While a lot of the Lorde chatter on Twitter this week was from her passionate fans and proud Kiwis, a lot of the tweets directed at @LordeMusic was vile, jealous filth. It's unfortunate that Lorde likely cannot read the kind correspondence she gets from well-wishers all over the world without wading through all the nasty abuse sent from losers hiding behind pseudonyms (Lorde does a great job engaging with fans on her
Tumblr page
, however). Fellow Kiwi teen Liam Martin summed up the trolls perfectly:
People are sitting behind a computer screen hating on Lorde while she is at the Grammy's living it up... just think about it
Ignore the haters, Ella.
i am so grateful for the attention my work has received tonight and this year. thankyou and goodnight pic.twitter.com/rZt9iDMo3Z
Facebook's new Paper
Facebook has announced a new iPhone app, Paper, which will be available in the US next week (no word on a NZ release yet).
Introducing Paper from Facebook on Vimeo.
The app appears similar to news readers such as Flipboard, however Paper is not solely a news app, with users' Facebook newsfeeds as the home page. Users can customise Paper with more than a dozen other sections, including photography, sports, food, science, design and (most importantly) cute animals.
The app intends for you take longer to appreciate the content, as opposed to the quick scroll most of us apply to the current Facebook and Twitter apps. Quality over quantity, if you will.
It looks slick, boasting full screen images and videos, and navigating through stories and sections is like thumbing through a newspaper.
You can post to Paper just as you do to Facebook, however there is a preview screen before you post so you can see how your update will appear.
The Verge puts Paper through its paces here.
Although it is not yet apparent whether the new app would replicate all of the current Facebook apps features, it may well replace it on many users' phones.
One possible downside is you apparently cannot add sites you like to each section, rather Facebook curates the content for you. Facebook says the content is a "rich mix of content from emerging voices and well-known publications", but it remains to be seen whether it is the content you actually want to read.
Take a tour of the new app here.
If you're lost, you can look and you will find me, Vine after Vine
I love Vine. In just six seconds clips, creative users have shot some impressive short films (there's also a lot of rubbish on Vine and you can find it here). The Twitter video app has just celebrated its first birthday, and has already seen the rise of international celebrity viners, as the Independent reports.
Check out a year of Vine here.
But who are New Zealand's best Viners? If you're enjoying the work of Kiwis killing it on the video app please let me know, I'd love to promote some awesome New Zealand "Viners" on this here blog. Email me here
FYI, CANVAS tomorrow has a sweet feature on Vine that's worth checking out. Find it in tomorrow's Weekend Herald or online from 5.30am.
What is Twitter for?
Last week, my fellow nzherald.co.nz blogger Shelley Bridgeman asked what's the point of Twitter? Unsurprisingly, the blog was slated on Twitter, however many commenters on the Herald website agreed with her sentiments. So for the benefit of Shelley and the Twitter haters out there, here's some cool things I've seen on Twitter over the past few years:
On Twitter I've seen lost pets found, spare concert tickets united with desperate fans and strangers become friends and even lovers. I've seen major news broken, vital information passed onto to those who need it at times of disaster, fans engage with their idols, great advice given, and stories and experiences shared. I've seen campaigns from charities, politicians and passionate everyday people, I've seen debates rage, and I've even seen minds changed. And there's been a few laughs along the way.
Sure there's bullying, abuse and whinging, and yes some of us spend far too much time on it, but I reckon it does more good than harm.
Now, could someone tell me what the hell is the point of Snapchat?
Facebook fans not de-friending so fast
A recent study by John Cannarella and Joshua Spechler, from Princeton's mechanical and aerospace engineering department, predicted that within the next three years 80 per cent of Facebook users would ditch the website.
Facebook responded brilliantly, applying the "same robust methodology" used by the study to discover a trend which suggests that Princeton will have only half its current enrollment by 2018, and by 2021 it will have no students at all.
According to Facebook, the social network had 1.23 billion monthly users worldwide at the end of 2013, and of these 757 million signed in at least once a day, up 22 per cent from a year earlier. So it is safe to say people will keep "liking" things for some time to come.
Meanwhile, for those of you concerned about who can see your posts and comments on Facebook, the New York Times has a good run down of the website's privacy settings here.
Hacked 'n' hacked off about it
Until recently, developer Naoki Hiroshima had the Twitter account @N. That was until he was extorted out of the account by a hacker, due in part to security lapses at email provider GoDaddy and PayPal. Hiroshima is continuing to battle for the return of his account(which he says he has been offered US$50k for in the past). He has blogged about the ordeal, and has made recommendations to ensure the same doesn't happen to you, here.
Hiroshima is now tweeting under the account @N_is_stolen.
It seems the guy who stole @n from me just deleted the account. It's available but unavailable to take.
It seems that Twitter simply ignored my claim and let somebody grab @N freely. Seriously?
Best tweets
Here's a bunch of the best tweets I've seen from New Zealanders this week:
#LORDE gonna be setting off metal detectors at Auckland Airport on her return #Grammys #heavymetal #trophylife
It's a very powerful thing to be from a small country and to see a person from that country doing something gigantic. Yay, @lordemusic
I always predicted Joel would be the first member of Goodnight Nurse to win a Grammy...I just never told anyone #GRAMMYs
Breaking news - OCR stays at 2.5%, still ahead of combined polling of ACT, Conservative Party and NZ First.
Pretty selfish of Lorde to overshadow David Cunliffe on his big day.
trying to get Labour's $60 per week? stop at 48 babies, the 49th will put you over $150K annual income and you'll get no extra cash
PARLIAMENT IS SHROUDED IN DARKNESS
THE DOOR IS KNOCKED THRICE.
THE PROPHECY HAS BEEN FULFILLED.
MULDOON HAS RETURNED.
First live tonight on @PaulHenryShow. I'm wearing my best underwear.
How about this: Key and Abbott do paper/scissors/rock. Loser has to change their country's flag
And finally
#ThrowbackThursday: Guess which YouTube trend turns 1 this week. http://t.co/G9k9iKhd8r http://t.co/AsUhiieKR4
Remember if you've seen any great Kiwi Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, Vine, Twitter, Youtube or Pintrest accounts that deserve wider attention, or there's a campaign on social that deserves a plug, let me know me. Suggestions are also welcome. I'm on Twitter here, Instagram here and Vine here. You can also email me here. Send abuse here.
