The Dangers Of Children On Social Media

Presumably, if a child is old enough to have a social media profile, they are old enough to understand the dangers of potentially being groomed.

If your daughter has a Facebook profile, you've talked to her about it. Warned her not to engage in conversation with people she doesn't know. That the 14 year old boy she is talking too could actually be anyone. So had these parents:

And its not just girls. Boys can be groomed too. Actually, I think it needs to instilled even more in boys. After all, they aren't going to feel very threatened talking to a girl. It is important to make them understand it might not be a girl. These parents thought they had done that:

Please ensure your children fully understand this. Even if it scares them. Being scared is better than the alternative here.  Show them these videos. They will probably think it won't happen to them. I'm sure these kids thought the same. They were the lucky ones!

Have you talked to your child about the dangers of grooming? Are you 100% confident they have taken it on board? Let me know in the comments :)

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Why LinkedIn Isn't For Me

LinkedIn market themselves as a social network for professionals to connect with other people in their industry, industry leaders and potential recruiters.

To me, it doesn't match that description at all. If it did, I think it could be brilliant! Unfortunately, I think the people who run it are more interested in having a lot of users than sticking to the USP.

From what I've seen, people add their friends and people they follow on Twitter. Perhaps, in the case of bloggers, they add a blogger or two they haven't connected with else where yet.

I did exactly the same, plus I added a few of the people LinkedIn recommended (in hindsight, I'm not sure why as most of them weren't bloggers or writers) but I was determined to actually use it. I posted some things, but to be honest, it felt pointless. There is very little interaction on there and it doesn't feel social at all.

I requested to join some blogger groups. This was a bit of a waste of time. The majority of them seem pretty inactive.

There were two I found that seemed quite active. One was ok, and is used quite regularly, but again, there is no interaction. Everyone just posts their links and ignores everyone else's.

The other one was quite amusing. I got an email telling me I hadn't been approved to join because I was a spammer. I can't say I was particularly upset, but I was intrigued to know how the group's admin had decided that, so I emailed him back asking why he thought I was a spammer.

He came back saying I only had 9 connections so I was obviously a spammer. Granted, I did only have 9 connections, I had only been a member 45 minutes - sorry the entire site wasn't just waiting with baited breath for me to join so they could mass add me!

I then got a follow up email telling me I should change my blog's name because I had no way of distinguishing myself from all the other bloggers out there. Perhaps that's true. Perhaps it isn't. There are a lot of blogs with similar names and about similar things - show me a blog that isn't similar to someone else's somewhere in the world. I don't know if I manage to distinguish myself from all the other blogs, but people seem to find me easy enough, and I am more than happy with my readership level.

To be honest, I found the whole thing quite bizarre. I could kind of understand why he would assume that someone with a tiny number of connections could be a spammer, but before sending an email, check how long they have been a member, otherwise you just look a bit silly. And as for my blog's name, he has a right to an opinion, I don't even object to him telling me his opinion, free speech and all that, but that still seemed irrelevant to whether or not you could join a group.

He then said once I had more connections and had changed my name, that LinkedIn and this group would be more my sort of place.



Clones! Need I say more?

Erm no, I don't think I want to be a member of such an elitist group and I am certainly not going to change my blog's name because some random man on the internet thinks I should.

So anyway, bizarre characters aside, I still don't really get LinkedIn. I have been approached by a few recruiters which was nice, but I'm not looking for a job. I have had some PR emails, which I believe found my blog through there but I could be totally wrong, they may have found me through Twitter, Google, anywhere really.

It's really not for me, and I don't think it's very useful for bloggers.


Not my cup of tea!

I will keep the account open in case I change my mind in the future, but I am not going to be actively using it. The only time I ever go on there is if someone adds me. When I click accept, it takes me to the page to say connection made. I have a quick check through notifications and that's it.

It may be a case of I'm not using it properly, or not connecting with the right people, but it feels like a boring version of Facebook to be honest.

What do you think? Anyone out there think it's fab? Any tips on how to use it better? Let me know in the comments :)

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Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

Klout: What's It All About?

Klout is a weird one. I think it can be kind of fun if you don't take it too seriously! While not a social media platform itself, it measures your influence across other social media platforms.

If you haven't used Klout before, here is a link to my profile if you want to see how it looks.

Getting started

When you first join Klout, you are asked which of your social media platforms you would like to link up.

To get a true reflection of your reach and influence, link up social media accounts you use regularly. For me that's Twitter, Facebook (note for Facebook you can only have a page or a profile, not both) and Instagram.

I also linked my blog up. You don't seem to get any credit for interaction on your blog, but it does display a summary of some of your recent posts to anyone who views your profile, and you never know when someone might click on one and become a new reader.

You will also be asked to choose some topics from a list that you are an expert on. Don't worry too much about the term expert. If you are a blogger, just choose the topics you blog about. All these really serve to do is give visitors a choice of areas to give you +K (more on that later) in.

Why it's useful

As a blogger, I think your Klout score can have a huge effect, a high score can make PRs more interested in working with you, as it shows that you have an engaged social media following, meaning their product/brand is more likely to be seen if you promote it.

A lot of bloggers display their score on their blog. It's a great way of letting PRs see it without them having to go digging around for it. I am planning on linking mine up, but I'm waiting until I move now. If you want to link your score up, Franca from A Moment With Franca wrote a fantastic post about how to do it without slowing down your site! You can read it here.

I have also seen a lot of people saying that having a good score can help your employment prospects too. Unless you work in social media or online marketing/PR, I find this hard to believe.

Imagine going for a job interview at Asda, for example.

Interviewer: Why should we give you this job?
You: Well I have a Klout score of 83.

It just doesn't ring true somehow does it?

What do the scores mean?

The Klout score ranges from 1 to 100. 40+ is seen to be a good score for bloggers, but obviously the higher it is, the better.

As a guide for scores:

Barrack Obama has a Klout score of 99. I actually find it a bit worrying that the president of the United States feels the need to be on Klout!

Victoria Beckham has 86, as does Cheryl.

Robert Plant has 65.

More worrying still, Katie Hopkins has 79, which in essence says she is more influential than Robert Plant. Not only is this worrying, its also hard to believe.
Which leads to my next point!

Klout isn't always reflective of being liked

Klout gives a certain score to the interactions per tweet, Facebook status, photo on Instagram etc. So someone like Katie Hopkins posts her usual attention seeking tweet that she knows will anger perhaps 85% of the people who see it.

These people then reply, mostly in a negative way, but Klout doesn't take the context into consideration, only the fact there was an interaction. So while not many people are swayed in their beliefs by her, her score goes up because people interact with her.

So in essence, Klout is pretty easy to manipulate. If you are happy to get negative responses, post inflammatory statements and watch you score fly up! (Disclaimer: I am not advising anyone to do this, just merely pointing out its an option!).

How the scoring system works

The way the interactions are scored vary for each network. Martyn from Inside Martyn's Thoughts wrote a perfect post about how the scoring works which you can read here.

 



Once your score starts going up, it becomes harder to reach the next number, and much easier for your score to drop. You have to post regularly across all the media you have linked up and you have to consistently get high interaction.
I removed my LinkedIn account, because it was just dragging my score down, as I very rarely actually post anything.




You can see here what a Klout profile looks like. The search box at the top can be used to find specific accounts. The list under my name is the topics I am an "expert" in and the social media icons are the sites I have linked up.

+K

You can also give and receive something called +K, which is like an endorsement. You are saying that person is good at whichever topic you +K them on.

Getting these also helps boost your Klout score.

Hand them out, people generally return the favour, but in truth, you should be giving them out because you genuinely believe the person is good in a particular area, not just to get them back.

To give +K, type the person's name into the search bar, choose a topic and click +K. You get five a day to give away. You can then choose to tweet them to let them know you gave +K. I tend to tweet them out as it seems to be the done thing, but after a discussion with a fellow blogger, we decided we weren't going to tweet each other them any more as we both felt they kind of annoy other people when your Twitter feed is full of them.

Overall

I like Klout, there is something very addictive about it, about watching your score go up and trying to get it higher. I try not to let it affect what I tweet or post, because ultimately, its secondary to the accounts themselves.

I'm not an expert in Klout, but this is my understanding of it, and some of the things I wish I had known sooner.

If anyone is interested, my Klout score is 62 (I  told you that as I didn't want it be like a dirty little secret!). My aim for the end of the year is 70, but I really think that might be a bit too ambitious and I'll be more that happy with 65+.

Do you have any other little tips or tricks to add to help improve your Klout score? Share them in the comments :)

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!

Pinterest Review

Pinterest is another social network I have only joined recently. Well actually, I tell a lie. I joined ages ago, I just didn't actually use it. I didn't follow anyone and I didn't pin a single thing.
When I decided to start actively using Pinterest, I just changed my name on that profile to my blog's name.
I've read a few posts about how to use Pinterest for your blog, so in I went, armed with actual knowledge.
And it all went straight out of the window! I do pin my blog posts, but I decided pretty much straight away that for me, Pinterest was going to just be fun! No strategy, no scheduled pins, no ratio rules and no algorithms!
I know this means my pins won't be seen by hundreds of people. I know Pinterest is a fantastic, and often under used, blogging tool. I know it has a longevity that other social network sites can't even touch. And you know what? I don't care!
Pinterest is my happy place. I do have a board for my blog posts. I also have one for shoes and one for food and drink, but my blog is about neither. I want to just happily pin away whatever takes my fancy, and if somewhere along the line it generates some blog traffic (which it does!) that's a bonus.

Things I like:

 

1. Everything! It's quick to set up, super easy to use and really fun!

2. Coming across some fabulous articles and ideas I otherwise never would have found

 

Things I dislike:

 

The only thing I dislike is finding a pin that leads to a super interesting sounding post, clicking it and the post is nothing at all relevant to the pin. Either write the super interesting post you advertised, or pin something relevant to the actual post!

 

Top tips for bloggers:

 

There are far too many to go into here. Check back Friday for a full post on using Pinterest to promote your blog!

 

Love it or hate it?

 

For both blogging and personal use, I absolutely love it. There is something on there for everyone, on every topic imaginable, and some I would never even have imagined.

 

What do you think? Are you a Pinterest lover or hater? Let me know in the comments and if you use Pinterest, feel free to leave your link in the comments and follow each other :)

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi! 

Facebook Review

Facebook was the first social network I ever joined.

I'd like to say it's because I was too young to have been part of the Myspace crowd. Truth be told, I remember Myspace, I just didn't feel the need to join.

I think Facebook had been around about a year when I joined. I was playing quite a lot of online bingo at the time and one of the people who I spoke to regularly on there was setting up a Facebook group for members. I decided I wanted to join it, so I joined Facebook.

It doesn't take long to become addicted to it! I absolutely loved it and if I'm honest, I kind of still do.  Candy Crush addiction anyone?

I know it's not the "in" social media network. It hasn't got the instant gratification of Twitter or the supposed glamour of Instagram but there is something about it. Something that makes millions of people still want to be a part of it. I'm not sure what that is. Maybe it has the X-Factor!

When I started promoting my blog through social media, I decided I wanted to keep my Facebook profile completely separate to my blog. I would like to have a profile for it, but Facebook won't allow you to join in a name it decides isn't real - I think that's going to be a bit of a problem for the next generation with some of the weird and wonderful name popping up!

So I made the decision not to use Facebook at all in relation to my blog. That has changed slightly when I was invited to join a fantastic group that really is a good way to connect with bloggers and get your stuff seen (more to come on that later in the month!).

Things I like:

 

1. Being able to log in anytime and find out what's happening with my friends from all over the world.

2. Being able to re-connect with people that I probably otherwise would have lost touch with.

 

Things I dislike:

 

1. The drama and the fakeness. I generally avoid this because, for the most part, my friends aren't drama queens and aren't fake. But you do see a lot of attention seeking statuses and the picture perfect lives. I take it all with a pinch of salt. And lets face it, we roll our eyes etc, but sometimes it's fun to watch people posting their dirty laundry all over Facebook!

2. The ridiculous rules. It bothers me how its ok to post pictures/videos of animal abuse, people being beaten up etc but pictures of a woman breastfeeding gets taken down!

Also, the thing I mentioned above about not being to create a profile for a blog, business etc. I understand you can set up a page but I find it much easier to connect with a profile than a page.

 

 

Top tip for bloggers:

 

If you do choose to have a page for your blog, I know its tempting to ask all your friends to like it so you get a high number of followers. If that's all you want, then that's a good way to go, and get your good friends to invite their friends etc.

If you want a genuine following that interact with you and have a real interest then you need to be more selective.

The Facebook algorithms rank pages that have high engagement much higher than ones with a low engagement to likers ratio. So if you have a lot of people like your page but  are not interacting with it, Facebook decide people aren't interested in your posts and very few people get to actually see them.

 

Love it or hate it?

 

Facebook is still my guilty pleasure. For personal use, I love it. As a promotion tool, I don't think it's as good as Twitter, but if used correctly and you are willing to put in the time and effort, it does have potential for a large number of people to see your stuff.

 

What do you think? Are you a Facebook lover or hater? Let me know in the comments and if you have a Facebook page, feel free to leave your user name in the comments and like each others :)

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi! 



Twitter Review

What can you say about Twitter? With no facts whatsoever to back this up, I would say it's the most popular social network of them all.
Twitter is fast paced, fun and engaging.
When I first started my blog, I stupidly thought I would write posts and people would magically know they existed. Wrong! After a month or so of writing posts and getting excited if my page views got into double figures, I knew I either had to stop blogging or start promoting. So I waded into the world of Twitter. I've used Twitter before, so I had a vague idea of what I was getting myself into, but first time around, I didn't enjoy it, so I thought it would be a case of grin and bear it.
I joined and followed some bloggers, and slowly at first, some of them followed me back. Then people started following me from my blog, or seeing my tweets, and my followers grew.
I actually tweeted complete strangers and they became friends. I tweeted about my blog, and people started to read it. It was very exciting, and somewhere in amongst it all, I realised I wasn't grinning and bearing it, I was loving it.

Things I like:

 

1. I love how it is completely acceptable, welcomed in fact, to follow and connect with people who are technically complete strangers

2. I like how there is always something going on. Day or night, people are tweeting and Twitter is always awake!

3. I like how it is informal - you can kind of just pop in and out of conversations without it seeming strange or rude!

 

Things I dislike:

 

I honestly can't think of anything I dislike. Sometimes, the speed of Twitter can be a double edged sword - you can miss things that would be of interest to you, but weighing it up, I find the speed more of a good thing. It's never boring!

 

Top tip for bloggers:

 



Dive in and connect with people: Follow people who interest you. Re-tweet stuff, respond to tweets, join in with chats. And use hashtags to get your tweets seen by people who don't follow you.

 

Love it or hate it?

 

I think it's fairly obvious I love it! I can easily be on there all day and still not get bored because of the variety of things that pop up.

 

What do you think? Are you a Twitter lover or hater? Let me know in the comments and if you are on Twitter, feel free to leave your user name in the comments and follow each other :)

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi! 



Instagram Review

Instagram is one of those sites that everyone is always talking about to the point that it feels like not having an IG account is social suicide.

Still, I managed to resist until recently.

It's honestly not a social network I thought I would be for me. I'm not really into photography. Obviously I take some photos for my blog, but other than that I rarely do.

I'm definitely not a selfie queen. In my whole life I have taken the grand total of one selfie. That was only because a blog I was guest posting on required a photo of the writer and there was no else around to take a picture.

I hate having my photo taken altogether, and I am yet to see a photo of myself I like. I am that person who always gets caught blinking, or moving or looking a bit demented!

Aside from that, I quite like the idea of having photographic memories, I just always kind of forget to take the photos. I have seen me go on holiday and come back and I haven't had the camera out of my bag - I carry it around but just never think to use it.

I like the idea of seeing other people's pictures, but before blogging, when it would have just been an account for personal use, it seemed pointless because everyone I know who has IG has it set up to post their photos from IG onto Facebook anyway.

Anyway, since starting blogging, every blogger I've spoke to has been shocked when I say I don't have an IG account. After some debate I finally bit the bullet and joined.

Things I like:

1. Although I'm not into taking pictures, I do enjoy looking at other people's (nosey much!)
2. If used correctly, it can really show what your brand/blog is all about. I don't use it correctly! It's something I'm working on, and recently I have read a fab series about this by Nikki at The View From In Here. Check it out, it really is a fantastic IG guide.

Things I don't like:

1. I hate the fact everything has to be done on my phone. A lot of the images I want on there are ones I have designed on my laptop - its such a mess about sending them to my phone to post instead of doing it direct.
2. Not being able to add clickable links to each photo. I have the main blog link in my bio, but who actually goes and clicks on it? If it's there, people are much more likely to click through.

Top tip for bloggers:

If your IG account is your personal one, I understand why you might have it private. If it's your blog account, don't do that. You are more likely to get followers if your account isn't private. Partly because people can see some examples of your photos and get a sense of whether your account is of interest to them. Mainly though, if your account is private, people will assume you don't want strangers following you. If I come across a private account, I only request to follow them if its someone I have already connected with on their blog/other social media. I find it quite unwelcoming.

Love it or hate it?

As a fun network, I love it. I enjoy taking a little glimpse into other people's lives. As a blog promotion, I don't think it's all that great though to be honest. Having said that, I haven't focused much attention on it. I think I might up my game a bit, try to post more regularly and see how it goes!

What do you think? Are you an IG lover or hater? Let me know in the comments and if you are on IG, feel free to leave your links in the comments and follow each other :)

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!

Life Lessons From Social Media

It's funny how often we see people presenting themselves on social media in a way that isn't necessarily the same as they present themselves in real life. A lot of social media is exaggerated (or toned down) to fit a certain mould, and often it is down right fake.

However, it is also apparent how often social media perfectly mirrors life, and demonstrates perfectly some valuable life lessons.

Here's some of those life lessons that we can learn from social media:

 

 

 

 Instagram

One size, one shape fits all – In life, sometimes we can’t see the big picture and need to concentrate on the little details.

Twitter

140 characters limit – Sometimes we just need to cut the crap and waffle and get to the point!

Facebook

People's picture perfect lives – Sometimes, what we present to the outside world isn’t what we really feel or have going on, but we don’t want the world to see the bad bits, only the good. And sometimes, all we want is someone to "like" us!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn always reminds me of that saying that is so clichéd but oh so true – It’s not what you know, it’s who you know (and who’s ass you are willing to kiss!)

Klout

Sometimes your influence just needs a boost. You can do it the long, honest way, or if you know how to manipulate the system, it’s usually readily available!

Pinterest

Being pretty helps get you noticed, but being quirky is what gets you talked about. And having something good under the pretty picture will keep you popular for a lot longer!

Stumble Upon

We often find the things that are of the most interest to us when we aren't specifically looking for them!

You Tube

It doesn't matter how funny or interesting you are, a cat falling off something will almost always be more popular than you!

 

Obviously some of these are a little tongue in cheek but I think they all have a ring of truth to them as well.

 

What do you think? Do you have any to add? Let me know in the comments :)

 

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!

 

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

The Pressures On Today's Young People

As part of my Over To You theme, I was asked the following by @bekb65:

What is your opinion on the amount of pressure on children, young adults and parents in today's society?

 

 

 

 

I hear a lot of people saying how easy kids of this generation have it - being driven to and from school, having more games consoles than they would know what to do with, mobile phones, iPads etc to name but a few. And of course, there's this whole thing about building children's self esteem to the point where everyone's a winner, even when they aren't!

Keeping all that in mind I still think young people today have it hard. Certainly harder than my generation ever did (I'm in my 30s).

I think now more than ever, kids are under a lot of pressure to perform well at school, with the re-introduction of exams for 11 year olds, and children as young as 5 having homework. There is a constant pressure to perform and do well - even if a child's parents aren't pushy, in my experience, a child still doesn't want to let their parents down. They also don't want to fall too far behind their peers, but they also don't want to stand out as too clever and become a target for jealous bullies.

I also think that kids aren't stupid - they know most of the awards handed out just so everyone gets one are made up - they know which ones have any sort of meaning and which don't.

With technology comes more pressure for teenagers. In the past a teenager who was bullied at school left for the day and got at least a few hours reprieve. Now the bullies continue to harass them in their down time on social networks. This is even more humiliating for kids because it's so public, and of course everyone will have an opinion on it adding to the whispers etc when they do go back to school.

Also, there's the added pressure to keep up with the latest trends. When I was a kid this was fairly limited - clothes, trainers etc. Now they have to be seen to have the latest technology too. It's a sad fact that teenagers without the latest all singing all dancing labels and technology are again at risk of being bullied (bear in mind a lot of the time these bullies need no real reason to choose a victim).

This all adds up to a lot of pressure on these kids, which in turn leads to extra pressure for parents. A lot of parents don't feel like their child has to have the latest iPhone (and a lot of parents simply can't afford to buy them, especially if they have more than one child), but at the same time, they don't want their kid to be the only one who doesn't have one and possibly make them a target. This can all lead to tension in the home.

Parents are under so much pressure to make sure their child has everything they need both physically and emotionally and all these extra demands just add to it.

And all of that is without factoring in the things every generation faces - hormones, puberty, boy/girlfriends, underage sex, pregnancy, stds, peer pressure, drugs, drinking, sexuality, and finding who they really are.

I for one, wouldn't want to swap a ride to school for all those added pressures young people today face!

 

What do you think?

 

Follow me on Twitter @randommusings29 and feel free to comment :)