By now you will have heard the terrible news about the shooting at the Connecticut primary school. Not everyone online treated it with the respect the situation deserved. Among those were a handful of Justin Bieber fans, who took to Twitter to express their angst that extended shooting...

So many people and brands are now gaming for Facebook “engagement” that it’s ruining the platform for a lot of people. Luckily, not too many of my friends fall for this stuff, but plenty of people have friends who do, so here’s a selection of the more desperate attempts...

I’ve been talking to a lot of community managers of high-profile New Zealand companies, and there’s a trend to what they have been saying lately: They are getting worn out from trying to deal with unreasonably emotional people. People who say they are upset about changes to products they...

I have a message for marketers, social media managers, advertising whiz-kids and anyone else who thinks social media needs to be flashy: Quiet in the cheap seats. There’s a rant coming, and it’s got your name on it. I see a trend hitting New Zealand Facebook pages (although...

It’s always amusing – and facepalmy – when a song with stupid lyrics makes it to the Top 40. What’s worse is when the lyrics are in equal parts stupid and disrespectful. It’s as if the lyricists don’t have two braincells to rub together. What if we swapped...

This holiday, I went on a social media fast. No Twitter. No Facebook. I wasn’t allowing myself to see anything remotely work-related. I was having a Proper Break. Sounded good in theory, but I didn’t realise just how much I used Twitter to keep up with news, and find alternative...

It seems that there’s a few things we do that we don’t realize annoy other people. So when I put the offer out on Twitter – to get a few “I wish my partner didn’t…” off the collective chests of New Zealand – I was inundated. So here’s a few...

Social networking platform Twitter has many uses – staying in touch with friends, catching breaking news live from the scene, networking with potential business contacts, finding feedback, help and general rubbernecking. But lately many high-profile users are abandoning the interface, and...

Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity. W. Clement Stone One of my pet peeves is broken promises. I don’t like breaking them and I don’t like having them...