social media | RAFrenzy

The Power of Pinterest

TheQueen (no, not that queen) is being schooled in just how powerful Pinterest can be. She is now experiencing the viral phenomenon, so that I think her days of low hit counts are probably gone.

Phew! food is a powerful tag. LOL!

Pigterest
Posted on February 25, 2013 by The Queen

Yeah, pretty weak but I couldn’t help myself!! *snort*

I created an account at Pinterest last year but saw very quickly that I could lose days, no, weeks…of time at this very addictive site. So I limited my time there. (yes I should get some kind of a medal for self-control!) I pinned maybe 40 or so pics, mainly of cakes. This past week, I became a little more active by pinning another 15 or so pins and joined a group board.

Then I wrote a blog piece last Thursday based on a Facebook share by a friend in Texas. Yeah, it was the pig cake. And it became an instant hit in an unexpected way! Sort of hurt my feelings as I had nothing to with the cake’s creation. At all!!! I gave credits where credits were due, added some translations and conversions…and the traffic..read more here

Even though The Queen’s piece was a mere mention of something else, it is driving traffic to her site and a significant number of people are looking at other posts while they are there. So it’s gone a long way toward building an audience however crazy it might seem to her, and this phenomenon has shown little sign of letting up.

I hope you read her post, but if you didn’t, I want to make a point. Are hit counts everything? Absolutely not. Most bloggers I know fairly well are not primarily motivated by hit counts, and I would submit if someone is writing a blog merely or even mostly for hit counts, they will lose the joy in it very quickly. But I also must say that an increase in hits helps in sustaining someone’s desire to keep at it. So long live The Queen! :D

And one last thing. I hope some of you who have been ambivalent about Pinterest will join us at the Richard Armitage Communty Pinterest Board. I don’t really pin there as much as others, but I love looking at it and think you will too.

February 25, 2013
Categories: Fandom, Tangents . Tags: blogging, pinterest, Richard Armitage, social media, social media coup, traffic, viRAl . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 2 Comments

Richard Armitage Community Pinterest Board

Since the Community Board created by Celebrity Expose has been deleted and all of the lovely pins along with it, we needed another one! Thanks to all of you who have asked to be part of this. I’m still processing the names. Please know that it does not require an invitation to look at the board. It’s only if you want to pin there. And about pinning I want to say a few words.

First, your pin should be something to do with Richard Armitage. It does not have to be a picture of him, but if it’s not, the chance of the picture being clicked on is less likely. LOL! Second, it’s best to pin something you find on the web that has a graphic. When you add, it will prompt to find images, and if there is more than one image, you can scroll until you find the one you want pinned to the board. Third, if you pin to the wrong place, no biggie. Erase it and start over. No one is going to whop you on the head if you get it wrong, and Pinterest doesn’t immediately send a notice to followers. So if you erase quickly, no one will know! Don’t ask me how I know this. :D Fourth, you can invite others to the board once you’re authorized to pin. I leave that up to your judgment, and as long as people pin RA or RA related items and no one starts pinning NSFW* items, it’s cool.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. So I’m off to pin something on the board. Namely all of the Richard III stuff I think others might want to read.

Here’s just a sample of what you can see:

A beautiful graphic of Thorin by Angie K. Long

Top graphic by TeeTotally

edit:

*NSFW means ‘not safe for work’ and usually includes nude photos, but I think we all need to keep in mind that kids look at these boards. So if you want to pin something that leads back to what you wouldn’t want your kids to see or your nieces and nephews or any other kids you may know, then don’t pin it please.

February 4, 2013
Categories: Fandom . Tags: fun, pinterest, Richard Armitage, social media . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 5 Comments

Dadsaboss

I’m not completely out of The Hobbit mode yet, but I am getting really curious about Black Sky and its cast. Instead of just keeping a bookmark file as I usually do, I decided to keep the information I find on a Pinterest board. I’ve also invited some of the other fan bases to participate. Of course I and some other Richard Armitage fans might seem scary. Hopefully, these other fans are brave. And btw, I’ll admit to being crazy but not scary. LOL! No, that wasn’t a maniacal laugh. :D

In the meantime, I found this screencap of Max Deacon and Nathan Kress gushing about Richard Armitage on Twitter. Yeah, I can handle some gushing.

It’s my understanding Max will play Donnie, son of Gary Morris, and Nathan Kress will play Trey, also son of Gary Morris. That could be wrong about the names, but obviously not wrong about the papa.

Why do I have this strange notion that before this is all over, I’m going to be gushing about these kids. Yeah, I said kids! ;P

And for those who were trying to help me find fan sites on some of these guys, I may have found an enclave of fans under my nose. Just looked at my daughter’s Facebook page and some of her friend’s pages. Phew!

Screencap courtesy of NothingButNathanKress

note: for all of you not on Twitter, it’s a lot of fun. Don’t count on me or others to always bring you these things. Just sayin’.

January 16, 2013
Categories: Black Sky (Into the Storm), Movies . Tags: Donnie Morris, Gary Morris, Jeremy Sumpter, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress, pinterest, Richard Armitage, screencaps, social media, Trey Morris, Twitter . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

“Getting Down to Business”

Yep, Todd Garner is doing some business on our heads.

Bring it, Todd. I love it!

https://twitter.com/Todd_Garner/status/291237097258504192

I know we have all been inhaling The Hobbit as often as sanity will allow, but is anyone ready to see Richard Armitage’s next piece? Feel free to gush.

Note: this post is for all of you who are still not on Twitter. You need to know that not everything interesting going on there becomes a post in RA universe, so what are you waiting for? The idea that it’s mindless? Or it’s intimidating? Some of it is mindless but surprisingly there is a lot that’s not. And if you never tackled something intimidating, think how bored you would be. Plus, there are several of us who are very willing to help you get acclimated.

January 15, 2013
Categories: Black Sky (Into the Storm), Geek, Movies . Tags: crazy people, fun, Gary Morris, our favorite producer, Richard Armitage, social media, Todd Garner, Twitter . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 5 Comments

Connecting the Dots or Establishing an Identity on the Web — Part 2

October 17, 2012

A couple of days ago I retweeted Part 1 of this series and got lots of questions. I’m only covering two here.

Number 1 Question: What’s the big deal about having all these profiles?

You don’t have to have “all these profiles.” It really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you have no interest in directing people to specific places when they see your presence somewhere on the Web, this post is not for you. Keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t read what I’m about to say.

For those who do want to direct people somewhere specific, whether it be a blog or a social media app for hanging out online, you need to give enough information about your whereabouts to help them find that place. For instance, if you have a Twitter, Facebook or Google+ id (to name a few) and you also want people to read your blog, you’re shooting yourself in the foot if a link to your blog is not in your profile. Putting the link in your updates is too much work for someone just discovering you. Don’t make people work to find your blog. Make it easy to find or many will not bother to find it.

Number 2 question: What is Gravatar?

I’m so glad you asked. Gravatar is a profile used by some major sites to help people establish an identity on the Web. The cool thing about Gravatar is you can comment on sites run by WordPress or using Disqus (a comment app), and someone curious about you can click the avatar left with your comment in order to find out what you want them to know and where you want them to go. Here’s mine. If you looked at my Gravatar profile, you noticed there is a list of places to find me. I list them because some people are more comfortable in some places than others. Some people contact me only via Twitter or only via YouTube or only via Facebook. Instead of trying to make the initial contact point my blog, I give them several points of contact. But wherever they interact with me, I ensure one thing is obvious — I have a blog. That’s where I spend most of my time, so if people know where it is, then there’s a good chance they can find it. :D Too often those who “like” my blog posts or comment on them, do not have anything on their Gravatar profiles. It’s a dead end. I hate that. Of course I realize some people don’t want to lead others somewhere, but I know many of you do hence this post.

Gravatar is not the only “universal” identity profile on the Web, but it’s significant enough, you should probably have one. If you have a WordPress blog, you already have a Gravatar, but that doesn’t mean the profile is complete. What’s in it is entirely up to you. As for other profiles that may be of interest in establishing your presence on the Web, of course Google is prominent, but the avatar does not move outside of Google products unless a particular site owner using Blogger as their platform has installed Disqus. Okay, that’s as technical as I’m going to get on that. Net: I’ve found more people use my Gravatar than my Google id to find out who I am. Another identity profile to be aware of is MyOpenId. This site is not user friendly, but best to grab your id now in case this profile becomes pervasive on the Web. I have my doubts about this, but I have an id just in case.

I feel the urge to write about the differences between WordPress and Google, but I’ll spare you that today. Maybe another post. I still need to publish the post about filtering tweets. ;P But just to make this fun, a photo of the founder of Gravatar and WordPress, the smilin’ Matt Mullenweg:

I had to post this pic since Matt is a Texan. Oh, you’re not fond of Texans? Uh oh, you may not always like this place.

Every time I see a picture of these young entrepreneurs, I have this urge to say, “I know a very intelligent, good looking blonde who is unattached.” Actually, I know two, and their mother would make a fantastic mother-in-law. ;-)

I hesitate to include Richard Armitage in this, but well, he is a geek, so he fits. No pictures though. Your imagination will have to suffice.

October 17, 2012
Categories: Geek, Tangents . Tags: Gravatar, identity, Matt Mullenweg, Richard Armitage, social media, succesfully navigating the Web . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 3 Comments

Twitter Encounters — Part 2

March 5, 2011

Yesterday, I was talking about Twitter having a positive effect on me. I did acknowledge one pitfall, and other than that, it’s been very positive and productive. But it’s imperative to reiterate Twitter is what you make it which means it matters who you are when you get there. And who are you? What are you about? Chances are good Twitter will reveal who you are whether you want it to or not. I’m not talking about your name or title. I’m talking about how you think and why. If someone talks long enough on Twitter, and it doesn’t take very much talking, they will reveal where they’re coming from. Even the alter egos cannot completely squelch their real selves.

Two things dictate Twitter’s keen ability to reveal someone. First, being on Twitter means a person wants to be heard. There is no other reason to be there (that’s true of any online presence, i.e., blogs, forums, etc. or almost any conversation whether online or not). Let me say that again. There is no other reason to be on Twitter than a desire to be heard, and more accurately, a desire to be known and to know, and I don’t mean everything about someone but at least some aspect. Before anyone starts objecting, please realize I’m not saying this is a bad thing. It’s hardwired into us to desire being known, and it’s not so much in the sense of celebrity that we want to be known but being in communion with others, which can only happen in relationships — online or otherwise. Why do you think social media is so popular? It’s appealing to the basic instincts of everyone.

Second, the stacatto nature of Twitter makes it conducive to generating someone’s unvarnished thoughts. Someone said yesterday that Twitter invites the knee jerk. Yes, in many respects it does even if someone only retweets another’s thought. But doesn’t a knee jerk, i.e., a visceral reaction, usually reveal a lot about a person? It’s my experience that it does. In fact, it can oftentimes say a lot more about someone than seemingly thoughtful answers they may craft. Isn’t that why job interviewers throw job candidates curve balls? Aren’t they looking for the person’s involuntary reaction in order to take an accounting of them beyond the image they’ve created? As a long time interviewer of potential employees (mostly white collar but some blue), I can tell you yes, that’s what they’re looking for, and sometimes an honest response of, “I don’t know” or “I need to think more about that to answer” is completely acceptable. Depends on the question and of course, on the interviewer, but this interviewer thinks it’s often a great response. This is also acceptable on Twitter and can lead to some interesting discussion, and frankly, I’m suspicious of people who seem to have the answers to every question. No one’s that good, but that discussion is for another post.

I have much more to say about Twitter, but I suspect this post will go on so long that it will have trouble loading. So I’m saving most of it for later. But I do want to say that I find it infinitely fascinating that Richard Armitage has not been on Twitter, and I mean on Twitter as himself since he may very well be on Twitter. If my gut is still functioning properly (although it had a glitch awhile back LOL!), I suspect he is there anonymously. The man for all of his supposed reticence is a talker. I know there are those of you who will have a violent disagreement with me about this, but you’re mostly reacting to my choice of the word “talker.” That’s not an aspersion on him at all. When I say that I’m not saying he’s indiscreet. Certainly, he doesn’t talk about some of the things that some would like him to, but those who have any brains are not going to tell everything they know or even come close to doing so. First, it’s boring and second, it’s like dropping your pants and bending over. Wait. That’s a bad analogy. LOL!!! Uh, let me try that again but without analogy. Who wants all of their personal business known? No one I know of unless they’re dense and/or temporarily rendered dense by being desperate, e.g., Charlie Sheen. More about Charlie later. Maybe. That post is quite a piece of work. Not sure the public is ready for it.

edit: I found this article interesting. I’m not sure I entirely agree with it, but I agree with the dynamic. Perhaps I don’t fully agree because if someone analyzed my RAFrenzy account on Twitter, they would find I follow both “liberal” and “conservative” accounts, and I can assure you I’m not a moderate. :D

March 5, 2011
Categories: Tangents . Tags: Charlie Sheen, crazy people, identity, Richard Armitage, social media, Twitter . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 27 Comments

Tangent — Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, What am I going to do with you?

I guess I should have made a Facebook page before this week. My hit count has gone up quite a bit from that link! So welcome to all of you who have come here from Facebook. I love you! It’s just Facebook that doesn’t thrill me. It’s a pain in the ass to get around on, and they (the guys who run that place) make the functions one way. There is no back out plan on some things unless you’re technical and have a crystal ball or you’re a bulldog. I’m technical but don’t have a crystal ball; however, I am a bulldog. Even though this is what you have to be if you’re going to run a “page” on FB, I hesitate to go into that mode. But for RA and all of you, it’s worth it. Hope you enjoy the blog. :D

Hmm. I almost hate to associate RA’s picture with Facebook, but I did post his picture over there several times now, and this is really in honor of all of you. So I’ll post one that some of you might not have seen. OH, and since snaffling seems to be the order of the week ;-), I snaffled this one from Mulubinba. Over here. Be sure to thank her! and frankly, she has a wonderful blog that’s thoughtful on several levels. Definitely one of my favorites.

I also need to say thanks to WordPress or whomever it was that wouldn’t allow me to embed that Strike Back Viral video on my first attempt. Yes, good can come out of bad. I’ve always known that, but Facebook had me doubting it.

edit:

I’ve added snaffle to the lexicon. I didn’t learn it from the RA fandom but would have never used it in a sentence if not for the British ladies I now interact with on a frequent basis. The context in this blog entry makes the meaning pretty plain, but hey, you need to read the lexicon if you haven’t already.

MC864RTMW5AG

July 24, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Strike Back, Tangents, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: behind the scenes, bulldog, candid shots, Facebook, Facebook hate, Mulubinba, RA Lexicon, Richard Armitage, social media . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 7 Comments

Tangent — Some Pointers for Twitter

Edit: In my former life, I was actually responsible for clear explanations of technical things. Good thing I’m not getting paid for this anymore. So I’m going to take another crack at thoroughly confusing you, er, explaining Twitter. Edits are highlighted or just read the whole thing again. And I’ve got to stop writing these posts by the seat of my pants! Hope I really didn’t confuse anyone enough to make them say forgetaboutit! Hang in there. Twitter really can be fun.

I’m no expert on Twitter, but I’ve learned a few things, and for those of you who are novices, maybe a few words here will knock down the intimidation factor.

On Twitter there are two pages you need to understand. The home page is the page that comes up when you first login. This page scrolls the tweets of people you are following and it also scrolls your tweets. So following someone means seeing a person’s tweets scrolling on your home page. The other page that’s important is your profile page. This is a collection of only your tweets, and it’s what people see when they look you up on Twitter. They cannot see your home page and the tweets that are scrolling there only your profile page, which again, only contains the tweets you have made.

To make a tweet, you can simply go to your home page and type in a message of 140 characters or less and hit enter. Yes, you can delete it if you mess up. You can also make tweets to someone else. It’s important to understand that when you find something on someone’s profile which you want to tweet about (comment on), you actually “reply” (on Twitter “reply” is a misnomer for comment). Your “reply” then shows up on your profile as a tweet, and it also shows up as a tweet on your home page along with the tweets of the profiles you are following. Since following someone means their tweets scroll on your home page, tweets you make to someone not following you will not show up on their home page, but they still have the ability to see it.

There are countless Twitter apps and services out there (WAY TOO MANY to list them all here; as if I actually know all of them LOL!) which help people figure out what’s being said and where and manage what they find a little easier than the Twitter functions, but I’ll spare you all of that for now. LOL! Thankfully, Twitter has a built in function to query on tweets to you. It’s the “@yourprofilename” button on the right sidebar of your home page. Click on that, and you can see everyone who’s talking to you whether you follow them or not. To see those talking about you but who didn’t do it with a reply, you can use the Twitter search function, which is also on the right sidebar. Well, this is assuming your profile name is somewhere in someone’s tweets, and they’re really referring to you. LOL! This is a good reason to have a unique Twitter profile name. If you want to know about anything else being talked about, you can just use the Twitter search, and Twitter also gives some help with the topics that are of most interest or “trending” on Twitter with a function on the right sidebar.

So let’s say you want to know of all the tweets about Richard Armitage (or at least the ones where people were savvy enough to put his name in the tweet). You key in Richard Armitage and it will get all of the tweets beginning with the most recent first, and yes, there will be some of them about the politician. I forget how many tweets are retained before the buffer is overlaid (if it even does get overlaid), but trust me it’s enough to keep you busy.

Another cool thing is you can create a subject for people to use as a tag in their tweets. The sky is pretty much the limit on what you can call it. Tags begin with #. For instance, I recently sighted SFR (StickFigRichard on Twitter) with a tall, leggy red head. So I made a comment and then put my tag #Spying_SFR in the tweet. If you sight him somewhere, you can make your comment and put that tag in your tweet. Then someone can do a search and read about the SFR sightings instead of trying to find them on all these different profiles. Phew! What a pain that would be! Oh, and I also went to StickFigRichard’s profile and did a reply so that it had SFR’s profile name in my tweet as well. That’s for people who don’t know about the tag; they can search on SFR’s profile name. That’s just a couple of ways to make sure people can find things. More later since some of you are just getting rolling.

Well, one more thing. The best way to acquire Twitter profiles to follow is to look at the Twitter profile of someone you’re interested in and take note of whom they follow or who is following them. It is amazing the things you can find this way. Pretty much the same as finding great blogs on some of those blog rolls out there in the blogosphere. I think of it like hunting for treasure. I’ve found some absolutely wonderful profiles, and yes, sometimes very edifying profiles, by just reading other users’ followers and following lists. Of course most of those are on my “real” profile. ;-)

Perhaps all of this is a no-brainer, but I thought I would throw it in for those who might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by Twitter.

We can talk about putting up pictures later. :D

Bottom line: HAVE FUN!

So I guess this post isn’t a complete tangent since I sort of tied it to RA.

And I find it ironic that I’m listening to Streisand sing: Papa Can You Hear me? My mood? Antsy. I alternate between that and flippant.

June 24, 2010
Categories: Tangents . Tags: Richard Armitage, social media, Stick Figure Richard, Twitter . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 4 Comments