Tag: social media

Social Media Vacation Responders

~ SA Otey

Whenever you take a vacation and then decide to share photos or videos via social media you will have one of your pals say one of these gems…

I wish I could afford a vacation.

Well, maybe if you weren’t so terrible with your budget, you could. This is the worst kind of comment because they are trying to add a guilt trip leg to your itinerary. I get it, some can’t afford vacations, but you shouldn’t try to make others feel bad for enjoying themselves. The point is, don’t share your life on social media

Put me in your suitcase

That’s impossible and illegal. Plus, you might die of suffocation in the overhead compartment.

Drink an alcoholic beverage for me

That’s also impossible; it’s like asking someone to go urinate for you. We aren’t that close, and I’m not going to apply a catheter for you.

I wasn’t invited

No, you weren’t because this is my vacation. If you wanted to go with us, then we should have planned ahead, and you could have purchased your very own ticket. That is, if you’ve budgeted properly.

You should have done “X”

There is always someone who’s taken the same trip as you and attempts to induce FOMO feelings of “you’ve missed something crucial that would have made your vacation 1000 times better”. Sucks to be you.

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