GOODBYE FACEBOOK, HELLO OTHER THINGS

 

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Women are brilliant jugglers but being a good plate spinner isn’t necessarily a good thing.  Multi-tasking can be a handy talent to have but it can lead to lack of focus and a Jack of all trades kind of day.

About six months ago, I shut down our Facebook page, except that it never shut down, despite repeated attempts (I’m over FB, I’ve never been a fan for a lot of reasons and it’s time to open up more time for other things now). Nope – FB just didn’t seem to want to lose another “customer” so the page just hung on…and on!

I know FB is useful for keeping in touch with relatives abroad, posting invites, interesting info, but I’m so over the holiday photos and the drinking photos and the cat photos…

Facebook was created by a computer geek and his Harvard pals who started with a “hot or not” idea – posting two pics of college students to find out which person was hotter.  How geeky and pathetic!! Get a life.

So they did, and they made a fortune in the process, but FB’s clunky, old-fashioned, privacy-invasive set up is just not for me (remember when they suddenly, overnight, made everything public and you had to proactively go in and amend your settings?)

Interestingly, although Facebook is still a main social media contender, Facebook is dying a dramatically quick death among 12-18 year olds who are using instant messaging, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. instead. Down by 88% in 2014, and it’ll be interesting to see how it fares in 2017 (or not really!)

I’ve never liked Facebook and never will (like Google’s odd little masculine animations celebrating somebody famous’s birthday – who draws the designs, they’re nursery school stuff?!) so although I know a lot of you love it and rely on it, it’s time to say goodbye.

I’m sorry but when male computer geeks veer into “design” the result is usually pretty disastrous, one thing is programming, another thing entirely is having a creative, aesthetically intuitive, drinking-in-beauty brain. Somehow the two don’t go together (which is why nerdy tecchy guys tend to have appalling dress sense, yes/no/maybe?)

Our 2017 opened this week and already it’s getting busy – we have brands entering from Australia, Scandinavia and the USA in particular, this year, as we’ve set up judging panels in those countries to reduce the carbon footprint of sending samples all the way to London.

I am a huge fan of Australian beauty brands, while the US is leading the way in many sectors and Scandinavia’s cool beauty edit is so minimalistic and refreshing, so we are all really looking forward to seeing who’ll enter this year for next March! (Thanks to everyone who’s already contacted Hannah, she’s processing the entries within 24 hours).

So from now all all of The Beauty Shortlist’s updates will be on Instagram (ironically bought by Facebook!) www.instagram.com/beautyshortlist and you’ll find all the new beauty news on Twitter as always, too at www.twitter.com/beautyshortlist

This pic might be a bit harsh, but there’s some truth in it. Instagram works so much better for beauty, fashion, travel and design (and food!), it’s more visual, stylish, instantly shareable.  While Twitter is like one big global cocktail party, Instagram’s like your own personally styled shopfront window to the world.  Yours to share. There’s something mathematical and masculine about Facebook and the lack of privacy issues are a big negative.  Those alcohol stupor photos could cost you your next job.

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I think the pressure on us all juggling has to stop soon – priorities, ditching people, things, even work, that is not right for us is a healthy thing to do.  So today’s the day, I’m ditching Facebook. What will you ditch this week, to free up space and time for better things – and you!?

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2 Comments

  1. Alice
    August 27, 2016 / 6:45 pm

    Wow…interesting post – I need to check out Instagrqm and see if I can get used to it….I am such a creature of habit and FACEBOOK is a habit. I don’t allow many people in as friends as I don’t want to look at what they had for breakfast or hear about it….

  2. Elena
    August 25, 2016 / 9:46 am

    Well done!

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