Twitter is a brilliant tool. I use tweetdeck to set up my lists and during racing season it really comes in to its own.
I also really enjoy facebook. My āfriendsā are actually people I know, no randoms, and the groups I belong to, mainly ex-RN and cycling, are excellent.
Iāve got a slightly bigger retinue of Facebook friends; lots more than I actually hang out with. One of the biggest sources of acquaintances is people from the US. Never used to add people, but got fed up with going back and being the dickhead that remembered no names.
Iām with Cholula and Flahute. I love Twitter, though donāt contribute much. Itās probably where I read breaking news first. Great for professional contacts, but also finding interesting people with something interesting to say. And itās had an amazing impact on social causes.
That said, it has its negative side - Iāve just finished reading Jon Ronsonās āSo Youāve Been Publically Shamedā which gave a scary account on what happens to those who get on the bad side of Twitter audiences.
It still comes down to tech vs application for me. As someone that works in the industry, Iām alarmed at how often people donāt think something through. The Ronson book is full of people like that, either those being shamed or in the case of the guy giving the public apology while tweets were being live-streamed in his eyeline, the people setting up the event.
Iāve seen it loads myself in professional situations, and once had to write a swear-filter sharpish after one of these ānot thought throughā incidents (I could see it coming a mile off; they literally needed a āwhat the fuck is this shitā from a commenter called āPosh Wankā to see sense).
Oh absolutely. And there are always daft people out there who donāt think things through. But punishment fitting the crime is the big issueā¦ which is something I also feel unease about in the Adam Johnson storyā¦but thatās another thread.
Well itās difficult to come away from that book feeling anything but sympathy for most of those that have been shamed. Yes, theyāve done something wrong, but what chance do people like Adam Johnson genuinely have for rehabilitation from criminal proceedings if you can have your career finished, over and done with, for a bit of plagiarism, invention or tweeting a joke you think is funny, but havenāt thought through?
I am as uneasy as you with the AJ and (probably) the Ched Evans cases. There are two things in conflict; the idea that people can be rehabilitated and the notion that there are some things you just canāt come back from.
I use twitter predominantly as a way of identifying arseholes.
It does stop me having to talk to people though, which is never a bad thing because they often talk back.
There is some good stuff out there but you have to come across it and then bookmark it. And sometimes I use double-spacing for no reason known to anyone. And then I hardly go back to the bookmark because thereās something good out there if only you can find it.
Tinder is occasionally hilarious. My view is that anyone who puts it out in the public domain now has to learn to have thick skin and put up with it just as Stephen Fry did recently. It would be good if someone could work out if the propensity to arseholedom is linear/static in a population or if other factors make it highly variable.
As for here, I think this post slightly mirrors Antās view above: it almost seems obligatory that I donāt just read in the distance but occasionally write.
As others have said, twitter is very much a case of you get exactly what you sign up for.
If you follow a bunch of cunts, your timeline is going to be full of unseemly discharge.
I donāt use it in a personal capacity, but it is an invaluable resource professionally, when you need to get up to date, real time feedback from on the ground in inaccessible parts of the world. With twitter, I can get first-hand eye witness accounts and photographic evidence from a scene in a matter of seconds. It has also been the souce of many very fruitful collaborations and working relationships being established.
Wouldnāt be seen on it for personal life ā but wouldnāt be without it for work.
Use twitter less and less. But once got to a secret tiny Killers gig because of it so it will always have a soft spot for it.
I like Twitter.
Iām loving the levels of political engagement on it at the moment; some of the campaigns weāve covered on here, such as the Lucy Allan, have been sustained by Twitter.
I think itās going to be hugely influential in the next election.
Twitter is good fun for news and news links, football updates, betting tips, titties and lols. I find it best to avoid celebs on the whole, but some are funny. There is so much content that people are bound to find things they enjoy on there.
Have a Facebook profile, but donāt use it, apart from keeping in touch with some old college mates who use it to organise get togethers. Got a bit fed up with the narcissism and nerosis on there, but just like the TV, I donāt have to fire it up unless I want to.
Twitter I use, as others have said if you sign up for shit you get shit. I donāt tweet a lot and I donāt look for recognition.
Facebook, I had an account, someone annoyed me with their inane posting once and rather than call them a stupid cunt I deleted my account, Iāve not missed it.
Linkedin, can go do one, why do I want to link to a recruiter I donāt fucking know??
Originally posted by @BTripz
Linkedin, can go do one, why do I want to link to a recruiter I donāt fucking know??
LinkedIn is best seen as an online CV, a place to put professionally related musings, and thatās it.
I personally think the endorsements system is very good, although thatās probably because Iāve got a few 
LinkedIn recruitment stuff is shit. It sends me a ton of irrelevant jobs every day which are nothing like what I have asked for. And if any recruitment decision maker places any value on endorsements, they should be fired.
Their job suggestions are hilarious - do I want to move 300 miles and become a director in a business completely unrelated to anything Iāve ever done before?
Itās right up there with Twitter asking me if I want to follow someone off Hollyoaks, or TicketBastard saying, you recently bought tickets for Iron Maiden, perhaps youād be interested in Little Mix.
Idiots.
Where are Little Mix playing?
In your mindā¦
I have the joy of taking my 10yo daughter to see Little Mix next month in Nottingham.
Chuffed. Much.
Sit back, enjoy the view