The Futher Adventures of SpireFp in the World of Social Media

So, you didn't really think that I would be able to successfully navigate my way through the confusing world of Social Media unscathed in just one day I hope!  Naturally I was determined to clear the fog from my mind and have everything sorted tout suite!  Yes, well, more tout suite and less Hoot Suite let me tell you! How something that seemed so brilliant yesterday was today just a  big big mistake.  This miraculous-seeming app decided to not let me log in despite the fact that I was using the correct email and password.  And just to make sure, I logged into my email and found the confirmation e-mail they sent to the "invalid e-mail; e-mail not in use" - so I know for a fact it wasn't me making a typo - there was something fishy going on.  It must be said that as I was only using the free version, so to ensure it wasn't just a beta bug or something that you have to cope with in freeware, I went investigating,  and was shocked to find that many paying customers had fallen foul of this same issue.  I'd like to point out that I wasn't complaining quite so loudly after that little discovery.

So I retraced my steps and returned to the Google guru to hunt down those articles on syncing Facebook and Twitter which in my dubious wisdom I decided against reading yesterday.  Let me just preface this part of the adventure by saying that after much searching, I discovered a disclaimer explaining that if you unlink a Facebook account which has a Fan page attached to it from Twitter, at this moment in time, there is no fix for re-linking the page.  The frustrating part about that little snippet is that I only unlinked my Twitter from my Facebook page because that was number 3 or 4 in the "this might solve your problem" list in the FAQ from Twitter.  So it would have been helpful to have known that beforehand as I would have just left my Twitter/Facebook settings as they were.  However, I didn't, so, dear reader, I shall carry on with my tale of woe.

The most helpful article I discovered was one outlining the top 5 alternatives to Hootsuite.  But to my dismay, one by one, these wonderful options were falling by the wayside.  Brizzly is closing down, so I saw no point in pursuing that at all.  TweetDeck looked brilliant - but while you could manage multiple twitter accounts, you could only link to one Facebook account - and more importantly, no way (that I could see) of linking to a Facebook Page.  CoTweet looked similar to TweetDeck, so I thought I'd shelve that one and come back to it - but the blurb said that the free version was quite limited compared to the commercial version, so I wasn't really inclined to think all that hard about it.  Next one was Buzzom, and that had quite a writeup - but when I went to the webpage, I couldn't see any clues as to how to set up an account, much less how to log in to one, so I blew a raspberry at that (not literally of course - I do have a modicom of refinement!) and moved on.  The last one left (which was actually number 3 of the top 5) was Seesmic, and I have had a go at that one as well, and while it's extremely early days, at this stage, I'm almost quietly confident that it might just do what I want it to do.  There are a couple of things I haven't quite fathomed as yet, but all in all, I'm relatively happy with it.  But watch this space - because that could very well be subject to sudden change!

The annoying thing is this all came about simply because I wanted to update my website and improve it - and I just wish I'd decided to sync my social media channels last thing - rather than first off!  Ah well, I suppose this way I've (in theory) learnt alot... mostly of "what not to do Small Bear"!

Just as an aside, I've discovered that while it's extremely easy to upload photos to Facebook, it's no longer an easy thing to download them.  In fact it's nigh-on impossible.  There are a couple of clever apps out there, but no one satisfactory tool.  This again has only been highlighted because the widget I was using on my webpage is no longer supported, so I need to create a new photo slideshow - and I'm now delving into the wonderful world of Flickr and maybe even Picasa  Who knows what dangers are lurking in those dangerous waters... but that is most definitely another story!  Night all.

My foray into the confusing world of social media

So seeming as I'm off work sick (almost losing your voice and being unable to have the craic with the customers as well as coughing and hacking like a 90-a-day-for-20 years-smoker isn't really helpful when you're a children's entertainer) and now feeling better from sleeping solidly till 1pm this afternoon (my lovely friend and very talented photographer Ali Gordon from The Gift Gallery woke me when she rang to discuss a charity event we're both involved with next week for Ashgate Hospice at Bluey's Bar and Bistro in Alfreton) I decided to attempt to get to grips with the whole world of Social Media.

I'm quite comfortable with Facebook, in fact I'd say I'm extremely adept at utilising it to the best of my ability for advertising and cross-advertising purposes, which sounds awfully big-headed and boastful and for that I apologise, but it wasn't my intent, I was just being matter of fact.  Twitter, I've used minimally - spent a bit of time setting up my account, and connecting it to Facebook and vice-versa, but other than that, not really done a lot with it.  Out of curiosity, I Googled Facebook + Twitter - and the number of articles that came up was unbelieveable!  "10 ways to sync your F&T"; "5 different ways in which to connect you F&T" and so on... all of which I decided not to read because I didn't want to confuse myself any more than I already was.

Having spent a bit of time, I believe I've taken baby steps in familiarising myself with Twitter, and apart from being a little unsure of the difference between using the @tag and the #tag, I'm happy to say that it was time worth spent.  I even figured out how to make my profile(s) look pretty - ie customise them to my corporate image.  At which point I'm sounding like a complete newbie - which I'm not - but when you're not firing on all cylinders, thinking's over-rated really.

So onto my Blog.  Following a quick consult to my guru Google (to quote my brother several years ago - "Google knows everything, just ask it" despite the fact that he now tends to use Duck Duck Go) I learnt that there are two top free Blog sites, and I chose Blogger because I'm familiar with Google products, and it just seemed to suit my needs better.  However the proof will be in the response I get (if any - I'll be amazed if anyone is really interested in my rambling thoughts) when I send this out into the ether.

Reading back over what I've typed, I feel rather like one of those Grumpy Old Men/Women in the BBC series complaining of everything and anything to do with modern technology.  Perhaps my excuse could be that I'm not well so anything that doesn't go quite to plan, or cannot be done instantly must be difficult or confusing!  Or maybe I am just actually having a winge and a moan - despite having (mostly) enjoyed myself thoroughly during this whole expedition.

Just a side-note, what happened to My Space? It seems to be completely dead these days, does anyone really use it?

On that note, I shall log onto Hootsuite and update all my social media instantaneously with the news that I have managed (hopefully!) to publish my first blog!