Is LinkedIn intentionally spamming me?

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Hari Patience

Messages from Linkedin groups Seriously, no joke. Is LinkedIn trying to get all of its messages labelled as Spam and sent to the unsubscribe bin? Because that’s what’s going to happen if they don’t undo whatever they did and STOP SENDING ME A DOZEN EMAILS EVERY DAY AT THE SAME GODDAMN TIME. Continue reading →

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Are 70% of smartphone users in Europe really on Android?

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Hari Patience

Haymarket's smartphone infographic - smartphone OS in Europe

Haymarket published some interesting smartphone stats over on their blog last week. I don’t spend a lot of time hanging out on the corporate blogs of my company’s competitors but I will admit this one caught my eye.

Are nearly 70% of smartphone users in Europe really using Android devices?

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Kickstarter dreams – LapTape

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Hari Patience

LapTape

Now this looks weird but I think it might be kinda genius. God knows my arms get tired when I’m trying to watch things on my iPad on the sofa.

You know what? It’s £13 for one on Kickstarter. I’m sold. Off to pledge now.

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Interviewly makes Reddit AMAs readable

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Hari Patience

Reddit scares me. There I’ve said it. It’s not the content, or the creepyness, or the fact that are entire subReddits dedicated to some really dark and disturbing stuff.

No, it’s the appearance of the thing.

Reddit's homepage - 24/3/2014

I just can’t handle the stripped down, early 90s, dial-up internet look of it. And I get very confused when trying to read threads.

Maybe I’m just not down with the kids anymore but I really don’t see why this site and its design is so beloved by so many. I just want to run to Tumblr and enjoy big images and hide from the upvote/downvote vibe that Reddit has going on.

But there is one thing I like about Reddit and that is the Ask Me Anythings. It’s a fascinating mass-interview/interrogation approach to Q&As and I’ve read some really really good ones, though I’ll admit I general go for the famous people. Bill Murray. Barack Obama.

But man do I hate how hard they are to read.

So I was thrilled last week to learn about Interviewly, a new site that takes those content rich celebrity AMAs and makes them readable.

So if you’ll excuse me I’m off to read through their archive. I may be some time.

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Kickstarter dreams – the Upstanding desk

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Hari Patience

The upstanding desk - image from Kickstarter

So someone needs to tell me why I don’t need to have this in my life. Because I wants it. I wants it SO BADLY.

I’m nearly six foot tall and I’ve had back issues ever since my primary mode of employment became sitting a desk all day and typing.

I’ve never tried a standing desk because looking like the office meerkat has never appealed. But I want to do more writing at home and this does look like an ideal solution.

Plus it has that IKEA/minimalist/I live in a really cool loft in the East Village look about it. And while I don’t live in a really cool loft in the East Village and I don’t think I’d even find an affordable one in East London anyway, I still wants it.

But they don’t ship to the UK. Anyone know a good London based fabrication shop that could knock this together for me if I kick $25 into the bucket for the plans?

Full details over on their Kickstarter

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Uses for Tumblr #2 – not just another social media site

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Hari Patience

Tumblr has yet to become quite as commercialised as some of the other social media platforms. About the only overly commercial posts I ever seen on Tumblr (all since Yahoo took over, boo hiss) have been for horror movies. But that’s not to say that Tumblr can’t be used for digital promotion.

But treating Tumblr like any other social media site won’t do – this is not the place to just post your latest news with a link or a picture of your new product. A Tumblr campaign should be subtle. Customised. Proof that you understand what people use Tumblr for.

That being said about the most well known successful Tumblr campaign to date is anything but.

Image

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Uses for Tumblr #1 – Anonymity

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Hari Patience

In one of the various other guises I wear online I’ve spent a lot of time on Tumblr in the past year. I joined to try and figure out what, if any, uses there were for a blogging platform with such a heavy focus on images. I read an article about how the Guardian, the UK’s aspirational workplace of choice for anyone who works in digital publishing, had used Tumblr to highlight images from London fashion week. I was intrigued.

I set up a Tumblr and followed a few work colleagues. Big mistake. You see Tumblr isn’t like other social media sites. Tumblr isn’t where you connect with friends or share the pictures from last week’s BBQ or coo over the pretty niece or nephew on the other side of the world. And that’s because Tumblr is full of porn. 22% full of porn if these stats are to be believed.

And not just dirty sleazy sexy porn – Tumblr is full of something that a lot of people seem to consider *just as embarrassing* as porn. Tumblr is full of fandom.

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What LinkedIn did next

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Hari Patience

Back in my early days of my current job I used to run lunchtime digital training sessions and the first one I ever led was about LinkedIn. It was key, I thought. Here is a social media site full of professionals looking for ways to get ahead, and I work for a membership magazine publisher, producing magazines and websites for professionals looking for ways to get ahead.

Natural fit.

But that was two years ago.

Continue reading →

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