No Explanation. No Reviews — Spam Social Media Posts

Every once in a while, spam posts and chain posts circulate social media. We’ve all seen them.

Look at this one.

Facebook is Stealing Everything

Deadline tomorrow!!! Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from tomorrow. Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook’s privacy policy. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. With this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1–308- 1 1 308–103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. Copy and paste.

Then there is this one.

Tag Your Friends Posts

I’m in a mental hospital…

My roommate:

Licks the glass:

Helps you escape:

My Psychiatrist:

Asleep in a corner:

Shouts at everyone:

Walks on all fours:

Padded Room:

Eats the plants:

Talks to themselves:

Kicks the nurses:

Believes they are a unicorn:

Make a copy, paste and delete the names … then type @ & the 1st letter of each sentence (no spaces) to see the name of one of your friends! (If one is already used, take the next one!)

Love it x

Social Media is a minefield of copy & paste posts to spam our news feeds with. The first one is just a hoax post. I ignore those, the second is a game and a little bit of fun, but the one that I see no sense in is one I got tagged in today.

No Explanation Challenge

(Day 1) I have accepted the challenge from my friend to post seven books that I love (one book per day) no exceptions, no reviews, just covers. Each day I’ll ask a friend to take up the challenge. Today I nominate another friend.

Why do we have these? I see it done with books, with movies, with songs. Surely the idea of social media is to be social and make friends.

I mean, would you show someone in person a book cover and not say anything about it? I don’t think so.

Why do these challenges say no explanation? I’m sorry, but I want the explanation. I want to know what you thought of it.

If this game aims to get to know things about each other, then say something about it.

I would rather it say

(Day 1) I have accepted the challenge from my friend to post seven books that I love (one book per day) and to tell you why it spoke to me. Each day I’ll ask a friend to take up the challenge. Today I nominate another friend.

Isn’t that so much better?

Chances are, if I do this, the first book I will share would be Carrie by Stephen King. Not because I am a massive King fan, but because my Nan bought me that book when I was eleven. She bought it from a flea market for ten pence and thought I would like it. I was already reading the Point Horror books, which I loved, so this was just an adult book for me to try.

I am so glad she did. I loved that book. I devoured it in one weekend, and ever since then, I have been a huge King fan, but more than that. He inspires me to write to keep going with my dream. I am a writer. I am an author, and this book is part of that journey.

Let’s Get To Know Each Other

Now, isn’t that better? You know that my Nan was someone special to me. You learn if you didn’t know that I am a writer. You learn that I love to read horror books and I Admire Stephen King as an author.

I think when people jump on the same bandwagon and copy and paste that silly, no explanation thing, they’re putting a wall up.

My friend shared the book cover to James Herbert’s The Magic Cottage. Wow, I loved that book, and I would have engaged in a conversation about it. But there wasn’t one. So, I just left it and moved on. Wouldn’t it have been more engaging if we’d started talking about it?

If we’re going to connect with each other, surely the best way is to do it like this, to make connections over common grounds, to learn things about each other and to enthuse about the arts, be it films, books or movies.

If you tell me you read a book, I love knowing what you thought about it. Not just a random picture for no reason to fill up the news feed. It’s pointless.