Well, the word "disaster" might be just a wee tad dramatic. But it's true that when you put me together with any sort of newfangled technological device (laptop computers--they're still considered cutting edge, aren't they?), weird and unexpected things begin to happen. Sometimes, when my laptop is acting all glitchy and misbehaving in explicable ways, my husband will look at me and ask, "What did you DO?" My answer is always the same: "I don't KNOW." Whenever I try to recreate the step-by-step process by which my computer has gotten completely messed up, I can never remember exactly which buttons I've pushed or icons I've clicked, or in what order I did so. It all becomes a hazy, stress-inducing blur.
My poor long-suffering husband has had to fix any number of problems for me, and I think at this point he could show the Geek Squad over at Best Buy a thing or two.
Anyhoo--this morning, I was looking at my Twitter feed...
Hold the [old-school, rotary-dial] phone, right? Yes, I opened up a
Twitter account. I mentioned that already on this blog, but if you didn't happen to read
this post, then you might not have been aware that this old dog has been learning some new tricks lately--"learning" being the operative word here, because I can hardly call myself a tweeting aficionado yet.
I had no plans to ever dive into the Twitter-verse (ever!), having all I can do to keep up with blogging, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn (yes, LinkedIn!! I know, right?). There was no way I was going to add another confusing form of social media to my already overflowing plate.
But I did.
Hey, everyone's doing it!
Well, I've only been on Twitter long enough to post about 20 or so tweets, and already I'm not sure if I belong there. My very nice friend Aileen, who has been visiting this blog lately and leaving the kindest comments, tweeted a photo of herself holding a copy of
Finding Grace yesterday. "Look what came in the mail today," she said. I was so pleased by her gesture that I re-tweeted her tweet, and I pushed the "favorite" button. Then I did a stupid thing: I was wondering what the "flag" button was for, and I pushed it without thinking. Unfortunately, it seems that once a photo has been flagged, it can't be un-flagged. At least I was not able to un-flag it. I might be wrong, but I believe people only flag photos when they are inappropriate or pornographic, so that Twitter will remove them if they are deemed too offensive. Oh, no...I don't think even my husband can fix this blooper for me.
So today I'm here to say I'm so sorry, Aileen! I'm not very good at Twitter. I'm a nit-Twit! If I've called negative attention to that innocent photo of you holding my book, I apologize. It was so sweet of you to post it on Twitter!
Well, that's it for now, readers.
Sheephishly yours,
Laura
Haha! Laughed out loud at this! I did the exact same thing on Craigslist the other day....I "flagged" quite a few listings, thinking I was bookmarking them, until I realized what the flag button is actually for. Oops! Don't feel too bad, I think we've all done things like this more than we admit!
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not alone!! :)
DeleteI hear you. All I can handle is blogging. No facebook, twitter or the like. I don't know how people keep up with it all!! I'm like an 89 year old woman trapped in the 21st century :)
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way (only I'm a 100-year-old woman). But my publisher keeps encouraging me to try to get my book "out there," and using anonymous social media is easier for me than actually having face-to-face meetings...
DeleteBut sometimes, I think about dropping off the grid completely, I really do.
I think you're doing great. Now you know and you won't flag things again. You're just following the learning curve.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Madeline. I guess that's true that we all learn from our mistakes--so hopefully I won't make that particular one again!
DeleteSorry you had that bit of Twitter baptism-by-fire! Your opening part made me laugh as I'm often the Over-the-Phone Tech Support for my mom when she touches something on the computer and it goes all ka-flooey. I used to work as a software tester for an educational software company, so I'm usually aware of what I did JUST BEFORE something didn't go as expected--it was my job to break stuff, after all! You'll get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteI should have the job of breaking stuff! I am so over-qualified for that position! :)
ReplyDeleteOh no, Laura!! I just saw this post. This made me laugh!!! I've been flagged! I've done the SAME thing so you're not alone!! And it looks like we're not the only two. You are too sweet. No worries, hun!! :)
ReplyDelete