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 Libby.
1. Ed Balls Day
The 28th of April 2015 marked the 4 year anniversary of #EdBallsDay. The day Ed Balls tried to search for his name on Twitter, only to accidentally tweet it:
Ed Balls
— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) April 28, 2011
As you can see, this has resulted in a LOT of retweeting in order to take the mick. Unfortunately, Ed showed some good humour and joined in with the japes with his own contribution:
Here we go again… ! RT @edballsmp: Ed Balls pic.twitter.com/EhIPfbmQRo — Ed Balls (@edballsmp) April 28, 2015
… and now the fun’s ruined…
https://vine.co/v/eW9E6vP9hQX
… RUINED!
2. Milifans vs Cameronettes
Ok, this isn’t a politics-themed My Five, but I had to mention the new and totally real fanbase of Miliband and Cameron. I can only assume that now Zayn’s left 1D, teenage girls needed a new obsession, and this is it.
Apparently, it all started with a Tweet from 17-year-old, Labour-loving Abby with her #Milifandom campaign. The birth of the Cameronettes quickly followed but with met with skepticism by many:
Stop trying to make #Cameronettes happen. It’s not going to happen https://t.co/jYVmEiGFU2 #Milifandom @lewis_goodall pic.twitter.com/Sy5h5bBZzm
— Leila Molana-Allen (@Leila_MA) April 22, 2015
I could go on about the power of social media, or the power of fan girls, but the real reason I included this was the abundance of Photoshopping this craze has resulted in. I strongly encourage you to check out @cooledmiliband for yourself, but this probably is my fave:
3. Awesome Birthday
After a desperate mum’s Facebook status about her lonely son went viral, a page was set up for people wanting to send birthday cards to Roman Povey. This 11 year old kid had no friends, no one wanted to sit next to him and had only been to one birthday party since starting school – properly sad stuff – but he received over 200 cards, took 10 mates to the cinema for his birthday and got a gift from NASA. Not only that, he got a second celebration in the form of a surprise dinner with 55 attendees. Well done, Facebook.
4. Social Media and Insurance Companies
If your house is burgled while you’re away on holiday, you may have your insurance claim rejected if you’ve shared details of your trip on social media. No, really.
Basically, in the USA, insurers check the social media profiles of their policyholders before they’ll agree to pay out. If they see evidence of the plans being announced it’s considered as that policyholder not doing enough to prevent theft by effectively advertising that their home is unguarded. A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers said no insurer has rejected a home cover claim on the basis of a social media post, but it’s (yet another) warning sign that perhaps some of us share too much information online.
5. Microsoft gets Edgy
So long, Internet Explorer, Project Spartan is now Microsoft Edge. It’s slicker, it’s quicker, and now you can draw on the internet too. Plus it’s not IE… possibly its strongest quality.
Chrome and Firefox extensions will be modified and available through Edge so we can get stuff done in the browser as well as chat to that little blue dot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH1D31YHsgY
