I’m going to keep this post as short and as simple as I can.
Whilst I know the intentions of all the ‘Please share for the awareness of…’ memes that occupy social media space are of good intentions, I have to agree with the sentiment of the above screenshot.
This is just my opinion. I’m going to use the following analogy to illustrate it. Facebook statuses of this nature are like wallpaper. One ‘pattern’ or message is repeated and ends up blending into the same pattern (or another one) and the good intention the message is conveying just gets lost.
Please read the message in this screenshot. It was written by a friend of mine who lost someone dear to him not so long ago. The message could easily apply to any number of other illnesses or diseases or states of mind. If you can, where you can, you should donate your money or time or unwanted goods to charity if you want to help out.
I’m happy to be put straight on this matter. Please let me know if you disagree with what I say here.
If you know me well, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of the concept of Twitter. I like how I’ve made professional connections and that I can use the networking capabilities I’ve experienced for professional development. I like how interactions can grow organically and how personal connections can be made without ever meeting who you connect with. But lately I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with how social media in general, has recently taken over the ability for everyone to freely express their own opinions without undue criticism or unpleasant ‘trolling’.
For me personally, Twitter used to be informative and a bit of fun and a place of discovery and connection. It’s now an echo chamber of opinions and misinformation that I don’t seem to be enjoying anymore.
So, many months ago, I decided to sign up for curating the ‘People of NZ’ Twitter account. I thought it would be a great way to get a snapshot of the different people that occupy this online space. I have a bit of time on my daily commute to and from work, so what better way to while away the journey…
Now, I’ve kept my sign-up to this as a secret from mostly everyone I know… My week at the helm of this social media experience has just finished. I made this small announcement beforehand: https://twitter.com/mfcuk2/status/861115488515932161
I was quite nervous of being the custodian of the account for the week. I didn’t want to stuff up the experience for the regular followers of @PeopleofNZ.
My aim for the week was to be honest and fun and light hearted. I did have a loose idea what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it, but I didn’t want to meticulously plan the week out either. A reassuring tweet from the administrator and words of support put me at ease…
.@PeopleofNZ I have thought about how I'm gonna 'do this' this week. After some deliberating, I've decided I'm just gonna go with the flow! 😊
I’ve nearly finished my second stint at curating this Twitter feed.
I’m proud to have been the kaitiaki of this account. Most of what I said above is still valid. It’s been fun. I’ll probably document my progress in a separate post… Or maybe not?