Twitter And TV.

Last night, things finally came to a head.

What am i talking about? Well, here goes....

Why do some people insist on Tweeting about every single thing that happens in certain TV programs?
There, i said it!

I'm sure that this is a recent phenomenon, certainly here in the UK anyway?
Yes, i know that people have been Tweeting about TV progs, probably since Twitter was invented. But, not with the frequency that seems to have crept in recently.

In the UK, two programs seem to produce the biggest amount of related tweets. On a Saturday & Sunday evening we have the X-Factor and on a Sunday evening, following the X-Factor, we have Downton Abbey.
These two programs do have some of the biggest viewing figures. But, i'm not sure that that alone explains the amount of related tweets. And, yes, the X-Factor does encourage audience participation through voting. But, i don't think this explains it all either.

I'll admit that i have sometimes felt the need to post the odd Tweet during tv programs myself. But, the volume of Tweets during the above mentioned progs has to be seen to be believed sometimes. Some people are Tweeting, literally, every minute.

What i'd like to know is that if these people are spending so much time writing and posting Tweets, how much of the actual program are they seeing? And, if you're taking the time to watch a tv program in the first place, why not watch it instead of looking down at your phone, iPad, laptop etc?
Another aspect that intriques me is how many of the Tweets are not very complimentary about the program being watched. If you don't like the program, why on earth are you watching it?

I remember a time when the Internet was considered to be something of an escape, or even an alternative to tv. In many ways that is how i still view it. But, it's obvious that, for an increasing number of people, that is not now the case. The two worlds are combining and overlapping. Colliding even.
Of course, the situation is made all the worse when the tv programs being Tweeted about are ones that you have no interest in yourself.

Over the past few weekends i have often found myself turning off Twitter when these two tv progs are on. But, by doing that, i am then denying myself everything else that is going on in the Twittersphere.
Why should i do that?
So, i have now felt the need to take some drastic action and last night i 'Un-followed" two of the worst TV Tweeting offenders. Maybe it's my fault for following certain people in the first place? But, as with many things in life, you don't always know what you're letting yourself in for when you sign up!

Maybe the situation will get better when those two particular tv progs finish their run? But, i have a feeling that's not going to happen. Another show will, most probably, come along and grab the attention of the TV Tweeters.

I guess i'll just have to keep my finger poised over that "Un-follow" button for a while longer yet?

All In This Together?

I happened to Tweet the following this morning, after reading todays newspaper.
"Thinking of contacting HMG and asking if i can pay less tax like Barclays. Well, i had a bad 2010 as well you know. No, thought not"

For those not in the know, this refers to the story that Barclays paid very little tax (2.4%) on their total profits of £4.6bn, in 2009. This is inspite of them apparently paying out £3.4bn in bonuses that same year.
Part of Barclays justification for paying so little tax was that they had a bad year in 2008. Didn't we all?
This information only came to light because of a Labour Party MP asking for it.

Well, that Tweet certainly provoked a response and all the comments were of a very similar nature. One of digust, both for Barclays and for any Government that allows this type of thing to happen. But, the comments were about the state of the nation and of politics today.
For me, this shows something that i have been detecting a lot recently. A real groundswell of public opinion about the current government and about politics and politicians in general.

Obviously, most of the bad feeling is directed towards the current coalition government in the UK. That's no great surprise seeing as they are in power at the moment.
The coalition government are currently in the process of wheeling out a whole raft of spending cuts and inflicting them onto the UK population.

Now, spending cuts are never going to be popular, but the reaction to these is starting to threaten to get particularly nasty. The general feeling is that these cuts are going to affect the lower paid and most vulnerable in society the most.

And those spending cuts are set against a background of British banks paying multi million pound bonuses to their employees. Banks that would not be in existence if it wasn't for the monetary bailouts and guarantees given to them by the then UK government, back in 2008/9.
Bailouts paid for by the British taxpayer. Yes, that means you and me.

Yes, i know that Barclays bank, unlike  Lloyds and RBS etc, were not given any money directly in the form of bailouts. But, like all the banks, they were effectively given a guarantee by the UK government that they would not be allowed to fail. Meaning that they and the other banks, could then do what they liked and indulge in some more monetary gambling. Just like the old days.
Effectively gambling with our money. A situation that got us into this whole sorry mess in the first place.

The bank bailouts, bonuses and tax revenue debates is set against a situation where we are constantly being told by politicians that "We are all in this together".
Well, if that's the case, i'd like my tax to be reduced for 2010, a la Barclays, because i had a particularly shit year too.
Like many other people in 2010, i lost my job and now have to live within my means. Something a bank has been told it doesn't have to do.
I get no bailout. In fact when i went to the Job Centre to claim Job Seekers Allowance, i was told i wasn't eligible. Despite paying National Insurance for very nearly 36 years!
So please don't tell me and many more like me that we're all in this together. Because it is plainly not true.
And if anyone is due a nice bonus, then surely it is the British people for giving the banks the money to keep them afloat in the first place? Without our money, they would never have made those fat profits.

But, enough bank bashing. After all, we all expect the banks to behave in this way and we should not be surprised that they do so. Especially when our elected representatives are seemingly unwilling to rein them in, or control them in any way. Despite claims to the contrary.

We do though expect a little bit more, or at least we should do, from our elected political representatives themselves.

But, as we learned during the MPs expenses scandal, many MPs just don't seem to be living on the same planet as the rest of us. They are certainly living in a different economic environment to the vast majority of the population. The population that they represent.

This situtation is not helped by the fact that the leaders of all three main political parties are Oxbridge, or publically educated men. Men with very little to worry about when it comes to money.
In my humble opinion, millionaires are not the best people to be telling me that we are all in this together. Certainly not in times of austerity, like now.

So, the general consensus amongst the UK population is that our politicians are totally out of touch with reality. They live in a world, like The Queen, where they think that everything smells of fresh paint and where everything works. That is not always their fault, of course. They live in a world full of sycophants and "yes' people who are afraid to tell them of the reality of the situation.

How often have you seen, or heard about, that situation in the workplace? Where the head of a company has no idea what goes on on the shopfloor, because the underlings are too scared to tell them.
That's no way to run a country, or a business for that matter.

We have seen many examples of current politicians being out of touch and one happened just this week.

I'm sure we all know about the governments, now abandoned, proposals to sell off much of our public woodlands and forests.
Now, this is a classic case of a government being totally out of touch with the electorate. A government that, by the way, said they were going to be the greenest in history.

For a start, they seemed to fail to realise that these forests and woodlands were not really theirs to sell in the first place. They belong to the people.
But, they also didn't anticipate the huge adverse reaction that these proposals would generate. A reaction which, in the end, forced the government to apologise for their actions and to have to admit that they had "got it wrong".

So, what we had from government this week was yet another U-Turn. Although they'd never call it that, of course.

Now, it's one thing to admit that you are going to change your mind due to popular opinion. But, it is quite another to promise one thing in your election manifesto and then to do something completely different when you are elected. But, that is precisely what this government has done.

If you can't relate to those whom you represent, have little understanding of what they actually want and have to lie to get yourself elected, it doesn't exactly fill you with a lot of confidence in them does it?

Is it any wonder then that so many people these days have little, or no, respect for politicians and don't bother to vote?

I mentioned earlier about the various comments that i had on that original Tweet.
Well, here is another,  "Time to do an Egypt?"

Now, i'm sure that was meant, at least, partly in jest. But, it does get you thinking doesn't it?

Amongst those thoughts is probably something along the lines of, what did the people of Tunisia and Egypt say about their previous rulers? What was it that started them onto the road to rebellion and revolution?

Well, it could probably best be summed up by saying, amongst other things, "They (the rulers) don't relate to those whom they represent. They have little understanding of what the people actually want and they have lied to get themselves elected".

Sound familiar?

(I have a funny feeling i may well be returning to this topic, as i've not mentioned everything i intended to)

Where Am I?....

....and do you really care?

This morning i learnt that Facebook had turned on their Facebook Places location device in the UK. Apparently, it's been available in the USA for a while now and is gradually being rolled out across the world. It seems that the UK is one of the first areas to have it enabled. Whether this is a cause for celebration remains to be seen.

This just got me thinking about the whole issue of location applications, or devices and what people actually use them for. And, ultimately, whether they are really of much use to anybody.

There have been several other location based services available for a while now, such as "foursquare" and "Gowalla". But, obviously, now that Facebook have got involved, things have got a little bit more serious.
I suppose that if the big boys have started to get involved in this, the suggestion is that there really must be something in this type of service. I fully expect the other "big boys" not to be too far behind Facebook. After all, they can't afford to be, can they? They are probably all frantically rushing around and finalising their own versions, as i type.

I have seen many Internet friends of mine using foursquare etc over the past year and, to be honest, i just don't "get it". Why do i want to know exactly where somebody is at any given time?
In fact, i've often found those location based status updates to be rather annoying and i've even gone so far as to hide the status feed of one Facebook friend, mainly because of this unwanted information.
I also know of some who have started to use these services and have then come to the same realisation as myself and stopped using them.
So, just who is using location based services and why?

As with most things on the Internet, i suspect that the bulk of users are young. And therein lies one of the probable reasons as to why this doesn't appeal to me, it's not really meant to.

I can see that knowing somebody's location could be very useful, if you were meeting up with them for a night out, or for a coffee for example. And as all updates are done via the GPS system, they are also very accurate.
This could save you missing out on the good times that your friends are having without you.

I can also see how this could be used as a form of security for worried parents. Those location updates might help a parent know where there child is. Mind you, would any self respecting child want their parents to know that?! Joking aside though, this could help prevent some un-needed false alarms, when a child isn't quite where the parent thought that they might be.

But, one security issue that is a potential concern and has come to the fore recently, is the danger of letting everybody, not just your friends, know where you are. Or, to be more accurate, letting the world know that you are not at home. This has already led to some burglaries being committed. Indeed, there was a recent case in the USA of exactly this kind of crime happening.
It has been suggested that some criminal elements and not just in the USA either, have been checking the location status updates of some people and then raiding their homes, when they know they are not there.
In fact, i understand that the recent crime in the USA was actually committed by a "friend".

As with all things on the Internet. It certainly does pay to think about the amount of information you put "out there". As you are never quite sure who might find it and use it.

But, getting back to the point of this blog post.

The loaction based services so far, foursquare and Gowalla etc, are designed to be used on a mobile device. A cell/mobile phone, blackberry, laptop etc etc. But, i would suggest, that the vast majority of Facebook users actually access Facebook whilst at home. So, therefore, where is the real value here for Facebook, apart from trying to knock out the competion?
Yes, i know that Facebook can be accessed easily via a mobile phone app and i've even used the app myself.
But, my first thought, when reading about this this morning, was "Just how many people actually use Facebook on the move". In fact i even Tweeted exactly that point/question.
It was only then that i did a bit of research and found an article suggesting that up to 45% of time spent on the Internet, on moblie devices, is actually spent on Facebook!!!!

Doh!
Now i get it.
Just don't expect me to start using a location based device, or application any time soon.

By the way, i'm at home.