So apparently I have reached 40,000 tweets on Twitter. I’m surprised people aren’t like super annoyed of me.
Speaking of annoying…. I did pick one of these up.
Social Media
Adventure Time Card Wars (iOS)
I caved and purchased the Adventure Time Card Wars game for $4.95. Despite it being a paid game there are still in game purchases such as heart energy and premium games. However the quality of the content is worth the more than 99cent price tag.
It plays a bit differently than physical card version. Attacks have a spinning wheel that are a little bit up to chance and effects that increase or decrease attack and defense stack.
There are a ton of cards in the game that can be earned in battle or discovered through treasure chests. Buying premium gems will give you rare cards, but you can get them with in game money as well so there isn’t a need to spend more than the original $4.95.
There are hundreds of levels and also a function to battle other random people. This is my favourite iPhone card game yet.
Twitterature
While having a mini adventure at BMV, I stumbled on this little book I had to have on my work desk (since I do social media as my day job). It is a collection of “Twitterature”: reworkings of recognizable books told in 20 tweets or fewer by the protagonist of the story.
Here’s an example:
That’s totally how Bilbo Baggins would tweet right?
It’s a funny book to have on your desk for quick entertainment.
My First Bunz Trade
I finally got invited to Bunz Trading Zone, a secret Facebook group where people trade their useless stuff for things they need. No money is allowed. The philosophy behind it is that things aren’t really worth their money value if they are not being used.
One of my first posts was for my Smithers minifigs. I wrote “Have 3 Smithers need to get rid of 2.” I got an overwhelming number of responses. It’s amazing how many people will reply if you post anything, even empty bottles. Your garbage is someone else’s treasure.
I traded one of the Smithers for this today. An Ionix Ash in the box. I wouldn’t have even know this existed if it weren’t offered to me. Now I can’t wait to build it!
The other Smithers trade will happen over the weekend along with something else. I am just so excited with the possibility of treasure trading! This is so much fun.
Growing Up and Claiming My Name
Back when I was young teenager, I created the moniker “teepoo” so I could play online games, go on forums and just for general anonymity. Those aren’t things I really care about anymore and I’ve become more open and transparent about the person I am. I’ve slowly been dropping the username from everything, claiming my own name as bi-line for everything I do on social media.
So, you may have noticed that my main tumblr account is now tianafeng.tumblr.com as opposed to “teepoo.tumblr.com”. I was previously using my name for my photography tumblr but for general copyright reasons, I decided that Flickr (and partially this blog) will be the home for my photos. I’ve gotten to the point where uncompensated exposure isn’t something I need anymore, plus it takes time to post photos in so many different places. I love having one (tumblr) account that accumulates all the content I create and collect, so therefore I decided to make the relatively painless switch.
I’ve already changed Ride the Tempo to show real bi-lines around 2 years ago. I became comfortable with my own writing enough that I no longer needed to hide behind a fake name, and I encouraged all my contributors to do the same. Now it’s relatively normal (in the past few years anyway) to have your real name everywhere and if you don’t, people can figure out your true identity if they really wanted to. I’m not ashamed of the things I post, nor do I post anything that I wouldn’t want certain people reading. If you google my name, it’s all things I’m relatively proud of or I would have never hit publish. There’s nothing wrong with filling up the Google Search with things that highlight positive things about me when people search my name!
What do you think about names online? Do you use your own?
Trimming the Fat (of My Online Presence)
I’m an early adopter of social media. I often join everything only to find out that things fall out of trend later. The “new Facebook” pops up every so often and everyone jumps on the ship only to fall overboard a few months later. Then there are the ones that do survive. What do you use? Should we be on all of them? I consciously decided that I don’t need to be.
If you asked me last year, I’d probably tell you that you should be on everything. In fact, I tried to be. It was exhausting. I even stuck on ello for way too long. I used chimed.in until it was dead. I saw the death of digg. I even used the “new Myspace” for longer than anyone else.
I’ve decided to trim a bit of my online fat. I can’t be on everything it is exhausting. I decided to use the platforms that work best for me. I keep trying to make Snapchat work for me, but it just doesn’t make sense in my life. I love Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, Flickr and those will be my main platforms for now on. You’ll occasionally see a Periscope (I chose it over Meerkat) or a Vine. Google+ makes an appearance from time to time (I still get a ton of interactions there), but I feel like Google’s (or should I say Alphabet’s) recent changes will put the nail on that coffin soon.
It still looks like I post on many platforms, but most of those can be synced. Focusing on specific platforms now allows me to focus on creating better content and spend less time on my phone/computer and more time living.
Internet Addiction: Do We Have It?
Today I read an article about people who were so addicted to the internet they needed to go to rehab for internet addiction. It was an extensive article and by the end of it I started to wonder if I have a type of internet addiction.
4 years ago, I wrote a post where I admitted that I wouldn’t give the internet up for $50 million. I still think that way. In fact, social media has become an increasingly big part of our lives. It’s hard to make any changes unless we decide collectively as a society. It’s now legitimately part of my paid full-time job and a tool that has helped me with opportunities, friends and adventures.
Despite this, I’ve made an effort in the past year to put the phone down whenever I’m with other people (except for the occasionally Instagram with food). I try to not to check feeds when I’m out and enjoy the company around me. I think working with social media as a profession has changed what I do personally in my off hours. I relish the time where I’m occupied with other things. At the same time, I do feel the urge and the obligation to be writing and publishing (at least this blog) every day.
What’s important though is that I know I don’t have a serious addiction and there are two main points that rule out if your internet browsing is problematic:
1) Is it affecting your school work or job?
2) Is the time you are spending on the internet affecting your relationships with people in a negative manner?
3) Does using it/not using it significantly affect your mood?
If you said yes to any or both of these things, you might want to evaluate and control how much time you are spending online.
Urbanspoon Becomes Zomato
Urbanspoon has now completely merged with Zomato! In case you haven’t noticed,all my previous Urbanspoon buttons have now auto-converted to Zomato ones. You can read my previous introduction to Zomato here.
I’m very excited for this change. Urbanspoon has needed a facelift for years. Zomato makes eating out much like a social network. The layout is beautiful and there are even curated recommendations. You can bookmark places to try out later, call for reservations or even book an Uber to the restaurant with the app.
If you used to follow me on Urbanspoon, you can now find me on Zomato at https://www.zomato.com/tianafeng.
Vote for Your Favourite in the SOCAN Songwriting Prize 2015!
I’m helping out with the SOCAN Songwriting Prize again. Do me a favour and vote for your favourite song! Coincidentally all the nominees this year happen to be by female artists. BOO YEAH GIRL POWER.
#MyIdol
So, my sister and I tried the latest app trend. My Idol, which takes a photo of you and turns you into a weird 3D character. This is me. Creepy right?
Tiana Feng 