Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Lisa.
1. Taking hats off to Pope Francis
In a video message ahead of World Youth Day on 9th April, Pope Francis called upon young people of the world to resist the “false image of reality” portrayed by social media and reality TV, and to take charge of their own destiny.
Wise words, Pope Francis – I’d take my hat off to you for that, but, this little girl got in there first and already took your hat off to you. Awkward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl9XNGy2VHw
2. Who gives a f*** about an Oxford comma? – I do
I was delighted to see my all time favourite punctuation mark, the Oxford comma, spring up in the news recently. If you aren’t familiar with the Oxford comma, we can’t be friends let me allow the New York Times to educate you:
“In a list of three or more items — like “beans, potatoes and rice” — some people would put a comma after potatoes, and some would leave it out. A lot of people feel very, very strongly about it.”
“Some people would put a comma” of course entails “correct people” (I am in the “feel very, very strongly about it” camp). Anyway, In the U.S. of A, there was a lawsuit filed for a whopping $10mil, hinged entirely on a debate about the Oxford comma.
Basically, a group of truck drivers sued their employer in a dispute about overtime pay that they had been denied. The reason their bosses had denied the pay in the first place is because state laws outlined some job roles (such as truck driving) as exempt from overtime pay, but the clauses didn’t include that all important punctuation mark.
This week, the court has ruled in favour of the drivers, saying the absence of a comma produced enough uncertainty to do so. Moral of the story – Oxford commas could save you a lot of money.
They will also save your breakfast,
…save you from embarrassing situations,
… and maybe even save your life.
3. Influential images
Half of the battle in conducting a successful influencer marketing campaign is in finding the right influencers. Typically, marketers will track down potential influencers by trawling through their existing content, researching their specialised topics, their previous work, their followers’ engagement, etc.
But step into the future, because this is all about to change. Dubbed the “first of its kind”, Influencer tool provider, Dovetail, is launching a platform that lets brands find influencers through image-matching.
Once images are uploaded, they are scanned and analysed to give a “degree of confidence” out of 100 in the recognition of objects or people in the image. The platform then searches for qualified influencers who have posted images with a similar look-and-feel across YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and Twitter (Facebook coming soon) – cool.
4. Product reviews, but not as you know them
If, like me, you are fed up of trying to source an honest product review, only to be faced with super glam You-tubers that have clearly been paid / given everything for free, I’d like to point you in the direction of Antonella, The Uncensored Reviewer.
In the words of Antonella herself, this is an offering of “Unbiased, honest, uncensored reviews about all sorts. Not for under 18s or the faint hearted” – You have been warned.
5. Phil-ing funny
Here’s a sentence I never thought I would say – I have fallen in love with Phillip Schofield. No, I don’t mean Phillip Schofield as in the grey-haired, middle-aged, TV presenter; but rather Phillip Schofield’s alter-ego, official Meme Lord.
What is essentially a spoof social media account full Schofield’s mug made into a series of hilarious memes, @SchofeReacts has become somewhat a guilty pleasure of mine, I just cannot get enough, and it seems I am not alone.
https://twitter.com/SchofeReacts/status/841712425288253442
https://twitter.com/SchofeReacts/status/836535826158923776
https://twitter.com/SchofeReacts/status/840670367232471043
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRGT8WghCcW/?taken-by=schofereacts
Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to SPRING those clocks forward on Sunday.