Sunday, 13 February 2011
superlucky - a comper's blog: When Voting Competitions Go Wrong
superlucky - a comper's blog: When Voting Competitions Go Wrong: "So you want to run a fun competition, where the public are encouraged to visit your website or Facebook page and vote for their favourite en..."
Longer Tweets - a blessing or a curse?
We're a chatty lot, aren't we? And that means the 140 character restriction on Twitter can be very frustrating. Especially for compers. If a promoter asks you to retweet their message to enter a comp, and then uses up most of their 140 characters, the tweet becomes too long to RT the "old" way, by typing in RT @theusername and then copying in the message. But we tend to feel insecure about using the RT button. Even on NewTwitter, it is difficult to be convinced that tweets done this way will show in the promoter's @ mentions list.
So those of us who use Tweet Deck were delighted to see that they now allow tweets of unlimited length. Now we can do an old-style copy-and-paste RT for any comp..... can't we?
Unfortunately not. If you write a long tweet using tweet deck, only the first 129 characters of it are displayed on other Twitter platforms and Twitter's own pages. After that it says ... (cont) and then a link to a deck.ly page where the full tweet is displayed.
Now when you are chatting to friends, they will (we hope) be happy to click on the link to read what you have to say. But if a promoter gets hundreds, or thousands, of comp entries, then even if entries are being read by a human, they won't have time to bother. With most comps that isn't a problem, as long as everyone is RTing the same message and you don't have to include a tiebreaker or answer a question.
But what IS a problem to compers is the fact that many messages that need to be RTd include a hashtag - a word preceded by a # sign - to help the promoter search for entries. There are lots of Twitter search tools they can use to find specific hashtags, so for instance if they have asked you to RT a message including the hashtag #grapevine they can put that one word into a search and find every tweet that includes it.
Hashtags are most often used at the end of tweets - and this is a problem with longer tweets. Because a hashtag appearing after the 129 characters of a longer tweet does not show up in any Twitter search. No, not even Tweet Deck's own search, which displays the full text of longer messages!
The same thing applies to @ mentions- in a longer message, any @ mention afterthe 129th character won't show up onthe mentions page of the person it refers to. Although this probably doesn't affect compers much it is worth bearing in mind when chatting to friends and making lists for #FollowFriday.
So usung Tweet Deck's longer message function means your comp entries might never be seen! My advice is to either use the old-style RT and edit your tweets to make sure they come to no more than 140 characters, or, if you trust it, use the RT button.
So those of us who use Tweet Deck were delighted to see that they now allow tweets of unlimited length. Now we can do an old-style copy-and-paste RT for any comp..... can't we?
Unfortunately not. If you write a long tweet using tweet deck, only the first 129 characters of it are displayed on other Twitter platforms and Twitter's own pages. After that it says ... (cont) and then a link to a deck.ly page where the full tweet is displayed.
Now when you are chatting to friends, they will (we hope) be happy to click on the link to read what you have to say. But if a promoter gets hundreds, or thousands, of comp entries, then even if entries are being read by a human, they won't have time to bother. With most comps that isn't a problem, as long as everyone is RTing the same message and you don't have to include a tiebreaker or answer a question.
But what IS a problem to compers is the fact that many messages that need to be RTd include a hashtag - a word preceded by a # sign - to help the promoter search for entries. There are lots of Twitter search tools they can use to find specific hashtags, so for instance if they have asked you to RT a message including the hashtag #grapevine they can put that one word into a search and find every tweet that includes it.
Hashtags are most often used at the end of tweets - and this is a problem with longer tweets. Because a hashtag appearing after the 129 characters of a longer tweet does not show up in any Twitter search. No, not even Tweet Deck's own search, which displays the full text of longer messages!
The same thing applies to @ mentions- in a longer message, any @ mention afterthe 129th character won't show up onthe mentions page of the person it refers to. Although this probably doesn't affect compers much it is worth bearing in mind when chatting to friends and making lists for #FollowFriday.
So usung Tweet Deck's longer message function means your comp entries might never be seen! My advice is to either use the old-style RT and edit your tweets to make sure they come to no more than 140 characters, or, if you trust it, use the RT button.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
I won one - you can too!
Personalised cards, gifts and novelty items seem to be springing up everywhere now - technology means we can have our own photos on anything from cards to cushions, pottery to playing cards. And now on the front cover of our favourite magazines.
Recently I was lucky enough to win a spoof glossy magazine cover from Blue Friesian through their Facebook page - and if you are quick, you might have a chance to win one too as they are giving away two prizes every day until Valentine's Day.
They have a wide range of covers to choose from - as well as single pages and complete 8 and 12 page magazines. All are in the style of well known and familar magazines, making it easy to pick one to suit the occasion. I chose the "Hallo" magazine - I think we all know which mag it is a spoof of! - and used photos of a group of very special friends. Here is the finished cover:
You won't understand the meaning behind any of the text - it is all based on our private jokes. And that is one of the exciting things about the covers - being fully editable, you can say exactly what you want to say! That means they are suitable for all sorts of occasions as you don't need to use any irrelevant text.
The magazines are very easy to create, but if you DO have any problems, help is at hand and everything possible is done to make the experience of creating your magazine a pleasure.
If you aren't lucky enough to win one, the prices are very reasonable, especially if you have a printer good enough to produce a high quality image, because then you can purchase a download-only version. But the printed version is of superb quality and reaches you very quickly, packaged so well that even our postie couldn't bend it! And if you want more than one copy - for instance as a wedding souvenir for the guests, or a treat for a child's party or a junior football team - the rates for multiple copies are extremely good value.
I'd just like to finish by saying this is NOT a sponsored post! I was so delighted with the friendly, helpful and efficient service, the range of titles available and the quality of the finished product that I really had to share it with you all - especially as there is still a chance to win one for yourself.
Recently I was lucky enough to win a spoof glossy magazine cover from Blue Friesian through their Facebook page - and if you are quick, you might have a chance to win one too as they are giving away two prizes every day until Valentine's Day.
They have a wide range of covers to choose from - as well as single pages and complete 8 and 12 page magazines. All are in the style of well known and familar magazines, making it easy to pick one to suit the occasion. I chose the "Hallo" magazine - I think we all know which mag it is a spoof of! - and used photos of a group of very special friends. Here is the finished cover:
You won't understand the meaning behind any of the text - it is all based on our private jokes. And that is one of the exciting things about the covers - being fully editable, you can say exactly what you want to say! That means they are suitable for all sorts of occasions as you don't need to use any irrelevant text.
The magazines are very easy to create, but if you DO have any problems, help is at hand and everything possible is done to make the experience of creating your magazine a pleasure.
If you aren't lucky enough to win one, the prices are very reasonable, especially if you have a printer good enough to produce a high quality image, because then you can purchase a download-only version. But the printed version is of superb quality and reaches you very quickly, packaged so well that even our postie couldn't bend it! And if you want more than one copy - for instance as a wedding souvenir for the guests, or a treat for a child's party or a junior football team - the rates for multiple copies are extremely good value.
I'd just like to finish by saying this is NOT a sponsored post! I was so delighted with the friendly, helpful and efficient service, the range of titles available and the quality of the finished product that I really had to share it with you all - especially as there is still a chance to win one for yourself.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Single and Hungry?
ITV1’s hit show, Dinner Date is looking for more single people!
Are you single?
Do you love good food?
Then Dinner Date, the show where you could find true love through the love of food, would like to hear from you!
They are looking for single men and women over the age of 25 who enjoy good food, good company and would love to take a chance on a blind date. You don’t have to be Jamie Oliver in the kitchen to take part!
If you would like to find out more please email: dinnerdate@hattrick.com
Or call 020 7184 6742
You never know it might be love at first bite!
Follow Dinner Date on Twitter. Click here: @itvdinnerdate
Thursday, 3 February 2011
What the #ff is this all about?
Every Friday I get asked the same question several times: "Why am I seeing all these Tweets with just names and #ff or #FollowFriday in them?"
Experienced Twitter users have probably been seeing #ff for so long that they forget how puzzling it can be to newcomers.
#ff and #FollowFriday are terms used throughout Twitter - not just among the comping community. One person may want to suggest to their followers other people that they recommend they follow.It has become a tradition on Twitter that this is mostly done on a Friday, so the hashtag #FollowFriday is used to show that the names listed in the tweet are people worth following. But as a tweet can only be 140 characters long, this is often shortened to #ff. If you are new to Twitter and not following many people yet, it can be a great way of finding more people with similar interests.
You can do a hashtag search for #ff or #FollowFriday but you will see many thousands of tweets. It's much better to look at the Tweets of people you already follow and seewho they suggest to you. Click on the names of the people listed, and if you like what you see, hit the follow button!
If you are a comper, the most likely names you will see being recommended are other compers and businesses who run frequent comps. So all well worth following - as long as you're not too close to the dreaded 2,000 limit!
Experienced Twitter users have probably been seeing #ff for so long that they forget how puzzling it can be to newcomers.
#ff and #FollowFriday are terms used throughout Twitter - not just among the comping community. One person may want to suggest to their followers other people that they recommend they follow.It has become a tradition on Twitter that this is mostly done on a Friday, so the hashtag #FollowFriday is used to show that the names listed in the tweet are people worth following. But as a tweet can only be 140 characters long, this is often shortened to #ff. If you are new to Twitter and not following many people yet, it can be a great way of finding more people with similar interests.
You can do a hashtag search for #ff or #FollowFriday but you will see many thousands of tweets. It's much better to look at the Tweets of people you already follow and seewho they suggest to you. Click on the names of the people listed, and if you like what you see, hit the follow button!
If you are a comper, the most likely names you will see being recommended are other compers and businesses who run frequent comps. So all well worth following - as long as you're not too close to the dreaded 2,000 limit!
Something fishy in the comping world?
Over the past few days, some of the compers on Twitter have drifted right off the subject of comping and been talking about strange ways of cooking. In particular, the idea that it is possible to cook a fish in a dishwasher.
Kay, over at Brink of Bedlam has decided to give this a go, and to make it more of a challenge, has decided to look for sponsors and raise some funds for the RNLI, who save so many lives each year.
The salmon in the photo were spotted on my prize trip to Canada last year - so this post DOES have a comping theme after all!
Do, please have a look at Kay's blog, where she will tell you all about her plans and give you a few laughs along the way. And please, PLEASE if you can spare a few pounds, sponsor her on her Just Giving page Lots of compers like to give something to charity from time to time as a way of saying thank you for their wins - or maybe you could make a donation to see if the concept of "Comping Karma" works for YOU!
And as an added incentive, I've promised Kay that if she cooks her fish, I will blog about my extensive recipe book collection, with books ranging from the historic to the hysterical and the exotic to the erotic!
Kay, over at Brink of Bedlam has decided to give this a go, and to make it more of a challenge, has decided to look for sponsors and raise some funds for the RNLI, who save so many lives each year.
The salmon in the photo were spotted on my prize trip to Canada last year - so this post DOES have a comping theme after all!
Do, please have a look at Kay's blog, where she will tell you all about her plans and give you a few laughs along the way. And please, PLEASE if you can spare a few pounds, sponsor her on her Just Giving page Lots of compers like to give something to charity from time to time as a way of saying thank you for their wins - or maybe you could make a donation to see if the concept of "Comping Karma" works for YOU!
And as an added incentive, I've promised Kay that if she cooks her fish, I will blog about my extensive recipe book collection, with books ranging from the historic to the hysterical and the exotic to the erotic!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Win gorgeous jewellery for your wedding!
Bridal Designs have a lovely competition for anyone who is getting married this year. They have teamed up with 9 wedding photographers from all over the country to offer a prize of £100 worth of jewellery for your wedding. The competition is open to anyone who books wedding photography with one of them, between 14th February and 14th July (that's the date you make the booking - the wedding can be on any date)
Participating photographers are
http://www.xtraordinaryphotography.co.uk/ Sean and Chris , South Tyneside (Covers North East area)
http://www.bluelightsphotography.co.uk/ Adele,Yorkshire (Covers Yorkshire and Nationwide)
http://www.photographybykatie.co.uk/ Katie , Newcastle (Covers North of England and Scottish Borders)
http://www.nikkiwaterlow.co.uk/ Nikki , North Kent (Covers Kent and neighbouring counties, London)
http://www.mattfryer.co.uk/ Matt, North Devon (Covers North Devon, South West)
http://www.thurtlepower.com/ Greg, Dorset (Covers Dorset and Nationwide)
http://www.29gallery.co.uk/ Michael, West Devon (Covers Devon, Midlands and Nationwide)
http://www.elizaclaire.com/ Eliza, London (Covers London and Nationwide
http://www.exposure-photo.com/ Carolyn, Warwickshire (covers Warwickshire and Nationwide)
Although regions are given, many of them will travel to other areas or even overseas. For more information about the competition and the full terms and conditions, see the Bridal Designs blog
Participating photographers are
http://www.xtraordinaryphotography.co.uk/ Sean and Chris , South Tyneside (Covers North East area)
http://www.bluelightsphotography.co.uk/ Adele,Yorkshire (Covers Yorkshire and Nationwide)
http://www.photographybykatie.co.uk/ Katie , Newcastle (Covers North of England and Scottish Borders)
http://www.nikkiwaterlow.co.uk/ Nikki , North Kent (Covers Kent and neighbouring counties, London)
http://www.mattfryer.co.uk/ Matt, North Devon (Covers North Devon, South West)
http://www.thurtlepower.com/ Greg, Dorset (Covers Dorset and Nationwide)
http://www.29gallery.co.uk/ Michael, West Devon (Covers Devon, Midlands and Nationwide)
http://www.elizaclaire.com/ Eliza, London (Covers London and Nationwide
http://www.exposure-photo.com/ Carolyn, Warwickshire (covers Warwickshire and Nationwide)
Although regions are given, many of them will travel to other areas or even overseas. For more information about the competition and the full terms and conditions, see the Bridal Designs blog
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