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evesbeve · 4 years

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Hey there, you said your ask box was open for Justin Min's whole thing? I guess I just slept through the whole thing, honestly - could you just go over a gist of everything that happened? I get that it seems like a PR team didn't know how to use twitter (which, mood) and f-ed things up for him, but what were they "cleaning up" in the first place, who's Anna what did they do that warranted such a bizarre thread from the PR team, etc...? 😳

Hey! Okay so this is going to be a lot, so buckle up.

Right off the bat, I just want to say that Justin isn’t cancelled. The situation has been mostly resolved right now (more on that later).

So around a week ago, Justin Min started deleting his replies to fans. Depending on whether you’re on Twitter or not, you might know that Justin is one of the most interactive people of the cast. He knows a lot of fans by name, he has inside jokes with us, and he just interacts a lot with his fanbase. So you can imagine why him suddenly starting to delete his replies was a bit upsetting. There was nothing we could do about it though.

And suddenly, two days ago, Justin deactivated his account out of nowhere, which caused all kinds of drama to go down.

People started pointing the finger at specific accounts saying it was their fault that Justin deactivated (don’t even get me started on that logic; why a grown-ass adult deactivate because of a few teenagers is above me, it literally made no sense), even sending death threats. Others suspected that he got suspended because Twitter’s algorithm saw all these tweets get deleted and was like “welp, bot time.” Long story short, lots of misinformation was going around.

And then out of the blue, Justin’s account was reactivated, and he made a thread directed at Anna.

Now, who is Anna? Anna is a stan on twitter, whose @ I won’t be sharing for privacy, but here’s how they’re relevant in this:

Remember when I mentioned the inside jokes? Well, one of them was between a fan called Matt and Justin. Matt kept commenting on Justin’s tweets asking him to say trans rights. On the one year anniversary of Matt asking Justin to say trans rights, Justin finally said it. Then, Matt made a poll asking other stans what he should have Justin say next, and lesbian rights won.

Around a month ago, Matt replied to one of Justin’s tweets, and Justin responded with something along the lines of “haha, i know this is just an attempt to get me to say lesbian rights,” referencing the inside joke. People started commenting that the way he phrased it was a bit :/ so then he replied to his own tweet with something like “well, i’ll delete this before i get cancelled,” and that’s when things spiraled.

[id: Justin Min’s tweet #1: i see that you are trying to butter me up to say lesbian rights, nice try, matt. nice try.

Justin Min’s tweet #2: oh, here we go. this is an inside joke between myself and matt, if you’ve been a part o fthis fandom for more than a few weeks. but alas, i will have to delete this now before i’m cancelled by the end of the day. keep loving, everyone.]

Lesbians get spoken over and looked down upon not only by straight people, but also the LGBT community. So when Justin tweeted that, lesbians were like “this sounds as if you care more about your own self image rather than our community.” Then, non-lesbians got involved and started either a) calling Justin lesbophobic (which lesbians never did) or b) blindly defending Justin and saying he did nothing wrong.

(Side note: I am not a lesbian, and I’m not trying to speak over lesbians in this situation. But I did talk about this to some of my friends who are lesbians, and they told me that what Justin did wasn’t as big of a deal as Twitter made it out to be. These are their words, not mine. All I know is that it was definitely not bad-intentioned, just a huge misunderstanding.)

Anyway, Anna made a thread explaining to Justin why him defending himself came out as harmful towards the lesbian community, and then Justin apologised and that was it.

Which brings us back to yesterday (26/9/2020).

Everyone is freaking out, posting misinformation, panicking. I don’t exactly,,, know how, but the #justinminisoverparty hashtag started being used for actual hate towards Justin for deactivating, and some people (including Anna, though I think their tweet was in the context of a joke? please take this with a grain of salt though. update: it was in the context of a joke) mentioned that Justin is a lesbophobe.

A few hours later, Justin reactivated his account, tagged Anna, and said this (though it was actually his PR team, more on that later):

[id: Justin’s Tweet: @ [redacted] quickly jumping back on here from my twt break because i’m receiving messages that you’re continuing to spread misinformation, so i want to clarify.]

[id: Justin’s Tweets: 1. all of my interactions with you were deleted because of the need to set clear boundaries due to the fact that your incessant messages and replies from multiple accounts over the last several months were veering into stalking/harassment.

2. for someone who appears to pride themselves on reminding their friends/followers on a daily basis to be careful of the language they use on this app, you seem to be fine with flippantly labeling someone as homophobic/lesbophobic as if they’re cute little adjectives to give to someone, not realizing that such labels have real-life consequences.]

[id: Justin’s Tweets: 3. also noting here than in your original thread, you stated that you neither considered me nor my words to actually be lesbophobic, so a bit confused as to why your story has suddenly changed.

4. i realize you’re young, so i’m genuinely hoping you use this opportunity to learn and grow andbe a little more mindful the next time you decide to tweet.]

The next twenty minutes were pure chaos. Justin deactivated again, everyone started freaking out because that was very out of character for him. People were cancelling him because this could have easily been resolved in DMs, or tweeted without the mention of Anna (a minor) from a mainstream Twitter account.

And then, Justin Min DMed another fan on Instagram (her name is Em) about the situation.

Who is Em? For starters, I’d like to say that I personally know Em and that she’s one of my best friends. I’ve known her for more than a year now, and I can personally vouch for her. Everything that she posted is 100% true (if you want the thread where she posts proof of the DMs, please send me a different ask because I’m scared tumblr will not post this in the tag if I include it here).

The reason Justin DMed her out of all people is because he also kinda knows her? As I mentioned, Justin interacts with us on Twitter a lot, and Em is the one person he’s responded to the most, so he knows who she is. (He’s tagged her more times than other cast members, at least before all his tweets were deleted by his PR team.)

Anyway, this is what Em tweeted:

[id: Em’s tweets: please read this !!!

justin dmed me on instagram and basically the gist of it is that he hired a pr team and they tweeted the thread at anna without knowing everyone could see it. all of the tweets being deleted/ him deactivating was also them.]

Below is the image Em attached to the tweet:

[id: Justin’s DM to Em: hey. this is justin. i’m just hearing about what’s happening on twitter right now. for context, i was asked to work with a team of people to “clean up” my twitter in the past few weeks. they’ve taken the liberty of deleting a bunch of my responses and posts in order to safeguard me (whatever that means) as well as deactivating my account to comb through other things.i believe they accidentally sent anna a message and mistakenly believed the function for her to comment only would mean that she would be the only one to see it as well. needless to say, i’m no longer working with this team and want to personally apologize to her. do you know any way i can get into contact with her?]

And then, in a follow-up tweet:

[id: Em’s text at Justin: sorry for dming you again. is there any other way i can help? i just feel really bad about this whole thing and i know how quickly this stuff can spread if it’s not taken care of

Justin’s text: i mean, i guess you can share the information i’ve given you? it’ll take a bit of time for me to take back ownership on everything as i sever ties with that team, so maybe the sooner the better people know.

Em’s text: okay ! is it okay if i tweet a screenshot

Justin’s text: sure.]

Then Justin’s account got reactivated an hour ago (almost 24hs after Em’s tweets), and he tweeted this:

[id: Justin’s tweet: hi. it’s me. thank you for all your messages. this has been an incredibly tough week for me on multiple fronts. some things you might already be aware of; many other things you don’t know about.asking for a bit of privacy as i take sometime to unplug. hoping to be back soon.]

And that’s all, I think? There’s lots we don’t know about what happened yet, so please please please try not to spread misinformation. This is a stressful situation for us on Twitter, and especially for Justin, and misinformation going around is the last thing we need right now.

tl;dr: Justin Min hired a PR Team that started deleting all of his tweets and deactivated his account. Misinformation started spreading, people started cancelling Justin for no reason. The PR Team decided to respond to Anna, made the response public, deactivated again. Justin DMed Em and explained the situation, and an hour ago, he reactivated and said he’s taking a small break to sort things out.

If anyone has any other questions/clarifications, my askbox is open! Hope this shed some light on the situation <3

UPDATE 28/9/2020: Justin has DMed and apologised to Anna for the situation, and Anna has accepted the apology. Anna posted all of it on their account, but again, if you want a link, send me an ask!

#im gonna go to bed now so ill respond to any follow-up asks tomorrow #i hope this made sense #ask #anon #evelina nonesense #the umbrella academy #tua #tua cast #justin min #justin h min #justin h. min #ben #ben hargreeves #tua ben #the horror #tw: drama

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laraslandlockedblues · 5 years

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Ok actually I know the tags on my gif post I just did said I wasn’t sure when I’d be back, but I’m feeling strangely articulate tonight so here we go. Long-winded under the cut.

TL;DR - Real life is (and will continue to be) a busy bitch, a writer’s ego is a fragile thing, and my Lightning Struck series (Cullen/Evelyn) can now be considered on indefinite hiatus.

Hi! Yes, I’m alive and well and I really do appreciate the messages asking if I was all right and checking on me. You’re all too sweet and kind, and I’m so grateful for each and every one of you. Keep that in mind as this ramble continues, please.

This has been a weird year already, and it’s only March. Normally I’d be like “IT’S ALREADY MARCH?!” but no, this year...It’s only March. That’s how I’ve been feeling.

January started off with a weird mood for me. Over the holidays I had the usual family stress and blahness that comes with adulthood, but a few fandom things happened too that put me into a rather...difficult headspace, shall we say. For one thing, I will say I’ve noticed I’m not the only one who’s pointed out that it feels like the fandom is dying. And it is. Which is sad. I feel like I only just got here - I’ve played DA for years but I only really started to interact with its fandom in late 2017, so for me it was still all fresh and new and exciting. Seeing that die down, compounded with the Tumblr wank, especially, was really disappointing.

As a creator, too, it was hard not to take that personally. It was hard not to take people moving on to other fandoms and interests and things as an indictment on my work. Rational brain knew that that was the problem, rational me knew that we were all just moving on because other things were catching our interest. It’s natural. But dumb, idiot writer brain was struggling with the fact that I was feeling like I was screaming into the void.

What bothered me more was that I even cared. I never once wanted to care about that. I always preach writing for oneself, and that’s why I write. But I hated the fact that for a time I’d gotten so much feedback that I noticed its absence when it died down a little. And that’s not anyone’s fault, I’m not begging for comments or feedback, seriously. Again, rational me was shrugging and still wanted to write for me because it was fun and I enjoy it, but the fragile writer ego we all carry around inside us took a hit and began to doubt.

It stopped being fun. Especially because it wasn’t necessarily a total lack of feedback - it was, for me, a lack of feedback on what I was actually, currently working on. Over the holidays for some reason I began to get comments on WIPs that I hadn’t updated in ages - asking me for updates. Now, everyone has their own opinion on those sorts of comments, so this is only my own, and take it with a grain of salt and everything I just mentioned above.

It sucked. It absolutely, 100% sucked. Seeing the email notification that I got a comment would bring me so much joy - only to open it to see that it was a comment on something I hadn’t written for in a long time asking me when I’d feel like providing more content for that fic again. I began to feel like fic was a transaction and I was piling up debts. I started to feel like I owed fandom and readers what they wanted, instead of doing this for the reason I started in the first place - for myself.

I know that Rylen is niche. I know that fics that have very little to do with canon are niche. I know that Abby isn’t always super likable. I know that John is off-putting because he’s such a morally ambiguous OC who has nothing to do with DA and makes really shit decisions. I know all of that, and I’ve never expected any of those fics to get any sort of response, so the fact that they’ve gotten the response that they have still blows my mind and makes me insanely, insanely happy. And so I hated that I felt ungrateful, and that I was doubting my work, and that writing and fandom was beginning to feel like a labor and not something I loved.

The more I noticed I was struggling with working on updates, the more I started to think a break might be in order. When some RL stuff finally cropped up, the fact that I was sort of forced into a break was a blessing in disguise, to be honest. I leaned into the skid and let myself step back to reevaluate why I do this and what I want to get out of it. I fell into a new fandom and worked on random pieces of writing for it, which I threw into the voids of ao3 on a second account and only shared for myself and a few friends who were also falling into that fandom with me. I rediscovered the joy of writing and not caring what response I get. I reignited my love of crafting a story a certain way because I wanted to and not because I thought it was where anyone else thought it should go.

I remembered why I love writing in the first place - for myself.

And with that, I finally began to let go of some things, and let myself mull over decisions I’d been putting off or avoiding. I shrugged off the stress of expectation and “owing” anyone my time or effort, and I’m finally back to enjoying myself and my writing, free of doubt.

With that, I have some news, good and bad. The bad news first - my Cullen muse has left the building. I have waited, and hoped, and tried, but at some point he walked out the door and he hasn’t made an appearance since. That isn’t to say that I don’t still love his character or content about him, but personally, I can no longer write his POV or romance. The ability to do so has eluded me for months now, but I’ve accepted this sad truth at long last. Unless he’s trading banter with Rylen or Abby, his muse is no longer whispering in my ear. And that makes me sad, and for all I know he’ll reemerge some day, ready to help me write again. For now, though, that isn’t possible. Which does, unfortunately, mean that my Cullen/Evelyn WIPs are currently either abandoned or on an indefinite hiatus (I’ve tagged them appropriately on ao3 if you’re curious). If I do manage to return to them, I expect to only focus on Moments Passed and Miss Grey. As for what I’ll do about Beautiful Disaster...I’m not quite certain yet.

It did also mean that I was able to let go of something that had bothered me for a while as well. I’m almost positive no one noticed since it’s been kind of off radar for a while, but - my fic What Are the Odds has been orphaned. I’m still proud of it as a fic, but it came with a lot of baggage and my Cullen/Evelyn pairing was just ever so slightly OOC to the point that comments on it made me cringe. I’m a firm believer in not deleting, and so off to the fandom as an orphaned work it went, to be enjoyed without me having to be aware of it at all.

Now, the good news is - I do 100% still plan on writing Abby/Rylen. Their muses are still there and whispering to me, and I definitely want to continue working on the WIPs I have for them. At the moment After Rain might be slow to update (need to figure out how I’m navigating some canon plot to get me from point A to B to C to D and on). But I plan on trying to finish it as well as the others that I have for them. Abby/Ry live on, because I absolutely love them so much, and the idea of writing for them is back to bringing me joy.

I cannot make guarantees on update speed for the foreseeable future, possibly for the rest of the year. Currently RL continues to be a shitshow, as I was reminded today, and writing more than a sentence here or there has been difficult. In a few months I will also be moving, and once at my new destination I actually have a Big Project (a writing one I hope to be able to share here, if people are still around/Tumblr is still a thing) that I intend to make my full time focus. My goal has always been to be a writer, and while fanfic has been an amazing way to explore my writing style/storytelling/character voice, I have plans to get published. I’ll have a better opportunity to put those plans into realistic action later this year, which I’m actually really, insanely excited about.

If you have made it this far, THANK YOU. I love this fandom, and I’ve met so many wonderful, lovely, supportive, talented people in it and I have missed you all dearly during my time away. In no way was this a call out post directed at anyone in particular, and in no way was this a “woe is me, please give me attention” cry for help. I’ve just had a lot of thoughts and feelings during this break, and I actually wanted to sort of vocalize them because: 1) wow I already feel better after doing so, and 2) to let other writers know it’s 100% valid to need to take a break or occasionally get in your head about needing validation/feedback/wonder why we do this when it just feels like screaming into a fathomless void. It’s natural and normal and totally human, and if you’re feeling that way, find someone supportive to help you through and take a step back. Everything will be waiting there for you when you’re ready for it. And remember - do it for yourself because it’s something you enjoy.

#lara rambles #long post #do n/ot/ reblog #seriously please #no reblobbies #thank you for the love while i was away #i'll try to be around more often now #xx

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quietdaysco · 5 years

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Primrose Path - Devlog #006

Hey, it’s us again—two indie devs with fresh dirt on our visual novel progress. Ready?

Behind the Scenes

Playtesting Feedback

Last month we closed the pre-alpha Ink build of Primrose Path’s common route outline. It met its purpose of proving the basic concepts of our game were viable and that it interested players in our target demographic. In fact, playtesters gave us overwhelmingly positive feedback in our post-test form about the characters and story. Here are a few quotes from their responses:

“The number of elements of the MC's [main character’s] life added in to the story in increments helped me not only relate to the MC but also stay interested.”

“There's a good variety of calmer moments and more outlandish/exciting/otherwise more high tension moment [sic], no issues for me.”

“[T]he clients are a rainbow of people with a few that [sic] very much stand out [to me]”

“By the end, I was definitely considering who I was going to chose as my client and was sad the pre-alpha ended even though I knew it was going to.”

“I 100% would dance [in a mini-game similar to] DDR [Dance Dance Revolution]”

As you can see, the beginnings of Primrose Path went over well and players definitely had a lot of interesting things to say about our mischievous clients! We can’t spoil them here, but you may be able to see for yourself when alpha testing comes to our server in the future!

Now, for all the good we received, it’s not to say the pre-alpha went without its criticisms:

“This might be silly, but I wish there were an option that weren't a dress for her outfit to the party.”

It’s not silly at all, playtester! It had us thinking about the different ways our protagonist, Lynn Austen, could express herself. This concern lead to one outfit redesign and introduced a number of new ones!

“The beginning was a little slow, but I love Priya, so all of her scenes brought my attention back instantly.”

We love co-worker and bestie, Priya, too, but she can’t be an exception for pacing. We’ve since reevaluated and tweaked Part 1: Work Day. Plenty of visual changes and cutting scenes entirely were discussed in order to tighten up the overall pacing.

“Harper seems harsh but has pressure on her to make her harsh, but then you see her and shes [sic] just straight up scary.”

While all playtesters understood Harper’s role as Lynn’s no-slack boss, a few found her consequentially unapproachable. We have a lot in store for her in later routes, but acknowledge she was sparse during the common route. We’ve since taken this concern and made her more available in new scenes, adjusted her tone in some of the older ones, and had other characters—who have a very different relationship with her than Lynn does—reflect more openly on her. We think this humanizes Harper much more.

“Unfortunately [Bellarmino] feels like a snobbier, more irritating Matt. [...] I personally don't find him very likable but I'm looking forward to being proven wrong.”

In our feedback form, we asked about character impressions. We also polled if players didn’t have to play all routes at least once, which clients they’d pick. While character impression responses expressed a willingness to give our model and fashion designer, Bellarmino LaFauci, a chance, he was our least popular choice in the poll. We figured it may have been that his personality wasn’t differentiated enough against the company with whom Lynn encounters him, so we’ve made adjustments to contrast him more against his judgmental cabal.

So as we went through and addressed feedback, we had some ideas of our own to implement, which leads us to...

Updated Revised Outline

Double the wordcount! Yep, we’re just shy of 32,000 words for the revised common route outline. How could this be? Look: don’t mistake Primrose Path for a linear narrative. Your choices affect the world from day one.

Beyond changes from playtester feedback, other new content includes:

New Characters! We work to make sure our side characters leave an impression. We’ve added a few more with the means to salvage or devastate Lynn’s career. Until you yourself can meet them, look out for future Lore snippets on our Twitter!

New Events! Lynn has more opportunities than before, and under different states of mind, to navigate and impact the world around her. Depending on what Lynn did, where, and when can completely change an encounter within that same space and time.

New Key Items! There are a couple of items Lynn can collect if she meets the right people and takes certain actions. These items can reveal some important information in client routes later on—and some hints for others, too!

New Areas! A few more places have been added to the common route, including whole new scenes. What could possibly lie behind these doors?

So how’s that sound? If you said “Damn, that’s hella rad,” well you just took the words right out of our mouths. But we’re not done yet; we take feedback seriously. When we can’t decide on what our audience may want, we leave no room for speculation. There’s really only one way to settle that.

VN Protagonist Sprite Survey

We run a survey! We wanted to know how visual novel fans preferred to see a customizable MC represented as a sprite, if at all. It’s tough for us because as much as we want to make Lynn as visually present as her sense of self, we also acknowledge that “immersion” for many players also means different levels of “intrusion” from MC’s sprite—down to none at all, for folks wanting to self-insert despite taking on another character’s existing backstory. While we think we’ve come to a happy medium that serves our purposes and would appeal to a good number of players, we’ll be sharing with you all in a separate post our findings.

Two things are for certain:

Visual novel players are an incredibly dedicated base, having turned out over 100 responses to our form! Thank you so much for helping us see your side on the matter!

The communities we frequent overwhelmingly take issue with one specific manner of MC representation—one that seems to plague the industry. If you’re not an avid consumer of visual novels, this begrudged answer may surprise you!

But hey, we haven’t closed it yet: you can contribute your opinion too until August 5th, 11:59 PM EDT. Stay tuned for our detailed write-up on the results, next time. We’ve got another survey in the works too (sounds like we’ve got a few hard decisions, huh?) so keep tabs on our Twitter when we release that form.

Greyson’s Twitter

Greyson’s been taking a break from Twitter for a minute. Working Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday overheated him, and in that vulnerable time, he caught a virus! So now he’s on sick leave and we’ve promised him an easier schedule of one day a week when he gets better. His posting schedule will be announced soon. You can still send him some love on his Twitter account. He’ll be sure to respond when he’s feeling up to it. He’s always there for you. Will you return the favor?

Main Game Progress

Common Route:

Rough Outline: 100% ✔

Revised Outline: 100% ✔

Draft Script: --%

The Artist: Matthias Barousse

Rough Outline: 100% ✔

Revised Outline: --%

Progress on the main game has primarily been on the common route outline. Some interesting things to note are that last time we reported our revision to be at 90%. After implementing feedback, our clean outline doubled in word count and we’ve reviewed it entirely since then. So now we’re thoroughly at 100%!

The breakdown of that is:

We finished up the common route’s Part 3: The Interviews, in which Lynn meets all her clients whom she may or may not have stumbled upon at a legendary bash.

We elaborated on Part 2: The Party encounters and added more variations which subsequently trickle over into alternate interactions in The Interviews.

We added an interactive, portent dream sequence the night of The Interviews, right when Lynn hits the bed after evaluating all potential clients at work.

... and a few other additions. Also among other things, we’ve actually started work on the draft script already, but we’ve not had time to properly calculate the percentage. It’ll be updated accordingly in our next log.

What’s Next For Us

We’re going to finish up our script draft and start focusing our efforts into creating a playable, visual alpha build of Primrose Path. Yes, we want to play our game as much as you do and that’s motivation enough!

We’re focusing on monthly devlogs for our Tumblr, but we have to ask:

Are there other kinds of content and updates you folks would like to see here? We want to know! Shoot us a message in our Ask the Devs inbox here on Tumblr, or hit us up on Twitter, Discord, and Lemma Soft!

Thanks for reading! Keep up and remember to enjoy your Quiet Days. ♥

Socials

- Micro-updates on Twitter!

♦ Factoids with Greyson!

- Live art development on Twitch!

- Art logging on Instagram!

- Ask us anything here!

- Continue the discussion on Discord!

- Master thread on Lemma Soft!

#devlog #primrosepath #visual novel #otome #english otome #indiedev #gamedev #otomedev

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pixeljunkiettube · 5 years

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Top 22 Social Media Platforms for Your Business

The first web-page went live on 6th August, 1991. The sole purpose of the first website was to spread information about world-wide-web (WWW) project and was released by Tim-Berner’s Lee. The link to first website: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. The website still exists but the World-Wide-Web has now changed a lot. In past 28 years the world wide web has expanded so much that it now consists of almost 200 million active websites (20,00,00,000) with a stack of over 1.5 billion websites (not active though).

During this expansion we saw the rise of Social Media Platforms. The basic purpose of Social Media Platforms was to make it convenient for the friends and family members to interact with each other on regular basis even if they live far away from each other. But today’s social media platforms are now more than that. They are expanding into business models and each platform has a unique quality and a specific audience. Here we will discuss the Top 20 Social Media Platforms for your business. If you are a startup or running a business for quite a while and planning for expansion, this article will surely help you a lot. Now Let’s get Started.

1.Facebook.com

Facebook would be my all-time favorite social media platform. Mark Zuckerberg and his team did an amazing job in providing the best social network in such a beautiful manner that it tackle almost all aspects of one’s personal and official routines. One reason for Facebook to get the top position in this list is its connections list. There are more than 2.38 Billion users of Facebook and 1.56 Billion users daily use Facebook. This is even more than the total population of India which is 1.34 Billion. One cannot neglect such a huge market, especially when you are running a business and looking for opportunities. For businesses, Facebook offer business pages. You can design and customize pages very easily. It doesn’t matter if you want to start a business, create a store or start your own Fan Page. You can do all that in just 5 – 10 minutes and it is very easy. On Facebook you can add text, images, videos, live streaming and stories to your Facebook page and make it more engaging for the viewers. You can do research with the help of polls and some other options available in Facebook.

2. Instagram.com

Instagram is a next generation thing. In my opinion, if you want to target a younger audience, Instagram and Snapchat are the best options. Instagram makes the second position in our list because of its 1 billion users list and out of which 500 million users regularly use Instagram. There is no doubt that Facebook is lagging behind in capturing the mobile market while Instagram is doing it perfectly. Instagram has become the charm of Smart Phones Industry. Instagram works perfectly with hashtags and you can also create 5 business pages with one registration. (Funny story, I didn’t know that and once cleaned my whole Instagram account to make it my business account!). With business account being open for everyone and your Personal account restricted for your friends and family just like you do it in Facebook, you can work even on your smartphone. As compared to Facebook, Instagram restricts you to upload video with a length of less than 60 seconds. But that’s OK, this is an opportunity for marketers to deliver their message within 60 seconds and attract clients for your business.

3. Youtube.com

There are Vimeo, Dailymotion and many other video streaming websites online, but YouTube is the most famous one. YouTube is one of those websites which is even children friendly and anyone can use it with just one click. YouTube have a total of 1.9 billion users and 28 million users watch videos on YouTube on daily basis. It has been observed that the video content has a stronger impact as compared to textual or Image content. In one of Forbes articles it was discussed that Video Marketing might be the future of marketing (Ref: Video Marketing The Future of Content Marketing) As a business owner or a marketing expert you can design creative and interactive videos and attract the target audience with you content. You can redirect them through YouTube towards your website landing page or can also do the affiliate marketing with the help of YouTube. There is a variety of video types and you can promote your business with such a diverse marketing platform.

4. Twitter.com

The ratings of twitter are changing frequently over world-wide-web but twitter still holds a very strong position in the market. It has more than 350 million visitors per month. Twitter is most famous for news and updates of companies, political parties and celebrities. Twitter is most famous for its timely delivery of information. People usually share things on twitter that is happening that particular moment, although this characteristic is true for both Instagram and Snapchat as well. Different thing about twitter is that you cannot write long paragraphs. You can only type a text message for 280 Characters (140 characters for Japanese (Nihongo), Korean (Hangul) or Chinese (Mandarin)). Twitter is also famous for its usage of Customer Services. According advertisers, almost 80% of CS requests happen on twitter as per SalesForce.com “Twitter is the New 1-800 Number for Customer Service".

5. Snapchat

Like Instagram, Snapchat is also considered as an app or social networking site for the young generation. Snapchat focuses on sharing short videos and live images taken by camera with your friends or contacts. The most interesting thing about Snapchat is that whatever content you create or share does not last for more than 24 hours. This is a challenge and an opportunity both at the same time. Challenge is that you have to come up with a newer content everyday but the opportunity is that there is more chance for your viewers to see, think about your content and interact with it, on Snapchat than on any other social media platform because of the shortage of time creates a sense of urgency. Snapchat holds its place on 6th position for its monthly usage by more than 250 million user.

6. LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn is my favorite and if you are doing a job, running your own business, freelancing or even a student LinkedIn must be your favorite too. LinkedIn is the most professional social networking website. The sole purpose of LinkedIn is to connect the Job Seekers with the Head Hunters and Business to the customers. LinkedIn has more than 590 Million users out of which 100 million users are active every day. On LinkedIn you can easily connect with your target audience, and filters of LinkedIn makes it easier for the user to filter out the less required information and focus on the core target. You can also create a company page on LinkedIn and I suggest you should do it now. It does not cost anything but will help you keep a position on world’s largest Corporate Social Media Platform. You will also find your prospect clients on LinkedIn for sure.

7. Reddit.com

Reddit has a monthly usage of 330 million. Mainly Reddit is used for discussions related to Computer Sciences and Software Engineering (Programming, etc.). But you can also use it to upload Pictures, links, or general text to discuss with the community where community can rate it high or low. There are Subreddits, the groups/communities on Reddit. Do your research and post your content on the most relevant community pages. This will take time to understand the community on Reddit but once you understand it you will realize that they have to most result oriented community. (Honestly Speaking, It took me a while to understand how Reddit works)

8. Medium.com

If you are professional or you search for information quite often, you must have interaction with Medium. Even if you had no interaction in the past, you should go now and sign up (You can thank me later). Medium has more than 65 million active users per month. As compared to Facebook or Instagram, 60 million doesn’t look so big a number, but believe me this not a place for chit chat. You only find genuine information from one of the most authentic sources and well reputed writers. If you are a blogger you should sign up (its free) and start sharing the content of your blog over Medium as well. Even large brands promote their content on Medium to reach out to the public. I think Medium is going to become the next google of news. (Believe me nothing is sponsored on this blog)

9. Flickr.com

Flickr was launched in 2004 and was a hit. Before Instagram, Flickr was the only photo sharing platform. With the invent of Instagram, most of the public moved away from Flickr. The most important feature of flicker is that if you are running a business and the pictures you design are your sole property and must not be used by others, then you can mark copyright on your photos. This is the thing you cannot do on any other social media platform. You might think that who use flicker now a days, then you should tell this to 90 million active users of Flickr.

10. Pinterest

Pinterest is social media platform where the community shares inspiring pictures and with link to their source website or blogs. It is just like google images but with some more options. You can make galleries of your images, and people can follow you because of your work. If they like your images, they will get a redirect link to your website where they will directly interact with your core product and services. Pinterest has 250 million monthly active users list which means you can attract a large number of customers with the least amount of content but the quality of the content matters most on Pinterest.

11. Tumblr

Tumblr was launched in year 2007 and has achieved a milestone of 1.5 Billion posts per month. Tumble is an amazing free source to start your own blog. You can write text, share images or videos or directly share links. You can embed video links in Tumblr and the visitors can directly play your videos on Tumblr. Tumblr has gone through many variations in the past year and it looks like it has now turned into a steady platform both for personal and business bloggers.

12. Yelp

Yelp is like a google for Business only. If you search for “Pizze near my area” there is a chance that Yelp will show your business in the top field. Yelp is used for local stores to show their presence online, just like “Google Business”. While “Google Business” Works like google maps, Yelp actually works like Facebook’s business page. You can rate and comment about the services of a business on Yelp. Startups or even well established businesses should not ignore this useful website. You can also download its app for your smartphone.

13. MySpace

MySpace is another social media platform which was first started for networking but then converted into more of a Celebrity Promotion Website. MySpace was a hit back in 2005 and became the most popular social network till 2008. After that, other social network most famously known as Facebook took its place. Now a days MySpace is considered one of the most popular social network platform for musicians and bands where they can show off their talent and can connect with the followers/fans. They can even sell their work online on MySapce, and I hope you understand the opportunity over here if you are running a business related to music or design your own videos. MySpace is a perfect platform for you. There are more than 14.2 Million Artists on MySpace. MySpace.com feels more like an ArtistSpace.com.

14. Digg.com

If you are a Blogger then Digg is a best system for the promotion of your blog. With Digg.com you can share your blog link and it will appear on Diggs list and will automatically promote it. Digg has a simple interface. You put link to your blog in the Digg with a small description and select a category in which your blog post falls. Then Digg shows your blog to the viewers who are interested in that particular category. The Digg users then can view and mark Digg on your post. The more your post gets the Diggs from the viewers, more the chances for it to appear on the main page of Digg. It might not feel much, but it is better not to ignore such a resource which is available for free.

15. Baidu Tieba

Baidu is a Chinese online Forum with 300 million active users every month. Baidu is the largest Chinese Search Engine platform. The platform is solely in Chinese Language so you might need a translated to make Baidu work for you. Baidu was released in 2003 and has since been growing into a famous Chinese search engine. It ranks 4 on Alexa’s ratings which is huge.

16. TikTok

Most people know Tik Tok and believe me or not it is addictive. China even banned Tik Tok in India and still the total worth of Tik Tok is $75 Billion dollars which is more than the worth of Uber. The main purpose of Tik Tok is to record videos of upto 60 seconds and add music and effects in the video and upload it. As of June 2018, Tik Tok has 500 million active monthly users. Tik Tok is currently installed on more than 800 million smartphones. The limitation of “Recording Vide Only” makes Tik Tok our 16th favorite Social Media App, maybe in near future with additional features I would like to change it to the No.1 on my list.

17. WeChat

WeChat is not just a networking app but more than that. WeChat trying to capture all the market and offering a One-Stop-Shop kind of service. You can use WeChat to Shop online, transfer money, make reservations (Hotel Bookings), call a Taxi and more. WeChat has more than 1.06 Billion active users every month. Currently WeChat is famous in Asia and most of it is in China. So if you want to expand your business in Asia or already are working in Asia then you should make your presence on WeChat as well.

18. Qzone

Qzone is another Chinese Social Networking platform. It is used for sharing images or videos, writing blogs and playing games. It is kind of Chinese Facebook. Qzone is more famous in youngsters (teens) as compared to WeChat which is more popular among adults. Qzone is a desktop based social networking platform with an average of 632 million users active every month. Your presence on such a platform will create an impact in Long-Run.

19. Telegram

Telegram is not very different from other apps such as WhatsApp but it is considered to be more secure. You can send and receive data with your friends in a safe manner. You can use Telegram for business for Customer Services. You can create Chatbots for Telegram Platform or use Telegram’s “Broadcast” feature to send messages or notifications to unlimited number of subscribers.

20. Bloglovin.com

If you are running a website, then you must also have a blog of your own. Don’t forget to post your content over free blogging platforms to reach out to the maximum number of viewers. Bloglovin.com is one of those platforms where you can upload your blog for free and reach out to more audience.

21. Whatsapp

Most of us use WhatsApp but don’t really know that there is another WhatsApp App for Business as well. With that you can send messages to your clients in a more secure way. On WhatsApp there are more than 65 billion messages sent every day with 1.5 Billion users in 180 countries around the globe. A presence on WhatsApp is really important and it is essential for new businesses to get registered with WhatsApp Business Account, and it is for free.

22. Messenger

Messenger has more than 1.3 monthly active users which makes messenger an attractive social networking platform for everyone but the problem with Messenger is that its core focus is on one-on-one interaction between users or group of users and there is no such option of having a business account. But with messenger you can advertise, send newsletters or install Chatbots to optimize the performance of your business page on Facebook as messenger is basically your Facebook account. Share Your Experience? Which Websites or Apps do you use for yourself and your business? It doesn’t matter how large a social network is. What matters is that who is your target audience and if they are available on that network or not. But there are some Social Networks which reined their systems so much that they tackle most of the scenarios you face in your business. We would love to know your experience. Which social media sites are your brand on? Why did your brand choose to be there? Read the full article

#digitalmarketing #GlobalMarketingAgents #gmagents.com #instagram #LinkedIn #Pinterest #Snapchat #social #socialmedia #socialmediaapps #socialmediamarketing #Socialmediamarketingagency #socialnetwork #Top10 #Top10socialmediaplatforms #Top22 #Top22SocialMediaPlatformsforYourBusiness #Twitter #YouTube

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drycerealthief · 6 years

Text

6 Months and 1550 Miles

Written (partly!) for @phanfichallenge “Week of Fics” Challenge Day 5.

AO3 Link Fic Masterlist - Similar events feel very different, depending on whether you can edit stuff out before the audience sees it...

Chapter 1 - London, December 2017. “-JOB SIMULATORRRRR” he finishes, exaggerating the end of the words somewhat dramatically, before Phil quips something about “being on the naughty step down here” He rolls with it, turning at least partway towards him, hoping he’s brandishing the controller in the right direction as he plays along, telling Phil and their audience “You’ve been very bad, you’re getting nothing but coal next week!” He’s already pressed START and figures he may as well make something of the warning displayed inside the headset, so he reads it out for their audience’s benefit, swinging his arms as he does so to demonstrate the point.“Are you clear of things you might bump into?” He can’t hear Phil clearly, but he thinks he’s jokingly drawing attention to the fact he’s sitting within reach, but Dan’s aware of his general location, just behind him to his right, and he might swing his arms around to get a reaction, just to be a bit dramatic, but it’ll be funny - Phil won’t let anything happen - “Please don’t punch me in the- “ “ALL CLEAR!” SMACK “OHH! FUCK!!” It takes a moment for what’s just happened to register. He stands frozen, arms and elbows drawn in tight, before yanking the headset up from over his eyes, to see Phil hunched over turned away from him, both hands covering his mouth and jaw. “Are you okay?” Silence. “Phil… Phil, look at me please” This isn’t funny. The camera is still recording, but this isn’t going to be uploaded. His hand stings where he’s just hit Phil, but he’s certain being backhanded square in the face will have hurt a damn sight more, especially if he also caught him with the controller too.He drops to his knees in front of Phil, and gently tries to pry his hands away from his face, in order to see what he’s done, what he’s caused to happen in all his stupid put-on exuberance. He’s expecting bruising, maybe some blood, but he’s just hoping there’s no missing teeth, because it’s late at night and he doesn’t know where to find an emergency dentist and- Phil turns towards him and makes eye contact, after what seems like an eternity to Dan, caught in a spiral of worry and self-recrimination. There’s tears in his eyes, but he shies away from Dan when he goes to wipe them away, instead blinking them away as he lifts his head. Slowly, oh-so slowly, he lowers one hand, then the other, allowing Dan to see, finally. And it’s nowhere near as bad as he’d feared, especially as Phil quips, albeit shakily “So, what’s the damage? Do I have an excuse for all that plastic surgery to turn me into- “ “Shush a minute” Dan interrupts, noticing a small smear of blood on Phil’s lip, leaning in close to try and see where it’s coming from before directing Phil: “open your mouth for a sec?” Phil obliges, wincing slightly as Dan carefully rolls his top lip away from his teeth just enough to see a tiny cut on the inside of his lip. It’s already stopped bleeding, probably thanks to the pressure Phil’s hands on his face put on it, and it seems to be the only damage, but he keeps checking, keeps examining Phil’s face closely until Phil seizes his hands, removing them from his face and trapping them together between his own gently. “Dan, it’s ok. I’m fine. I’m alright, really.”He inhales shakily, avoiding making eye contact. Despite the words, he still expects Phil to be angry, he’d deserve it if he was, after what he’s just done, he could so easily have really hurt Phil, what would he have done then, and- “Hey. Dan. Stop. Look at me.” Without him realising, suddenly their positions are reversed and it’s his own face being cradled in Phil’s hands, and a couple of previously unnoticed tears being wiped gently from his cheeks. The words, and the gentle tone of that voice he knows so well, along with the careful physical contact abruptly shut down the negative thought spiral he’d trapped himself in, and frees him enough to follow the simple command Phil’s given him. He opens his eyes, barely having known up until that point that he’d shut them, and makes eye contact. “There you are. Love, stop worrying, Please. I’m fine, you’re fine, it was just an accident, you couldn’t see me- “ “Phil. I’m sorry. I-I- “ “Shhh love, I know. You didn’t mean it. It’s ok. Deep breaths now, come on.” He’s so relieved that Phil really isn’t mad, and seems instead to be worried about him all of a sudden that he can’t help but barrel into Phil’s midsection, worming his arms tightly between Phil and the back of his chair, eliciting a surprised “oof!” from his partner at the impact, before he feels his arms come up and wrap around him securely. Suddenly everything really is ok. He hadn’t realised how upset he’d gotten, how worried, until he starts to relax, feeling the tension gradually ebb from his body, and his mind quieten. “’m sorry I’m an idiot” he mutters into Phil’s shirt. He’s not sure if he’d be able to hear it, but he feels the need to say it anyway. Phil chuckles softly, before shifting, and moving one hand upwards, stroking up his back, tickling the back of his neck just a little before starting to gently play with Dan’s hair, picking a single curl at random, and pulling slightly, before letting it ping back towards his scalp. “You know we can film this another day if you want?” he suggests, quietly, obviously not wanting to disturb the moment but it serves to remind them that the camera is still presumably recording, has been the entire time, so if they do want to keep recording, they need to get on with it at some point. Dan releases his grip on the back of Phil’s shirt, and sits back on his heels, looking up at Phil with a bashful smile, taking the opportunity as Phil looks down at him to- “Stop staring at me like my face is in danger of falling off you spoon! I’m fine.” They both burst out laughing, and it takes a while for Dan to ask if Phil wants to keep what they had recorded, or if he wants to start fresh. “I don’t know. It was pretty funny, to be honest, and it’s nice to have not been the clumsy one for once. What do you think?” he asks in return, frowning slightly, clearly unsure if Dan is comfortable with sharing even part of what’s just happened. And to be honest, he is mulling it over carefully, before replying as he gets to his feet and stretching: “OK, let’s carry on with me apologising. We can always cut it out and re-film the intro if it’s- if we- ” “Sounds good” Phil cuts him off, smiling comfortingly up at him. And it is good when the video is finally finished. With an added slow-mo of the impact that still makes them both flinch whenever they see it, even after editing the video carefully, it’s easy to disguise what would be a blatant jump-cut, followed by their slightly shaky, slightly over-emphasised interactions as they restart filming. It's okay.

Chapter 2 - Moscow, June 2018. Dan stretches his arms up above his head, relaxing on the freshly made hotel bed he’s been lying across ever since they got back to the hotel. It’s late, and they’re tired, but it’s been a good few days, busy, but everything thus far has gone better and more straightforwardly than they’d perhaps expected. Phil had headed straight for the shower once they’d ordered room service dinner, promising to be quick enough that Dan can have a quick rinse at the least before the food arrives. Dan suspects, based on years of experience however, that he won’t actually get to shower until he goes back to his own hotel room later. Alone, because they promised to adhere to all the advice they’d had drummed into them on the run-up to this section of the tour. All of it. It feels especially jarring, given the reactions of their fans who came to the shows, and the Meet and Greet sessions, so whilst they felt more relaxed during tonight’s performance, they’re still on full “best platonic behaviour” mode, and he’s 99% certain just his presence here in Phil’s room would give some members of their team an aneurysm if they knew. Also odd is the fact they handed over all their devices before flying into the country, as advised, and since then have been using old handsets they packed specifically for these few days, carefully reset to factory settings with burner SIM cards and iCloud accounts, and virtually no apps installed. They’ve also avoided signing into any of their online accounts, so have effectively shut themselves off completely from social media, something they’ve literally never done. Not completely. It’s been weird, but they’ve spoken about how they can both see the appeal, if they weren’t so reliant on it for their career. It’s for this reason that instead of just checking his mentions, he is reduced to searching a few different terms in order to gauge their audiences’ (both in person and online) reaction to tonight’s show, along with their continued absence online, but what he finds initially confuses, then horrifies him. Not least because it’s something he doesn’t even remember having happened. Yet there it is, full video evidence with muffled audio. In silent gifs that play over and over as he scrolls past. All over Twitter and Tumblr both, complete with joking captions and comments, crowding out any reviews, spoilers or comments about the actual show. And he doesn’t remember it. But what if Phil does? What if Phil was expecting an apology? What if he was expecting them to talk about it, if not right there and then, but maybe in their dressing room after the meetup but before the show, during the interval, or afterwards. Any point up until when he shut the door to the bathroom behind him. What if Phil’s angry? And he hasn’t noticed that either. Not that it’d be the first time Phil had kept quiet, let it fester under the surface with Dan oblivious, gotten and stayed angry about that too, then suddenly exploded, leaving Dan temporarily blindsided, then feeling like a complete shit? He can’t let that happen. Not now, not here, and not during the tour. They can’t get away with doing this show if they’re not on good terms, it’s not scripted enough, and the last thing they’d need is if it were obvious to their audience that something was wrong between them. This is bad enough, they don’t need that as well. He needs to sort this, have it out with Phil now, but he’s in the shower, and his mood won’t be improved if Dan interrupts or drags him out of there now, but the food’s on its way, it’ll be arriving soon and he doesn’t want to sit eating in stony silence if Phil really is mad, but what if- “Dan..? You okay love?” His thoughts come to a shuddering stop, and he freezes, not that he was moving anyway, instead lying curled in on himself, caught, as if he was being attacked by some external force, not from within his own mind. “Hey...” Phil says quietly, sitting down on the edge next to his feet, shrugging off the towel draped round his shoulders and reaching out to lay a hand gently on Dan’s thigh; “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Dan can feel himself cringing as the silence stretches, hating himself for not having the nerve to sit up and speak to Phil, instead hiding himself away and no doubt worrying his boyfriend, but he just can’t. Which makes him feel worse, Phil will have yet another reason to be mad, as if there weren’t enough already, but what if he decides he’s too much trouble, what if he decides enough is en- “Dan. What’s got you upset love? Please tell me. I-I don’t know what’s wrong but- “It’s the worry clearly audible in his voice that frees some of Dan’s muscles up enough so he can nudge the phone, lying face-down on the bed. It’s less the vicious kick that he wants to give it, send it smashing into the wall or onto the floor, but he manages to nudge it with his knee, pushing it away from him slightly - enough for Phil to take the hint and snatch it up with shaking hands. There’s a long pause, whilst Phil unlocks the phone, then scrolls through what Dan had last been looking at. Dan’s curiosity gets the better of him quickly, and he sneaks a glance up at Phil, still concentrating, absorbed on the phone screen. Or so the thinks, right up until Phil looks down at him, making eye contact that Dan immediately shies away from. “Oh no you don’t...” Phil starts, standing up briefly, just enough to flop down back onto the bed on the other side of Dan, before rolling onto his side so he can face him on his level - if only he wasn’t still avoiding eye contact, or even looking at him, Phil’s choice of words having done nothing to soothe his fears that they’re heading towards a massive row. “Hi.” Phil begins, reaching over and poking Dan gently right between the eyebrows. “I hope you’re listening to me, cos I’m about to start listing in reverse order every stupid, daft, clumsy, utterly unimportant thing I’ve done that you’ve ignored or forgiven me for starting with the fact I just dropped the conditioner in the shower and wasted half the bottle…” Dan frowns, listening as Phil continues; “…fairly sure I left my tour hoodie at the venue yesterday, so that makes five…” This… It doesn’t make sense. He hit Phil in the face. He could have really hurt him, because he wasn’t being careful and- “Oi.” Phil interrupts, and it’s enough to derail his thoughts, stop them hurtling again. “You’re supposed to be listening to how terrible I am…” “‘m sorr- “ “Nope.” Phil immediately interrupts. “Nothing to be sorry for. We’re two lanky uncoordinated giants stuck in a tiny screened-off bit of a crowded room with loads of other people and I know however annoying I might get on a daily basis that you’d never actually try and hit me. So, no apologies, and no beating yourself up about it either. Else I will get annoyed, hear me?” “But-“ He tries to argue the point, because- “Yeah, I know, they know. And we know they know. But the only one taking this seriously that we need to take seriously is you.” “Phil. They- “ “Will have found something else to keyboard smash over by tomorrow.” he responds firmly, before his voice softens as he continues. “Dan… I’m not angry. I promise. And they’re… well, most of them are joking. I mean - it does look quite funny. Did you see my face when it happened?” He can’t help but chuckle quietly as he finishes, smiling at his boyfriend, reaching across to take his hand when he sees the aborted movement it makes. He’s relieved to see a smile, however tentative, appear on Dan’s face almost immediately. It’s at that point that there’s a knock at the door. Dan’s up in a flash, Phil barely has time to sit up before he’s yanking the door open. It takes him a little longer to reappear from the door of the room, but Phil assumes that’s due to the fact he’s carrying a large tray with their food balanced carefully when he does return. They sit next to each other on the bed, leaning against the headboard as they eat. Phil thinks nothing of the silence that descends on the room, until he looks up when he’s about three-quarters done with his food, no longer ravenous, to find Dan has barely eaten anything, and instead of eating, he’s frowning down at his plate as he swirls his fork through the food. Phil places his plate back on the tray, and gently takes Dan’s out of his hands. When he turns back to his boyfriend, he finds him frowning at him, instead. That doesn’t change, even when Phil reaches out, gets his arms round his shoulders, and pulls Dan down with him as he shuffles down the bed. He’s lying somewhat comfortably, with Dan’s head resting on his shoulder, but he’s almost painfully aware of how stiffly Dan is lying, immobile, obviously still replaying the events of earlier in the day and punishing himself over it. This won’t do. He squeezes Dan in his arms tightly, and presses a line of kisses in his hair, to his temple, across his forehead and finishes on the end of his nose, huffing amusedly at Dan, frowning and cross-eyed as he watches him pull away to rest his head back on the pillow. Seizing his chance, he mouths “I. Love. You.” and as Dan raises his own head to press a kiss against his jaw, he smiles contentedly. “I love you too” he replies, lying back down, immediately curling into Phil’s body and tucking his face into his neck as he gets comfortable, before he finally, relaxes. Phil feels like cheering, like it’s a victory, but he’ll settle for the quiet moment and enjoy the intimacy whilst they can have it, as Dan’s arm creeps across his chest and gently tugs them that bit closer together. “I wanna stay…” he whispers, so quiet Phil feels it almost more than he hears it. He doesn’t blame him. He wants Dan to stay too – for them to spend the night curled together like this, rather than them separate in different rooms, and for Dan to be alone with his thoughts tonight. “So stay.” He replies, just as quietly, refusing to loosen his hold on Dan when he goes to move, to force himself to sit up; “Dan… just… please. Just a bit longer.” “Phil… I’m going to fall asleep and then-” “Shhh. Just a bit longer love.” He’s got a plan. And he’s determined to make it work. Sure enough, after another quiet period, Dan makes another two failed attempts to get up and leave, before he relaxes fully and Phil waits until his breathing evens out completely before he slowly and carefully slides out from under Dan’s body, then gently wraps the duvet around him, smiling as Dan immediately rolls himself over before settling. He retrieves Dan’s phone, plugging it into the charger and putting his own in his pocket, and finally brushes a kiss on Dan’s forehead before grabbing a change of clothes, his hotel room key and his trainers, before making for the door, closing it gently behind him. He’ll bring down a change of clothes for Dan in the morning.

#phanfiction #phanfic #phandom #phan #my fic

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cajunalmond · 7 years

Text

working remotely

working remotely is a new world for me. when i initially took this job, i thought that working remotely and not having to go into an office was a no-brainer opportunity to take. but what i’ve realized is that it really is something that could be really, really great... or really, really awful depending on your personality. and because i’m a pros/cons kinda girl, here’s what i have so far about this experience:

pros: - you can wear cuter, casual outfits to “work” (including sneakers, ripped jeans, athletic wear, etc.). all that really matters is that you look presentable on top when you’re videoconferencing and have to show your face. (i find that it really helps to try your best to look put together, though... it affects my attitude towards my work). - you can construct your schedule to balance your personal needs. like, the other day i went to walgreens to pick up some medicine, and the whole thing probably took less than 30 minutes... and i didn’t feel guilty! i used to feel awful whenever i had to leave work midday (or early) to take care of these types of personal errands, even when i had more “remote” chunks of time. now - if i lose 30 minutes to a personal need, i just find ways to make it up later on in the day/week. (this would be great if i had a kid) - you are subject to less drama. you have far less people microscopically watching your work, judging you, or rubbing you the wrong way (or vice versa) in your person-to-person interactions. - i can end my day around 2-3 pm, because most people on the east coast (where the company’s based) get off around 5-6 pm. - i have so much unused energy throughout the day that i am hyper-present when it comes to church life, with friends, with strangers, and with activities that require more physical energy. like sometimes to the point where people are either shocked or tell me to calm down (because i’m bouncing off walls and want to go to really intense hiit classes).

- you have time to tumblr like this.

cons: - it can be incredibly lonely and boring. you don’t really get to talk to anybody throughout the day. thus, your two best friends become the people you constantly text your most random thoughts to. and because they’re your best friends, they’ll never tell you to stop... but they’ll either ignore you, or tell you that there are these things called “journals” that are intended for you to capture all of your many thoughts, or tell you that you are forcing them to be on a type of twitter feed that you can never, ever “unsubscribe” from. ha! - coffee shops, as fun as they can be, have a range of issues depending on the site - uncomfortable chairs, minimal # of outlets, poor lighting, really loud music (if you want to videoconference), expensive parking fees, etc. - on that note ^, you have to always try to find some trustworthy person to watch 80% of your things while you bring your laptop, phone, and wallet to the bathroom with you. ugh. - you have to be incredibly disciplined. because as lu-lu-la-la as i make my current work sound, remote work doesn’t mean you just get to play all day. you have to force yourself to stick to a schedule - for me, it means trying my best to start the day at 6 am (things usually start at 9 am on the east coast), posting up at either a coffee shop or a shared workspace, and holding myself accountable to working a solid 8 hours. - while i could technically end at 3 pm, i still feel some weird sense of guilt for stopping my work at 3 pm and keep working til ~6 pm. i have workaholic issues (i know... i’m working through them right now).

what’s better? no verdict yet. but thankful to God for this new learning experience. reminding myself that above all else - having the opportunity to work is a blessing. so learn, be faithful, and be a good steward of the responsibilities and time He’s given me for now!

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thelmasirby32 · 4 years

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Six tools for effective influencer-driven content marketing

30-second summary:

Why influencer marketing should be an essential part of any digital marketing strategy.

How to find approachable influencers, device the best way to associate them with your brand.

Research each influencer and each opportunity to maximize your chances to get noticed.

Plus, there’s a key to keep those initial relationships going for even more benefits, in the long run.

Internet Marketing Ninjas’ Community Manager gives you a concise overview of six great tools that can add value to your influencer-driven content marketing efforts.

In the most basic sense, influencer marketing is about building connections with niche experts and mentors who have enough authority to influence other people’s buying decisions.

Influencer marketing is one of the most efficient ways to build brand awareness and trust as well as increase sales and leads.

The simplest example of an influencer marketing is a brand sponsoring a video product review on YouTube or a visual endorsement on Instagram done by a user with a solid following.

While the above is a good way to convert a lot of people into actual sales in ecommerce, influencer marketing can be effective in blog marketing, too.

In fact, when applied to blogs, influencer marketing is much more diverse and long-term than it is in e-commerce. It’s about engaging niche experts in creating and/or promoting content for your site which in turn builds your traffic and authority.

When an influencer takes a part in your blog life—contributing, commenting, or providing a quote—they are more likely to help you promote that content thus bringing your blog in front of their following and building your brand.

Let’s see how it works…

Who are influencers?

That is a tougher question than it seems.

There have been many attempts to measure online influence, none of which is satisfying enough.

Neither the number of followers nor the various metrics (for example, Klout score) can fully reflect influence.

In fact, a person can have just around 1K followers on Twitter and still be able to influence most of those followers with their tweets. Or one can have 10 Facebook fans, yet a huge following on Pinterest.

And it becomes more complicated when you start looking at different niches. Some industries are more “Twitter-friendly.” Most (local) news outlets have huge Twitter following, for example, while health and beauty bloggers have more success on YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

All in all, no tool can provide you with a ready-to-go list of niche influencers. Identifying true influencers (who are also willing to interact with you) is a long process involving much searching, browsing, and reading.

So, how to create an effective influencer-driven content marketing strategy?

1. Identify searchable content topics: Ubersuggest

Keyword research should be your very first step when planning any content marketing project, including an influencer-driven one.

Keyword research may be quite overwhelming, so here’s the easiest – yet one of the most comprehensive tools to try: Ubersuggest

The tool can be run for free and it returns pretty awesome data, including a so-called “SEO difficulty” of each keyword, which is the number that reflects organic competition. The number allows content marketers to choose search queries that will be easier to rank for:

Source: Ubersuggest (July 2020)

Why Ubersuggest?

From experience, it is the easiest tool to figure out, even if you are very new to keyword research. It is also very usable for free. If you choose to upgrade, it costs $29 per month for an individual managing one-two-three websites.

2. Search for content-producing influencers: Buzzsumo

On BuzzSumo, you’ll find bloggers writing about your topic.

What I like about it is that you can play around filters to limit results to long-form articles, videos, listicles, and more. This offers powerful tools to better research your niche content and authors:

Source: BuzzSumo (July 2020)

Apart from content research, Buzzsumo offers more sections including Youtube influencers, Twitter influencers, and more.

Search individual social media platforms

Of course, by only using BuzzSumo you miss out on important platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, and the others.

So make sure you go directly to those platforms (especially those that are more popular in your niche) and play with their native search feature to expand your list.

Use Google to search for interviews and podcasts

Active influencers are usually invited to talk about their expertise. Searching something like [your topic interview] or [your topic opinion] will let you find more influencers.

Why Buzzsumo?

I am simply unaware of a tool that would offer the aforementioned influencer research features. Buzzsumo offers a seven-day trial and it will cost $99 per month for a team of five users.

More tools to find influencers:

Fanpage Karma: Provide the competitor’s Facebook page and the tool shows its most influential and most engaged fans

FollowerWonk (Twitter bio search tool): Use it to find members of prominent blogging and news outlet teams

It is also a good idea to find which influencers your competitors are working with. Here’s a quick guide on how to do that.

3. Research each social media account on your initial list

The number of followers doesn’t matter as much as the number of actual interactions.

Twitonomy is a good free way to quickly run an interaction analysis of any Twitter account.

Source: Twitonomy (July 2020)

Why Twitonomy?

Twitonomy offers a pretty solid report completely for free. Should I say more?

The same goes for Facebook presence: Ignore the number of friends or fans and scroll down the page to see if people engage with the updates and how many updates go unnoticed.

4. Create a list of who you plan to reach out to: Google Spreadsheets

Be very selective. Your decisive criteria to whether include an influencer or not to the list should be whether they seem to interact back with followers.

Don’t spend your time trying to hear back from someone who never replies to comments, thanks for shares, likes someone else’s updates, etc.

Now you don’t want to create a list of 1,000 influencers. Depending on your industry and time availability, anything between 20 and 50 is a good start.

What you want to have in that list

Influencer’s primary account and name

More social media profiles (make sure you follow them everywhere)

Whatever other contact info you have ever used or are aware of

Whether you had any previous contact or engagement and when

Any notes you choose to make

The list will grow and change over time but don’t get overwhelmed with too many rows and columns at the start. I love using spreadsheets to maintain a list of contacts.

Why Google Spreadsheets?

Google Spreadsheets are absolutely free and offer a great set of features. They are also incredibly fast which is very important for collaboration.

Spreadsheets can be shared across teams, so they are great for collaboration. You can also integrate Google Drive into your WordPress dashboard to make it easier to find and access.

5. Come up with interesting questions: Text Optimizer

To help you come up with interesting questions for your expert roundups, Text Optimizer offers a handy tool for collecting and analyzing popular questions for any niche. Use the tool to come up with influencer-driven content ideas:

Source: Text Optimizer (July 2020)

Why Text Optimizer?

The tool doesn’t rely on any API: Their data completely relies on the semantic analysis of the tool. This ensures two things:

The data is not skewed by any single source

The data is only available to the current users of the tool

It is one of those tools that hasn’t been overused yet, so you can rest assured your competitors may not yet have it. The tool offers a seven-day free trial, and will cost $60 a month after that.

Question research is a great tool to build influencer-driven content but there are more ideas to consider:

Brainstorm ideas that relate to your product lifecycle

Use surveys to generate more ideas from your audience

6. Retarget your influencer-driven content visitors: Finteza

Finally, if someone visits your influencer-driven content you can safely assume that they were there for the sake of the influencer(s), so you can engage them better by serving custom CTAs once they are back to the site.

Finteza allows you to set up on-site remarketing campaigns: You can set up your roundup visits as an event and serve those visitors custom CTAs inviting them to buy a matching product or optin using a related content upgrade:

Source: Finteza (July 2020)

Why Finteza?

I am not aware of any independent web analytics platform that would offer a remarketing functionality on such an affordable budget. The tool offers a 30-day free trial and will cost $4 per 100,000 impressions a month.

You can use Facebook remarketing options to reach your visitors outside of your site. This is especially powerful for lead generation purposes (when you use influencer-driven content to generate webinar signups or whitepaper downloads). Here’s an easy way to install Facebook pixel on your site for you to start collecting the data.

Conclusion

When influencer marketing drives your blog promotion, you can achieve both: a much more in-depth content and more shares and traffic.

It’s a long process but it’s well worth the effort in the long run.

Ann Smarty is the blogger and community manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas. She can be found on Twitter @seosmarty.

The post Six tools for effective influencer-driven content marketing appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/08/07/six-tools-for-effective-influencer-driven-content-marketing/

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