What’s the Big Deal with the Chewbacca Mom?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the Chewbacca Mom this past week.

WHAT? You don’t know who she is? Seriously??

Fine. Click HERE to watch the original video.

OK. Are we all ready to move on? Good.

Chewbacca Mom - Candace Payne
Meet Candace Payne, the woman behind the Chewbacca mask who has taken the internet by storm! Last Thursday (May 19th), Candace broadcasted on Facebook Live while sitting in her car in a KOHL’S parking lot. This Star Wars mask made her smile and she wanted to share that moment with others.

 

And in less than a week, she has:

I mean, she’s a mother of two from Texas who never really did anything with social media before.

So WHY is she such a big deal?

That’s easy. She possesses one simple but very important trait that is unfortunately rare in the social media world lately.

POSITIVITY.

That’s it. Positivity. 

Although we still see the occasional cute kitten videos, many Facebook news feeds have transformed into battlegrounds filled with anger and hate. The seemingly never-ending tensions of the Presidential campaign have brought out such rage and divisiveness that it’s frankly making Facebook less enjoyable. So is it really any surprise that when this extraordinary woman practiced the most ordinary act of sharing JOY, we all jumped at the chance to experience it with her?

During the Good Morning America interview, Robin Roberts asked Candace.
“What’s been the best part of all of this?”

Her reply?
“In all honesty, the best part of all of this is being able to share joy with people…” 

Well said, Candace. Well said.

 

Chewbacca Mom

 

TODAY’S QUESTION:
Do you feel like you’re drowning in the negativity on Facebook? If so, what can you do right now to spread positivity?

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

 

ELECTION 2016: FOR THE LOVE OF FACEBOOK, MAKE IT STOP!

I spent the first half of this week sick in bed with little physical or mental tolerance for well… anything. Between work and personal life, I normally spend a significant amount of time online on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But this week? I barely touched it. At the most, I would pick up my phone and open the Facebook app immediately out of habit (Damn that muscle memory!) and quickly close it before I got sucked into the abyss.

I know what you’re thinking. I LOVE social media. It’s my life. How could I, of all people, want to avoid Facebook?

Seriously, people. I get that the future of our nation is important, but can we give it a rest? As of today there are 282 days left until Election Day. I don’t know about you, but I don’t relish the thought of 282 more days of anger, hatred, and pointless Facebook fights.

I mean, social media isn’t just a pastime. It’s my job.

So how am I going to survive this?

Facebook Unfollow

That’s right. If you didn’t already know, Facebook has this really great option called UNFOLLOW.

Don’t want to see anything from that weird cousin who LOVES Trump and his hateful comment of the day?
Unfollow.

Have you had your fill of that co-worker who posts ALL of Sarah Palin’s crazed ramblings?
Unfollow.

Are you even tired of that friend who shares far too many articles about your own political party?
Unfollow.

The point is, your Facebook News Feed is yours. No one else’s. It’s yours.

So if you are feeling overwhelmed by the posts of any friend, no matter how close you may be in real life, then why should you continue to put up with a barrage of posts that bring you stress? Just unfollow those friends.

No, you’re not unfriending them.

No, they won’t get a notification to let them know you have unfollowed them.

You are, however, choosing to take control of what you see when you log in to Facebook. I would venture to guess that none of us log in to Facebook hoping to get mad or frustrated. So why keep letting that happen?

Here’s how to UNFOLLOW from your phone:

FROM THE FRIEND’S PROFILE PAGE
If you are already following the friend (which you probably are), simply click the drop down arrow by FOLLOW and select UNFOLLOW.

FROM A SPECIFIC POST
Click the dropdown arrow in the top right corner of the post.
Select UNFOLLOW (FRIEND NAME). As the prompt says, you’ll stop seeing posts but stay friends.

In any case, you can still see their posts at any time by going directly to their profile and reading at your convenience. All you really do by unfollowing is remove their posts from your News Feed.

Again, your News Feed is yours. Isn’t it time you reclaimed it and made Facebook a happier experience again?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go purge my News Feed of everything about Martin Shkreli. Ugh.


QUESTION:
Have you used UNFOLLOW on Facebook?
If YES, what made you do it?
If NO, why not?

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

How We Survived the Blizzard of 2015

Wow! It was a rough night, but we all survived it.

Even the most calm and organized person wasn’t truly prepared for the events that transpired in the wee hours of the morning. We all sat clutching our cell phones in fear as we watched the inevitable happen, and we were powerless to do anything about it. It just happened.

Facebook and Instagram were BOTH down simultaneously for approximately one hour.

What?

Oh yeah. There was a blizzard, too.

But did you miss what I said?

Facebook and Instagram were BOTH down simultaneously for approximately one hour.

I even heard that the popular dating site Tinder was down as well. I mean, it felt like we were seeing the End of Days here, people!

Oh yeah. And there was a snowstorm, too.

But alas, Twitter was up and functioning, so we all had a place to go and vent…

… about Facebook and Twitter being down.

Here are some of my favorite tweets from the night:

 

TODAY’S QUESTION: Be honest. Were you having a little bit of withdrawal when Facebook and Instagram went down? Or did you even notice?

What are you doing to pass the time as we recover from this storm. No… the real one. With snow and wind? Yeah. That one.

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

 


Three TRICKS to Make Your Halloween a TREAT!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Oh, how I love those words! Seriously… without a doubt, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Extravagant costumes, make-up, candy, and mischief… what’s not to like?

Since we don’t yet have a way to download my favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups online (Come on, 3D printers! Get on it!), I’ve decided instead to treat you all with some social media reminders to keep the monsters away… Well, away from your profiles at least.

1. “You’re wearing WHAT?”
Yes, we know that Halloween is the one day each year to be whatever you want to be. And TRUST me, I know very well that a scandalous costume is the BEST costume. But you DO know that everyone has a camera on their phones these days, right? You might want to check out the PRIVACY SETTINGS on Facebook and check the settings on who can tag you in photos. You want to be President someday? Well, you won”t be once THAT costume pic leaks!

 

2. “Hey! I never said that!”
Here we are online… on social networks. You got that first word, right? Social?
And when you share something on a social site, people see it. Sure, you can delete it, but that doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t have a saved copy of your words. (Trust me. I’ll gladly call out my friends with screenshots of past posts. Go on… ask them. I”ll wait.) Take a minute and THINK before you post. Otherwise, your own words just might come crawling back from the dead to haunt you like a zombie…

 

3. “You are SO getting egged!”
And lastly, if you’re the house that gives out bad candy for trick-or-treat, you better be ready for some kid to tweet about it. So unless you’re in the mood to scrub cracked eggs off of your house, you might just want to turn off that front porch light and call it a night. Otherwise, you might see THIS at your door…

 

There. Now you”ve got a few tips to help keep your Halloween safe.

Which of these tips was most helpful for you? Have your own tip to share?

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

 

Need to Smile? THIS is EVERYTHING!

While the Wednesday workday is coming to an end, some of you still may need that extra little push to get through the rest of Hump Day. Lucky for you, I”ve got exactly what you need!

Photo Credit: Kevin McNair Photography

Meet seven-year old Charlotte Masi, part of the children’s ensemble from the Bridgeport Theatre Company‘s production of The Wedding Singer. Charlotte is always entertaining on stage, but check out what happens off stage when she shows us how to rock out to “Linda’s Note” from The Wedding Singer in the video below!

ENJOY!

 

 

Social Media Gets Offensive!

Let’s be honest. We all have friends on Facebook that might get a little bit… well, out of control in one way or another, right?

Seriously. You”re thinking of at least one or two of your Facebook friends right now.

In my last blog, I shared my list of 5 Things NOT to do on Facebook. So it’s no surprise how much I LOVE these Social Media Citations that I purchased from my friends at Mirth In A Box. (If you love these like I do, get your own here!)

 

So… Which of these offenses are you guilty of?

Which one is your biggest pet peeve with your friends?

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!