Social Media | Guy Portman's Blog

Social Media Addiction (Part 2)

May 24 2013

Social media has changed the very nature of the world that we are living in. Take the fact that Facebook alone has 1.11 billion users or that 21% of the world’s active internet users are said to access Twitter every month. Not only has social media usage continued to increase exponentially, but it has become more visible, with people accessing the internet by mobile phone having increased 60.3% to 818.4 million over the last 2 years. Everywhere we go we are surrounded by people Tweeting, sending Facebook updates, watching YouTube videos, connecting on Google+, networking on LinkedIn and much more besides.

(Courtesy of www.businessgrow.com)

Last Friday shortly after finishing posting Social Media Addiction (Part 1), I went to the cafe near my house. It was the usual scene, a lengthy queue of people, all fiddling with their mobile devises. There were Blackberrys’, iPhones’, Androids’ and a smattering of Samsung Galaxy S3s’. In front of me a teenaged girl was typing into her mobile. Leaning forward I could see she was sending a Tweet on Twitter. It said,

‘In Starbucks, so many choices :?’

A short while later the barista asked for her order. The girl, still typing on her mobile was oblivious to the question and the barista was forced to repeat the question two more times, before she finally looked up and turned her attentions to the menu board.

Over a minute had passed when I said to her, ‘In your own time.’

She glared at me and then ordered an ‘extra hot cafe latte with soy milk.’

After which she typed another Tweet, which I knew was about me. I knew this because I was peering over her shoulder, but she noticed and said, ‘excuse me,’ in a theatrical tone, shielding the phone from my view, as she continued typing and I was left wondering what the Tweet said, what smiley she used and the choice of hashtag – #somepeople, #rude or #goaway perhaps. Or some other colloquialism that has been trending recently, more than likely instigated by Justin Bieber.

From my table where I sit drinking a cafe mocha with normal milk, I can see the girl taking a photograph of her extra hot cafe latte with soy milk and then she’s on her mobile again, no doubt Tweeting the details before posting the picture on Facebook and Pinterest.

(Courtesy of ejiu111.wordpress.com)

All around me it’s the same story. School children crowded around a table, all typing feverishly into their mobile phones. A mother Tweeting incessantly, her toddler in a high-chair beside her mimicking each gesture, pressing imaginary buttons on the surface in-front of him with chocolate stained fingers.

It is at this moment that I find myself asking if we are all addicted to social media and I continue to contemplate this for quite sometime, whilst sipping my mocha and at the same time viewing my Twitter Feed on my iPhone screen.

Perhaps addiction is merely a matter of consumption vs communication and as communicating is not consuming it is not addiction. At any rate is it not better that people are kept busy fidgeting with their hand-held devices than fiddling with cigarettes, bottles of spirits and syringes. Though there are instances where people appear to have mastered doing both at the same time. A Youtube video (now removed) was an instructional video by a girl living in some remote Montana prairie town on how to Tweet with one hand whilst at the same time with the other preparing and smoking a meth pipe.

Social Media Addiction

May 17 2013

Social media addiction is an official condition. In London alone clinics reportedly treat hundreds of patients a year suffering from various forms of social media addiction. It is expected that in the forthcoming years social media addiction will become a pandemic. These addicts include Facebook fiends, Twitter takers, prodigious Pinteresters’, Google+ guzzlers and LinkedIn lavishers. Social media addicts are notorious mixers, rarely satisfied with merely one product, they frequently combine the aforementioned and other products in conjunction, in hazardous cocktails similar to ‘speedballs’.

(courtesy of SocialMediaGroup.com)

Researchers have found that social media features such as Likes and RTs’ result in the release of the potentially addictive brain chemical, the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the same manner as hard drugs. This is certainly one explanation for why I’ve been feeling so high this last week, having got over a hundred new Likes for my Facebook Fan page, Charles Middleworth. I can only hope this won’t be followed by a come down.

We’ve probably all heard of social media addiction by now and if you haven’t I can guarantee you will be hearing lots about it over the forthcoming years. Personally I hadn’t given it much thought until by chance I found myself in a discussion with an individual, who informed me that he had been diagnosed as a social media addict. Keen to find out more about this affliction, I immediately began to quiz him about it. The following is an extract from the conversation:

Me: What forms of social media were you addicted to?

Addict: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, with occasional LinkedIn benders.

Me: What’s the most addictive form of social media.

Addict: Facebook has the worst withdrawal.

Me: Your saying Facebook is the heroin of social media. How is it so dangerous?

Addict: Excessive Facebook is to the detriment of real meaningful relationships and connections.

Me: Like.

(The addict seemingly does not find my witty Facebook joke amusing).

Me: How are you recovering?

Addict: Abstinence is the key.

(Did I mention we are having this conversation on a social media platform).

The addict is getting restless now, his words are harried and there’s an absence of punctuation. He’s soon making excuses about having to go. But I want to find out more about his addiction and I know enough about addiction to know how to keep him there. I’m telling him I’ll Like his Facebook page and RT his Tweets. This promise of a dopamine fix has him communicating enthusiastically again. In no time at all he’s telling me all about the dangers of Pinterest.

(Pinterest for those that don’t know is a social media platform for sharing pictures).

‘Don’t be so melodramatic’, says I, ‘you make sharing pictures sound as dangerous as sharing needles.’

The addict is soon restless again and having made an excuse about having to check Google+, he’s off, but not before securing the promise from me of a ‘speedball’, consisting of a couple of Facebook Likes in conjunction with a Twitter RT.

(courtesy of VisibleBanking.com)

After the conversation I did some research about social media addiction and discovered that to qualify as a social media addict you have to use the medium for more than five hours per day, which brings tangible relief for me as well as a release of dopamine. However it’s bad news for all those social media professionals out there.

Do you think you might be a social media addict? Take the blueglass.com quiz and find out for yourself.

To be continued next week.

Facebook Likes

May 10 2013

Until last year I didn’t use Facebook much, but shortly after my book, Charles Middleworth was released, I set up an Author Page and begun exploring with enthusiasm, this, the behemoth of Social Media platforms (901m users approx). I realised that I Liked Facebook. In fact as I was soon to discover Facebook is all about Liking. One can Like everything from pages to posts, pictures and comments. All you have to do is click Like and I duly did. I Liked author pages, product pages and lots of pictures, including plenty of cats, dogs and people at parties.

In no time at all I was clicking Like repetitively time and time again. I Like this picture of a cat and that one and that one too and yes I Like that author page and that one, that one and that product page and that product page too and that picture of a tractor. But not you, I don’t Like you, I don’t know why I just don’t. So I bypass that one and I’m Liking again, incessantly now, Liking multiple pages, pictures and posts. On one page I see a comment that says ‘Phone me tomorrow Emma’. I don’t know Emma or who sent it but I click Like anyway. But then I asked myself if that is something you can even Like. However I had no time to dwell on this because I was back Liking again. Product pages, fan pages, pictures, remarks and the list goes on. But then I came across a Facebook profile page with a photograph across the top of a line of pooches dressed in uniforms, with the owner’s beaming face in the middle and this I don’t Like, so I look for the Dislike button. But there is no Dislike button anywhere on the page and there is no Dislike button on any other Facebook page either. So I go onto Google and search for ‘Facebook + Dislike button’, only to discover that there is no Dislike feature. And I find myself asking what is the value of a world without comparison and what does Like even mean in the absence of Dislike. Not much one might argue.

Research on the subject certainly suggests this. Performerinsider.com claims 99% of Facebook fans are useless. Yet companies marketing departments continue to court Likes. The world’s largest brands have many Likes. When I visited Coca Cola’s Facebook page I saw they had 64,357,439 Likes. Make that 64,357,440 Likes. I Like Coca Cola, I really do. So much so that I drink it regularly. McDonald’s had 28,451,803 Likes and I Liked it too, but only because there was no Quite Like button. Next up was Oreos, who had 33,234,940 Likes and I clicked Like again, though I’ve only had an Oreo once and can’t remember what it tasted Like. But we all Like cookies don’t we and 33,234,940 people can’t be wrong.

Whatever the value of a Like the fact remains that if we take the trouble to build a nice looking Facebook page that we want people to visit, it is going to look better with a lot of Likes than with hardly any or worse still none. So we too court Likes and the circle goes one. My Facebook Fan Page is Charles Middleworth. Feel free to Like it and I will probably reciprocate, although there may be rare instances when I cannot bring myself to press the Like button.

If you’re an author on Facebook and want more Likes you might be interested in the Facebook Like Literary Cafe.

What happens when Adrian, an actuary, has his banal and predictable existence turned upside down by sinister forces that he can neither understand nor control? How will he react to a revelation that leaves his life in turmoil? Will he surrender or strive for redemption in an altered world, where rationality, scientific logic and algorithms no longer provide the answers?

‘An insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected’ – Reader

‘A sardonic delight. If Thackeray had lived in the 21st century, then he might have written Charles Middleworth.’ – Reader

Charles Middleworth is available through most regional Amazons on Kindle (£1.96/$3.17) and in paperback.

United Kingdom – www.amazon.co.uk

USA – www.amazon.com

Twitter Annoyances

May 03 2013

It is estimated that about a third of the active global internet population now has a Twitter account. That’s over half a billion users worldwide. There are so many reasons for why mankind’s love of Twitter shows no sign of slowing down. We love Tweeting our friends, networking and getting breaking news, to mention nothing of the links to interesting articles and amusing quotes.

However as with anything in life Twitter can be annoying and anyone who uses the social media platform probably feels the same. In this post I will be discussing four of my personal Twitter annoyances.

#TeamFollowBack – Anyone who is familiar with Twitter will be aware of the scourge that is Team Follow Back. It has been embraced by those solely interested in building their numbers of Twitter Followers for no other reason than to have lots of Followers. Team Follow Back advocates do not as a rule interact with people other than through impersonal group messages such as the aptly named ‘Lazy Shout Out’. Team Follow Back is to many nothing but a infantile and futile exercise, which only gets one non-target Followers, who have no interest in what you have to say and vice versa.

TrueTwit Validation – This is when you Follow a Twitter account and get a message back asking you to prove that you are not a robot by going to a TrueTwit Validation service and typing alpha numerical codes in a field (see below). To start a relationship from a position of distrust is evidently a bad starting point. If you begun a friendly conversation with someone in your coffee shop queue, who clasped their handbag tightly to their body, as if you were going to steal it, you would probably not appreciate it and the same goes for Twitter. Perhaps it is just me but I find filling out the TrueTwit validation fields extremely taxing and it often takes numerous attempts, as they are extremely difficult to read in many instances. By the time I have attempted this several times and failed my relationship with the given person is already somewhat fraught.

Endless RTing – RTs’ are a fantastic way of forwarding information that we are interested in or amuses us, in addition to supporting other people. However as with everything in life moderation is the key not excess. Someone who only RTs’ can be perceived as idle as they never produce their own content. And then there’s the voluminous RT’er. One author I came across on Twitter had RT’d 120 instances of other authors’ books in their genre, in just one day. Finally there are the lists. What is the point I ask myself in RT’ing lists of Twitter accounts which end up going round in circles. Not much I would argue.

Bieber – Bieber has been described as being like marmite, you either love or hate him. There is no doubting however that Bieber is a true Twitter superpower. He has over 37 million Followers (known as True Beliebers) and at any one time around 3% Twitter’s traffic is dedicated to Bieber. Bieber is estimated to gain approximately 11,000 new Followers every day. Even the Bubonic Plague didn’t spread this fast.

‘I close my eyes and I can see a better day’, these are Bieber’s words not mine. They are from his song Pray. And in this one instance I have to agree with Bieber. For when I close my eyes I can see a time in the near future when Bieber is in terminal Twitter decline. A result in part because of his controversial recent behaviour, including allegedly smoking cannabis, bursts of rage at reporters, turning up very late to his own concerts and perhaps most pertinently the ill-judged comment he left in the Ann Frank visitors book during his recent trip to Amsterdam.

Perhaps you have Twitter annoyances that I have not listed.

Twitter Authors (Part 2)

Apr 19 2013

In last week’s Blog Post I evaluated how effective it is in a congested market place for authors to be sending out blanket promotional book Tweets, especially if those Tweets are only being read, if at all, by other authors. Today’s post, a continuation on this theme, will take the form of making generalisations about the actual composition of these Tweets and commenting on their effectiveness.

The following is a simple breakdown of some of the types of Tweets that authors use to promote their book/s, along with some commentary on how effective I perceive the given method to be.

Hyperactive Hash-tagging # – I discuss authors’ embrace of the # so often in my blog posts that it is evident that I am becoming somewhat obsessed by the subject. Authors often utilise this useful Twitter feature so that people searching under that #-tagged term will come across their book. In most instances one or two #’s are inserted, but there have been instances of up to nine recorded in a single Tweet.

Comment – The # symbol is an invaluable feature when used wisely, but surely I am not alone when I ask myself if there is any value in instances like #Book or #Fiction. Do potential readers really search under this term, see your book and then go ‘Yes please’ before pressing the buy button. Surely not. And then there’s the list, e.g. #paranormal #erotica #vampires #darkness #night #mystical etc etc. One might argue that a Tweet gives an author a short window of opportunity to showcase their writing and that a long list of # tagged items is hardly an imaginative or intriguing use of syntax.

Grandiose Claim – This is when authors Tweet statements like, ‘Award Winning’ and ‘BEST SELLER!’. In many instances the author embraces capitalisation and exclamation marks in these Tweets.

Comment: Why not. After all no-one else is going to sing your praises and in many instances these Tweets seem perfectly valid. Take the self-published Only The Innocent by Rachel Abbott for example. The book was selling several thousand copies a day for months on end. However there is nothing in this world if not by comparison and it is evident that the same applies in the Twitter sphere. For examples abound when the BEST SELLER! label on closer inspection transpires to be merely a best-seller in a very small category on Amazon. Does a book ranked number 4 out of a total of 5 books in the Transgendered Retro Vampire category really justify a best-seller claim?

Aggressive Pitches – e.g. BEST BOOK SINCE THE BIBLE – BUY NOW!!! (link) or less imaginatively – GET YOUR COPY NOW! or something of that nature. This method is also often combined with the ‘Grandiose Claim’ method (see above).

Comment: The best adverts on the television are well thought out, directed at the right audience and above all memorable. However even these adverts don’t always persuade us to buy the product. So what are the chances of an unknown author successfully selling books by demanding potential readers to buy with no pitch whatsoever. Not great one would imagine.

Dialogue – This is what Twitter was set up for after all, as a way to converse with our fellow humanity without even having to move from the comfort of our desk or to get out of our pyjamas.

Comment: Personally, with the exception of a couple of instances I have only sold books on Twitter through the ‘Dialogue’ method. As it is only when people get to know the author that they become interested enough to buy the author’s book/s. It seems apparent from liaising with other authors who have successfully used Social Media that this is generally how they have also sold books through this medium, unless of course they were already famous to begin with.

‘An insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected’ – Reader

‘A sardonic delight. If Thackeray had lived in the 21st century, then he might have written Charles Middleworth.’ – Reader

Charles Middleworth is available through most regional Amazons on Kindle (£1.96/$3.17) and in paperback.

United Kingdom – www.amazon.co.uk

USA – www.amazon.com

Twitter Authors

Apr 12 2013

Today during an idle hour spent on Twitter, I noted that a higher percentage than ever of my Twitter feed consisted of book promotion Tweets. As an author myself this comes as no real surprise, as many authors follow me and vice versa. But the question must be asked, is it really effective in a congested market place to be sending out blanket promotional book Tweets, especially if those Tweets are only being read, if at all, by other authors. I have already devoted previous posts to how authors use Twitter, but today I’ll be making generalisations about the actual composition of the Tweets and commenting on their effectiveness.

Of course there are famous authors who have embraced Twitter, Brett Easton Ellis being a prominent example. These authors can Tweet about anything, even their choice of sandwich filling at lunch, as whatever they Tweet their Twitter disciples will lap up eagerly. Some of these followers may even find themselves wondering if the sandwich filling related Tweet is perhaps a comment about post-modernism or global warming. And then there are the rest of us authors, myself included, struggling for visibility in the book promotion saturated world that is Twitter.

The following is a simple breakdown of the types of Tweets that authors use to promote their book/s, along with some commentary on how effective I perceive the given method to be.

Repetitive Repetition – The practice of sending out book promotion Tweets 24/7, 7 days a week. In severe instances several hundred times per day. The rationale being that if you drive the message home and do it often enough, people will buy your books.

Comment: There may be instances where this method has worked, but more often than not it appears to be akin to a dog chasing its own tail – just because it keeps doing it doesn’t mean it will ever catch it.

The Spin Dryer – An author sends out their book promotion Tweet/s along with Tweets promoting other authors’ books. This in turn leads to those authors RT’ing that author’s book promotion Tweet and so the cycle continues, with the book promotion Tweet getting exposure to a wider and wider audience, as it continues to be RT’d.

Comment: As one requires exposure to become well known, it is evident that this method is a logical way of putting your product in front of as many of Twitter’s 140m users as possible. However in the majority of cases these book promotion Tweets appear to be RT’d by other authors, whose Followers also consist largely of authors, not the target readership for the given book. Another case of the dog chasing its own tail perhaps.

The Sandwich – This is the method in which an author sandwiches their promotional Tweet/s between non-promotional Tweets (i.e. quotes/links etc) as if it were a slice of cheese or ham.

Comment: If new/non-famous authors are to be welcomed in the Twitter sphere they need to be accepted as communicative/interesting people and not merely narcissists, who discuss only their own work. Thus the sandwiching method is embraced by nearly all authors on Twitter though there are some exceptions.

The Snippet – This is a much practiced method in which authors utilise the 140 character limit to insert quotes from their books.

Comment: These can be memorable and in some instances amusing, but there are many examples where they are not. Here is a slightly altered one that I read last month – ‘… and he reached into the drawer, took out a red pen, took off the top and begun writing on the piece of paper on the desk.’ And one is left asking, Why?

I also use this method to promote my book, Charles Middleworth, a humorous tale of the unexpected. Here are two examples from Charles Middleworth:

‘Well if being related by internet marriage is family, I suppose we are.’

And

‘…her skills more akin to the baking of macaroons than solving the complexities of the universe.’

Click here to read part 2.

‘An insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected’ – Reader

‘A sardonic delight. If Thackeray had lived in the 21st century, then he might have written Charles Middleworth.’ – Reader

Charles Middleworth is available through most regional Amazons on Kindle (£1.96/$3.17) and in paperback.

United Kingdom – www.amazon.co.uk

USA – www.amazon.com

Book Related Twitter Experiences

Mar 29 2013

Last week’s Blog Post was about the various ways in which authors use Twitter. This week I will be talking about some of my book related experiences on Twitter. As an author myself I am always interested to see what other authors are doing on Twitter and during the last year I have read a number of books that I was introduced to through this medium.

There are essentially two reasons for me having read books that I have come across on Twitter.

1). I found the author’s Tweets to be interesting/amusing and/or they became Twitter friends.

Here are some examples (click on links to read my review):

The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness by Craig Stone – A unique and at times very amusing book.

The Earth Shifter by Lada Ray – A well written YA book, which has proved to be popular with a wider audience. Lada also has a great blog: www.ladaray.wordpress.com

Tollesbury Time Forever by Stuart Ayris – Probably best described as nostalgic Literary Fiction set in rural England.

2). I have selected books because of the positive feedback I have heard about the given book on Twitter (from people other than the author).

Texting Orwell by Ian Little – I enjoyed this amusing and original novella, though its embrace of lavatorial humour may not be to every reader’s liking.

Only The Innocent by Rachel Abbott – This book has become a best seller. It is in my Kindle queue waiting to be read.

The following is a less positive Twitter book experience I had recently that I would like to share with you. One Twitter author, who shall remain nameless, is an example of what I classified last week as an Aggressive Agitator. Sporadically Tweets appear in my Feed from this individual that are a call to action. These Tweets that embrace capitalisation and exclamation marks are of the BUY NOW!!! AWARD WINNING! variety. The same Tweet is often repeated every minute for up to ten minutes at a time. Last week on about the eighth repetition of this abrasive approach, I found myself saying, ‘Okay okay’, before hurriedly clicking on the Amazon link.

There I discovered that the book’s cover look like vomitus, there were only two reviews and what had been promoted as an award, now transpired to be merely a mention at a rural fair type event, in an area with a population made up mostly of gators and feral hogs. But it was none of these factors that prevented me from buying the book, but rather that it was not available in Kindle, only in paperback, with a lengthy wait for delivery and an oppressive price tag.

‘An insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected’ – Reader

‘A sardonic delight. If Thackeray had lived in the 21st century, then he might have written Charles Middleworth.’ – Reader

Charles Middleworth is available through most regional Amazons on Kindle (£1.96/$3.17) and in paperback.

United Kingdom – www.amazon.co.uk

USA – www.amazon.com

Selling Books on Twitter

Mar 22 2013

With approximately 140 million users, Twitter continues to be the social media platform of choice for many people. Whilst many of those visit Twitter just to chat, more often than not about Justin Bieber, most of our Feeds are saturated with people promoting their wares, books probably being as prevalent as any.

I’ve come across books on every conceivable subject and others that I could never have conceived; a nuclear war allegory with My Little Ponies being the most pertinent example and Alice in Zombie Land arguably the most lamentable.

I am also on Twitter at least in part to promote my novel, Charles Middleworth, so I am always interested to see what other authors are doing and hopefully to learn from them. In this post I will be analysing authors’ Tweeting habits; for purposes of simplicity I will be classifying authors into groups, which is probably rather unreasonable, after all authors are very much individuals, but there you go.

Mellow Minglers – Mellow Minglers’ are adept at communicating effectively with their audience. They are naturally personable, energetic, fun loving and generally optimistic people, who like to share with others and make new friends. Mellow Minglers’ consistently reply to messages and are always prepared to help others wherever possible.
Tweet Composition: Tweets are made up of conversations, some RTs’ (generally not more than x5 per day), updates on their daily activities (non-complaining ones – e.g. physical activity updates/composition of meals). On average the promotion of their book/s constitutes between 10% & 25% of their Tweets.

Prolific Proselytizers – Prolific Proselytizers’ are energetic and enthusiastic Tweeters that are to be found throughout the Twitter sphere, including amongst the author population. They are generally very liberal with their use of the hashtag; eight #’s have previously been recorded in a single book promotion tweet. Prolific Proselytizers’ are voluminous in their Tweeting habits and are capable of Tweeting as much as every 19 seconds.
Tweet Composition: Tweets are usually neither part of a conversation or aimed at starting one. Prolific Proselytizers’ promote their own books constantly as well as the RT’ing and mentioning other authors within their genre. Prolific Proselytizers’ are usually well disposed towards others and will more often than not reply on the rare occasion someone responds to one of their Tweets.

Aggressive Agitators – Aggressive Agitators are very much in the minority amongst what is generally a friendly author population. Their intrusive Tweeting style embraces the use of capitalisation and exclamation marks (e.g. BUY NOW!!! AWARD WINNING!). Aggressive Agitators though universally sporadic Tweeters, Tweet in bursts, often Tweeting an identical Tweet every minute, sometimes for up to ten minutes at a time.
Tweet Composition: Tweets are generally divided into two categories, self-promotion and opinion. These opinions are often radical in nature and risk alienating potential readers. Aggressive Agitators always Follow many more people than they have Followers.

Next week I will be discussing some book related Twitter experiences.

‘An insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected’ – Reader

‘A sardonic delight. If Thackeray had lived in the 21st century, then he might have written Charles Middleworth.’ – Reader

Charles Middleworth is available through most regional Amazons on Kindle (£1.96/$3.17) and in paperback.

United Kingdom – www.amazon.co.uk

USA – www.amazon.com

Twitter Viruses (Part 2)

Sep 21 2012

Last week’s post was dedicated to my experiences with Twitter viruses, which come in the form of DMs’ (Direct Messages). If you read it, you might remember that two of these messages had caused me to react in a wholly irrational manner. The messages were: lol ur famous now (link). And You even see them taping u (link) that’s nasty Over the course of the last week I have received yet more of these malignant messages. In addition to the aforementioned examples, I have received instances of: Rumour about you (link) And Somebody is posting nasty updates on their twitter about you (link) Towards the end of last week, I had become familiar with these messages and in an effort to assist my Twitter friends; I was contacting them to warn them that their accounts had been hacked. These efforts were met with appreciation, which encouraged me to continue with this course of action. Saturday morning – A beeping signifies the arrival of a Twitter message. Leaning forward in my chair I pick up the iPhone. The message is a DM from a Twitter follower; I have never previously had the pleasure of communicating with. The message reads: I know I can count on u, my lovely Twitter friend to review my new book with 5 ★s on Amazon (book name) +(link)

Assuming that no one would have the audacity to ask someone they have never even communicated with, to review a book that they have never even heard of, let alone read, I assume it is a virus and fire off a quick tweet warning this unfortunate that their account has been hacked. Moments later a response arrives:

His response: Hey Guy, I’M not a VIRUS. (Link)　 LOL

My response: I disagree! I then promptly block the person and report them as spam. Reclining back in the chair once more, I am disappointed that I am still failing to recognise DM viruses and also somewhat shocked by the request. A request that if granted could potentially result in the book in question getting an improved rank on Amazon, in addition to innocent prospective buyers being provided with false information. If this peculiar Twitter etiquette were mirrored in everyday life, it might be the equivalent of nodding to acknowledge a stranger and then taking this as an invitation to ask them to hide contraband for you, or provide a false alibi to the police. The first two chapters of my book, Charles Middleworth, a humorous tale of the unexpected are available for free. Click on the link below to view: CharlesMiddleworth(ch 1-2)

Twitter Viruses

Sep 14 2012

Waking early one morning, I looked across at my iPhone, as is generally my habit, to read any messages received over the course of the night. On opening my Echofon Twitter account I was greeted by a DM (direct message). The familiar radiant smile of one of my American Twitter friends beamed up at me from the screen. The accompanying message read.

lol ur famous now (link).

Assuming that this instant fame could only be the result of a sudden surge in sales of my book, Charles Middleworth, I dropped the iPhone and ran jubilantly downstairs to check the sales figures on my Amazon.kdp account. The report stated there had been zero sales over night. Coming to the realisation that I had been somewhat gullible in my assumption; I typed the message I had received into the Google search engine and discovered that it was a virus masquerading as a tantalising message, tempting one to click on the link. Had I clicked on the link it is likely my account would have been hacked. I trudged back upstairs disconsolately, though with a modicum of relief that I hadn’t clicked it.

Over the forthcoming days there were further sporadic suspicious DM’s. Including:

Rumour about you (with a link)

And

Somebody is posting nasty updates on their Twitter about you.

These were evidently attempts to hack my account and I ignored them, adamant that I would never be deceived by a malignant DM again. Several days later I awoke abruptly shortly after dawn, my breathing harried and brow damp with sweat. The night had been punctuated with unexplainable nightmares that left me confused and alarmed. Some moments later I reached for the iPhone. There was a DM in my Twitter account from a childhood friend. The message said something to the affect of:

You even see them taping u (link) that’s nasty

I stare transfixed in horror at the screen, convinced that the nightmares were a premonition of this devastating news. The horrendous video had come back yet again to haunt me. A horrible debacle I thought I had left behind me years before. Momentarily I wondered why I had spent all that money on lawyer fees. I then hastily phoned the friend from which the message had come. After several rings a sleepy voice answered the phone. Immediately I demanded to know who had sent him the video and who else had been sent it, the words coming out as a torrent, devoid of any pauses. The friend now fully awake, denied all knowledge of sending me the link and insisted it must be a virus. I terminated the conversation abruptly just as he begun to make enquiries about what video I was referring to. Overwhelmed with relief that it was merely paranoia on my part, I returned upstairs, relieved that I had not clicked on the link. Within minutes I had been engulfed by a contented lethargy.

The first two chapters of my book, Charles Middleworth, a humorous tale of the unexpected are available for free. Click on the link below to read.

CharlesMiddleworth.pdf

Category - Social Media

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