twitter – Tiana Feng

Static Zine Love Issue!

March 5, 2016ArtLeave a Comment

I totally forgot to tell you the newest issue of Static Zine is out. The theme for this issue is Love.

I submitted an edited version of my story about buying my boyfriends watches.

You can find the zine in Toronto at independent cafés or pick up a copy at Static Cloud’s Etsy store! Connect with real people on their stories and art on different topics or you can follow Static Zine on Twitter and find out how to submit your stories for the next issue.

Bye Meerkat! Hello Periscope

April 3, 2015iOS, Social Media, TechnologyLeave a Comment

Whenever there’s a new social network, I often rush to become an early adopter. To me, it doesn’t really matter if that the general public hasn’t seen the value of them yet. I like to learn the value of each myself for my own interests as well to keep up to date on what’s on trend for professional reasons.

Recently, I talked about new live streaming service Meerkat. A little while after, Twitter bought and launched a very similar service called Periscope. While I see the advantages of Meerkat, I soon discovered that Periscope was a better fit for me. It was connected to Twitter and streams also saved so that they could be rebroadcasted. Often when Meerkat streams were over, the tweets led to dead links. These two reasons alone were enough to convince me to make the switch. I also believe it will take an even larger marketshare once it hits the Android store.

So if you’re a Periscope user and would like to find me you can find me under my usual username “@tianafeng”! I’ve been having a lot of fun showing people my fridge so far (of which I still don’t understand the obsession).

Are you part of the live stream craze? If so, which app are you using?

Why You Should Have An Online Presence

September 17, 2013Social Media, Technology1 Comment

I was having a chat with someone the other day about social media and I tried explain to an anti-social media person why it was important to have an online footprint professionally. I think nowadays social media is so accessible (with privacy statements continuously changing and all) that there really isn’t a line between what you can consider professional versus personal. The reasons are the same. This makes it even more important to own your online presence.

1. To control what others find online. At bare minimum, it’s good to have a website that has a good headshot of your face, a mini biography about what you do and perhaps some work samples. A Linkedin or an About.me page is fine. This way you can provide an URL to your employers (or people you meet) for a first impression beyond your resume. Your employers are also probably going to Google your name so having a headshot is important to distinguish yourself from the other Joe Shmoe shotgunning a beer in a Youtube video. If you’re lucky enough to register the web domain with your actual name, go for it.

2. Open yourself to new opportunities. I never went to school for social media. It was something I learnt by experimenting, while managing multiple websites. I was an early adopter of Twitter. Through it, I’ve met some of the most interesting and like-minded people who are now some great friends offline. I’ve also had the opportunity to do things I never thought I’d do (like meet Phoenix or dance on stage with Girl Talk). I also worked places I never thought I’d end up. I never applied to work at Exclaim. Despite not being a journalism grad, the director of operations actually found me online after meeting me at a show and sent me a Facebook message. There’s a lot of fish in that sea but you have to have some sort of bait to hook them!

3. To be ready for what the future might hold. Maybe one day in the future, you might want to start your own business, write a book or even just raise money for that marathon you suddenly feel like running. Having a dedicated following on Twitter or Facebook (or whatever social networks you choose to use) takes time to build. However, a strong community can really aid to kick start that new project.

3 Year Twitter Anniversary

April 23, 2012Life, Social Media, TechnologyLeave a Comment

Today marks 3 years for me on Twitter. I joined the social networking site in it’s earlier years, when most people thought it was just a place for glorified Facebook statuses. In the beginning, I probably was even guilty for using it in that way.

However, I realized it was much more. It was a way to keep up with news, read some interesting stories and last but not least, meet some great people. I’ve met some of them offline who were not just local people, but from different parts of the world. I’ve heard and seen some great music that I would not have otherwise.

If I were to give up one social network, it would be Facebook before Twitter. I will be tweeting for many years to come.

5 Types of Really Unnecessary Tweets

April 19, 2012Social Media, Technology1 Comment

I’m reaching my 3 year anniversary soon on Twitter (@tianafeng) and it has become a valuable tool for information, as well as networking with interesting individuals. Unfortunately with that also comes spam, and clutter of people who post things that are well, unnecessary.

1. Tweets about going to the gym. Unless you work in the fitness industry as a trainer or a blogger, I feel like your followers don’t need to know you are trying to work off that burger you instagram’d 10 minutes ago.

2. Retweeting your praises. I already think you are somewhat awesome if I follow you. You don’t need to keep retweeting how much other people think you’re awesome. Does this raise your awesomness level? No. Remember, people who don’t follow you won’t see these anyway and those that do might see you as an egotistic jerk.

3. Tweets about how much your life sucks. Maybe there is a reason your life isn’t turning out the way you want it to, because you enable it to. Broadcasting it to the world isn’t helping you in any way and shuts the doors to any opportunities that may come your way such as new friends or even job openings.

4. Tweets about your crush or the boy/girl you are stalking. Yes, these exist. Whether it’s the attractive person at the coffee shop, or the friend of a friend, don’t do it. You appear excessively creepy, and maybe that’s why you aren’t in a relationship. Stop looking at Craigslist’s Missed Connections and just go talk to the person. The time you spend tweeting about them can be well spent actually talking to them.

5. Passive aggressive messages to a specific person. Whether this person is actually following you or not, these are very unnecessary. If you have a feud in real life, resolve things offline. The online world doesn’t need to know you hold silly grudges. Besides if you post something stupid like “I HATE YOU!!!!”, someone might mistake it as to them.