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mbtizone · 7 years

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Main Character Syndrome & MBTI

I’ve been thinking a lot about why certain characters can seem impossible to type. Sometimes, it can be really difficult to type a character when the writers haven’t really taken the time to give them a concrete personality. I notice that this seems to happen a lot with main characters specifically, which seems ludicrous, doesn’t it? I mean, if we’re watching a show, we’re supposed to root for the main character. We should feel as though we have a sense of who they are. However, many main characters are very poorly written. They’re defined in terms of what happens to them. We know them by their situation and their story. But their story isn’t who they are. Often, I find that their cognition will change in order to suit a storyline, which seems to happen less with supporting characters. Supporting characters tend to be very solid in terms of cognition, while main characters are all over the place and contradictory. I find it frustrating because it’s lazy.

I am starting to believe that certain characters can’t be typed. If you can see arguments for nearly every function in a character, then sure, you can try to narrow down which ones they use most frequently and pull a type out of that, but in the next episode, you’ll probably doubt yourself or change your mind. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s probably not you. It’s likely more of a reflection of the author/screenwriter than it is of your typing abilities. I’m going to run down some specific examples of this problem off the top of my head.

Elena Gilbert: Man, Elena is rough. I’ve seen her typed as an ISFJ, INFP, ISTJ, INFJ, etc. The only thing people seem to agree on is that she leads with an introverted function. I would have to agree with that. I will say that I see more Si/Ne than Ni/Se. However, she’s extremely damaged, which may make it more difficult to type her. If you look at her life prior to losing her parents, she seemed very different, so how much of what we see is her true self and not muddied by all of the tragedy in her life? Elena is so inconsistent. She’s a giant ball of contradictions. I think a lot of people stereotype her, and, I can’t say that I fully blame them for that because there’s not a lot else to really go on. I can make arguments for both Fi and Fe, but if I were being forced to make a call one way or the other, I would probably go with Fi. Where Fi is in her functional stack… I really couldn’t say at this point in time.

In the six seasons that Elena was on the show, she really wasn’t developed very well at all. It seems that the writers relied too heavily on what other people do to her and what happens to her and not enough on defining who she is. She’s probably the best example of “Main Character Syndrome” that I can think of. She lost her parents. She’s a piece of meat in an alley and the Salvatore brothers are a couple of stray dogs. She’s a doppelgänger. Elena is a Mary Sue. I was never really able to root for her because, after six years, I honestly never really felt like I knew anything about her other than those facts. She’ll do anything to protect the people she cares about, but that’s not really a defining trait. As a matter of fact, that’s probably true of most people. She prioritizes the people who are close to her over strangers or people she doesn’t know very well. It’s hard to analyze her character and pull a personality type out of it when she’s just kind of all over the place.

Lucas Scott: Lucas is usually typed as an NF, most often INFJ or INFP. I’ve watched all of One Tree Hill more times than I can count over the years and I still find myself wavering on whether Lucas uses Fi or Fe. He can appear to use both functions at different times. He sometimes clings to his moral judgments and can become extremely critical of those who fail to measure up, but he is also good at articulating his feelings and giving speeches about them, and has ideas about the way things “should” be. I think that I see more Fi in him than Fe. I have a theory that when he appears to use Fe, it’s actually Fi. Lucas has strong ideas about the kind of person he is (or wants to be), and because he sees himself a certain way, he can take on some stereotypical Fe traits. Lucas cares about people and, for him, it is important to express that to them. I don’t think he expresses himself because he feels that’s the appropriate thing to do. I think he does it because that’s the sort of person he wants to be. It’s not really for other people’s sake, it’s for him. He wants to live up to his own personal ideals. However, when I try to look for the Te, there is virtually none in him. Honestly, I see a stronger case for Ti in him than Te. But, he obviously can’t be both Fi and Ti. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe his morality isn’t decided internally. It’s really difficult for me to decide one way or another. As I’m writing this, I’m thinking of certain instances and going, “Oh, you know, maybe he is Fe after all.” I can’t make a call either way with any real certainty, so for now, I won’t.

Now… is he Ne-Si or Se-Ni? This is an even bigger struggle for me to lock down than Fi-Te/Fe-Ti. Lucas has an appreciation of symbolism and he’s extremely insightful. He can see people for who they are and has inherent understandings about things. I don’t really see Ne in him but I do see Ni. I can see a case for inferior Se in him, but is he really Ni-dom? And, if he were Ni-dom, he would have to be an INFJ, and I’m not ready to label him Fe just yet. He’s definitely not an INTJ. If he uses Te at all (which is a big “if” for me), then it would be low in his stack. I can’t come up with a single function that he absolutely, undoubtedly uses.

Aria Montgomery: Beyond being an Fi-dom, what other functions does Aria really use? There really isn’t enough evidence to support Se, Ne, Si, or Ni. She’s defined by her relationship with Ezra, but her personality is pretty bland. She’s “artsy.” I’ve seen people use her interest in writing and photography as support for both Ne and Se, which is weak and stereotypical. She makes stupid short-sighted decisions sometimes, like having an affair with her teacher, but I don’t feel like that’s evidence of Se. I’m sure you can find Ne users who have, or would be willing to have a sexual relationship with a teacher. Doesn’t mean they’re not Ne. A repeated argument I see to “support” INFP is her love of old movies as though no Se in the world enjoys older films. All of the reasonings I’ve seen have been extremely superficial and weak. I believe this to be a result of people desperately trying to fit her somewhere, when, in reality, she is just a poorly written character. Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Alison are all reasonably fleshed out characters. I’ve never seen Hanna typed anything other than ESFP. Spencer is mostly typed ENTJ, but I have seen the occasional ESTJ, but the general consensus does seem to be ENTJ. I’ve never seen Emily typed as anything but ISFJ. I’ve never seen Alison typed as anything other than ENFJ. This isn’t because everyone jumps on the same bandwagon. It’s because there’s evidence and consistency. Aria, on the other hand, is defined in terms of her relationships and what happens to her. Is there really more to her than that?

Dawson Leery: Sort of like a less tolerable late ’90s Lucas Scott. I see him typed as INFJ or INFP, just like Lucas. I can’t justify him being Ni-dom, though. I lean towards INFP for him because he has that strong moral code and a tendency to chastise anyone who violates it. He can be so judgmental with people when they make decisions he disagrees with. Dawson sees a lot of things as black and white. He can also be pretty selfish with his emotions. And I can see a stronger case for inferior Te than inferior Se. If someone were to ask me what type I think he is, I would probably instinctively say INFP, but if I were asked to explain why, in any kind of detail, I would probably be at a loss.

Sam and Dean Winchester: Ugh, Sam and Dean. I love them to death, but they give me such a headache when it comes to MBTI. I’ve mostly seen Sam typed INFJ, INTJ, and INTP. I definitely think that he’s a Fe-user, and I don’t think it’s inferior, so I’m more inclined to subscribe to the INFJ typing, but I’m still trying to gather enough evidence to actually do a post for him. A lot of people think he’s Fi because he carves out an individual identity from his family away from hunting, but I don’t think that argument is strong enough. Fe-users are capable of doing that. Leaving home and carving out a new life for himself could stem from Ni instead of Fi. Though, there are also times I think he might use Si instead of Ni. All of the “evidence” I’ve seen in the various typings for him that I’ve read seem flimsy and like they’re really just trying to make something fit him, so as of right now, I don’t really know anything for sure when it comes to Sam. My opinion varies episode to episode.

I see Dean mostly typed as ESTJ, ESTP, and the most ridiculous one in my opinion, ESFJ. I believe that he’s definitely Fi/Te, so I don’t think that he’s an ESTP and definitely not an ESFJ, but I’m not completely sold on him as a Te-dom, either. I’ve always been mostly torn between ESTJ and ESFP for him. I think a big problem with the Winchesters is that Supernatural has been on the air for so long that their personalities seem to go through a lot of changes over the years. Maybe it has to do with different writers coming on, I’m not really sure. They’ve also been through a lot and are far from healthy, which makes things pretty difficult as well.

Klaus Mikaelson: ENTJ or ESFP? Most days, I will declare Klaus an ESFP with absolute certainty, but every now and then I find myself watching an episode of The Originals (or an old episode of The Vampire Diaries) and second guess myself. My problem with him is that I see more of a case for dominant Se than dominant Te… but I notice more signs of inferior Fi in him than inferior Ni. I’m going to have to launch a massive character study to determine his type once and for all because he drives me crazy.

Ted Mosby: I sometimes see him typed as an INFJ, but the main argument in those typings seems to be his long-term goal of getting married, as though that can’t also be true of a Si-dom. Does his goal come from doing what is traditional and expected of him (Si) or because that is simply the vision he has for his life (Ni)? What is his motivation? There are sometimes cases to be made for inferior Se in him, though. I’m actually pretty evenly split on Ted. Let’s take the story that he’s telling his kids. Very detail-oriented. Very specific, vivid memories (which he sometimes tends to remember subjectively rather than objectively). However, he sees how all of these memories are connected to build a larger, overall picture and has a strong concept of symbolism. He’s future-focused and has a clear visual of the life he wants for himself, yet he is also hung up on the past and tends to hold onto old relationships instead of moving forward (Karen, Victoria, Robin). He even keeps all of the stuff he has received in his past relationships in his apartment because they remind him of specific experiences. He’s both a realist and an idealist. He’s grounded and his head is in the clouds. Past-focused and future-oriented. Out of every character I’ve had to decide between Si and Ni for, Ted probably gives me the most trouble.

I’m currently rewatching episodes of One Tree Hill and Pretty Little Liars in order to definitively type Lucas and Aria. After that, I’m going to try to tackle Elena and Klaus… and then the Winchesters. Ted will probably come sometime after that. Dawson is probably going to take a while, because while I loved Dawson’s Creek, I don’t know if rewatching the series is actually worth sitting through Dawson himself. I consider him to be one of the most insufferable television characters in history, so, while I find the show entertaining and I like the other characters, I always have a heavy feeling when I consider watching it again because he just annoys me to no end.

Main Character Syndrome & MBTI was originally published on MBTI Zone

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thatsnotcanonpodcasts · 4 years

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2019 Supernova review featuring Shaun from Comics2Movies

Roll up, roll up, roll up, or if you are in Queensland and melting in this heat wash up instead. Wow, this week we have an awesome and exciting show full of fun and laughter for you to enjoy. We also have a special guest joining us to recap the fabulous Supanova Brisbane!!! That’s right folks, Supanova again (we need Kermit the Frog here running off waving his hands). We talk about some of the cool things we saw, some of the things that made us laugh, and why Buck seems to fear lycra, although to be fair it is a valid point.

We also announce the winner of the Nerdy Bag of holding competition. Congratulations to Jessica on winning our inaugural Supanova competition. We hope to have it again next year so, make sure you listen to get involved, also next year we will make entry available for our international listeners. Now I can give you no more spoilers or teasers on this week’s episode as there is just sooooo much to look forward to other then yes, Buck did argue with some people at Supanova.

Oh, we do have the games being played, the regular shout outs, remembrances, birthdays and special events for the week. We also wish to give a special thank you to some awesome people, the legends at Sons of Obiwan, the heroes at SuperTee, and the Rockstar Shaun at Comics2Movies, they all contributed gear to the Nerdy Bag of Holding. Thank you so much for helping to make this happen. Also a huge thank you to the all-powerful Podfather (All hail the Podfather) for helping us be at Supanova and the Baroness for all her hard work in organizing the event, also her patience when we were misbehaving like little boys with all the excitement.

Professor, Buck & DJ - Nerds Amalgamated Supernova review featuring Shaun from Comics2movies

Games currently playing

Buck

– Call of Duty : WW2 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/476600/Call_of_Duty_WWII/

Prof

– Call of Duty : WW2 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/476600/Call_of_Duty_WWII/

– DNP

Shaun

– Star War Jedi Fallen Order - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172380/STAR_WARS_Jedi_Fallen_Order/

Other topics discussed

Nerds Amalgamated episode 82 (Last time Shaun appeared)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/topshelfnerdspodcast/episode82

Changes to Supanova 2020 Gold Coast

- https://www.supanova.com.au/events/gold-coast-2020/about/

Fanboy vs Zombies (comic book series)

- https://comicvine.gamespot.com/fanboys-vs-zombies/4050-47586/

John Travolta (American actor)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Travolta

Chris Hemsworth (Australian actor)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hemsworth

Daredevil (Netflix TV series)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daredevil_(TV_series)

Kit Walker (also known as the 21st Phantom)

- https://ghostwhowalks.fandom.com/wiki/21st_Phantom

Deborah Ann Woll (American actress)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Ann_Woll

Sons of Obiwan photo with Deborah Ann Woll

- https://www.instagram.com/p/B4oubOyBHcr/

Adam Tuominen (Supanova Brisbane 2019 guest)

- https://www.supanova.com.au/guests/adam-tuominen/

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Tuominen

Julie Benz (Supanova Brisbane 2019 guest)

- https://www.supanova.com.au/guests/julie-benz/

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Benz

Supertee

- https://www.supertee.com.au/

Sons of Obiwan Saber Academy

- https://www.sonsofobiwan.com/

The Fandom Zone (formerly known as the Fortress)

- https://www.youtube.com/user/swayzo14

John Jarratt (Australian actor)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jarratt

Wolf Creek (2005 Australian horror thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by Greg McLean)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Creek_(film)

Wolf Creek (2016 Australian horrorweb television series)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Creek_(TV_series)

What about Sal (Australian movie starring John Jarratt)

GoFundme page - https://au.gofundme.com/f/what-about-sal

TNC Podcasts

- Floof and Pupper podcast - https://thatsnotcanon.com/floofandpupperpodcast

- And Then They Fked - https://thatsnotcanon.com/attfpodcast

- Musicals Taught Me Everything I Know - https://thatsnotcanon.com/mtmeikpodcast

Brisbane Hackerspace (HSBNE inc)

- https://hsbne.org/

Other Supanova stalls

- Airbrush Tatts N Caps - https://airbrushtattsncaps.com/

- Shoot it First Jewellery - https://shootitfirstjewellery.square.site/

- ZQRacing - https://www.zqracing.com.au/

Kimberly Clark (author of Infernum)

- https://www.facebook.com/KimberleyClarkNovels/

Infernum (written by Kimberly Clark)

- https://www.amazon.com.au/Infernum-Kimberley-Clark-ebook/dp/B07767FSMF

Comics2movies

- http://www.comics2movies.com.au/

Drunk guys playing darts

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHkwINR5490

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship (Book about the friendship between C.S. Lewis and Tolkien)

- https://www.amazon.com/dp/1587680262/?tag=christtoday-20

Sir Christopher Lee (English actor)

- https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Sir_Christopher_Lee

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee

Shoutouts

Congratulations to Bag of Holding winner Jessica

9/11/2019 - Thanks to Sons of Obiwan, ComicstoMovies & Supertee for their contribution to the Bag of Holding

9/11/2019 - Thanks to the musicals podcast for the headphones

9/11/2019 - Thanks to the Podfather and Baroness for helping us at Supanova

11/11/2019 - QLD Bushfires - https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/severe-fire-conditions-expected-to-heat-up-today/live-coverage/a04e2dfd0e3a13a4aa8e3aeb482cf79e

Remembrances

11 Nov 1918 - George Lawrence Price, Canadian soldier. He is traditionally recognized as the last soldier of the British Empire to be killed during the First World War. He was fatally shot in the left breast by a German sniper as he stepped out of the house into the street. He was pulled into one of the houses and treated by a young Belgian nurse who ran across the street to help, but died a minute later at 10:58 a.m., November 11, 1918. His death was just two minutes before the armistice came into effect at 11 a.m. He died at the age of 25 in Ville-sur-Haine - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lawrence_Price

11 Nov 1918 - Henry Gunther, American soldier and likely the last soldier of any of the belligerents to be killed during World War I. Gunther's squad approached a roadblock of two German machine guns in the village of Chaumont-devant-Damvillers near Meuse, in Lorraine. Gunther got up, against the orders of his close friend and now sergeant, Ernest Powell, and charged with his bayonet. The German soldiers, already aware of the Armistice that would take effect in one minute, tried to wave Gunther away. He kept going and fired "a shot or two". When he got too close to the machine guns, he was shot in a short burst of automatic fire and killed instantly. He was killed at 10:59 a.m., about one minute before the Armistice was to take effect at 11:00 a.m. He died at the age of 23.

11 Nov 1973 - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method". He invented AIV silage which improved milk production and a method of preserving butter, the AIV salt, which led to increased Finnish butter exports. He died from pneumonia at the age of 78 in Helsinki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artturi_Ilmari_Virtanen

Famous Birthdays

11 Nov 1951 - Kim Peek, American savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the autistic savant character Raymond Babbitt in the movie Rain Man. Although Peek was previously diagnosed with autism, it is now thought that he instead had FG syndrome. He was born in Salt lake City, Utah - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Peek

11 Nov 1948 - Vincent Schiavelli, American character actor and food writer noted for his work on stage, screen and television, often described as "the man with the sad eyes." He was notable for his numerous supporting roles. He often linked his unique facial appearance and tall stature to Marfan syndrome. Schiavelli gained fame as a character actor. His best-known roles include Fredrickson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the Subway Ghost in Ghost, Organ Grinder in Batman Returns and Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies. Schiavelli also performed in a few video games, including Emperor: Battle for Dune as Harkonnen Mentat Yanich Kobal. He was born in Brooklyn, New York - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Schiavelli

11 Nov 1907 - Joseph Gilbert Hamilton, American professor of Medical Physics, Experimental Medicine, General Medicine, and Experimental Radiology as well as director of the Crocker Laboratory, part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Hamilton studied the medical effects of exposure to radioactive isotopes, which included the use of unsuspecting human subjects. He was born in Waverley, Massachusetts - https://www.onthisday.com/people/joseph-gilbert-hamilton

Events of Interest

11 Nov 1675 - German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function. - http://scihi.org/leibniz-integral-calculus/

11 Nov 1930 – Patent number US1781541 is awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator. Its an absorption refrigerator which has no moving parts, operates at constant pressure, and requires only a heat source to operate. The three working fluids in this design are water, ammonia and butane. The Einstein refrigerator is a development of the original three-fluid patent by the Swedish inventors Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator

- Patent - https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/53/e9/74/2cde176701fab8/US1781541.pdf

11 Nov 1954 - Publication of "Two Towers", 2nd volume of "Lord of the Rings", by J. R. R. Tolkien by George Allen and Unwin in London. Tolkien wrote, "The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 and 4; and can be left ambiguous." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Towers

11 Nov 1961 - Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich expelled from USSR's communist party. As a result, and all lived mostly quiet lives from then on. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Party_Group

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

Facebook

- Page - https://www.facebook.com/NerdsAmalgamated/

- Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/440485136816406/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamated

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrS

iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094

RSS - http://www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com/topshelfnerdspodcast?format=rss

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nerds_amalgamated/

General Enquiries

Email - [email protected]

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mediacalling · 7 years

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Our Very Worst Social Media Fails: The Expert Roundup

With so many so-called social media gurus out there, it’s hard for mere mortals not to have “imposter syndrome.”

Should we be trusted with others’ social media accounts? Should call ourselves an expert on our Website if we’re not perfect?

The truth is, even the most experienced social media managers have made at least one gigantic mistake in their career. Here are seven professionals with their tales to back me up.

Dorien Morin-van Dam, More in Media

A few years back I met a prospective client whose budget for managing Facebook only allowed for management, not for advertising. At the intake meeting I addressed this concern, as well as the fact that there was barely any content on their website so there was very little content for me to use.

Despite this, they offered me my going management rate, and I accepted the six month project. To date, this has been my biggest fail.

I got no traction; no engagement and no new likes on the Facebook page. I didn’t have a budget to create video content or run ad campaigns or even run a contest.

Then I did something I am not proud of. As a last-ditch effort in the last two months, I took a portion of my fee to run a few ads to see if throwing a bit of money would in the end make a difference. It didn’t.

To off-set and justify me taking money out of my own pocket, all posts in those last two months were recycled posts from the previous months. The Facebook page was a fail and so was working with this client. This experience served as a lesson to me to go with my gut to not take on clients who ‘want it all’ but aren’t willing to spend the money to get there.

Charli Day, Charli Says

Back in 2010, I was fairly new to social media management and was in charge of a financial services page with a high international fan count but low engagement.

I decided that I would run a social media contest to increase likes, shares, and overall engagement. Back then, I wasn’t really aware of the need to use page apps to run contests. Contest apps are an absolute must, not only for legally collecting data, but also for regulating entries and ensuring that users adhere to the terms and conditions of your contest. I had no idea.

So my contest was as follows. “Take a great photo of you holding the company logo and the one with the most likes will win” (another Facebook page violation). The idea was to show fans around the world and the prize was a top of the range Canon camera. Of course, the fans started submitting photos to the page and at the beginning it was great. Beautiful photos of India, Italy, Australia, all with our company logo.

I was pretty pleased with myself.

But then, I noticed that some of the photos were getting an insane amount of likes. If the average on each photo was 50, these were getting 10,000. I realized that they were using bots to bump up their likes to win the prize. With no way to control the number of votes or entries, or any way to prove that the rules had been broken (because I hadn’t written any), I sat helplessly watching as some of the least inspiring photos gained thousands of likes.

When the time came to announce the winner, the photo was an obviously photoshopped background of the leaning Tower of Pisa with a little guy from Indonesia holding our logo. It was a poor quality and obviously tampered with image. I announced him as the winner and then spent the net week receiving furious messages from the other genuine participants who accused him of faking the photo likes and our brand of not properly controlling the contest.

To make matters worse (again no terms and conditions) the winner then went on to demand a camera with a much higher value than the company wanted to give. Our company lawyers eventually concluded that as we had simply specified a “top of the range” camera, and not written a maximum value, we had to give it to him. Therefore the prize cost 3,000 Euros more than it should have done.

It was a huge lesson for me. ALWAYS use page apps for contests. Plan every single detail and make sure your terms and conditions are signed off by legal!

Daniel Pinne, Organik Social

I managed the social accounts for a large professional sports team with hundreds of thousands of followers across all social media channels. Sports an emotional industry and sometimes you can get lost in the support of the team’s fans and the action on field. There was a lot of feedback about the quality of commentary and I sent the following tweet with a comment about one of the commentators in particular.

Thanks to the 16,828 fans that turned up tonight and didn’t have to listen to Tim Gilbert commentate. Worth the ticket price #purplepride

— Melbourne Storm (@storm) July 5, 2013

Understandably, there were mixed reactions. The fans of the team (and the primary audience) understood the humor of it and supported the tweet. Others in the media were very critical, labeling it unprofessional and came to the commentator’s support.

In hindsight, I certainly got caught up in the emotion of it all a bit much. It was a spur of the moment decision that I should have asked others in my team if they thought it was appropriate, they would have advised otherwise.

I spoke to the commentator in person, apologized and followed up afterwards. We all moved on and learned from it, but it wasn’t one of my finest memories managing social media.

Amanda Webb, Spiderworking

I made a lot of mistakes when I started blogging. I used to write terrible headlines, I wasn’t thinking about the importance of getting people to read, I just assumed they would come.

My first blog covered environmental issues and one classic headline was “Water Labeling.” I spent ages writing the post but I’m pretty sure few people read it. I’m always working at writing better headlines, each time I do I see the payback in traffic.

Hiral Rana, E2M Solutions

In one of my previous firms, I was juggling several responsibilities in social media marketing and SEO. As a part of an in-house project back then, we forgot to set the end-date of our Facebook ad campaign. Thankfully, this got us more attention, leads, and everything in between.

I quickly learned how to use automated rules in the Facebook Ads Manager. All I have to do is enter my maximum spending amount. This gives me more control of the ad budget even if I forget to set the end date again!

Anastasia Melet, Wave by Animatron

Perhaps our biggest social media fail happened during a Facebook Live broadcast. Our Live featured a well-staged video, a part of which had been recorded in advance, to be operated with a special broadcasting software.

Everyone was excited and also a bit nervous preparing for the Live. During the Live, a social media team member pressed the wrong button and… cut the video almost a minute too early.

There was no option to resume the video.

The first thing we did was to quickly address the questions we started receiving in the comments from the viewers. I think it was the prompt reaction of our social media team that helped de-escalate the possible disappointment of our followers. Later on, we sent an email explaining the situation and offering an incentive as a “We Care” token.

Our followers are a very loyal and understanding audience and we had almost no negative effect caused by the incident. We learnt this lesson and were fully prepared for the next Live. So to fail-proof your social media initiatives, I would advise to be especially careful with new technologies, keep anxiety under control, and always have a backup plan.

Rivka Hodgkinson, Meet Rivka

One of my clients is a real estate agent, so I try to make the content interesting by posting local goings-on, news, and events.

To simplify that process, I have a Google Alert set up for the city and state that she is located in. One day while going through my email, I was excited to see an Alert post about a famous celebrity who broke down and was taken out to lunch and helped by some local guys with a pickup truck.

This is perfect, I thought! A recognizable name, and a fun story that happened right in her area! It didn’t mention the name of the restaurant, but it did mention a street name, so I thought I could get some great engagement by asking people to guess which local treasure they stopped to eat.

Then it all fell apart.

I was so excited about the article, I told my husband about it. “I am pretty sure that is a scam dear,” was his response. He had heard the same story with a different celebrity for his hometown. Sure enough, I did a Google search of the longer text, and it was an oft-repeated urban legend. Despite being from a reputable looking website, I had been bamboozled.

Don’t get me wrong. I got engagement — just not the kind I anticipated. With several people within minutes telling me it was a scam, providing links to Snopes, and one share by someone as excited about the story as I was. And so the cycle of misinformation continues.

Needless to say, not a finer moment. I hid it from the timeline and thanked the helpful citizens who pointed out my mistake.

Lesson learned? ALWAYS check sources on factual stuff. I should have known better when it wasn’t one of the handful of local news media outlets that I recognize the names of. Now, I am sure to only post news stories from a brand I know and trust, or do a little more digging into the who and what of the origin.

What social media fail are you most embarrassed about? Share your sad tale in the comments!

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