I just heard that Twitter is raising the number of characters allowed in
a tweet to 280. That is doubling it. 280 is still not much, butt as a
Twitter user who has to often figure out ways to pare down my tweets, I
think that will make a big difference. It still remains, though, that
what with the kind of tweets I make it will still be necessary to post
some kind of headline type of tweet that hopefully will intrigue the
reader enough that they will click the accompanying link to the real
message. I wonder about something though, I understand that the 140
character limit was made because that when it is combined with
additional characters identifying it as coming from Twitter it equals
the limit of a cell phone text message. If that is the case then will
the new 280 character limit be compatible with text messaging?
As for Facebook, one needs to understand some things about it. For one
thing, it is designed mainly as a way for people who already know each
other to stay in touch in certain ways. In fact, one of the rules is
that you not send a friend request to someone you do not already know.
You may remember that I told about how when I was first setting up my
profile due to my ignorance I sent friend requests to a bunch of people
and got my ability to communicate suspended for about a week as
punishment. This is, of course, notwithstanding that most of my Facebook
friends are people I don't know who sent me unsolicited friend requests.
One of them is even in the Philippines and another one is in Romania.
Close relatives make a lot of use of Facebook for sharing pictures and
news with each other. This is especially attractive to families that
have dispersed. It is a good way for cousin Joe in Georgia to keep in
close touch with uncle Bob in California, for example. Then one should
realize that Facebook is very oriented to images. Pictures abound and it
is especially easy to post those pictures because most everyone carries
a cell phone anymore that can take as many pictures as you want. Well,
that doesn't do a blind person much good. When I am on Facebook it is
very frustrating to read what everyone is saying about the pictures that
I can't see. What makes it frustrating is that everyone talks about the
pictures just assuming that everyone can see them and no one ever stops
to describe them. That is not as bad as Instagram though. I would really
like to get on Instagram, but it is useless to me. I have looked over
the site and it is a lot like Twitter except that instead of text that
is being shared it is photos. There are people who carry their phones
everywhere posting pictures on Instagram as they walk around. That is
inaccessible to blind people. But that is only how Facebook is set up
and is mainly oriented. It turns out that it is possible for many more
entities to make use of Facebook than just close acquaintances. It soon
became obvious that very many organizations can make use of the Facebook
platform. So newspapers, universities, government agencies, businesses
and just about any kind of organization or other entity you can think of
started putting up Facebook profiles. One motivating factor is that
Facebook is where all the people are. Mark Zuckerberg once said that his
goal was for every person in the world to have a Facebook profile. Well,
to reach that goal he has a long way to go and part of the task will
have to be to bring the Internet to regions that still don't have it.
But right now there are well over a billion profiles. If you have a
message to get out then Facebook is the place to get it out. That is,
if, for example, you are running a store, you will really want that
store to be in a downtown shopping district rather than on a sparsely
traveled country road. This is why I say that Facebook is practically an
Internet of its own inside the Internet. Just about anything you would
want to look for is on Facebook. I get the impression from Miriam's
comments that she thinks Facebook is for absolutely nothing but
frivolous chatter. Well, if you want frivolous chatter you can find a
lot of it on Facebook, but there is so much more. And if you want to
avoid the frivolous chatter it is also real easy to do by just being
choosy about who you friend and which groups and pages you follow. Then
Miriam also criticizes Facebook users for posting personal posts that
everybody in the world can read. Well, it's not like that. Each user has
privacy controls and can specify that a post be seen by friends, friends
of friends or be public. If you want only one specific person to see a
post you message them privately. Personally, I make all of my posts
public because I don't make personal posts anyway. The only personal
matters I have discussed on Facebook have been done in private messaging
with those people I told you about who I found and who I knew many years
ago. Now, of course, if you don't to use Facebook that is your choice.
But before you reject something you would be doing yourself a service to
make an effort to understand what it is that you are rejecting. As I
have said before, if you engage in a personal boycott the only person
you are likely to hurt is yourself. If I am going to inconvenience
myself by participating in a boycott I will join an organized boycott
with specific goals so that my efforts will actually do some good.
On 11/6/2017 11:12 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
It's a high wire act, Miriam. But I think it is possible to walk a
fine line without falling into one pit or another. Sort of like
running the rapids in a canoe.
As for Face Book and Twitter, it will be a cold day in Hell before I
ever join. I do enjoy the interaction and the acquaintances I've
found on this and other email lists, but if email goes by the board, I
plan to go gently into the night. I keep my blog, and post what I
want, with a very small following. I do it for myself, in the event
that one fine day I will string some of my thoughts together and self
publish one of those books that no one buys. On the other hand, I
continue to work, which takes more and more of my daily allotted
energy.
But as long as the internet continues, and so long as people post
articles that offer differing points of view, and information not
shared by the Empire, I will be around. I think all three of my
children use Face Book, mostly to stay in touch with their own
children, and with each other. I prefer to pick up the phone each
weekend and call them one at a time. My eldest daughter turns 55 this
month, and becomes a "Senior Citizen". She and her husband have had
real health challenges, but through the VA they managed to buy a small
home in Ellensburg, close to the college where my daughter works. Her
husband, due to advanced Parkinson, is no longer able to work. My son
is 45, and has a bright future. He and his ex wife both dealt with
drug addiction. He has come out the other end in far better mental
and physical health than she. He is working, has a very sweet
partner, with plans to marry, and is raising her son and his two
youngsters. My youngest daughter and her husband are doing very well.
They have three beautiful, bright daughters, and despite Grandpa's
protests, insist on turning them into Christians. My daughter also
has a son who is just out of the Air Force. Whenever possible, Cathy
and I see them in person. When that is not doable I chatter with them
on the phone. This email is fine for casual acquaintances, but for
family? Live is the only way to keep close.
But now I'm off to the radio and my morning fix with Thom Hartman.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/6/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm certainly not on twitter. The idea of thinking that one can adequately
express an idea in 140 characters is ridiculous. It's just a way to lash
out
at others or inflate one's ego, as far as I'm concerned. Facebook is a huge
money making operation and is not the way I want to communicate with
anyone!Even my kids who are 53 and 45 don't use it. And if I could manage
it, and I almost do, I'd boycott Amazon because I don't want a monopoly
doing all the selling in the world. I have ideas about right and wrong and
I've tried to live my values. But as society becomes more and more corrupt,
it becomes harder and harder to do so. I'll hold out, wherever I can.
Miriam
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of MARY CONVY
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2017 8:04 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like this?
Miriam, Are you on Twitter? Why no Facebook?
_____
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > on behalf of Roger Loran
Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
Sent: Sunday, November 5, 2017 11:34 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ;
Miriam Vieni
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like this?
It was just a personal post that was forwarded around and happened to
come my way. Maybe you wouldn't be on Facebook, but you have made plenty
of personal posts right here yourself.
On 11/5/2017 10:09 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
I wouldn't be on Facebook to begin with. And the fact that people wouldbecome involved in a story like that when really important and horrible
things are happening to people all over the world, many of them caused by
the government of the country where I live, is one reason.
Miriam<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2017 8:02 PM<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] What would you do with something like this?that she found. She said that it had been abandoned and that she found it
There is a guy on Facebook who says that his wife brought home a puppy
in
the weeds on the side of the road. They decided to adopt it and went
through
the whole procedure of getting its vaccinations and dog tags and so forth.
But he says that the older it gets the more he is thinking that it doesn't
act quite right and it doesn't look quite right. He is getting more and
more
suspicious that his wife brought home a coyote. I wish I could see the
picture. Several people have commented and a couple say that it looks a lot
like pictures of coyotes that they have seen.
