Welcome to the Wednesday Coffee Hour here at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can talk about what's going on in our worlds. Everyone is welcome to discuss all topics of conversation, to post photos, and answer that eternal question: "What's for supper tonight?"
I recently started maintaining my department’s facebook page and one of the first things I noticed when I started spending time on facebook is that so many of the posts I see there use the same annoying ploys to get people to click on the link to their website. There is so much exaggeration:
“You won’t believe what happens next!”
“What happens next will bring tears to your eyes!”
“And then he did something so incredible!”
“But then she did the last thing you’d expect.”
“This is the most hilariously adorable/amazing/surprising/outrageous thing you’ll see all day.”
The more hyperbole they use, the less inclined I am to want to read the whole thing or look at the video. But I often wonder if those tactics work on anyone.
There are other attention seeking methods on display on facebook that are just as irritating. Every once in a while someone will post some weird cryptic comment about something that is apparently going on in their life that’s upsetting them but they are so vague you have no idea what they’re talking about and you can tell that the point of the whole thing is to get people to ask them what’s wrong. Why don’t they just start their post with an explanation of what’s bothering them so that their readers can determine right away if it’s something they want to get involved in? I’ve also seen people who devote whole posts to complain about comments someone has made to them in a previous post. And, of course, the previous post is usually something provocative that they should have expected to get differing opinions on.
According to our much missed BlueJessamine, it's Booby Wednesday and this is a Public Service Announcement: Self exams can save lives!