#it's ok I generally like the blogger so eh

[gunpowder-gemini]

I got vagued about for the first time lmao

#it's ok I generally like the blogger so eh #I just also think my point of #''hey maybe stop making people the butt of every cringe joke bc after a while it makes you feel ashamed of liking things'' #was valid #jokes are fun but tell someone their interests are stupid enough times and they internalize that #and then don't want to share their interests with anybody every #speaking from experience #there's 'getting unhealthily attatched to something' #and then there's 'please just let me enjoy this without making it and therefore me out to be stupid' #anyway cringe culture is super fucking dead no matter what people say and go unashamedly enjoy the things that make you happy k? #guess I'm vaguing too oops #but like I'm not upset at them really so I don't want people to be like 'oh this person was mean' or whatever #bc they weren't mean or nothing #just. it's frustrating to feel like your valid concerns are getting handwaved #so i wanted to vent a lil without really bringing them into it #bc they have good intentions

[lesbiansforboromir]

What's ur take on th amazon prime middle earth show atm? Thoughts, feelings about the new rumours/news?

I was going a little spare about it in my discord server, let me try and tie all these thoughts down for you. Also to be CLEAR... I'm going to pretend that these 'leaks' are things I believe will happen rather than published by TOR ie, dubious at best. Here's a link to the article anon's talking about.

So, first off, the tolkien estate is apparently happy with the production... I have to file this under what will become quite a well populated reaction box 'that sounds good but it makes me nervous also'. I'm very glad Priscilla likes it though, that's still good to know.

Next, Amazon has SOME Silm and unfinished tales rights... This probably worries the silm fandom far more than it worries me, but in terms of the production itself it seems very positive to me. I mean god... how else would they have... made the show... Like they'd have had to rename kings and straight up ignore plot points without it. AND YET I am actually still surprised. I suppose I shouldn't be, there's quite a lot of moving and shaking since Christopher died and I was always pretty sure he was the one keeping it all under lock and key. And considering the Nature of Middle Earth book is coming out now too with rumoured withheld letters and such, it seems the remaining holders are more lenient with the property rights.

There's a hilarious section where the article is like 'hm it might be that the show will span multiple sections of time' and I'm like well... it'll be a fuckin narrow as hell show if it doesn't... I dont think a single narrative ends in less than 100 years. The part about the dwarves, elves and humans having their own separate production units is interesting but I dont think I know enough about how tv making works to know what that says about the show. But what TOR suggests in the article, an anthology of POV's, would be pretty cool and was more in line with what I originally wanted it to look like. Did this make me a LEETLE excited? Maybe, but I can't acknowledge that yet.

The fake production team shooting fake shots is just funny, like you're using the money this way? Please... it wont be so bad if we see leaked images of shooting I promise I swear.

Lenny Henry as a harfoot is like... LIKE... this is definitely very excellent. I'm a little concerned that all the actors of colour will be relegated to just the hobbits, but I'm actually just a little too excited about seeing wandering hobbits and ALSO HAHA! Now @penny-anna has to watch the show >:3

Tom Budge... who WAS celebrimbor... Like.. I have been umming and arring over this, I go from 'god no' to '.. eh? maybe I see your point?' but in general I still feel like there were more dramatic and enigmatic choices that could have been made for casting such a character. However celebrimbor should have a moustache I think, so, maybe. Still not psyched about this vision of Celebrimbor as far as casting goes.

this is just straight up terrifying. Although it's still funny to me how the entire tolkien mega community saw JRRT say 'actually I was wrong the first time, orcs aren't elves they're corrupted early humans' and they all replied with the [I respect the council has made a decision nick fury.meme] But no seriously... what the fuck, go back to the sex having.

It's absolutely gruelling to me that the major elf debate we're at is 'can elves have short hair', like ok... I do want elves with short hair but that is not the major elf portrayal issue I want discussed here boys. When I say 'can elves be not-white' I want you to say 'yes, here they are'. Still, I do want to see elves with short hair.

And finally absolutely DELIGHTED to know I wont have to suffer Annatar in season 1. I get respite before the angbang bloggers descend on the tags.

IN GENERAL (still pretending I believe all these leaks, which I don't) This is all... encouraging... some of it's worrying and I'm jumpy about it but I would.. I would like an anthology... with a raft of perspectives, timelines and plots... this is what I was wanting when they talked about 'rivalling game of thrones' so... now we gotta wait for mid-2022 I guess... God I think Alecto the Ninth is coming out then too, I'm so beset.

#tolkien #lotronprime #chats

[seylaaurora]

Rules: Answer 20 questions then tag 20 bloggers you want to get to know better!

I was tagged by @novemberhush

1. Name: Not gonna give it out, sorry. If we know each other, then you can ask for it. Generally I’m ok with being called my username, ie Seyla in this case

2. Nicknames: I got a few by different people, in fandoms it’s mostly Sif recently

3. Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

4. Height: 162cm

5. Languages spoken: German, English, French, Polish and a little Spanish

6. Nationality: German and Polish

7. Favourite season: Spring or autumn cause they are neither too cold, nor too warm

8. Favourite flower: Tulips

9. Favourite scent: Tulips or strawberries

10. Favourite colour: Red or purple

11. Favourite animal: I used to be a horse girl ;) now it’s mostly some kind of birds or cats

12. Favourite fictional character(s): You’ll make me choose? I mostly love my girls/women, so for example Natasha Romanoff, Luna Lovegood, Gamorra. If I join a new fandom, I’m gonna latch onto the/a woman first and the rest later (unless it’s Teen Wolf, then the answer is Stiles)

13: Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: Eh. Hot chocolate but only if it’s cocoa and not literally just molten drinkeable chocolate. Tea only if there’s no hibiscus in it. Caramel latte or moccha.

14. Average sleep hours: I try to keep it at 8. During the semester it’s probably less, when I’m free it’s probably more.

15. Dog or Cat person: I like both but it’s easier for me to interact with cats.

16. Number of blankets you sleep with: one

17. Dream trip: There’s a lot of places I’d want to visit. For a long time I dreamt of a trip to Argentina but there’s also still a lot of places in Europe for me left to see.

18. Blog established: Last spring or summer

19. Followers: 45

20. Random fact: The last book I read made me super angry and is therefore all I talked about for the last 36(?) hours

I don’t interact with many people on this blog, so who will I tag...?

@ocelusworld @daughter-of-infinity @inawickedlittletown @taxingninja @magic-number-3 @dant-daily @seaselkie @idealuk

#random #about seyla

[partyinthemysterymachine]

AND here we are.. JP turning absolutely everyone hard bisexual or hard gay

still mad about the vocals not matching “doo wop” and hi Munkustrap?? whatcha doin up there? always thoguht that was cute tho

ok listen you guys re: Mr. Mistoffelees song in general

this stupid movie made it a p much a sacred song and experience for me and listen i was 12 ok but unfortunately the significance has persisted; so every recording and show i’ve heard/seen is “judged” by on the rendition and gonna say Hungarian really hits hard

Jacob Brent got CHEATED for half this dance getting cut/edited to  get closeups of everyone else since he was chosen as a dream cast member and this number is the Showstopper

jfc JP your hips 

i wonder how much influence the movie cast had on-- lord i love the Tugger/Jerrie fist bump

-- had on future performers in the roles

jesus fucking christ john partridge is.. y’all know.

oops my eyes sting

my heart is so full and my eyes sting

the russian touches just..... clenches fist....... and the disappearing is so cheesy god bless

whew. whew the nostalgia just. right into my chest and bones. it’s the crystals/beads on the Misto jacket. fuck idk why seeing that just goes pow

mmf. the acknowledgment that It’s Time to Munkustrap

just. why y’all tryna die i mean like mood?? but.. and yeah that Tugger mockery like well go on, princess, and Munk’s pointed ignoring hammered the nail in of the hc that they’re not only brothers but Griz and Deut are their parents

Macavity MIA and DNI ur a shitty middle brother

shoutout to that one blogger rthat suggested Tugger being older than Munk, that’s some big brain shit you got going on there

admittedly Memory took awhile to Hit Me Hard, 

:( the regret on Munk :(( ugh the Misto turn, and the sadness and remorse on everyone is Oof, lookin at you Bomba

Veerle got the biggest eyeballs and the most iconic voice

oh oof yeah this part of Memory wrecks me, the crescendo and boom Elaine Page belting it with all the emotion in the world, she dominates the Griz game

(sidenote: not really diggin the trend of younger actresses being cast as Griz? kinda.. takes away from the...... characterization and poignancy of Griz?? y’know???? eh)

:( the remorse and apologies and acceptance and :( understanding and :( OOF the way that she hesitates with Munk :( oh no oh fuck oh no oh oh no the heavyside layer no nononope nope nope she’s :( and the encouragement and :(((((( hi tugger whatcha doin on the-- oh right god you’re so cute

god i fucking lost my mind at the revival cuz jesus this whole end bit with memory - bows hit me a lot harder and more meaningfully in the past decade lmao it really just.. oh god the way she looks back and Deut encourages and oof. im’ gonna have to go take a minute outside with a cigarette after this

ah yes there it is again, Munk and Tugger flanking Deut which essentially declares they’re his sons

ah yes they’re still IC while facing him :( also ugh Bryn Walters is so gorgeous bless him you beautiful man

Ken page is adorable blss this man

:(

(he’s on his right and rtt on his left im just)

i love everyone’s poise. you are all simply wonderful. thank you so much thank you casting dept for handpicking this cast because everyone here is so deserving to be a part of this piece of history 

oh boy. whew. oh guys. whew. 

so this is this and that is that

and that’s how my life got ruined by CATS

#i jellicle can't deal #longpost

[general-thinks]

Get to know the blogger!

Tagged by @cartoonfanorwhatever , thanks LJ!

Tagging @arcade-lackey @midnight-sloth @tsunesama @bobstropajo @the-get-master @jango-of-sparta @its-after-3am because I can

1) Name: On the blog you can call me simply General, while mostly my games I call my avatar 'Colt'

But if you wonder, my real name is Simone

2) Height: 1m 87

3) Wearing: My Allmight hoodie, blue jeans and long sleeves blue t-shirt

4) Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert

5) Siblings: I've got an older stepsister!

6) Following: 88 blogs...? Really? T-this low?

7) Followers: 576 (How is that possible, I don't know)

8) Degree: Biology student, first year of university

9) Instrument: I played piano, some time ago

10) Favourite authors: Barbero (a really good italian historian), Zerocalcare, Rick Riordan... (honestly I don't read that many books, mostly comics, but I want to... I swear...)

11) Favourite Star Wars: Despite all my... doubts about the second trilogy, my favourite episode is Revenge of the Sith

12) Last Google search: patrick who are you people

13) Recommend a video game: Age of Empire II. ALWAYS.

14) Recommend a music album: Paramore- Brand New Eyes and After Laughter. Paramore still rocks too.

15) Recommend a book: The Rithmatist and The name of the Rose.

16) Recommend a recipie: meatballs and tomato's sauce. I'm a simple man.

17) Share a creative thought that you had today: Ok so I'm thinking of a story where there are people who can summon as familiars historical figures like Julius Ceasar, Gilgamesh, Hannibal, Alexander the great, Joan d'Arc, Garibaldi, Moses and others, and they kinda work to solve misteries and defeat other familiars or monster? A-and they have to stop a conspiracy that wants terraforming the whole world and control it!? And-and each familiars has powers that reflects their legends and qualities when they were alive? And-Don't go- what if the historical figures kinda don't remember their lifes until a specific point of their life, like they would evolve once they stepped on a key moment of their life? A-and...and what if for this some of them hate their future self so much that they evolve to another person, and alter, like-like a little Cristopher that wants to break his own future face for what he did with his dream of exploring the world!? Eh? Eh?

...FOR THE LAST TIME, THIS IS NOT FATE

#i swear my story is different I REALLY SWEAR #general ramblings

[jasonvtodd]

11 QUESTION GAME

i was tagged by @kazsbrekkfast ✨❤ Rules: Answer the 11 questions you’ve been asked, nominate 11 other bloggers, ask your nominees 11 questions, let them know you’ve nominated them!

If you could be any character’s best friend, who would it be and why? default was: jason todd!! but then i thought about it and i mean yes obv him too buut... i genuinely believe that nothing would make any person feel more complete and happy and safe then if you were the wally west to dick graysons dick grayson. so... yeah dick grayson aoisuhd like boys a mess but damn if he doesnt do everything he can to let his friends and family know how much he loves them!!! 

What book is the most well-loved and well-read on your shelf? (stealing kat’s question lolol) i think the raven cycle?? i carried them all around a lot when i was doing classes in 2016 in my backpack when i was rereading them and my copy of gatsby was very worn and torn but :(( lent it to someone and have yet to have it back </3 also the things they carried by tim o’brien is also a Mess tm the spine is a wreck.

What book or book series got you into reading/creating your blog? the raven cycle got me back into reading and remembering i love books in 2015. buut then the foxhole court got me to change my url in 2016 for the first time since 2012 and go into a full lit blog for a while so aoishd i guess foxhole but wouldnt have gotten there without raven cycle?? the Best two tm

Quote one of your favourite books of all time. “I suppose it’s a cliché to say you’re glad to be alive, that life is short, but to say you’re glad to be not dead requires a specific intimacy with loss that comes only with age or deep experience. One has to know not simply what dying is like, but to know death itself, in all its absoluteness. After all, there are many ways to die—peacefully, violently, suddenly, slowly, happily, unhappily, too soon. But to be dead—one either is or isn’t. The same cannot be said of aliveness, of which there are countless degrees. One can be alive but half-asleep or half-noticing as the years fly, no matter how fully oxygenated the blood and brain or how steadily the heart beats. Fortunately, this is a reversible condition. One can learn to be alert to the extraordinary and press pause—to memorize moments of the everyday.” ― Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me (its long but i dont talk about this book a lot and i really adore every aspect of it)

Would you ever consider writing poetry if you’ve never done so before? its... possible i have done so before... and no, before you ask, i do not still have it... (even if i did i wouldnt tell you kiddo)

Do you have any of your own characters/original writings? youve... seen... my Past tm.... 

Opinion on fanfiction? love it but havent read much of it for a while tbh

Most meaningful book/book series you’ve ever read? oh fuck... no no... this is... no. i cant do this no you know i cant do this aisjdh cause how ‘meaningful’ the books are... is subjective to every person you know?? plus it also changes sometimes depending on my mood/mindset... standalones that really fucked me up that i read one after another is: they both die at the end, when breath becomes air, tin man, insomniac city. series is.. a whole other thing asodiuhf but you know them all anyway so eh

A book that made you cry? lmao again. this is too hard to answer and im gonna keep saying the same answers but tin man really fucked me up ok. and insomniac city had me crying a lot too and.. again.. theres a Lot tm

Do you like short stories or long novels? mhmm i dont mind novellas if they have characters i like from a anotherseries but generally speaking id prefer longer... in saying that though... tin man (yes, gone there again) was only 200 pages and managed too... HA.. so.. i guess if youre a good enough writer you dont need a long amount of pages sometimes

Who is the most interesting female character you’ve ever encountered? lila bard but she identifies as genderfluid anyways but still amazing and schwab!! gave us!! that beautiful pirate icon!! also obvious shoutout to nina zenik as well!!! and i just realized this isnt just book related so aisudh i could go on with comic characters too but then we’d be here for another few paragraphs SO!! we’ll just!! stick to books!! 

‘nominating’: @amritasher @dqstoevsky @kingormmarius @wickerjulias @thedreamertrilogies​ @brucewaynse @hawkgirls @bluejeanbarold @brvkker @wallewest @gracelessnites

MY QUESTIONS

24hrs till the end of the world... you can get to any place, to any person in an instant though.. where do you go, who do you see.. and why?

zombie apocalypse, who do you have on your team (rl buddies or fictional, your choice mates) 

five must read before you die books (or comics if you want)

if you had the power to time travel to any point in history, where would you go and why? 

one thing you’ve done this year that you’re proud of?

what’s something everyone loves, but you think is very overrated?

going to get real controversial here (how you answer this, will possibly end our mutual engagement...) ... pineapple on pizza... should it be on there?

whats an album that is your ride or die? (or artist/band)

apple or android? why.

advice you’d give to your past self at a time when you were struggling?

something you’re looking forward to?

#i got tagged #this was sitting my drafts whoops aoisuh thanks for the tag kiddo this was fun!! i rlly need to start reading more though this year ahh #i misss it

[junker-town]

A Champions League guide for Americans who don’t watch soccer

The Champions League final has more intrigue than ever for American fans.

The biggest sporting event in the world this year is on Saturday. I know what you’re thinking: That’s impossible, the Super Bowl is in February, you idiot!

Look, I know what you mean. The Super Bowl IS a really big deal, especially in the United States where about 100 million people tune in. Worldwide, that number is usually about 150 million, which is definitely A LOT of people.

No, I’m actually talking about the Champions League Final, the biggest annual event in global sports. While the U.S. audience for Europe’s annual club soccer championship game is only about 3-4 million between English and Spanish coverage, worldwide that audience balloons to closer to 400 million (which is actually about 100 million fewer people than tune in for the World Cup final every four years).

I bring this up not to convince you that soccer is actually really cool, but more of a way to give you some ammunition to impress your friends at the next tailgate.

And if you’re the kind of person who’s into that sort of thing, you may be even more interested in this Champions League final than normal. That’s because there are some legitimate reasons American sports fans should care.

Here’s everything you’ll need to know:

Who’s playing?

Two of the richest and most valuable teams in the world: Manchester City and Chelsea. Both play their domestic games in the English Premier League and are considered “new money” clubs. In England where basically every team is more than 100 years old, that just means they’ve played in the lower leagues — that’s due to the whole promotion and relegation thing you’ve probably heard about at some point — recently enough that some of their fans actually remember it. Insanely rich people have since bought the clubs and turned them into wealthy behemoths.

Forbes ranked City the 13th ($4 billion) and Chelsea the 25th ($3.2B) most valuable sports clubs in the world, right there with the biggest NFL, NBA and MLB teams.

Both teams supposedly spent nearly $400 million on salaries in the 2020-21 season and the estimated market value of their rosters is right around $1 billion each.

How can anyone afford that?

The wealth of their ownerships is hard to overstate. Chelsea is owned by Russian oil oligarch Roman Abramovich, whose net worth is estimated at about $15 billion.

He’s actually the less well-heeled of the two. City is owned Sheikh Mansour, who is effectively a stand-in for the United Arab Emirates. His family’s estimated net worth is more than $1 trillion.

Wow, that’s so much money! They must dominate this sport, right?

Eh, not really. While Chelsea previously won the Champions League in 2011-12, this is only their third-ever trip to the final and their first since winning it. They just barely finished fourth in the EPL this year, which means they qualified for next year’s tournament by skin of their teeth. Although City is coming off their third EPL title in four years, this is the first time they’ve ever qualified for the Champions League final. When Mansour bought City in 2008, it was with the express goal of winning Champions League, and after several notable flops the club is now on the precipice.

All that money must buy them some exciting players.

It’s true, both teams have plenty of talent but neither has the sort of worldwide superstar that the casual sports fan probably knows. Leading the line for City are players like İlkay Gündoğan, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne. Chelsea’s top scorers are Jorginho, Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham. All exceptionally good players, but even your buddy from college who started following Barcelona after his semester abroad in Spain probably can’t give you much of a scouting report on any of them.

Can you, uh, give me a scouting report?

This is not meant to be a technical column but I see you’re now getting invested, so here goes: Chelsea actually fired their coach — genuine club legend Frank Lampard — earlier this year after spending an ungodly amount on transfers for new players. Almost all that money was spent on attacking players, but their defense is really why they’re here. The Blues have only given up four goals during their entire Champions League campaign, an average of .33 per game. They allowed the second fewest goals in Premier League play, too.

The player who probably best encapsulates Chelsea is Timo Werner, one of those expensive offseason transfers. He’s extremely fast and has moments of absolute brilliance, but also has a rather hilarious penchant for missing seemingly easy shots.

City is a bit more free-flowing, albeit with an equally stout defense. Pep Guardiola is considered one of soccer’s technical geniuses and while they don’t have one big scorer, De Bruyne is one of the smoothest players in the world and a playmaking dynamo. He’s got 10 goals and 18 assists in all his games this year. City led the EPL in scoring, averaged more than two goals a game in Champions League and have outscored their opponents by 90 goals across all competitions this year.

In case you haven’t gathered, City are definitely the favorites to win this, even if Chelsea has won two of three previous meetings this year.

Any notable Americans involved?

Actually, both teams have one! Zack Steffen is a backup goalkeeper for City and even made seven starts across the various competitions this year, including one in Champions League. He’s probably the USMNT’s starting goalkeeper for the foreseeable future.

Chelsea has arguably the best American player in Christian Pulisic, who has six goals and four assists across all competitions this year. Pulisic had a goal and an assist in the Champions League semifinals, becoming the first American to do either that late in the tournament.

One of them will become the first-ever American to win Champions League.

Wait, aren’t Americans bad at soccer?

I get it, the last time you heard about U.S. Soccer it was probably because they failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup ... or maybe it was earlier this year when they missed out on the upcoming Olympics. But we’re actually in the midst of what’s either promising to be a golden generation for American soccer players or the start of the long-promised era of global competence.

That belief is mostly grounded in Americans’ success in European clubs. Steffen was the first American to earn a Premier League medal and combined with Pulisic marks the first time two USMNT players both finished in the top 4. There were six USMNT players who played in the Premier League this year, the most ever (h/t @paulcarr).

Beyond England, Americans were starting for some of the world’s biggest clubs like Barcelona and Juventus; won four league titles; claimed six domestic cups; and every team in the Bundesliga seems to have at least one player repping the red, white and blue. That friend of yours who won’t shut up about his semester abroad is probably going to become even more insufferable, but now you might at least know what he’s talking about.

OK, when is the game?

It’s scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. ET, on Saturday.

How can I watch it?

CBS just acquired the English-language rights and will be airing it on broadcast channels. It can also be streamed through Paramount+ or on FuboTV. If you’re more interested in hearing the Spanish call, TUDN will have that.

Anything notable about the broadcast?

Well, if you know anything about American soccer, you probably know about Clint Dempsey. He was the first legitimate American attacking star to play in England, tied Landon Donovan for the most goals scored for the United States men’s national team and then retired in 2018. He kinda fell off the face of the earth after retiring to North Carolina, but recently surfaced for a lengthy podcast interview with some former teammates. About a week later, it was announced he’d be one of the studio analysts for this game. He’s always had a reputation for being someone who doesn’t really care what others think of him, so this definitely has the potential to be interesting.

Who should I root for?

Good question, here’s our bloggers’ pitches:

Crowning achievement for City: “Manchester City is worth rooting for because you are someone who appreciates greatness. We are witnessing one of the greatest managers of all time re-invent himself at City. From the centurion Premier League champs (they claimed 100 points in 2018-19) to being the first side to win all four domestic cups, Pep Guardiola has done nearly all at City. The only thing missing is a UCL trophy. This UCL Final is the culmination of a dream from fans, Pep, the players and ownership. Root for greatness.” - Saul Garcia, Bitter and Blue

Because somehow Chelsea are the lovable underdogs: “Chelsea are the underdogs here, even if we did deny City one trophy already this season in the FA Cup. We also have the most adorable footballer in the world, N’Golo Kanté, who happens to be one of the very best as well. And why would you ever want to root against him?” - David Pasztor, We Ain’t Got No History

[trans-girl-nausicaa]

6.

6: When did you realize you were transgender?

I think in late 2013 or early 2014. So when I was 20. Though to be perfectly accurate I identified as agender for some number of months (?) including in like april of 2014 and then later in 2014 i came out as a trans woman. Eh I don’t remember the exact timeline of that shit. 

I had lots of effeminate tendencies growing up, and I had started identifying as bisexual when i was 15. I had also started growing my hair out around that time, I think I refused to get my hair cut whatsoever from when I was 15 until I was 22. In my adolescence I had a fair amount of interest in... “cross dressing,” but not in the context of drag or in the context of anything sexual or anything like that. I was just like “huh I really kind of want to wear womens clothes for some reason? its probably just an effeminate bi boy thing. or a personality trait.” Yeah I was the type to go shopping with female friends, and “let” girls straighten my hair, paint my nails, put makeup on me, that kind of thing. But yeah I never pretended to not like it. I did have a lot of anxiety about that kind of behavior but only because of how STRAIGHT CIS people looked at me when I did that. I really hated being, like, looked down on and treated as weird. So I generally tried to obey social norms in more formal situations and only did gender nonconforming stuff when i had spaces to do so without as much social backlash. 

One period in my life that was very formative for me was when I was living in New York with my parents in 2013/2014. I went to college in new york and then dropped out of that school. So I was like shitty and mentally ill living at my parents place and I would take my allowance and go shopping for womens clothes. I’d just go to thrift stores and forever 21 and other inexpensive places and try on skirts and stuff. and i felt sort of free to do so because it was new york and i could just be, an anonymous person who nobody knows just trying new things and stuff. i started wearing lipstick and wearing skirts all the time. sometimes my parents and i would get in weird passive aggressive arguments about my hair and clothing. but i think they really just didnt understand what i was going through. they got a lot better about it after i came out to them as a woman. 

One really huge catalyst for realizing i was transgender was uh Tumblr Dot Com and following a bunch of trans woman bloggers. at first i was like “oh im liberal i want to Hear Lots Of Experiences and learn about transmisogyny!” and then i was like “oh, these gals are cool, lets follow more trans women” and i learned more about dysphoria and identity and self-realization and i was like “oh, I’m? Trans? Ok”

#ask meme #long post #me #it's my life i guess #Anonymous

[le-voidsyvoid]

// rules: always post the rules. answer 11 random questions posted for you. create 11 new ones and tag 11 people. let the person who tagged you know that you answered! //

  I was tagged by @artsaeda !!! Thank and sorry it took a while to do

__________________________________________________________

1) do you believe in superstitions/the supernatural? if so, what beliefs do you have? I’m generally kinda inbetween on most stuff but at the same time I’m also the person that wants to go look for cryptids to befriend so I’m a bit more enthusiastic at the idea of cryptid stuff kinda at least?

2) favorite song lyrics? I’m not really decisive but the lyrics from Can’t Make the Grade (Josh Conte) just has really nice lyrics in general to me but that might just be how they sound but the song This Is Home(Cavetown) that goes along with Cut My Hair probably has my favorite lyrics that I can think of at the moment?

The songs are here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YgmMJJ34k4&index=16&list=RDMMIDd43aRmHdE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDd43aRmHdE )

3) would you rather be able to speak every language or be able to play every instrument? I’d rather be able to speak every language since that seems really helpful!!

4) who’s your favorite character?  Uhhh I don’t have one favorite but my favorites  Hero and Assok from the property of hate, Bill Potts and the 12th Doctor from Doctor Who, Darrel from Ok Ko, Cecil from Welcome To Night Vale, and I generally tend to like a lot of skeleton characters

5) do you have any ocs? if so, describe them and/or show what they look like!! (I love hearing abt ppls ocs okay) Yee, I forget how few I post but I know I’ve posted Quel and Axi and rambled about them on main ( https://le-voidartist.tumblr.com/post/167997517558/i-still-havent-posted-all-ofinktober-but-i ) and Leale and Jacky/Jay forever ago (https://le-voidartist.tumblr.com/post/164400204398/i-havent-named-them-yet-but-i-made-some ) I feel bad for making this too long and I ramble really easily but just to simplify things a lot of my ocs don’t have names right now so it’s a bit harder to describe and this kinda reminded me I should actually try to post them now soon since I tend to have character doodles sit around for months so///eh. If I could try to quickly summarize a few I like to show or doodle a lot there’s my basically weaboo moon Sakura (who I’ve posted for a sign on Instagram at least), her roommate who’s just aesthetic nerdy blogger, skeleton/ghost twin kids (one has memory issues and is kinda blissfully happy and the other one is just. sad dead boy basically asdfghjkl), short gambling demon that’s secretly basically a dad friend, forever upset™️ and her half sister that’s just. fire bean,, bitter revenge filled rose, and I have a lot I’m using for dnd as npcs so since my players follow me no spoiler for them oof

6) dream job when you were younger? has it changed? I really wanted to be a writer for a bit when I was younger or an artist since a young ageand since my mom really wanted me to I’ve done more art stuff so it’s not changed.

7) biggest pet peeve? Having to explain really basic things to people for them to just deny it repetitively (like once I had to try to explain to a popular guy in my science class that bugs have instincts and I just. boi this is a 10th grade class,, why,) 

8) thoughts on space? the ocean? what would you rather explore? SPACE is amazing and so interestingly infinite and neat to think about!! It has infinite possibilities and it’s so pretty?? I love it. But the ocean  scares me since while it’s also mysterious we know that everything has been evolving for forever now and they have organisms with so many amazingly possible things that it’s just kinda scary to me? Like we know but we don’t. Like I’d love to research animals from the ocean and it’s really beautiful but just so scary to me to actually see the deep parts of. And I’m highkey afraid of sharks to be honest

9)  what trait do you value the most in people? I don’t know if it’s really a trait but I just like people who are understanding or listen? Like people who actually listen to you even if it’s something dumb and try and understand how to help you

10) how would you describe your aesthetic? I honestly have no idea as I’m a forever going identity crisis with no aesthetic but I guess crystals for sure at least? I have two aesthetic blogs at this point for the aesthetics I kinda have so I’d have to say sometimes it’s more monochromatic like a lot of greys with purples and greens I think but sometimes its more vibrant blue/yellow/black. 

11) what’re you looking forward to right now? I’m looking forward to my friends birthdays at least!! (You know who you two are and s o o n ) 

s c r em I’m bad at these things but um 

1) Do you have a favorite myth/folklore story?

2) Amphibians/reptiles or birds?

4) What song have you been listening to the most lately?

5)What time of the year do you think is the best?

6)What’s your favorite field of study? (Like neurology, Ornithology, Geology and that kind of thing)

7) Whats your favorite cliche?

8)What’s best the stars, a planet, or the moon? (If a planet which one)

9) What’s your favorite ship and favorite crack ship?

10)What’s your favorite show at the moment?

Anyone can do it if you want to so feel free to but and if I tag you you don’t really have to but hey @agentunicrest , @stardustjester , @basilstorm @pinetreeparadoxx @fantabulousdonkalope @unknown-person-lol @doctaaaaaaaar @fridaatzin95 @flameofswords @madz-the-3rd

#it's eight its close enough to eleven I guess? #sorry if it's annoying though #question game #I had to wait for a while to do this since I'm never on my computer so it's just. oh

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 47 - VGK - Razzle Dazzle

4-2 Win

Razzle dazzle, as the performers call it, is something the Buffalo Sabres have lacked as of late. By as of late I mean the last decade or so. Vegas Golden Knights fans have had more fun in the last three years than any Buffalo Sabres fan has had since American Idol was still relevant. When the Knights play there is a certain performance to it that has entertained their fans from day one in this league. They really don’t know our heartbreak, eh? I don’t need to regurgitate the same tired narrative about the Knights. However I do think there is a connection here worth noting. The most charitable expansion rules in NHL history allowed Vegas to come on in an instant, as if the whole Casino-laden Strip came alive all at once. The Buffalo Sabres however shut all the lights down starting in 2013. When we tried to fire them back up in 2015, 2016 and 2017 it didn’t work at all. We hired a new electrician. That new electrician has not gotten the whole thing to light up again yet so we Casino denizens are not happy. Unlike his predecessor however he’s gotten the whole thing to spark on for a brief time before going off again in 2018 and 2019. It looks like he’s finding the right connections in that circuit box. I’d even venture to say he’s already demonstrated he knows what he’s doing more than the last electrician. Okay, I’ve squeezed all the usefulness out of that metaphor. I think Jason Botterill is turning this team on in flashes now but will soon light it up permanently. That’s the meaning of the metaphor if you’re not one for allusions. Back to the Sabres reality in January 2020. The game in Detroit on Sunday was damn near a must-win. Even out-of-market observers speculated a loss to the league worse Red Wings would be a death certificate, but this club opened the casket like the undertaker! Okay, so they were so bad in the second period in that game it was just about shameful; but they won, and they did it by a margin of 5-1 on the backs of not one, not two, but three guys who have made clear they want off this team. Does winning solve everything? No. But it can go a long way to sating the fans for a time.

The first period was one of the better 20-minute blocks of hockey you’ll see from Buffalo this season. While scoring chances were relatively even, every other metric really wasn’t. Since I’ve already dropped one meandering metaphor today I’ll just give you the simplest part here: The Sabres dominated the shots 13-4. Rasmus Dahlin’s revival after the November concussion was fully realized in this game. At one point he dangled around two defenders and almost got the early lead all his own. Marty Biron gushed over it in the intermission and I think he spoke for a lot of us. The problem with the fantastic first was the home team couldn’t convert a goal or two. The pendulum swung back even again in the middle frame. The Golden Knights took over the shooting early and a somewhat haphazardous rush yielded a Chandler Stephenson shot on Linus Ullmark that did not go in. The puck did however bounce around and at some point hit Tomas Nosek who got credited for it trickling over the goal line. Ralph Krueger almost challenged it but it ended up standing. The first blood being drawn by the visitors would’ve stung more had an interference call not given the Sabres a powerplay shortly thereafter. The weirdest thing about this game was that they scored with the man advantage! Kyle Okposo got a slot pass from Sam Reinhart and lasered it in past Marc-Andre Flurey. The Sabres get a powerplay goal… IN THIS ECONOMY? Tighten your belt because before the period was out there was another powerplay goal. It was the last minute of play in the second and Vegas got called for too many men on the ice. The embarrassing penalty is the glee of Rob Ray who really savored counting the extra Knights on the ice. Gotta love simple math. This time it was Sam Reinhart getting a pass in the slot from Rasmus Ristolainen. A quick shot from Reinhart beat M.A.C. top shelf. It was one of those last-minute stingers that feels nice to be on the dealing side every once and a while. Jack Eichel cashed in with an assist on that 2-1 goal extending his new point streak to eight games. We’ll just have to stop keeping track of those streaks I suppose. But there was more to come from Jack Eichel in this game.

Reilly Smith gave Vegas their equalizer early in the third period. The period quickly got interesting, Johan Larsson got dirty and before you know it this game really felt like a race. Remember when I said the Sabres lack razzle dazzle lately? Well approximately 150% of the razzle dazzle that does emanate from this team originates with Jack Eichel. It happened again. He got the puck way back in the defensive zone and skates in on the Knights zone 2-on-1 with Zemgus Girgensons. Even Girgensons was shocked with how the play ended. Eichel went all the way in on Flurey and shot it high short side. It was another thing of beauty and Captain Jack razzle dazzle put Buffalo up 3-2. Fun but simple stat from @MikeKellyNHL: Jack Eichel ranks number one in the league with end-to-end rushes this season with 114. If he gets away from you it will probably end in something pretty. This game had its moments as the Knights pushed back but when Curtis Lazar tapped the insurance goal all the way down ice there was a tangible feeling of relief. The Knights aren’t exactly a force to be reckoned with this season, but a win would’ve put them in the top spot in the Pacific Division. After getting a must-win against Detroit, having this kinda game against a truly competitive team was something it’s clear we needed. This one ended 4-2 Buffalo. But more than that we got a good old fashion radio presser with the guy we all seem to want to burn at the stake right now: Jason Botterill.

Yes the old pregame interview at 716 yielded some interesting responses from the GM. There we’re two quotes I want to bring your attention to for different reasons. Firstly: “We’re not an elite team by any means. Should we be in the conversation for playoffs? Yes.” Secondly: “We want to make trades. We want to add to our group. People ask if we’re waiting for the deadline. We’re not waiting for the deadline. We’re trying to proceed with some things that haven’t materialized.” I’d be ok if you wrote off quote 1 as entirely fan service to stave off the Punt Theory that the Front Office was planning on punting this season for this summer’s cap relief. If you do take it at face value however its worth noting that just like last season they think they have a roster that can make the playoffs. That could be both an explanation for why there were so few subtractions and an explanation for why Ralph Krueger is stubbornly pushing through the roster rotation strategy that is frustrating the likes of Colin Miller and Zach Bogosian. If you prefer not to believe punt theory that’s a compelling reason to cheer for this squad as it exists now whether or not a trade or a few come before the deadline. That brings us to quote 2: Trades. The FO is probably looking at this roster as close to enough, but they are looking at multiple trades. Do note his phrasing points to multiple irons in the oven for Botterill. He’s not waiting for the deadline. He’s also revealing that there have been multiple trades that haven’t materialized yet. What could they be: Ristolainen, a second line center, a top six winger, McCabe, Hutton? He’s trying everyone and I get the sense he’s been trying since he hit a wall with Risto way back in July. One way you can interpret that is that he now looks desperate among the community of GMs and will be forced to wait until the deadline as they will. I can’t really rebut that argument but let’s not run the guy out of town like he hasn’t been doing his job as a General Manager.

One guy on that interview, Jeremy White of WGR550, put the postgame analysis of last night’s battle in good perspective. If Buffalo can get back into the playoff race it will be because of performances like this. Lots of saves mixed in with a powerplay that gets the goals they can’t 5 on 5. Jeremy is right but unfortunately I think simple math makes getting back into that race this month pretty much impossible. There are four games left this month and two and a half weeks left of said month. The Sabres have a bye-week next week. Even with the other teams going on their bye-weeks I wouldn’t expect our boys in the blue and gold to be sitting in a playoff spot by February 1st. After that however its truly off to the races. For now we have to come in off the ledge with this team and take it one game at a time. Dallas and Nashville tomorrow and Saturday respectively will be tests similar to the Knights. Win. Win like you did against Vegas and go into that bye week with the good taste of a four-game winning streak. It’s a somewhat tall order but for all this team’s flaws I think they could do it. Like, comment and share this blog to help a blogger out. I have some new work going up on Southtownstickets.com soon so keep an eye out for that. I’m excited about the Sabres after this win. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. As excited as this win may make me I have been enjoying third division offseason domestic soccer more the last couple weeks so… yeah… that little winning streak would help an awful lot for me.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #nhl

[tylerbiard]

Some Social

So, in yet another bout of procrastination from my studies, I found a link via Facebook to an insightful article on Gen Z (or iGen), and sort of just immersed into it.  The article goes to great lengths to describe the incoming generation’s mindset and how it’s penchant for mobile phones and social media is destroying their mental health, which made me ponder my own life.

I know I’ve talked about Gen Z before, and my dealings with them, comparing them to my generation, the infamous Millennials.  I probably came off as smug.  To be sure, a lot of the things associated with Gen Z, even things that came to the fore with my generation, aren’t things I’m really enamoured by, but they aren’t the fault of Gen Z any more than they are the fault of Millennials.  I’ve actually been hearing more about Gen Z in media lately, almost as if the world has actually realized that we can’t have people born in the mid-’80s apart of the same generation as those born in the early 2010s.  I’m really just trying to not feel usurped by this upstart, now-trending generation. Gen Z encompasses people born from the late ‘90s to early 2010s, a generation that doesn’t remember 9/11 or a world without smartphones. Spooky, eh?

For me, what the article describes of the Millennial upbringing is accurate -- I did grow up with computers and the internet, but I didn’t have it around me at all hours. I remember in junior high, rushing out after school, to catch the earliest bus home so that I could chat on MSN with a friend living in Spain before he had to go to bed.  But that whole day at school?  Aside from class-designated computer time in a dedicated lab, which didn’t even occur daily, it was entirely offline.  We weren’t even able to bring our own laptops to school until 11th grade, and even then, most didn’t.  My first cellphones could only arduously send SMS via T9 technology, which limited its usefulness.  And accessing the internet with a circa 2002 Nokia?  What a joke!  This was an epoch before the endless onslaught of apps, a world without filters and Bitmoji.  Essentially, even though we largely got our first cell phones by 13 or 14, they were quite limited in capability.  What’s more is that they were strictly banned from usage during class time in junior and senior high, something that was lifted a few years after I graduated high school.  I realize this last bit is more geographically-dependent, as I’m sure many school boards throughout the world were more lax on cell phone usage circa 2008, and even with the outright ban, many still snuck it into class.

Furthermore, I didn’t really grow up with social media.  I know I’m a bit of an outlier for a Millennial, but I had Tumblr before I had Facebook, and the only social network I was apart of in high school was Flickr.  Still, I watched as peers, using Nexopia and Facebook, and migrating to early smartphones, fall prey to the now all-too-common side effects of social media and chatting.  Hell, I still dealt with it through MSN, Flickr, and such.  Our app-centric, mobile world is merely an outgrowth of this paradigm. 

Now, though, things are different.  I have an iPhone, I have multiple social media accounts, and use multiple chat services.  An onlooker could easily peg me as one fully in embrace of the 2017 “always on” lifestyle.  This is where the article really started to intrigue me.  A lot of what the article was describing vis-a-vis the Gen Z kids seemed applicable to this late Millennial.  Perhaps partly due to my not being that far removed from that generation’s eldest cohorts. Although I did grow up without iPhones and iPads and the ability to constantly be “on,” it’s now 2017, and that difference has eroded. I was surprised at the kinship I was feeling towards Gen Z and their woes mentioned in the article.  I may remember a time before all this stuff, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m living it now.

I recognize I spend too much time on social media, on chat apps, and to a lesser extent, my computer.  It does make me feel much lonelier than when I spend time in the physical world with friends and family, even if too much of that is exhaustive.  It does produce an environment where it’s inevitable to compare yourself to others, and resent others for how much fun they’re projecting on Instagram and Facebook, even if it’s really just a veneer.  Things like read receipts, last active information, and so forth just further aid at digging in the dagger.  It also produces an environment where you’re more likely to just stay in and send Snaps to friends than go out with them, which goes against human nature, as a social species.  It’s obviously extremely toxic and yet most can’t stop the vicious cycle. 

I’ve had my issues with Facebook in particular, and regularly contemplate deleting it, especially now that you can have a Messenger account independent of Facebook.  I’ve deactivated, I’ve deleted the app; now, I’m merely abstaining from posting to it and have moved the mobile app to a more hidden locale on my phone.  But honestly, it’s a problem I have with pretty much all social media, at least social media that is more personal.  I’m more ok with Twitter; it’s mostly just news and memes, not a detailed look into personal lives.  Tumblr is similar, due to its more anonymous nature, although when it was a more active platform, I had the same issues with it.

I recognize that I’m happier when I interact more with the physical world and I really don’t like spending so much time online.  But for me, there’s two major impediments to either significantly curtailing usage, or doing a total blackout, and I recognize it as a detriment to my health.

The first is school, which is obviously not actually related to social media, and so it isn’t an obvious reason for why I can’t stop spending time online.  But, because of how post-secondary is set up now, a lot of stuff occurs online, be it through e-mail, or eClass, where you gain access to readings and slides, not to mention being a place to take notes.  I’ve stopped typing notes, except in special cases, though I still end up using a computer to access other essential stuff for my courses.  And in doing so, it is all too tempting to look one tab over to Twitter, or see a new notification on Facebook, and then you go down that rabbit hole, and bam, you’ve lost 30 minutes of productivity.  I’m beginning to intentionally keep my laptop browser’s tabs all school related now, though I sometimes still get tempted to open new tabs, or tabs sometimes remain open from downtime.  The other, ancillary thing to being on campus is that I’m out, which means I have my phone on me, which means it’s always just there.  I may turn my phone to ‘do not disturb’, but the addictive qualities of smartphones just means I will still manually check for new notifications every now and again.  To entirely remove the distraction of my iPhone, personally, it can’t be present, which is why when I do homework at home, I make sure my phone is nowhere nearby.  Perhaps I should start leaving the phone at home.

The other impediment is more obvious to those who are aware of my background as a photographer.  Since DeviantArt and Blogger, through Flickr, Facebook, et al, and onto Instagram, social networks have been utterly vital for 21st century creatives to push their work to the wider public.  So, although it can be fun to just use social for everyday stuff, I use it as a more serious avenue, and feel it as a necessary evil nowadays.  How am I supposed to share and connect with other artists in 2017 if I do a social media blackout?  A blackout may solve the previous impediment, but not this one.  Having an Instagram is now so essential to share content as a creative.

I could do away with the smartphone, and only use social media and the internet when I’m connected to a computer proper, and essentially live a 2005 existence with the 2017 internet.  I’ve contemplated swapping the iPhone for a flip phone, and I swear it’s only partly over 2000s nostalgia.  I honestly am not hating that idea.  A problem arises from something I’ve belaboured before -- my disdain for the mobile-centric nature of social networks nowadays.    Sure, you can browse and explore Instagram from Chrome on your PC or iMac, but you can’t DM, you can’t view Stories, and most importantly, you can’t upload without tricking your browser into thinking it’s an iPad. Of all the social I use for more serious use today, Instagram is by far the most pivotal, due to its visual nature and strong engagement.  I’ve connected with a lot of amazing photographers, artists, and friends through it.  Even if mobile phones are to blame for teen suicide now being higher than teen homicide, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re at the zeitgeist for connecting in 2017, and app developers know that kids are using their phones far more than their computers and correspondingly create experiences that are mobile-centric.  It helps coding for a mobile interface is easier than a traditional desktop interface, too. 

As things continue, it seems like crucial connections will be increasingly on platforms that couldn’t give a rats ass about desktop interfaces, and so I realize a mobile device is still necessary, unfortunately.  Perhaps I could swap my iPhone for an iPod Touch, or migrate my SIM card to a “dumbphone” and keep the iPhone as a Wi-Fi only device (basically turning it into an iPod Touch).  I could also just get an iPad.  I actually sort of like that idea, but many mobile apps, like Instagram and Snapchat, don’t have a proper version for this mobile device.  I could just get an Android tablet, which doesn’t have the same differentiation that iOS has between phones and tablets, but I’ve had issues with Android, such that, at the risk of sounding like a Cupertino cliche, I’d rather have an iPad if I got a tablet.

Regardless, something needs to change. The current reality is too connected for my well-being.  My productivity is way down, too.  I’m too distracted.  What I find most ironic is that I was planning on watching The Social Network tonight, and instead, got engrossed in a random article, which inspired me to write an essay for the first time in eons with Starboy as my backdrop.  The result was still the same, however -- I again thwarted plans to further push through studies. 

What a world we live in.

#social media #social network #mental health #musings

[godlessgeekblog]

Mike Allton’s Quick Commence Manual To Turning out to be A Model Influencer

Alright, so you’d like to develop into a model influencer, eh? That is wonderful! Let me commence by sharing two admissions about the tongue-in-cheek title of this short article:

1st, the only rationale why I identified as this “Mike Allton’s” was to make it very clear that it’s based on my private encounter. I am not driving a Lamborghini and advertising you a $97 technique for you to realize the exact. It’s just a pleasurable way to share the solution to a problem I’ve been questioned a large amount.

Second, there’s very little quick about this.

If you know me, you know I have hardly ever created a rapid everything, so buckle up for a extended, complete submit. And considering that we’re all friends listed here, I need to also stage out that becoming an influencer is not a quick system possibly.

But, ahead of we get far too much into that, let’s quit for a minute and make positive we’re all on the similar website page as to what an influencer is and what it implies to be a Brand Influencer.

Defining Influence

At its main, becoming an influencer means that you are related to other individuals who have confidence in your belief on just one or much more topics, and can most likely be affected by that belief. Which implies we’ve stumbled on one of the truths about influencer marketing, which is that practically anyone is an influencer, regardless of how compact or substantial their on the net audience is.

Have an understanding of that about oneself. You are an influencer now.

So what does it signify to be a Brand name Influencer?

Which is when a small business chooses to spouse with you in some way to help them reach your audience and leverage your influence over them. That may be a official, paid posture, or it may perhaps be an informal, cooperative venture.

And we see manufacturer influencers all all around us just about every day.

From superstar spokesmen to bloggers who acquire no cost products to check and overview, there’s a significant and rising economy close to the use of sociological and psychological affect. I generally speak about how social networks are a sociological micro-tradition and here’s yet another great case in point.

If you have a pursuing on social media and share info about a distinct merchandise or assistance, you’re exerting Social Affect.

Usually this will be manifested as Conformity – when persons who are adhering to you want to be much more like you so they pay back consideration to what you chat about, how you perform by yourself, and categorical desire in your ideas and tips.

A lot less prevalent will be Compliance – when an individual believes they require to do a thing for the reason that you advised them to, and considers there may well be a social reward for compliance (or punishment for non-compliance.

On unusual event the character of the influence will be Obedience – when someone considers you an authority and assumes your suggestion to be that of a command to be followed.

(I really do not even have that amount of affect in excess of my very own little ones, so I would not know what that’s like.)

In most cases of social affect, the influencer will share and endorse a particular product, and in so executing, either via inference or assertion, share a profit of that merchandise. Maybe it makes them glimpse improved (i.e. clothes) or truly feel superior (i.e. CBD) or do the job improved (i.e. social media management).

The far more influential somebody is, not only will they have a higher viewers, they’ll also have a greater potential for encouraging conformity by way of their posts. Retain that in head for the reason that if you want to produce qualified influencer tasks, you will need to do the job on equally factors.

The more cognizant you are of your social influence and, especially, your ability of encouraging conformity, the extra effective you will be at psychological impact.

At this phase, you’re now targeted on serving to your audience to achieve satisfaction in accordance to Maslow’s hierarchy. Below you could use Determination, Perception, Studying, or Attitudes & Beliefs.

For occasion, you might pick out to broadcast a Facebook Stay that demonstrates how to use a individual online instrument that you are an affiliate for. You are combining your personal impact with cognitive discovering to motivate viewers to contemplate making a purchase.

Armed with that primary facts on what it means to be influential and a model influencer, the relaxation of the write-up will be less difficult to realize.

My Qualifications in Impact

Individually, I have been a brand influencer for numerous several years. From the moment I signed up for my initially affiliate account in 2007, I was symbolizing a person else’s company and employing my affect to encourage sales.

But just about any one can sign up to be an affiliate, so it is not that encounter that you are here to glean.

In excess of the many years I’ve worked tough to develop relationships with the brands in my marketplace (social media advertising and marketing). I’ve been specified free of charge obtain to important tools and expert services. And I’ve been paid out to associate with manufacturers like Hubspot, Twenty20, Thinkific and Agorapulse. In simple fact, just after being a paid out manufacturer ambassador for Agorapulse for a even though, I was sooner or later hired entire time as Brand name Evangelist to support regulate our overall ambassador and affiliate applications.

Which is what several of you have observed above the a long time and why you are below now. You know I have worked with some of the best influencers and manufacturers in my room and now you want to know how to do the same. So let us dig into that.

My Your Brief Start off Tutorial To Brand name Impact

Whether or not you already have a sizable audience or are just beginning out, the in general approach is related.

Step 1 – Display Authority

First, you show authority in your industry. This may well get the type of educational site posts, like me, or stay films, or social posts. It doesn’t issue what business you are in! If you are a meals blogger, then you show authority by sharing gorgeous, mouth-watering illustrations or photos and recipes of the foodstuff you have created. If you are a fashionista, your Instagram feed should really be crammed with wonderful imagery.

Sharing written content is how you will develop your audience and demonstrate that you have the capability to be an influencer.

Action Two – Build a System

Next, as a correlation to the first action, you have to establish a platform. I really like employing this term that Michael Hyatt has so excellently espoused – this concept that where ever you create an viewers and demonstrate authority through material, that’s your platform. It can be a site, of training course, but can also be an e-mail local community or social media following, or some mixture of the higher than.

Where ever and even so you opt for to construct a platform – make no blunder, it have to be crafted in order to be a brand name influencer. And while there are other destinations and approaches that you can build a platform, web site targeted traffic, e-mail subscribers and social followers are the tangible and measurable indicates by which makes can and will determine your tacit affect. So these are what we’ll discuss most through the relaxation of this report.

Cease for a minute and take into consideration these very first two ways. Are you presently developing fantastic content material linked to your brand name and marketplace? Are you presently creating an viewers of intrigued enthusiasts and followers? If so, great! Then you already have a sense for how these techniques function. If not, that is Ok! Just have an understanding of what I claimed at the outset – this part normally takes time. I’m not confident exactly when my very first authentic model partnership took position, but it was most unquestionably right after decades of developing articles and audience-constructing.

Step 3 – Narrow Your Focus

Which delivers me to my third action, and that’s to slender your concentrate. Just as with written content development, obtaining a narrow concentrate on what merchandise and solutions you may pick to be an influencer for will truly aid you.

Consider for a instant that you want to be an influencer on Instagram and indicator contracts with organizations to put up about their things. Sounds great! But if a person day you’re submitting about chocolate and the next working day you’re publishing about printers and the working day immediately after that you’re conversing about an app to reside stream, can you see how perplexing that could be for your audience? And considering the fact that models recognize that, they are going to be significantly less intrigued in doing the job with you. Savvy brands want to perform with influencers who have a refined and shown connection to their business and target industry.

(Which, by the way, is why I disregard the practically-each day e-mails asking me to participate in social media campaigns for issues like Pet Foodstuff or Shampoo – they’re ridiculously off-brand for me and destined to fail.)

Give thorough thought then to the content you pick out to produce and the brand names you could perhaps do the job with. I obtain it is most effective to create out the matters, industries, verticals and concentrate on audiences and then make positive that every little thing I do falls in just individuals cautiously outlined lanes.

Once you have gotten this far, it’s time to have some pleasurable performing with brand names! So how does a person get began?

IF You are Searching FOR HOW TO Get the job done WITH Brand names AS AN INFLUENCER, THIS IS IT

Stage Four – Start out Partnering

If you’re really lucky, or properly-linked, your initially brand partnership will be 1 the place the model identifies you as an influencer and reaches out to you. Definitely we can’t anticipate that to come about and, odds are, if you are looking through this report, that has not happened to you yet. So let us proceed to create people interactions deliberately.

Establish potential partners in your specialized niche.

Come to be a effectively-educated customer.

Compose/post about them on the web.

Wait around, Mike, where’s the dollars? I’m coming to that, Judy.

Like each and every other position or enterprise, turning out to be a experienced Influencer involves that you initially master the ropes with out compensation. Now, really don’t stress, there are a good deal of other ways you can make revenue with your content without having finding compensated endorsements. But you are going to use these posts and encounter to get started to create interactions with the brands you converse about and possibly spark other chances. Take into consideration this time put in like likely to college. You’re there to find out and, in the long run, attain a degree which demonstrates your competency. Your posted operate will achieve the similar matter (only a lot quicker and much less expensive!).

The future section is to find out partnerships that, once again, may not have any monetary compensation, but you can request for totally free merchandise or expert services. You may possibly arrive at out to a instrument provider and propose that they, “Provide me with complimentary entry to the Pro system of your software and I will acquire the time to publish a extensive review.” All over again, if the company is savvy and understands the electricity of influencer advertising, they’ll leap at the chance!

Once you’ve got carried out that a several situations, not only will you have a cadre of absolutely free merchandise or maybe even equipment to enable your business, you are going to have a library of “sponsored” evaluations that no just one else appreciates you did not cost for. (Observe that these are sponsored posts, even if no funds changed fingers. If you gained discounted or complimentary advantages as an incentive or end result of your exercise, that is considered an “Ad” by the FTC and need to be disclosed.)

You can then point to these posts and have the metrics conveniently on hand to justify obtaining paid out what you assume upcoming posts should be worthy of.

Because in the long run you do not want to demand dependent on your time to generate the content. An post assessment is a lot more than that. It can be:

Marketing and publicity for the brand

A backlink for the model

Aid for the brand from an influencer

So these days, my sponsored content articles value 5x my hourly price and they’re properly value the investment decision.

I advise making a templated letter in Evernote that you can personalize and tweak for every single model you are achieving out to. I’ll share some particulars of what to consist of in a minute.

A essential point throughout this method is that your goal need to be to kind a relationship with each and every brand name, not make a brief buck. What has established me aside about the many years is the associations I have fashioned with manufacturers and influencers alike. Time and all over again, possibilities occur for me to do the job with folks on fun assignments. Some of them are paid and some are not, but they’ve all contributed to and led to a profitable occupation and a aspiration task.

I talked with Mike Allton about how to get sponsored collaborations accredited. Who far better to ask than another person in a company that performs with influencers. Due to the fact then I have landed Three alternatives! – Yvonne Heimann

Influencer Resources & Ideal Tactics

When you are ready to start off reaching out to manufacturers, the initially “tool” you require is your very own Media Package. This is a website page on your web site, or a PDF file, that breaks down the facts of your influence for a prospective manufacturer to contemplate. At a higher amount, you must list all of your channels that make up your platform and your existing audience dimension.

DO NOT artificially inflate the dimension of your system (i.e. social followers) in any way, form or kind. Getting followers or currently being deceptive about the dimensions of your viewers will only lead to disillusioned and upset models who, at very best, will refuse to do the job with you yet again and, at worst, may well need refunds and reparations. As a substitute, aim on escalating your viewers organically and be material to operate with manufacturers who are content to use influencers with audiences like yours – even if that categorizes you as a micro-influencer.

You can also include things like right here any partnerships you have worked in the earlier, which is why it’s a fantastic plan to have accomplished some cost-free work.

Surely include things like illustrations of how you could possibly operate with a brand name and, if applicable, pricing.

Now, any time you’re contacted or achieve out to a model, you can website link to or include things like that Media Package. Not only does it offer the preliminary data they are seeking for, it demonstrates yet again that you are a experienced and are knowledgeable doing the job with manufacturers.

What other tools can you use that could possibly enable?

Effectively for certain, have Google Analytics in place on your web page so that you can simply pull out the traffic numbers and any other crucial metrics. If you have released written content as portion of influencer strategies in the past, you will want to observe how some of that content material carried out, exclusively.

And on that note, you can use Buzzsumo to measure the social activity for any URL in your web site. So you can pull specifically how a lot of Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter shares a particular put up might have been given.

When it will come to social posts on their own, do make sure that any time you share a backlink that you use UTM Parameters and build what individuals will be with the model you are performing with beforehand. They will need to know what Marketing campaign, Resource and Medium tags you’re picking to use so that they can monitor that action in their Google Analytics.

Now, let us discuss social media.

You are likely to want to use a social media administration resource like Agorapulse to post and plan all of your social media exercise whenever attainable. With the exception of Dwell Online video, you can prepare and queue and program the posts in advance and set them up with Agorapulse. This offers you two great advantages:

Initial, with that articles scheduled in advance, you can perspective and even print a Social Media Calendar that demonstrates each and every put up. It is going to be a good deal simpler for you to see how very well you are covering and distributing that articles on individuals channels. And it is a thing you can share with your manufacturer partner! Again, when you’re structured and specialist from the quite commencing, manufacturers will observe that and be impressed. Models want to work with influencers who know what they are carrying out and can be relied on to execute effectively.

Second, when you are location up all those posts, not only can you configure the UTM Parameters inside Agorapulse, you can also “label” just about every of those posts. Say, for instance, I was heading to do a campaign for Thinkific. When configuring a set of tweets, I may well include the label “ThinkificCampaign” to them. Right after the campaign is about I can then go into my Agorapulse reviews for each individual social channel and see the submit distribution by label. You can also then pull efficiency of hashtags, by put up, and additional!

One particular trick I adore to use with Agorapulse is to set up a new Queue Category for such strategies. Queue Classes are just certain sharing frequencies with customized dates and times. So, for occasion, suppose my hypothetical marketing campaign for Thinkific was heading to operate two months, and I experienced fully commited to tweet each and every other day. I could established up a plan to share posts on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 2pm just about every working day. Then, although building the tweets, I can simply insert them “to the queue” and don’t have to attempt to recall what working day and time I scheduled the very last tweet for. I can even generate the tweets in a spreadsheet, have them authorized by the model, and then bulk add into Agorapulse!

When it will come to e-mail, I prefer to use Wishpond, and like that I can also integrate numerous popups, bars, and landing webpage strategies – even contests – all integrated collectively.

Just as with Social Media, make absolutely sure that you’re together with UTM Parameters in any links that you email out.

Exactly where Do You Go From Below?

Just one of the queries you possible have at this level is, “how a lot can I charge for influencer strategies?” Like a great deal of on the internet advertising and marketing, this is a truly broad, grey region. Because some new and micro influencers will take part in strategies for small to practically nothing, and key, recognized influencers will easily pull in 6-figure contracts, what you can cost will count a wonderful offer.

As you’re contemplating about costs, contemplate how much time and work you’re putting into a marketing campaign, and what your manufacturer husband or wife can anticipate to get out of it. That will enable you to build a pricing structure that is in line with expectations.

It’s also very good to have buddies and colleagues whom you can speak to and evaluate notes. So one particular final piece of advice I want to leave you with is to adhere to and link with other influencers in your house. They’re most likely not competition at all, but alternatively an great resource. In simple fact, in my field at least, some of my ideal close friends are peers and colleagues. We variety Mastermind Groups jointly to share and advise and even collaborate.

In truth, it is very likely that some of your best manufacturer partnerships will arrive from collabora from trackrgadget https://socialsignals24.com/mike-alltons-quick-commence-manual-to-turning-out-to-be-a-model-influencer/ https://socialsignals24.com/mike-alltons-quick-commence-manual-to-turning-out-to-be-a-model-influencer/

#IFTTT #trackrgadget

[verakohr92]

Mike Allton’s Quick Commence Manual To Turning out to be A Model Influencer

Alright, so you’d like to develop into a model influencer, eh? That is wonderful! Let me commence by sharing two admissions about the tongue-in-cheek title of this short article:

1st, the only rationale why I identified as this “Mike Allton’s” was to make it very clear that it’s based on my private encounter. I am not driving a Lamborghini and advertising you a $97 technique for you to realize the exact. It’s just a pleasurable way to share the solution to a problem I’ve been questioned a large amount.

Second, there’s very little quick about this.

If you know me, you know I have hardly ever created a rapid everything, so buckle up for a extended, complete submit. And considering that we’re all friends listed here, I need to also stage out that becoming an influencer is not a quick system possibly.

But, ahead of we get far too much into that, let’s quit for a minute and make positive we’re all on the similar website page as to what an influencer is and what it implies to be a Brand Influencer.

Defining Influence

At its main, becoming an influencer means that you are related to other individuals who have confidence in your belief on just one or much more topics, and can most likely be affected by that belief. Which implies we’ve stumbled on one of the truths about influencer marketing, which is that practically anyone is an influencer, regardless of how compact or substantial their on the net audience is.

Have an understanding of that about oneself. You are an influencer now.

So what does it signify to be a Brand name Influencer?

Which is when a small business chooses to spouse with you in some way to help them reach your audience and leverage your influence over them. That may be a official, paid posture, or it may perhaps be an informal, cooperative venture.

And we see manufacturer influencers all all around us just about every day.

From superstar spokesmen to bloggers who acquire no cost products to check and overview, there’s a significant and rising economy close to the use of sociological and psychological affect. I generally speak about how social networks are a sociological micro-tradition and here’s yet another great case in point.

If you have a pursuing on social media and share info about a distinct merchandise or assistance, you’re exerting Social Affect.

Usually this will be manifested as Conformity – when persons who are adhering to you want to be much more like you so they pay back consideration to what you chat about, how you perform by yourself, and categorical desire in your ideas and tips.

A lot less prevalent will be Compliance – when an individual believes they require to do a thing for the reason that you advised them to, and considers there may well be a social reward for compliance (or punishment for non-compliance.

On unusual event the character of the influence will be Obedience – when someone considers you an authority and assumes your suggestion to be that of a command to be followed.

(I really do not even have that amount of affect in excess of my very own little ones, so I would not know what that’s like.)

In most cases of social affect, the influencer will share and endorse a particular product, and in so executing, either via inference or assertion, share a profit of that merchandise. Maybe it makes them glimpse improved (i.e. clothes) or truly feel superior (i.e. CBD) or do the job improved (i.e. social media management).

The far more influential somebody is, not only will they have a higher viewers, they’ll also have a greater potential for encouraging conformity by way of their posts. Retain that in head for the reason that if you want to produce qualified influencer tasks, you will need to do the job on equally factors.

The more cognizant you are of your social influence and, especially, your ability of encouraging conformity, the extra effective you will be at psychological impact.

At this phase, you’re now targeted on serving to your audience to achieve satisfaction in accordance to Maslow’s hierarchy. Below you could use Determination, Perception, Studying, or Attitudes & Beliefs.

For occasion, you might pick out to broadcast a Facebook Stay that demonstrates how to use a individual online instrument that you are an affiliate for. You are combining your personal impact with cognitive discovering to motivate viewers to contemplate making a purchase.

Armed with that primary facts on what it means to be influential and a model influencer, the relaxation of the write-up will be less difficult to realize.

My Qualifications in Impact

Individually, I have been a brand influencer for numerous several years. From the moment I signed up for my initially affiliate account in 2007, I was symbolizing a person else’s company and employing my affect to encourage sales.

But just about any one can sign up to be an affiliate, so it is not that encounter that you are here to glean.

In excess of the many years I’ve worked tough to develop relationships with the brands in my marketplace (social media advertising and marketing). I’ve been specified free of charge obtain to important tools and expert services. And I’ve been paid out to associate with manufacturers like Hubspot, Twenty20, Thinkific and Agorapulse. In simple fact, just after being a paid out manufacturer ambassador for Agorapulse for a even though, I was sooner or later hired entire time as Brand name Evangelist to support regulate our overall ambassador and affiliate applications.

Which is what several of you have observed above the a long time and why you are below now. You know I have worked with some of the best influencers and manufacturers in my room and now you want to know how to do the same. So let us dig into that.

My Your Brief Start off Tutorial To Brand name Impact

Whether or not you already have a sizable audience or are just beginning out, the in general approach is related.

Step 1 – Display Authority

First, you show authority in your industry. This may well get the type of educational site posts, like me, or stay films, or social posts. It doesn’t issue what business you are in! If you are a meals blogger, then you show authority by sharing gorgeous, mouth-watering illustrations or photos and recipes of the foodstuff you have created. If you are a fashionista, your Instagram feed should really be crammed with wonderful imagery.

Sharing written content is how you will develop your audience and demonstrate that you have the capability to be an influencer.

Action Two – Build a System

Next, as a correlation to the first action, you have to establish a platform. I really like employing this term that Michael Hyatt has so excellently espoused – this concept that where ever you create an viewers and demonstrate authority through material, that’s your platform. It can be a site, of training course, but can also be an e-mail local community or social media following, or some mixture of the higher than.

Where ever and even so you opt for to construct a platform – make no blunder, it have to be crafted in order to be a brand name influencer. And while there are other destinations and approaches that you can build a platform, web site targeted traffic, e-mail subscribers and social followers are the tangible and measurable indicates by which makes can and will determine your tacit affect. So these are what we’ll discuss most through the relaxation of this report.

Cease for a minute and take into consideration these very first two ways. Are you presently developing fantastic content material linked to your brand name and marketplace? Are you presently creating an viewers of intrigued enthusiasts and followers? If so, great! Then you already have a sense for how these techniques function. If not, that is Ok! Just have an understanding of what I claimed at the outset – this part normally takes time. I’m not confident exactly when my very first authentic model partnership took position, but it was most unquestionably right after decades of developing articles and audience-constructing.

Step 3 – Narrow Your Focus

Which delivers me to my third action, and that’s to slender your concentrate. Just as with written content development, obtaining a narrow concentrate on what merchandise and solutions you may pick to be an influencer for will truly aid you.

Consider for a instant that you want to be an influencer on Instagram and indicator contracts with organizations to put up about their things. Sounds great! But if a person day you’re submitting about chocolate and the next working day you’re publishing about printers and the working day immediately after that you’re conversing about an app to reside stream, can you see how perplexing that could be for your audience? And considering the fact that models recognize that, they are going to be significantly less intrigued in doing the job with you. Savvy brands want to perform with influencers who have a refined and shown connection to their business and target industry.

(Which, by the way, is why I disregard the practically-each day e-mails asking me to participate in social media campaigns for issues like Pet Foodstuff or Shampoo – they’re ridiculously off-brand for me and destined to fail.)

Give thorough thought then to the content you pick out to produce and the brand names you could perhaps do the job with. I obtain it is most effective to create out the matters, industries, verticals and concentrate on audiences and then make positive that every little thing I do falls in just individuals cautiously outlined lanes.

Once you have gotten this far, it’s time to have some pleasurable performing with brand names! So how does a person get began?

IF You are Searching FOR HOW TO Get the job done WITH Brand names AS AN INFLUENCER, THIS IS IT

Stage Four – Start out Partnering

If you’re really lucky, or properly-linked, your initially brand partnership will be 1 the place the model identifies you as an influencer and reaches out to you. Definitely we can’t anticipate that to come about and, odds are, if you are looking through this report, that has not happened to you yet. So let us proceed to create people interactions deliberately.

Establish potential partners in your specialized niche.

Come to be a effectively-educated customer.

Compose/post about them on the web.

Wait around, Mike, where’s the dollars? I’m coming to that, Judy.

Like each and every other position or enterprise, turning out to be a experienced Influencer involves that you initially master the ropes with out compensation. Now, really don’t stress, there are a good deal of other ways you can make revenue with your content without having finding compensated endorsements. But you are going to use these posts and encounter to get started to create interactions with the brands you converse about and possibly spark other chances. Take into consideration this time put in like likely to college. You’re there to find out and, in the long run, attain a degree which demonstrates your competency. Your posted operate will achieve the similar matter (only a lot quicker and much less expensive!).

The future section is to find out partnerships that, once again, may not have any monetary compensation, but you can request for totally free merchandise or expert services. You may possibly arrive at out to a instrument provider and propose that they, “Provide me with complimentary entry to the Pro system of your software and I will acquire the time to publish a extensive review.” All over again, if the company is savvy and understands the electricity of influencer advertising, they’ll leap at the chance!

Once you’ve got carried out that a several situations, not only will you have a cadre of absolutely free merchandise or maybe even equipment to enable your business, you are going to have a library of “sponsored” evaluations that no just one else appreciates you did not cost for. (Observe that these are sponsored posts, even if no funds changed fingers. If you gained discounted or complimentary advantages as an incentive or end result of your exercise, that is considered an “Ad” by the FTC and need to be disclosed.)

You can then point to these posts and have the metrics conveniently on hand to justify obtaining paid out what you assume upcoming posts should be worthy of.

Because in the long run you do not want to demand dependent on your time to generate the content. An post assessment is a lot more than that. It can be:

Marketing and publicity for the brand

A backlink for the model

Aid for the brand from an influencer

So these days, my sponsored content articles value 5x my hourly price and they’re properly value the investment decision.

I advise making a templated letter in Evernote that you can personalize and tweak for every single model you are achieving out to. I’ll share some particulars of what to consist of in a minute.

A essential point throughout this method is that your goal need to be to kind a relationship with each and every brand name, not make a brief buck. What has established me aside about the many years is the associations I have fashioned with manufacturers and influencers alike. Time and all over again, possibilities occur for me to do the job with folks on fun assignments. Some of them are paid and some are not, but they’ve all contributed to and led to a profitable occupation and a aspiration task.

I talked with Mike Allton about how to get sponsored collaborations accredited. Who far better to ask than another person in a company that performs with influencers. Due to the fact then I have landed Three alternatives! – Yvonne Heimann

Influencer Resources & Ideal Tactics

When you are ready to start off reaching out to manufacturers, the initially “tool” you require is your very own Media Package. This is a website page on your web site, or a PDF file, that breaks down the facts of your influence for a prospective manufacturer to contemplate. At a higher amount, you must list all of your channels that make up your platform and your existing audience dimension.

DO NOT artificially inflate the dimension of your system (i.e. social followers) in any way, form or kind. Getting followers or currently being deceptive about the dimensions of your viewers will only lead to disillusioned and upset models who, at very best, will refuse to do the job with you yet again and, at worst, may well need refunds and reparations. As a substitute, aim on escalating your viewers organically and be material to operate with manufacturers who are content to use influencers with audiences like yours – even if that categorizes you as a micro-influencer.

You can also include things like right here any partnerships you have worked in the earlier, which is why it’s a fantastic plan to have accomplished some cost-free work.

Surely include things like illustrations of how you could possibly operate with a brand name and, if applicable, pricing.

Now, any time you’re contacted or achieve out to a model, you can website link to or include things like that Media Package. Not only does it offer the preliminary data they are seeking for, it demonstrates yet again that you are a experienced and are knowledgeable doing the job with manufacturers.

What other tools can you use that could possibly enable?

Effectively for certain, have Google Analytics in place on your web page so that you can simply pull out the traffic numbers and any other crucial metrics. If you have released written content as portion of influencer strategies in the past, you will want to observe how some of that content material carried out, exclusively.

And on that note, you can use Buzzsumo to measure the social activity for any URL in your web site. So you can pull specifically how a lot of Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter shares a particular put up might have been given.

When it will come to social posts on their own, do make sure that any time you share a backlink that you use UTM Parameters and build what individuals will be with the model you are performing with beforehand. They will need to know what Marketing campaign, Resource and Medium tags you’re picking to use so that they can monitor that action in their Google Analytics.

Now, let us discuss social media.

You are likely to want to use a social media administration resource like Agorapulse to post and plan all of your social media exercise whenever attainable. With the exception of Dwell Online video, you can prepare and queue and program the posts in advance and set them up with Agorapulse. This offers you two great advantages:

Initial, with that articles scheduled in advance, you can perspective and even print a Social Media Calendar that demonstrates each and every put up. It is going to be a good deal simpler for you to see how very well you are covering and distributing that articles on individuals channels. And it is a thing you can share with your manufacturer partner! Again, when you’re structured and specialist from the quite commencing, manufacturers will observe that and be impressed. Models want to work with influencers who know what they are carrying out and can be relied on to execute effectively.

Second, when you are location up all those posts, not only can you configure the UTM Parameters inside Agorapulse, you can also “label” just about every of those posts. Say, for instance, I was heading to do a campaign for Thinkific. When configuring a set of tweets, I may well include the label “ThinkificCampaign” to them. Right after the campaign is about I can then go into my Agorapulse reviews for each individual social channel and see the submit distribution by label. You can also then pull efficiency of hashtags, by put up, and additional!

One particular trick I adore to use with Agorapulse is to set up a new Queue Category for such strategies. Queue Classes are just certain sharing frequencies with customized dates and times. So, for occasion, suppose my hypothetical marketing campaign for Thinkific was heading to operate two months, and I experienced fully commited to tweet each and every other day. I could established up a plan to share posts on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 2pm just about every working day. Then, although building the tweets, I can simply insert them “to the queue” and don’t have to attempt to recall what working day and time I scheduled the very last tweet for. I can even generate the tweets in a spreadsheet, have them authorized by the model, and then bulk add into Agorapulse!

When it will come to e-mail, I prefer to use Wishpond, and like that I can also integrate numerous popups, bars, and landing webpage strategies – even contests – all integrated collectively.

Just as with Social Media, make absolutely sure that you’re together with UTM Parameters in any links that you email out.

Exactly where Do You Go From Below?

Just one of the queries you possible have at this level is, “how a lot can I charge for influencer strategies?” Like a great deal of on the internet advertising and marketing, this is a truly broad, grey region. Because some new and micro influencers will take part in strategies for small to practically nothing, and key, recognized influencers will easily pull in 6-figure contracts, what you can cost will count a wonderful offer.

As you’re contemplating about costs, contemplate how much time and work you’re putting into a marketing campaign, and what your manufacturer husband or wife can anticipate to get out of it. That will enable you to build a pricing structure that is in line with expectations.

It’s also very good to have buddies and colleagues whom you can speak to and evaluate notes. So one particular final piece of advice I want to leave you with is to adhere to and link with other influencers in your house. They’re most likely not competition at all, but alternatively an great resource. In simple fact, in my field at least, some of my ideal close friends are peers and colleagues. We variety Mastermind Groups jointly to share and advise and even collaborate.

In truth, it is very likely that some of your best manufacturer partnerships will arrive from collaborations or referrals from mates in the organization.

Think by all of the techniques I outlined over, and if you however have inquiries, enable me know in the reviews underneath!

from Socialsignals24.com https://socialsignals24.com/mike-alltons-quick-commence-manual-to-turning-out-to-be-a-model-influencer/

#Socialsignals24.com

[sundownunited]

Late nights and Early mornings, a constant mantra at SXSW, and plague on my soul. Day 3 starts only a couple of hours after Day 2 ends, but this first session in the morning at 9:30am is a must for me, as I’m current affairs “woke”, as the kids say.

First session is “Cover POTUS as the Failing New York Times”. The title alone is enough to guarantee my attendance… and apparently 2,000 others as this session was a packed to capacity, which is saying quite a bit for such an early session. The session was lead by NYT columnist Jim Rutenberg, who was having a fireside chat/interview with his boss, NYT Executive Editor Dean Baquet. It was an excellent discussion on journalism’s role in politics, combating fake news, the economic model of news agencies in the 21st century, and of course, covering Trump, all the while cracking jokes in an engaging and lively session.

Here are some significant takeaway quotes/points from Dean Baquet (not verbatim):

“Trump wants the favor of NYT and when he doesn’t get it, goes into a rage.”

“I think it’s more important to cover the story and say it’s false, then to not cover it at all because it’s false.”

“We are hiring like crazy, 3 renown investigative reporters, bulked up white house and political coverage. We are preparing for the story of a generation. There are going to be 20 books written about this period in Journalism.”

“The original mission of the collective community of journalists became clear again after the election: aggressive coverage of the government.”

“The reason Breitbart is not journalism is because they are not in seek of the honorable pursuit of the truth.”

“The next generation doesn’t understand the secret text of journalism. They don’t realize an NYT journalist risked their lives to bring news from Aleppo Syria.” …On what the difference is between bloggers and journalists.

“200 stories are put out a day by 1,300 NYT employees.”

“Digital headlines are different from print. They have to tell more, since it’s just a headline link, rather than a print paper with a picture and layout architecture.”

Next, I headed to WeDC house for their session “Technology & Storytelling”, for reasons that should be obvious if you are reading this article. Halfway through this session, they had to pause and clear everyone out because an attendee fainted. SXSW is a marathon, not a sprint; make sure you eat, drink, and sleep! The session continue after EMS took the woman out. The session focused on VR experiences in story telling, which, though very interesting to me, is not a medium I am currently in, and as a result, I left early.

Next up was a podcast meetup, so I could share and brainstorm ideas about pod-casting to level up my own podcast I co-host, The Feedbak (www.thefeedbakcom), that covers lifestyle, culture, politics, events of leisure events, with a focus on music and nightlife. The meetup was in a conference room the JW Marriot. A good sized crowd, but unfortunately the execution of the meetup became more of a Q&A session hosted by the organizers rather than a chance to talk with other pod-casters and share ideas. As a result, I again left early, though I did gain a little knowledge from a few questions answered.

Back at the WeDC house earlier, I had sparked up a quick conversation with my neighbors in line who told me about Neil DeGrasse Tyson (NDT) making an appearance at the National Geographic (Natgeo) house at 3pm. With this intel in hand as I left the podcast meetup, I headed straight for Natgeo.

Natgeo is, surprisingly, crushing it this year at SXSW! They have an open bar with a great listing of Natgeo TV show themed drinks (covered in Day 1 article). They also have great interviews, VR sessions, giveaways, and even parties/shows at night. If such as a thing as “nerd lit” exists, Natgeo is undeniably it.

I hit Natgeo over an hour before NDT was to go on. I sampled some drinks and did some work on my laptop while a session narrated by a NatGeo photographer David Guttenfelder on his photography work in North Korea (which was rather amazing).

Once that finish, Neil DeGrasse Tyson took the stage with director Ron Howard to talk sciene shop on science/scientist in movies/tv and Natgeo’s new tv show directed by Ron Howard about Albert Einstein called “Genius”. This session was amazing. NDT lead the conversation, asking questions of Ron Howard, while constantly cracking jokes and commentary; NDT’s charisma is a godsend for the science community. The crowd laughed, applauded, and was just overall in rapture during the entire hour long session. Natgeo even gave away thick, illustrated coffee table books on NDT’s Star Talk show.

Here’s a few quotables/points taken away:

“No nation owns science. If your country pulls back on science, then others will arise to take your place.”

“Scientists have not been viewed as fellow human beings until recently when TV/Movies began creating scientist characters with fleshed out personalities.”

“First get your facts straight, then distort the facts.” — Mark Twain as quoted by NDT.

Next and final conference session of the day to hit was Mark Cuban’s “Is Govt Disrupting Disruption?” This was another 2,000 full capacity session in the same ballroom in the Austin Convention Center (ACC) as the NYT session earlier that day. The session also featured founder of The Zebra, Adam Lyons, and was moderated by Michele Skelding of UT-Austin.

The session was OK, but compared to the earlier NYT and NatGeo sessions, I found myself becoming victim to my lack of sleep and nodding off. The overall theme of the discussion was around what the government should regulate and what it should not, a time old debate in the US and many other countries. I didn’t hear too much new, but several laughs and some additional humorous comments about Trump kept my eyes open more often than not. I did take down one statement (not verbatim) by Cuban that stood out to me:

“I’m a libertarian, but I evolved through empathy that we as a society need to take on Healthcare so that, as Reagan said, we don’t have people falling over dying in the streets.” …on some healthcare as a right in the US.

With the day sessions behind me, I needed a bite, a drink and some conversation. I met up with some of the Domination Team at the “Health & Tech” happy hour at WuChow sponsored by Aetna.

This happy hour was specifically chosen because WuChow is the finest, fanciest, most delicious Chinese/Taiwanese restaurant in Austin and it plays old school 80s and 90s hip-hop exclusively to boot! True to form, excellent food at this venue along with crafty cocktails; it was packed, but I still made some friends with strangers and ate/drank rather well.

Meanwhile, most of the Domination Team was at Sidewinder’s bar for Canada’s “Eh” party. Food and drinks kept everyone there adding some lively energy to the party until the DJ played several songs of Canada’s own Celine Dion. That’s a quick way to get people to leave a party; Celine might be great, but she isn’t party great.

Other’s in the Domination Team got detoured from the Canadian party by a bar on sixth street wooing them off their path as they were walking by and giving them a free bottle service of liquor to just hang out for awhile. Helps to be pretty, turned up, and pushing good energy!

Next, I hit up the Hangar Lounge for Shopgate’s Decoded Fashion closing party. Made it a little late for food, but drinks, good music, and catching up with several members of the Domination Team kept me around for awhile. I eventually bailed and snuck back home to drop off my laptop, freshen up, and nap. Except the nap never happened; I instead hopped right back out in the SXSW mix for a show!

I first stopped by Empire Garage & Control Room to catch a few sets of some of my favorite local Austin acts (Riders Against the Storm, Magna Carda, Ava Rain, Alesi Lani and more.

  After that, I went to my true destination: Vevo House At Pelons Bar where Nick Grant and Jay Electronica were performing. Upon walking into the door (entrance granted by showing tweet of the show flyer), a waiter insisted we take shots of tequila he was passing out. I refused at first (can’t be getting too wasted and I had been drinking all day), but the waiter then gave a lengthy description on the incredibleness of the tequila that ended with him saying it was $60 a shot. Although I don’t believe the $60 price tag nor remember the length story of the tequila, for the waiter’s notable efforts, I went ahead and downed a shot. Helps it was free! We later dubbed the Tequila “Mermaid Tears” since that’s about the only liquid we could think of worth $60 a shot.

    I missed Nick Grant’s show at Vevo House, but caught Jay Electronica start to finish. Holy Hell, Jay can flow and perform… he rocked the hell outta that house. He came into the crowd of that tiny venue and stage multiple times, I have several selfie photos and videos to show for it. He even pulled a random Austin audience member claiming to be an artist and let him freestyle on stage for a minute or two. Overall, top notch hiphop performance, and I don’t say that very often about shows without a band or big stage presence/production.

Meanwhile, the majority of the Domination Team was at The Belmont venue for the Holonis party, taking picture’s with their childhood crush Mario Lopez (aka A.C. Slater), Bow Wow, and watching a show by Warren G. Open bar was flowing the whole time, and so were the smiles and turnup’ness.

A few others of the Domination Team closed it out at Intel’s AI Lounge where local Austin artist Mobley (think Pharrell but plays all the instruments live too).

After the Jay Electronica show, I called it a night at the incredulous early SXSW time of 11:30pm; the less than 3 hours of sleep the night before had fully taken its toll.

2017 SXSW CHRONICLES: Neil DeGrasse Tyson + Jay Electronica // DAY 3 Late nights and Early mornings, a constant mantra at SXSW, and plague on my soul. Day 3 starts only a couple of hours after Day 2 ends, but this first session in the morning at 9:30am is a must for me, as I'm current affairs "woke", as the kids say.

#art #austin #domination team #fashion #film #hiohop #interactive #Jay Electronica #lifestyle #mobley #music #politics #sxsw #sxsw17 #sxswfilm #sxswinteractive #sxswmusic #technology #texas

[madpicks]

New Post has been published on https://www.madpicks.com/sports/mlb/5-curious-decisions-made-baseballs-contending-teams/

The 5 most curious decisions made by baseball’s contending teams

These teams are as win-now as win-now gets, but they calmly and quietly filled these roster holes.

You are tasked with writing a series of offseason previews. Congratulations. You get to pour over 30 rosters and figure out what each team needs. Some teams are easy because they need younger, cheaper players (Reds). Some teams are harder because they’re at a crossroads (White Sox).

You make a list of what each team needs, and then you set about your business. You spend time researching it all, analyzing the free agent market and trade candidates, and you come up with your ideas.

These are the teams that didn’t listen to a single lousy word you wrote.

Here are five teams that don’t want you to worry your pretty little head about what they need. They’ve got it figured out, and they’re smarter than you. Shoo.

1. The Cubs preferring the fifth starter in the bush to the one in the hand

There are teams that did less with their rotations. The Astros never snagged their ace. The Orioles are still counting on Ubaldo Jimenez. The Yankees are bringing back the same starting pitchers from last year’s underwhelming season.

The Cubs, though, are different. They had a rotation. They were set. They’re the defending champions, and no one would have begrudged them for avoiding the entire hot stove league.

Jed Hoyer: “We were already pretty good, you know”

But instead of exercising their option on Jason Hammel — for a reasonable one-year salary of $10 million — they paid him $2 million to test the open market. It saved them $8 million, and it was reasonable to speculate what they had up their sleeves. Sonny Gray? Julio Teheran? Chris Sale?

Brett Anderson.

Which is fine! The difference between Hammel and Anderson ended up being $4.5 million, and that turned out to be more than half of Jon Jay’s salary. It’s exactly 1/45th of the total number of “CUBS WORLD CHAMPS” aprons they’ve sold in the time it took you to read this paragraph, but now we’re quibbling. A reasonable person could suggest that Anderson is preferable to Hammel, even if their salaries were equal. I disagree, but not so strenuously that I’d spend more than five seconds debating it.

It just seems like an exchange of cost certainty for a pitcher who has topped 50 innings in just one of the last five seasons. If the Cubs had pitchers spilling out of their system, it would make more sense, but that’s not how they’re built. Not yet.

They’re smarter than I am. From here, though, it’s a move that seems to have a concealed explanation that we’re not privy to. Fair enough.

2. The Red Sox and Mitch Moreland

The Red Sox, like the Cubs, are stacked. They have talented players at nearly every position, but that’s selling them short. They’re young players. Stars, some of them. Their best starting pitcher is the one without a Cy Young.

Even considering that, though, the Red Sox made a weird decision at first base. Here are Mitch Moreland’s WAR totals for his career, from highest to lowest, according to Baseball-Reference:

2.2 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.1 -0.1

That’s one good year, and six years a well-managed organization should be able to find at a yard sale. If WAR isn’t your thing, that’s fine — Moreland did win a Gold Glove last year, even if defensive stats and the eye test weren’t so sure — but there’s no way to argue that he’s been more than a generic first baseman for several seasons now. He’s a career .254/.315/.438, even though he’s played in Texas his entire career.

The Red Sox sought him out. Paid him $5.5 million. Then they suggested that Moreland’s platoon-mate would be Chris Young, a lefty-thumper who has never played anywhere but the outfield.

Color me curious! And confused. But, like with the Cubs, I’m willing to appeal to authority. I’m just a dumb blogger, kicking rocks.

The only thing that bugs me is that the Rangers are also a smart team, and they were fine with letting Moreland walk. They didn’t think there was any more nectar to squeeze out of the 31-year-old. It’s hard to appeal to authority when there’s another authority that might be more authoritative. This is so confusing!

3. The Rangers gambling with 40 percent of their rotation

The Rangers are about to sign Mike Napoli to play first base. He’ll work with James Loney, who also signed. This is not a position of concern for them, considering they have Joey Gallo in reserve and Jurickson Profar without a position. They had a first base arrangement already if they wanted to focus on something else. Now they have another first base arrangement.

Meanwhile, they’re entrusting their final two rotation spots to a pair of pitchers who both had ERAs over 5.00 last year. One of them was closer to 6.00, even.

A.J. Griffin and Andrew Cashner were the bee’s knees in 2013, we’re talking the snake’s hips. But that was 2013, which is about 50 years ago in pitcher years. Since then, Cashner has been disappointing-to-awful, and Griffin has thrown 119 innings in the majors. There are fine reasons for a smart team to want to take a chance on both of them.

There are also reasons to be skeptical. Griffin gave up 28 homers in 119 innings, which is one of the highest rates in baseball history for any pitcher over 100 innings. Cashner’s tenure with the Marlins was an absolute debacle. He’s trending in the wrong direction, and he’s doing it violently.

If the Rangers were a destitute, revenue-sharing franchise, fine. You do what you do, if that’s what you have to do. If the Rangers didn’t have prospects or trade chips of interest (see the Giants, who are sticking with Matt Cain), the raffle tickets make sense.

The Rangers, though, have that conundrum up there, with Joey Gallo and Jurickson Profar, who won’t get playing time. There wasn’t a way to turn a logjam into a pitcher? what about good ol’ Bartolo Colon or R.A. Dickey? Just one more starter in the Colby Lewis mode, steady and stable, would have done so much.

Tyson Ross might come back in May or June. The only thing that makes me feel remotely confident about this arrangement is that Cashner and Ross combining for 300 outstanding innings for the Rangers would be so, so, so, so overwhelmingly Padres that I can’t stand it. The rotation is still filled with a lot of ifs and maybes for a team looking to defend a division title.

Eh, they’re smarter than me. I’m OK with this, even if I have to repeat it every section, self-flagellating to obscure the fact that at least one of these teams is totally going to eat it with their underwhelming offseason decision to be so calm and self-assured.

4. The Giants don’t have a left fielder you’ve heard of

The last All-Star outfielder developed by the Giants was Chili Davis, who was drafted the year that Star Wars came out. They’ve had a good left fielder or two since then — that surly guy, with the records — but they’re in something of a drought over the last decade. They can get one-year stopgaps, but nothing like a long-term solution.

They had a hole in left field. It was an obvious hole. They hit 130 homers, and one of their leading home run hitters, Angel Pagan, was leaving in free agency. Also, one of their leading home run hitters was Angel Pagan. That seems important.

The Giants also had a gaping, bleeding, oozing bullpen hole that needed to be cauterized last July, but was left festering. It got infected by October. So they focused on that first, which made sense.

When it came to left, though, they went in house. Mac Williamson is a strong, athletic outfielder straight out of central casting, and Jarrett Parker is a high-whiff, big-power left-hander who hasn’t been intimidated by the dimensions at AT&T Park, but neither of them have the statistical pedigree that a win-now team might want. The Giants, who have cycled through Fred Lewis, Dan Ortmeier, Nate Schierholtz, Armando Rios, Calvin Murray, Jason Ellison, Todd Linden, John Bowker, Roger Kieschnick, and Gary Brown since the new ballpark opened, are willing to count on one of Williamson or Parker in a contending season where every extra win will be exponentially valuable.

Fine, great, grand. They see something. I’m the dummy. There is a reason for this, at least, in that they’re going to pay the salary-cap tax, which they have for two years now, and they’re maxed out on their budget. That, and they’re devoid of the top prospects needed to trade for a younger outfielder that would allow them to fit that budget.

If there were a year to sell out — Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Madison Bumgarner are excellent now, but there are no guarantees in two years — this would be it. As is, the Giants are going to start either Williamson and Parker and fix things at the deadline if it doesn’t work. That’s a fair solution for a team with budget constraints. It’s just hard to believe they’re so comfortable with it.

5. The Nationals are going in-house with their closer

The last time we saw Shawn Kelley was in that picture at the top of the page. He was hurt. The two-time Tommy John survivor was hurt, and his postseason was over. He’s the closer now.

This makes sense because he’s ridiculously talented. He was the steal of last offseason, and he makes the Nationals much better. But he’s also a closer that will need to be treated carefully. Kelley’s 58 innings last year was a career high, so the Nationals shouldn’t expect any Andrew Miller-like marathons if they reach the postseason again.

This is fine … except the Nationals, of all teams, should be on the hunt for those Miller marathons. They’ve made the postseason three times since they were the Expos, and each one of those appearances has included a devastating bullpen-fueled loss. There was the Pete Kozma Experience in 2012, the Jordan Zimmermann Yank in 2014, and the Sweet Crap Did You Really Use Five Pitchers In One Inning fun of 2016. For a team that’s so tightly constructed, with such an obvious ultimate goal, it’s always felt like they were one ultra-reliever short.

They still might trade for David Robertson five seconds after this is published, which is fine. But I would think this was the team that could justify an absurd stretch for Kenley Jansen or Aroldis Chapman. This was the team that could have traded their best prospects for Miller last year. Instead, they’re making do. They have a cavalcade of high-walk, high strikeout pitchers, the types with an eternal chance of metamorphosing into trusted late-inning options. But they don’t have that guy, the one who could have saved them in ‘12, ‘14, or ‘16.

Do I have to keep going with the theme? The Nationals are smart. They’re old-SABR smart when it comes to spending millions on a bullpen. Forget it, move along. The rotation is as good as any in the National League, so there are worse weaknesses to have.

If we’re back in here eight months, though, talking about the danged Nationals bullpen, I’m going to use cuss words. I don’t want to, but, consarnit, what choice do I have? This is a team that needs to prepare for a possible post-Bryce apocalypse, so I get why they aren’t ditching their formidable collection of prospects. But just one more reliever would do so much to help their ability to not do what they’ve done in the recent past.

Five teams. All contenders. Weird decisions. Maybe correct. They’re the big shots around here, and I’m just some schnook that likes to get slapped around. But there’s at least a chance that some of them will have regrets by the end of the season, even if we could spot the problems way back in February.