

~ SA Otey

Everyone loves to brag. Whether it’s about your accomplishments or your children’s it’s all about getting a leg up on the competition. But, some people don’t even know when you are competing with them. Here’s a good way to put this to the test.

Pick out one of your friends on Facebook. Next, copy and paste one of their posts, but change out the proper nouns. Try to take similar photos, and share the same status messages from other websites. But, the twist is this, you have to make your status messages better than theirs. See if they notice after a few weeks of this.

Carter’s BP73-14074 Blue Under The Sea Mini Baby Photo Album Brag Book, Holds 40 Photos