What did we fill our free time with before the days of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? Colouring books, Legos, Barbies? What are these foreign objects you speak of?
Waiting for a phone call at work? Check Facebook. The chatter at the family dinner is lagging? Refresh twitter. Time to kill at the dentist? Upload a selfie to Instagram.
I’ll be the first to admit social media takes up a large portion of my day. I flip between Facebook and Twitter at an alarmingly high rate because God forbid I miss that someone else I went to high school with just got engaged or is announcing their pregnancy to the masses. Although, those two instances work great at forcing me off the computer for a few hours because they depress me and make me feel that life is passing me by at the tender age of 22.
Facebook is probably the worst. Instagram comes in next seeing as it’s basically mirror selfies and food and cats.
My favourite is Twitter. Being the avid sports fan I am, it’s a great way to connect with some of my favourite sports writer, broadcasters and athletes and keep up to date with what’s going on with my favourite team/sports/leagues.
At least, it was until my dad decided he wanted to join. My sisters and I have adopted a strict, ‘keep the parents off social media’ policy. We allowed them a Facebook account seeing as three of us don’t live at home anymore and they miss us. My mom randomly made an Instagram account the other day. I’m preparing for an onslaught of crafting and cat pictures.
Twitter, as intriguing as it can be, can be an extremely fickle device.
A few months ago, my esteemed colleague, Sylvia Cole, wrote a column about Facebook etiquette. Consider this a buddy column.
I am no expert, but here are my dos and don’ts of Twitter.
Follow your favourite celebrities … but proceed with caution. In the Twitter world, celebrities aren’t exactly the worst people in the world to follow. Some are hilarious, some are inspiring and some are, well, just plain dumb.
Amanda Bynes who’s strange spiral has rounded the corner of being kooky and entertaining to where it’s obvious she’s struggling mentally. I loved her movies growing up. Also, to Kim Kardashian who can’t go two minutes without promoting herself or her family. Pray tell why these people are still famous?
I have a love/hate relationship with people who live tweet. In some cases it’s useful. An example is the Boston Marathon bombings where runners and spectators captured the horrifying events as they happened in real time. (See story on page 1). In speaking to a local teacher who was competing in the race, Twitter was how they found out that a bomb had detonated at the race’s finish line.
I even appreciate when the media live-tweets hockey games. But I draw the line when people begin tweeting golf. And let me tell you, there was an alarmingly high number of people who live-tweeted the Masters, shot for shot, last weekend. Painful.
Under this bridge lies trolls and grammar nazis. In school, when we spelled a word wrong, all we’d get was a red ‘X.’ Spell a word wrong on the Internet and someone, somewhere will cast a plague on you and your entire family.
Grammar proponents are out in full force on the good, old interweb, but even more so are the trolls, those souls that sit anonymously behind the safety of a computer and pick fights just for the sake of saying they picked a fight with someone famous. Luckily, many of said trolls can be exterminated with a simple click of the ‘block’ button.
Speaking of fighting, when it’s two esteemed professionals going at it, grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy. I’ve seen sports agents take on some of the top sports media figures in the business and even the media take on each other. It’s fascinating to know that grown adults can be just as petty as teenagers.
One more important tip: watch what you say and if you say something stupid, own up to it. Enough of this ‘I was hacked’ crap or ‘I was just kidding.’ Be warned, if you’re going to be intolerant or ignorant, you will face a barrage of backlash. And be kind. Cyber bullying is an issue that’s growing at a terrifying rate. So, fellow Tweeters I’ll leave you with a few tips: Tweet, have fun, connect with people but be kind and don’t be a jerk.
