Monday, July 23, 2012

Adventures in Social Media


In full disclosure, I DNF'd a 5k this weekend.  I'm not super proud of this fact, but these things happen right?  (ImaQuiitteerr.)  I have nothing but minor excuses so I'm not even going to write them.

Also, did anyone watch the Bachelorette last night?  I had a hard time getting into this season.  Mostly because I'm convinced Emily is a super hot robot.  Love Jef though.  And they are cute together.

Everyone on Social Media Is Insane.

Today, I want to talk social media.  I feel like I have a billion accounts at this point, which really just means Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram. If having all of these accounts has taught me one thing, it's that people are insane.  Myself included (I am guilty of much of the insanity below!). 

The awkward Happy Birthday

Having a birthday means a lot of things....time with friends, cake, reflection on the last year and....getting "Happy Birthday" Facebook well-wishes from people who you spoke to once back in 2007.

source

I have a ridiculous amount of Facebook friends, and this is not because I'm a really popular person.  Basically I've had the account for over eight years.  That's a lot of acquaintances!  Combine that with a terrible memory for names (AND people who got married and changed their names) and I have no idea who 10% of the people writing birthday wishes on my wall are. 


Granted, I really appreciate it.   But I'm convinced that the people who write on everyone's wall for birthdays don't remember me either.  Maybe they log into Facebook daily and spend five minutes sending birthday wishes to everyone? 

"I have no idea who this girl is, but it LOOKS LIKE SHE NEEDS A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

At least that's how I envision this happening.  

 #Fitfluential.  


Dude...what exactly IS fitfluential?  Does anyone know?   I'm not against it or for it, I just don't get it.  All I know is that people use that hashtag a lot and it's usually accompanied by "#proof" (Equally confusing.  Proof of what?)

I wanted to find out, so I went to the homepage.


...Yeah still totally in the dark. "Fitness Found"?

I also don't understand the ambassador thing.  Usually people are ambassadors for products like Brooks.  But unless Fitfluential produces protein bars I'm not sure what's trying to be sold here. 

If you're an ambassador, please fill me in!

The Random

This is where I'm very guilty.  I send completely irrelevant tweets.  I love twitter.  It allows me to talk to so many of my blogging friends.   But if you follow me, I apologize for 80% of the tweets.  Most of them are constructed when I'm sitting at work and am feeling frustrated.  So I'll tweet something that makes no sense.   


What?

Or worse.



Sigh. It seemed funny at the time! 

But I can't stop.   It's an outlet.  Maybe I can try to break the habit by writing tweets but not hitting the button.  Sorry sorry.  


The Overshare

Every once in a while I'll see something like this posted:

"JUST GOT BACK FROM THE DOC AND THANK GOD MY RED OOZY RASH IS GOING AWAY"

This will be accompanied by a million comments underneath by people who don't think this is weird at all.

"Oh thank God the rash is gone!  Can you post pictures???"

A distinct subset of the overshare would the the political overshare.  These are actually my favorite crazy people.


The qualification criteria to be in this category is to
1) Post political articles on a daily basis.
2) Make sure they are as inflammatory as possible.  Like....

HOLY CRAP DID YOU SEE OBAMA EATING PUPPIES THIS MORNING?!?!?!

Sometimes I'm tempted to hide these people from my feed, but then I realize that I love them and make me feel like I am not insane in comparison.

Anyways

One of my good friends told me that she always asks herself before posting things "Will this make anyone's day better?".

Which is awesome.   I should do that.  But hey...if everyone did that, I know I'd miss all the crazy people.

21 comments:

  1. I can answer your #FitFluential quandry ;)

    I was invited to apply to become an ambassador sometime last year - basically, it's a community of health / fitness - minded bloggers - the presence is pretty strong on FB (pages to share links, etc).

    FitFluential as a THING is also for non-bloggers or enthusiasts.

    The company is new and therefore is still carving its identity IRL and the online world, but has gained strength with brands / campaigns as a way to promote companies in the related industries (gyms, apparel, shoes, etc).

    Hope this helps :)

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    Replies
    1. I'm probably just dense, but I still don't understand what FitFluential is....

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  2. after months your blog is FINALLY showing up in my Google Reader again. don't know what all that craziness was about.

    no idea about the fitfluential thing either, and i am totally and 100% guilty of sending absolutely pointless tweets. but i love twitter more than any other social media outlet and i figure everyone else sends dumb tweets too, so i don't really feel that bad about it.

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  3. Too bad I don't do twitter bc your tweets seem hilarious. I agree there seems to be a fine line in social media sometimes, but, hey, it keeps me entertained overall. If I dont want to read something, I dont have to. I do think sometimes ppl shoot themselves in the foot with posting things about work. Maybe they should not say negative things, or even show offy things, bc, well, anyone can read them, but that is their choice and any consequences are theirs. I think you have so many fb friends bc you have had 8 fb accounts for 8 years ;). It's ok about the DNF. There will be a next time and there have been past times when you have finished. It is a challenge to just suck it up and finish another one at a later date, but it it will still feel just as good :).

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  4. Love this!! Especially the part about how you forget who people are on facebook....and since everyone is getting married these days if gets even more confusing.

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  5. I finally starting deleting people on FB if I couldn't remember who they were or didn't like them in real life. Life is too short to be nice to everyone. I love random tweets and overshares, makes me feel a little more normal too.

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  6. Love this post. I removed my birthday from my FB profile because although it's nice that people from high school or a job I had 12 years ago are wishing me a happy birthday, it just seems lame.
    I totally have "friends" that I would delete if they weren't so darn entertaining with their stupid oversharing. Gotta love Facebook.
    Your twitter posts are funny. Total randomness but totally Margot.
    I stayed up until midnight watching the Bachelorette (waited until I could successfully fast forward through the commercials)! I liked Jef more than Arie but it seemed she was more physically attracted to Arie than emotionally. I liked the moments with Emily&Jef just sitting there talking, like in a real courtship (on the ground in the library - cute!) and I loved the way he easily interacted with Ricki. Emily's personality seemed very dull, and what's with the all lip licking? I have only watched a handful of these seasons and the last night's episode is the only one that didn't make me want to punch her in the face. But then again, it's edited so whatever.

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  7. the part I get a kick out of is the use of 'fanatic' and 'healthy' in the same sentence describing something. Fanatical usually connotes an element of unhealthiness. Well, in my book anyway.

    I wished you a FB happy birthday. I hope to God you remember who I am...or I might have to spill my water bottle on you.

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  8. Why is your blog now appearing in my feed again? It has disappeared for the past few months. Weird!

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  9. Loved your piece about Facebook! I totally feel the same way. I randomly, after a glass or two of wine, will delete people on FB that I don't remember or who I didn't want to be rude and decline their invite in the first place. Yep, I am a total bitch.

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  10. I keep thinking about randomly changing my birthday in facebook and seeing how many people realize its wrong.
    and, fit fluential seems very weird to me. i don't get it. seems like everything i see about is trying to sell random stuff and saying "proof." why do these people feel the need to prove everything they've done? i, personally, find it confusing.

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  11. OK, I am confused. My Google Reader just came up with 26 (!) "new" posts from you. What happened? Did I really miss all these posts, including the one about the Eugene Marathon? I'm really really sorry. I honestly thought you just weren't writing that much so I never visited your blog.

    Anyway, Happy Birthday--you're "fit-fluential" enough without the label!

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  12. Yeah, you vanished for me, too, yesterday about 25 "new" - but actually old - posts popped up!

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  13. If tweets aren't random they aren't fun. Tweet away...tweet away!

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  14. What about all the photos of what people are eating? I'm guilty of this because sometimes food is the most exciting part of my day. Tamales in July! It's like Christmas.

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  15. FitFluential is fucking weird.

    And the birthday stuff is weird, too. Every year I forget mine is on my profile, and then my birthday happens, and it's chaos. HAPPILY, though, I actually know and interact with most of the people who said something.

    I like your tweets.

    I still don't watch the Bachelor. Were there any capes this season???

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  16. I don't understand the "proof" thing either. Most of the time any tweet tagged with #FitFluential is completely uninteresting to me. #proof

    Anyway, if I thought about if my tweet would make someone's day better I probably would be social-media mute.

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  17. haha I kind of like you! I do not freaking get twitter at all or all those # signs people put in front of things? What does it even mean....dam it I am totally in the dark! Anyway the point of my comment is I'm glad your showing up in my blogger feed again because I was saddened when you disapeared.

    And just for the record I think you dang well better run 31 miles for your birthday next year!

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  18. Annnnd now for more adventures in media/social media: Not sure if you knew about this already, but I was looking through the London 2012 athlete profiles, and under Desiree Davila's, FasterBunny is listed as the info source for her nickname. http://www.london2012.com/athlete/davila-desiree-1132672/ (scroll down to the profile text under her photo to see!)

    Just got a kick out of this and wanted to share!

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    Replies
    1. HOLY CRAP I JUST DIED AND WENT TO HEAVEN!!!

      No really. This is my crowning achievement in life.

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  19. hahahahah I don't even know where to start with this post...love it! I don't get fit fluential either- I hate how they try to sound exclusive with "are you in the club?" when they are trying to send a positive message...

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