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. Wand Erection
Until recently, that mondegreen is pretty much all I knew about One Direction. Well, that and Zayn totes left the band omg. Alas, those pop-tastic fellas were all over everywhere this week because of what’s been dubbed as the beginning of the end. Yes, they’re taking a break… exploring their options… moving in multiple directions is if you will.
The reason I include this tragedy in this week’s My Five is that amid the sad news and awful stories as a result, I enjoyed the hashtag from non-one-direction-lovers being quickly taken over by those lovable scamps, the ‘Directioners’:
Other fandoms tried to use this hashtag as an Insult but we took it over #OneDirectionIsBreakingUpParty pic.twitter.com/dqqVnn6TmO
— Hannah. (@larryismyoxygen) August 24, 2015
I also enjoyed the more amusing reactions to the news:
WE NEED OUR OWN SHOW CALLED “KEEPING UP WITH THE DIRECTIONERS” BC WE GO THROUGH MORE DRAMA THAN KARDASHIANS TBH #MTVHottest One Direction — 1D UPDATES (@1DWWAlert) August 23, 2015
Do NOT make me regret this One Direction tattoo on my lower back, fellas.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 24, 2015
oh, Ry-Rey.
2. Spam King looking at hard time
Sanford “Spamford” Wallace, aka David Sinful-Saturdays Fredericks, is a notorious spammer. Waaay back in the 1990s, he admitted to running scammy fax and email campaigns and was later sued for $2million in 1997. He also had scammy spyware companies and had a scammy go on MySpace too.
This week, he pleaded guilty to fraud and criminal contempt for being behind a scam that lead to around 30 million unauthorized wall posts spreading on Facebook back in 2008/2009. Currently out on bond, Wallace will be sentenced in December, but he’s looking at 3 years in jail and a fine of $250,000 (£160,000).
3. #SettleTheBeef
Burger King this week ran ads in The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune inviting McDonald’s to join them in a one-day event in which the staff of the two restaurants come together to serve a Whopper/Big Mac hybrid: The McWhopper:
Sales proceeds were to be donated to the nonprofit organisation Peace One Day who raise awareness of the International Day of Peace.
Maccy D’s was so not down with the idea and came back via Facebook with a pretty pretentious and almost un-sporting retort:
In terms of publicity, it seems BK came out on top, because according to Spredfast they were mentioned 42% more times than McDonald’s on social media. #BK4lyf
4. M
Facebook have introduced a digital assistant service, currently in beta, for Messenger. M uses artificial intelligence and real life human beings known as ‘M trainers’ to actually complete tasks like making a purchase.
Dave Marcus, the head-honcho at Messenger, announced the new service on Facebook this week:
While it’s already being compared to Google Now, Cortana, Siri and Alexa, the new kid on the block, has some fundamental differences in functionality that make it too different… and not necessarily in a good way.
5. It’s not hip to be square
Originally, Instagram’s square photos were a distinguishing feature of the app, plus it made scrolling through photos way more aesthetically pleasing. The restriction frustrated some users as it often lead to cropping an image, which can be a disaster if your outfit involved a new hat and new shoes.
Instagram’s own research revealed that 20% of its users would modify their images to fit the square format, adding padding to images often with third party apps, which meant it would show the entire photo – only smaller. Well, not any more. Also it means videos are no longer cropped either so…
https://instagram.com/p/65PhxOs_RH/
