The evolution of Snap is expected to create some exciting new opportunities in 2017, to say the least. In recent months, Snap, formerly and more popularly known as Snapchat, has improved by leaps and bounds. Experts predict great things for this platform in the coming days. Snap has already managed to change major trends and user expectations in the world of social media marketing. Thanks to Snap, the vision of in-the-moment communication is back. This has meant more live and spontaneous content. It has helped developers create more apps focused towards mobile platforms.

Snap has also produced vertical videos and made them part of the mainstream. However, it is now looking to develop products that fall outside the scope of its focus domain: messaging. He’s looking to bring real-world glasses to his users so they can capture first-person visual information. When it comes to social media optimization, Snap will be right in the thick of things. It is also expected to provide some major league marketing opportunities.

Twitter fatigue will get worse

Experts feel that all is not well with Twitter and that 2017 is not expected to improve either. In fact, in recent years many people have been saying that Twitter will soon die a natural death. However, there are also those who believe that in all probability Twitter will be there for at least another year. However, they also say that Twitter fatigue will increase significantly in 2017. Twitter is known for its brief updates delivered at a breakneck pace, but it also contributes to a large number of incoming and outgoing tweets.

When it started it was quite exciting for the simple reason that it was new. However, now users have gotten used to it and are asking for something very different. They want it to be bigger, have more detail, and also have more interesting content. They also want the pace to slow down. In fact, Instagram has already started to slow down its rate of updates.

More sensational experiences

Yes, this is what users will want in 2017 and they want social media to fulfill that role, to be the provider, if you will. It would no longer be enough for users to declare on social networks that they will attend an event: they must show others what it feels like to attend that event live. This can be achieved through live video and 360-degree images. Even real-time posting could also solve the puzzle to some extent. The basic idea would be to make others, who are not there, feel part of the whole show. They must feel that they are a genuine and organic part of the whole experience, even as it continues to fall apart.

Here we are! The economy is in big trouble; banking is collapsing, health care is in crisis, education is a joke, and almost everywhere one can look, the old structures and established ways of doing things are crumbling before our eyes. That’s just the “big picture”. What about his individual life? Where are you right now and where would you like to be?

The very act of wanting something new initiates the process of transforming a life, an organization, a nation or a planet. We’ve wanted a lot, sure. We wish prosperity; complete and perfect health, new avenues of income, new modes of energy and transportation, education that works, happy people, clean environment, ad infinitum. There is certainly no shortage of powerful questions.

When we pray, we are asking. We are asking for protection, money, health, ideas, guidance, etc. In a sense, we are broadcasting, sending our message out to the Universe, to God, or to whoever else might be listening.

If you’ve ever seen a CB radio operator, he or she sends the message and then says, “Over.” At this time, she clicks on the earpiece and changes the internal orientation from “sending” to “receiving” by assuming a listening position. inside. In that inner posture, they are allowing the other to send so they can receive.

In the same way, when we have asked or desired something new, we have sent our message to the Big U. It has received our request. Our next step is to click the receive button internally, switch to receive mode, and allow Big U to deliver the answer to our prayer or request. It is received on inspiration.

By definition according to the Miriam Webster Dictionary, inspiration is:
1) a: a divine influence or action on a person that is believed to qualify him or her for receive and communicate the sacred revelation
b: the action or power of moving the intellect golden emotions
c: the act of influencing or suggesting opinions
2) the act of drawing; specifically : entry of air into the lungs
3) a: the quality or state of being inspired
b: something that is inspired inspiration
4) an inspiring agent or influence

Now let’s look at the etymology of the word itself, inspiration:

c.1303, “immediate influence of God or a god”, especially under which the holy books were written, from O.Fr. inspiration, from LL inspirationem (nom. inspiration), from L. inspiratus, pp. from inspirare “to inspire, inflame, blow into”, from in- “into” + spirare “to breathe” (see spirit). Inspire in this sense is c.1340, by O.Fr. inspire, from L. inspire, a loan-transl. of gr. pnein in the Bible. The general sense of “influencing or animating with an idea or purpose” is from 1390. Inspirational is 1839 as “influenced by inspiration”; 1884 as “tends to inspire”.

Therefore, if we look at the definition and then the roots of that word, we will come back to understand the literal and intended meaning of the word. Inspiration is with the spirit, with the breath, influenced by the spirit with our breath in our intellect and emotions. Inspiration, therefore, has a practical, “real” world effect on our lives.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re stressed, you’re not taking a deep breath? Not only are you restricting the flow of oxygen to your physical body, but you are also restricting the flow of Source, carried by your breath, to your mind and soul. When you’re stressed, you’re usually “sending” urgent messages to the Big U. When you’re relaxed, taking a deep breath and allowing life to flow through you, you’re in receiving mode.

Meditation has been used by many religions and cultures for the purpose of restoring calm to our internal state, as well as to contact the Divine Mind. The Divine Mind, from which this inspiration comes, is also Your Mind. You just can’t hear it over the hum and scream of your human mind. This is where we in the Western Cultures have to follow the example of the Eastern Cultures and learn to quiet the human mind long enough to receive our inspirations, our responses. We can also take a deep breath, relax and in this way we are also in reception mode.

This is practical advice. We ask and ask and ask and then wonder why our prayers have not been answered when they have been. We just haven’t been in the listen, receive, and allow mode. We talk, we talk, we talk; but we have not been trained to be very good listeners.

To achieve all that we would like: clean air, new modes of energy, new ideas for education, how to be well, how to thrive, not just survive, we must allow inspiration to come in. From our human mind we will only regurgitate the same old ideas and get more of the same results. It’s time for new ideas, inspired solutions and creativity.

Each of us is connected to the same Source. Each of us can receive the inspired solutions not only for the immediate demands of our own lives, but also for the most important jobs facing our nation and the world.

Be quiet. Receive. The Big U already knows what you want, you’ve asked for it a million times. Now relax and listen, inwardly. Inspiration is your birthright and an integral part of your Being. Now, let’s learn how to use it, apply our spirit to everyday problems, and receive our guidance for our inspired solutions.

As small business owners, we all see the strides digital marketing has made in the last decade and how effective it is in building successful businesses. But as digital marketing evolves, will it reach a point where it has nothing new to offer the small business owner? So what will we do?

We believe that digital marketing will continue to evolve and continue to offer effective online marketing strategies for businesses of any size, but we are also seeing the latest trends that favor video marketing. From YouTube and Facebook Live, to Snapchat and Facebook’s upcoming video creation app, advancements in video marketing are happening fast.

To back up this claim, we’ve rounded up some of the latest video marketing statistics and broken them down by category to show you just how effective and important digital marketing can be for your business.

Video marketing by volume

1. 82% of Twitter users watch video content on the site.
2. YouTube currently has more than 1,000,000,000 users.
3. 45% of internet users watch more than an hour of content online each week.
4. Almost 90% of online marketing agencies use digital content.
5. A third of online activity is dedicated to watching movies.

Mobile

1. More than 50% of digital content online is viewed on mobile devices.
2. 92% of mobile video viewers share videos via their social media pages.
3. 90% of Twitter video views happen on a mobile device.
4. 10,000,000 videos are viewed on Snapchat every day.

Commitment

1. 51% of digital marketers say that digital content offers the best ROI.
2. Businesses that use online video content grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
3. 59% of online users say they would choose multimedia content over text.
4. Video content drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from the SERPs.
5. Videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement.
6. Landing page video content can increase conversions by more than 80%.
7. 46% of online users take action after seeing an ad.
8. Online movie content attracts 3x more monthly visitors.
9. Combining media with full page ads increases engagement by 22%.

As you can see, video marketing is very effective in engaging your audience online, more businesses than ever are using it to introduce new products, offer tips and advice on how to use the products, and engage their customers on the go and video marketing. you can increase sales making your business more successful.

Marketing trends for 2017

It’s 2017, so let’s take a look at the digital marketing trends to watch out for this year. Video marketing is always evolving, so to stay on top, you need to be one step ahead of the competition.

1. Facebook video

There are no surprises. Views on Facebook increased from 1 billion to 8 billion in the last year. Facebook has invested in video in recent years, with its Facebook Live, launched just a few months ago. We predict there will be an even bigger increase in the number of people uploading, sharing and discovering media.

2. Live video

As mentioned above, Facebook introduced live video. Brands and consumers have been using Facebook Live to interact with their followers. Twitter teamed up with Periscope to allow users to embed live streams into tweets. 82% of Twitter users say they watch videos regularly. Live video creates a new opportunity.

3. Video for Sales

According to recent studies, only 4% of people prefer to learn about a new product or service by reading a manual, 5% prefer to talk to someone on the phone, and 44% prefer to watch a video.

4. Multi-channel marketing

Social media channels have become the best place to share videos and get exposure. Most consumers watch videos on different devices and on different social media platforms.

5. “Gen Z” (13-24 year olds) video apps love visual content.

Enter Instagram and Snapchat. These apps top the “must have” list. 10 billion videos are watched on Snapchat every day and Instagram is becoming more and more video-focused all the time. Instagram has launched Instagram stories that allow users to share short videos with their followers.

6. “Infotainment”

Infotainment is a new genre of marketing videos. Combine ‘informational’ videos and ‘entertainment’ videos. Consumers need to digest the information you present to them, but they also need to be entertained at the same time. Without entertainment, users will click.

7.VR

Virtual reality headsets are becoming more accessible and marketers are taking advantage of the immersive environment to capture the full attention of viewers. VR videos are still a gimmick, but in 2017, we predict that VR videos will become a “must have.”

8. Email and video

Email video will allow you to keep your emails short and get your message across. Email is always a great way to showcase your video to viewers (the people on your mailing list).

9. Microtargeting

Advertising platforms are getting smarter. Users will expect all of your content to be relevant and specific. If not, then they won’t be interested.

10. Video and web design

Having video content on your website is also important. We hope marketers find ways to integrate video into their web design. If a video is already playing when it lands on a website, it encourages users to stick around, which reduces bounce rates and improves SEO.

Listening, the most neglected part of communication, is divided into several categories, knowledge of which will help you choose the best type of listening to be an effective communicator. This knowledge distinguishes effective listeners from ineffective ones, as well as making one an effective listener.

The degree of attention, the considered perspective and the objective of the listening determine the type of listening that is carried out. The various types of listening can be classified into two main types: positive and negative. Positive listening benefits the listener, the speaker and society in general. Positive types of listening include sensitive listening, active listening, evaluative listening, relational listening, and appreciative listening. Negative listening is faulty and therefore does not serve the purpose of one or more of the parties to the communication.

The following exposition offers several types of listening.

passive listening

In passive listening, none of the speaker’s words enter the listener’s mind. The speaker’s words do not activate the listener’s thought process. But the listeners are physically present although mentally absent. The listener may have decided to ignore the speaker due to a preconceived notion or dull presentation by the listener. The responsibility for this type of negative listening falls on the speaker, who may not have aroused the interest of the listeners.

fringe listening

Marginal listening, which is also known as selective listening, is slightly better than passive listening in that information from the speaker is heard in bits and pieces rather than in its entirety. The listener occasionally raises his head to take in some information, probably because he finds it pleasing or in accordance with his existing views. But, the listener may be missing the important part of the speaker’s message. This can also be classified as a type of negative listening, as the important part of the message is ignored and the benefit is lost.

projective listening

In this type of listening, the listener takes in and absorbs information according to the listener’s own point of view or perspective that dominates the speaker’s perspective, even if the speaker’s point of view merges with that of the listener. In other words, a broader view of the speaker is ignored or given a less prominent place and a limited view of the listener is retained. This is also classified as a negative type of listening. It is similar to a person with jaundice who looks at the world and believes that the environment is green. The vision is far from certain.

empathic listening

Empathic listening, which is also known as ‘sensitive listening’, is the opposite of projective listening in that only the speaker’s opinion is efficiently taken in, while the listener’s is either completely ignored or given. less importance. If a proper balance is struck between two points of view, it could be classified as positive. Due to the predominance of the speaker’s vision only, it should be referred to as negative listening and therefore should be improved. Being too empathetic to others can leave the larger perspective to the wind or lead to the listener being exploited. But there are some features of this type of listening. They include building trust, facilitating the release of emotions, reducing tensions, creating a positive climate for negotiations, etc. (www.beyondintractability.org/essay/empatic_listening). Listeners must attend, support and empathize with the speaker.

Since empathic listening builds relationships, it can also be called ‘relationship listening’.

Teacher. Asha Kaul is of the opinion that empathic listening together with active listening would prove to be the ideal listening in which the objectives of the message are best met. (Kaul Asha, Business Communication, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, 2004, p.41.)

Anecdote

Practice this for best results.

Dick Connor, Jeffery P. Davidson’s mentor, had a good habit. When the latter used to meet with the former to discuss new items and key ideas, which used to happen at the dining room table, the former used to record the discussions.

Dick Connor first gave Jeffrey the recorded cassette, which was recorded by Dick Connor when the discussion of the new article and key ideas took place. Dick Connor used to record important meeting discussions. Jeffrey, when he first started listening to the cassette tape, was surprised to get a lot of valuable insights from listening to the tapes that he didn’t get during the live discussions, no matter how attentive he was and no matter how diligently he took notes of the discussions.

In fact, the insights you gained while listening to the tape were better than those you observed and took notes on during the actual discussions. Jeffery felt that note taking should be done after listening to the tapes and not during the discussions.

Davidson P. Jeffrey, How to Get Noticed and Get Ahead in Business, Jaico Books, Bombay, 1995, pp-81-82

Active listening

Active listening can also be called “attentive listening” or “deliberate listening.”

Active listening takes place when the listener is active, which stems from the active participation of the listener. The listener displays a forward-leaning body posture, seeks clarification, and gives feedback. Active listening is highly involved listening.

Ideal listening occurs when active listening is combined with empathic listening in which the opinions of both the listener and the speaker are melded with due balance.

The responsibility for active listening to happen rests solely with the speaker, who must be able to generate interest in the topic through a proper introduction, etc.

Attentive listening requires attention skills, tracking skills, and reflection skills. (Raman, Meenakshi and Singh, Prakash, Business Communication, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2006, pp.99-100.) Mindfulness skills include engaging posture, proper body movement, proper eye contact, and a distraction-free environment. . The following skills include an appropriate show of interest, an appropriate invitation to the speaker, moderate nodes of encouragement, infrequent questions, and attentive silence. Reflective skills include paraphrasing, restating the speaker’s emotions, restating the speaker’s intended meaning, and summarizing ideas at intervals.

evaluative listening

In evaluative listening, the listener evaluates the value of the message or compares it to what is normally considered best. You can do this simultaneously while listening or by stopping for a moment. Since the evaluation takes place in this type of listening, the listener can decide to continue listening or to stop listening. Alternatively, you can devote yourself to framing the waste statement. Therefore, evaluative listening can lead to a positive or negative outcome depending on the open mind and intellect of the listener.

fake listening

The listener pretends to be listening while not really listening. Also known as pseudo listening. Use body posture and eye fixation on the speaker to show that you are listening. The goal of such listening is to please the speaker or other observers. This is similar to passive listening, except that there is no dishonesty on the part of the listener in passive listening, while false listening is born out of dishonesty. This is the most undesirable type of negative listening.

Informative Listening

Informative listening takes in a lot of information with full concentration and thus helps to understand the message being conveyed. Due to the intensity of the effort in taking most of the information, the message is understood almost as intended. This is the best way to learn and an ideal way to listen. While absorbing what is given by the masters or while receiving instructions from the superiors or when the subordinate is explaining the problem he is facing, the listener engages in informative listening. Informative listening requires a lot of attention.

Informative listening is the first stage of positive listening from which other types of listening originate, such as attentive listening, evaluative listening, empathic listening, etc.

Informative listening requires good vocabulary, concentration and memory to be effective in achieving its purpose (Raman, Meenakshi and Singh, Prakash, Business Communication, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2006, p.98.).

appreciative listening

The main purpose of appreciative listening is to appreciate and therefore enjoy the way the message is delivered, but not to take advantage of the content or meaning of the message. Appreciative listening often takes place while listening to music or enjoying the speaker’s style or other characteristics unrelated to the content.

The best benefit of appreciative listening is obtained depending on three conditions: presentation, perception and previous experience. (Raman, Meenakshi and Singh, Prakash, Business Communication, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2006, p. 101.). Presentation factors include the style, medium, setting, and personality of the speaker. Second, the listener’s perception, which again depends on his attitude and expectations, determines how the presentation is appreciated. Ultimately, the listener’s previous experience and familiarity with the speaker determines whether or not he will enjoy the presentation. Existing positive opinion or familiarity with certain insignificant drawbacks inherent in the presentation can help to appreciate the presentation.

critical listening

Informative listening when combined with evaluative listening becomes critical listening.

Critical listening has its value when someone asks us to buy their product or service. We listen critically when someone makes an unbelievably good offer or comes up with a new problem-solving idea. Similarly, we engage in critical listening when listening to politicians, new paper accounts, coming up with revolutionary ideas to change existing policies, etc. Aristotle has proposed three precautions to observe in order to make an effective critique. They are ethos (credibility of the speaker), logos (logical arguments) and pathos (emotional appeals).

Critical thinking leaves one a highly logical person. But, emotions like faith and the ability to see what is not visible, like what great business leaders like Ambani, Bill Gates, Narayana Murthy, etc. saw, fall outside the logic, although they are very essential for success. high level. A very logical person is not emotional and therefore remains mediocre all his life.

discriminatory listening

The discriminating listener is one who is sensitive to changes in the speaker’s frequency, volume, strength, pitch, and emphasis on different words or ideas. Whoever listens carefully or critically or with the intention of evaluating or appreciating the speaker has to listen with discernment.

Discriminative listening requires the best hearing ability stripped of any hearing defects, awareness of word nuances, awareness of sounds and pronunciations, and the ability to detect the speaker’s nonverbal cues.

listen literally

In literal listening, only the content is taken in, ignoring the relationship between the facts in the content. Because of this, the meaning of the message is lost.

Understanding the types of listening will prepare one against negative listening. The person who listens in a positive way is destined to achieve the purpose of that listening.

Freelance journalism isn’t just a way to open a door to a full-time reporting job; many prefer the freedom that freelance work allows and also the fact that they can start without a college degree. This is the best way I know of to get newspaper assignments.

First find out if the newspaper uses freelancers. Tea writers market The online version currently lists around 360 newspapers, including specialized ones like the american jewish world and legacy newspapers like the New York Times.

If you’re browsing your library’s newspapers, you can determine if they use freelancers by looking for author tags like “for Ashland Tidings,” “special to,” “special writer,” “correspondent,” and so on. instead of tags like “of the Ashland Tidings”, “staff writer”, etc.

When preparing to pitch an idea to a newspaper editor, get a good idea of ​​his style by reading it from the first page to the last, paying special attention to the places that freelancers use. Many newspapers are online now, and if you’re a good prospect, it may be worth paying for an online subscription.

When coming up with pitch ideas, review past issues if possible to see if your stories have been covered in the last year and a half. If a topic was covered in general, but you have a new angle to present it, make a note of your angle. Newspaper editors love to hear new ideas, if they are in tune with their newspaper/readers.

If you have clips (published articles), select the best ones (no more than five). Find out if the publisher prefers them to be mailed, emailed, or uploaded to their website. If you’re new to independent journalism and don’t have any clips yet, consider these alternatives…

• Volunteer to write for a community publication or website. Write your articles like a journalist would. Avoid public relations writing when creating clips for a newspaper.
• Post to an online site like Helium.
• Create a blog that shows off your journalistic skills.

In your presentation, show the editor that you take journalism and your profession seriously and that you are in tune with your community. Be familiar with the ethics of journalism. If there is a potential conflict of interest between your current job or other freelance work and the work you may do for the newspaper, tell them up front.

Also keeping in mind the migration from newspapers to online news, please mention any digital skills you have, such as filming and editing videos, attracting readers online through a community you have created (blog, social media page, etc. ), online writing skills, etc.

When pitching a newspaper, target an editor somewhere between editor-in-chief and a junior editor. A feature, lifestyle, or city desktop editor is often a good choice.

While magazine and book editors should never be cold called, a news editor is more likely to see this as a sign that you’re not afraid to pick up the phone (a requirement for reporting). One of Poynter’s career advisers suggests doing so.

Make your call after, not before, the deadline. For a morning paper, the deadline would be the night before. For an afternoon journal, the deadline would be that morning. Delivery times for weekly articles are usually the day before the article is published.

One way to write an email pitch is to make an abbreviated version of a magazine query, point out that you also have more ideas, and then list them with a couple of sentences detailing each one.

Or instead of starting with a pitch for one idea, introduce yourself and present each idea separately. Conclude with a request to discuss further. If you have references, write them down. Newspaper publishers don’t have time to play with “on-demand references.”

Check your email with a fine tooth comb. A publisher expects you to do your best in this competitive field. All it takes is one typo or factual inaccuracy to click the “delete” button.

When you get a task, treat it like the gold it is. This could open the door for future freelance journalism endeavors and could provide an important clip.

Make sure you understand the publisher’s requirements. If you’re not clear, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification. They would expect you to do the same with a source.

Finally, deliver exactly what’s asked of you, and you’ll be well on your way to a career in journalism!

Direct marketing delivers your marketing message directly to a group of consumers or businesses at a personalized level (such as a phone call or through a personal email message). It is a form of marketing that provides the recipient with a direct call to action. The following are the three main types of direct marketing.

mailing lists

Direct mail is one of the most common forms of direct marketing and an essential part of an integrated marketing campaign. Companies promote their products and services with provocative email. Direct mail campaigns give your prospects tangible mail to read at their leisure. Direct mail campaigns are extremely effective, and when customized and tailored to a specific target audience, they can have excellent response rates.

telemarketing lists

Telemarketing is the process of calling prospects on the phone to promote your products or services. This can be done by using your own sales staff or by outsourcing to a call center. Telemarketing is vital to building brand recognition, building customer relationships, nurturing leads, and of course, closing sales.

Even with its bad reputation, telemarketing still plays an important role in any direct marketing campaign. Telemarketing is personal and interactive, and capable of giving an immediate response. As effective as telemarketing is, you must be sensitive to your prospects’ willingness to receive unsolicited phone calls.

Telemarketing campaigns work best when telemarketing lists are highly targeted, with precise data that matches the profiles of your current customers.

email lists

Email marketing is an effective way to reach new potential customers or follow up with existing customers. Email marketing is extremely versatile and you can easily customize your marketing messages for various market segments or for prospects at different stages of the sales funnel.

Email marketing can be used to foster customer relationships, provide company and product information, drive website traffic, and promote direct sales. Emails can be as elaborate or as simple as necessary.

Most people check their emails on a daily basis, which makes email a very effective marketing method for your business. However, email marketing must be used responsibly and it is extremely important to get your customers’ consent before sending emails.

The most successful direct marketing campaign will use a combination of marketing methods. Repetition is very important in any kind of marketing efforts. The more you can show yourself in front of prospects, the better your chances of being remembered. Try a direct mail campaign with a telemarketing follow-up or a mass email along with a direct mail campaign. A multi-channel campaign also allows your prospects to communicate with you in multiple ways.

Regardless of the method, the key aspect in any direct marketing campaign is the ability to target the marketing message to a specific audience. With a well-defined target market, you can send your message directly to those who are most likely to buy from your business. This allows businesses of all sizes to focus their marketing budget and resources where they are most likely to get results.

It is very important, before starting any direct marketing campaign, that you understand the different regulations that govern each method of communication. The onus is on you to make sure you comply. Legitimate listing brokers and administrators need to be able to confirm that the listings they provide comply with various rules and regulations. If you’re not sure, don’t hesitate to ask.

Those of us who spent our teenage years reading coffee-stained copies of The Catcher in the Rye or Tess of the d’Ubervilles while bitterly bemoaning the fact that not a single girl in our school, college, or workplace had the good sense of noticing the painfully shy Bookworm sitting tongue-tied at his side, often taking refuge in a particular form of popular music. Scorned and tormented, we wasted our teenage years in the self-imposed exile of our back bedrooms, taking solace there listening to a flurry of indie bands that had somehow cornered the market out of youthful angst and self-pity. We took perverse delight in the confessions of these kindred spirits, as they meekly extolled the trials and tribulations of loveless lives that mirrored our own tearful existence.

The Smiths, in this sense, were beyond comparison, and in Morrissey they possessed a songwriter without equal in the wretched pantheon of pop. However, there were other bands that had a lot to say on the subject of unrequited love. An entire genre of indie-pop, whether you call it twee, shambling, or C-86, after the legendary NME mixtape, I was absolutely immersed in it. While bands like The Wedding Present (and for me David Gedge was the unofficial mouthpiece for the legion of shy guys who couldn’t muster the courage to front the Friday night club) enjoyed a long period in the center of attention, many of its C-86 compatriots simply faded into obscurity. In some cases, no doubt, this was a blessing in disguise. However, bands like The Servants and Birmingham’s Mighty Mighty surely deserved to be more than a footnote in indie-pop history.

Pop Can: The Definitive Collection 1986-1988, in Cherry Red, tries to set the record straight. Comprised of all of Mighty Mighty’s excellent singles, B-sides and EP along with a few select cuts from their debut album, the disappointing Sharks, with a handful of tracks from the ‘lost’ second album The Betamax Tapes (finally released in 2013), Pop Can certainly does what it says on the tin, rounding up the best moments of this short-lived combo.

The album, though not arranged in chronological order, opens with debut single “Everybody Knows the Monkey,” an edgy affair that sets the tone (orange juice and a hint of vocal organ) for Pop Can’s frothy content. Other highlights from side one include the enhanced single “Built Like a Car”, which peaked at no. 6 on the independent chart, his highest-charting effort and supremely catchy follow-up, “Law.” Fortunately, it’s the C-86 version that appears here, rather than the inferior “dance remix” Chapter released on 12-inch in late 1987.

Side two begins with “Is There Who Out There for Me”, which is probably still the band’s best-known song, peaking at no. 44 on John Peel’s Holiday Holy Fifties of 1986. This is also the Mighty Mighty song that, unsurprisingly, appears on Cherry Red’s definitive compilation, Scared To Get Happy, The Story of Indie Music 1980-1989. The song boasts a terrifyingly effervescent chorus that also captures the brutality of teenage loneliness, with Hugh McGuinness haplessly pleading for true love to come his way.

‘Is there anyone out there for me, is there anyone else alone / I can’t take another summer alone.’

Other standouts on side two are “Let’s Call It Love” and a couple of tracks from The Betamax Tapes; “Touch of the Sun” and particularly “Unsteady” which brings to mind the cult/sophisticated pop of Lloyd Cole or Prefab Sprout. While lyricist Mick Geoghegan may not quite measure up to Cole or Paddy McAloon, “Unsteady” signals the more mature direction the band would surely have traveled in, had they continued:

‘Remember that letter of mine / When I changed my mind every other line / Now that I’m sure, you’ll condescend / to be introduced, as my unstable girlfriend.’

Strangely, Mighty Mighty achieved remarkable posthumous success in Japan, while remaining dishonorable prophets in their own land.

Well, now we are all great! Decades separate us from our former self-pitying selves. Gone are the days when David Gedge’s plaintive ‘aaaaaargh’ of despair reverberated through the streets of Leeds city center at closing time. However, even when taken out of its original context, the music still stands the test of time. Pop Can is packed with gourmand vignettes, effervescent stories of lost love that you can sing along to. Ultimately, this is a truly worthwhile trip down memory lane and a fitting tribute to one of the lesser-known practitioners of the genre.

While we’re on the subject of the genre that dares not speak its name, here are my top ten twee-related songs.

1. The sun, a little star: the servants

The distracted, dreamy vocals, sepia-tinged harmonies, golden splashes of guitar raining down on both verse and chorus should have ensured “The Sun a Small Star” became a mainstream radio staple for the next decades. way of “There She Goes” by The La. However, the track, which was taken from the sublime EP of the same name, stalled on release, managing just a solitary week on the independent charts peaking at no. 47 in November 1986.

2. Is There Someone Out There For Me: Mighty Mighty

The song that recorded the soundtrack to a succession of summers in love in South Wales in the rain as Thatcher pounded the valleys into submission. The dry humor, self-pity of sixth grade poetry, and a starry tune that still manages to send shivers down your spine, as well as bring tears to your eyes!

3. Almost prayed: the prophets of time

The sun-dappled guitar licks, alone, were enough to give many of the light-skinned wallflowers who bought this, The Weather Prophets’ debut single, a bad case of sunburn and the passing decades have made little to diminish its luminescent beauty.

The group, consisting of Peter Astor and Dave Morgan, after The Loft went up on the roof for the last time, achieved a minor chart hit when “She Comes from the Rain” peaked at no. 62 in March of ’87. Their second album, Mayflower, from which this track is taken, is arguably the best album in a subgenre that (wedding present aside) can’t be said to have produced anything resembling a classic 33rpm record.

4. The word around town: Westlake*

Having fired his Servants, David Westlake released a self-titled Mini-LP, via Creation Records, before embarking on a career in academia. “The Word around Town” is the album that reserves Westlake’s place on the list of the best British lyricists of the decade, along with David Gedge, Robert Lloyd, Elvis Costello and Morrissey. A cult pop masterpiece that includes this ironic self-analysis:

“The word in the city among those to whom nothing is sacred / Is that the Emperor’s clothes don’t exist but he’s beautiful naked.”

* Be careful to avoid the demo version currently circulating in the Small Time build.

5. My favorite dress: the wedding gift

“Some rare delight in Manchester city / It was six hours before you let me down / See it all in one drunken kiss / A stranger’s hand on my favorite dress.”

David Gedge, the George Clooney of indie pop, can resist the company he’s asked to keep here. There was always something fundamentally more muscular and unhealthy about this angry young man’s amorous musings, allied to the bellicose bursts of guitar that characterized songs like “Brassneck,” which put his C-86 compatriots to shame. For starters, there was a sense that Gedge’s dysfunctional relationships were actually with real women, rather than the imaginary girlfriends his faerie counterparts and, in most cases, his devoted followers sickly fantasized about. .

The band released two classic albums, George Best and Bizarro, before the law of diminishing returns took effect. However, they enjoyed spectacular chart success, racking up half a century of hit singles between 1988 and 2005.

6. Pristine Christine: The Sea Urchins

This gleefully upbeat single was the debut release on Sarah Records (twee’s unofficial home) and spent six weeks on the independent charts. Her love affair with Sarah was short-lived, however, and they sought solace in Cheree’s alluring arms of records at London venues, before parting ways for good in the summer of 1991.

7. She always hides: the servants

A passively beautiful pop song, set somewhere between Galaxie 500 and Real Estate, with a final guitar solo that glides languidly, like an Indian summer, before dissolving into the shimmering haze of our subconscious. Why David Westlake traded the sublimely elegant sound of these early Servants singles for the more claustrophobic tones of his scruffy albums will forever remain one of pop’s most perplexing career moves.

8. Disorderly Towns: The Blacksmiths

Though newcomers to the “anorak” scene (the Melbourne-based combo only formed in 1993), the group can claim to have produced the most consistent body of work the genre produced on either side of the world. These shy guys recorded eleven mostly good albums before parting ways with the company in 2009. Influenced by all the usual suspects (The Smiths, Orange Juice and The Go-Betweens), they also acknowledged a debt to bittersweet love songs. from Britain’s most underrated wordsmith. , Billy Bragg. “Untidy Towns” is a random selection, there are more than a hundred soft vignettes as touching as this one hidden in her backpack.

9. Fabulous Friend: Field Mice

If New Order hadn’t discovered Arthur Baker and the New York club scene, as they struggled to come to terms with the death of Ian Curtis and Joy Division, they would have been forever frozen in time as The Field Mice! Little tunes like “Sensitive” and “Emma’s House” couldn’t defoam a pint of bitters, but that’s all part of the band’s fragile allure.

10. I’m in love with a girl who doesn’t know I exist: another sunny day

The title alone deserves its inclusion on this list, since it manages to sum up the whole raison d’être of the genre in one indisputably painful sentence. However, Harvey Williams, the young Werther of twee, deserves credit for his work as an ASD and as a guitarist with fellow Sarah Records stablemates The Field Mice.

Playing softball competitively or recreationally requires a basic skill set including catching, throwing, fielding, hitting, and running the bases. A dedicated softball player should take the time to practice correct techniques in the following skills in order to play the game with confidence and security. Even experienced softball players must continue to practice and work on these skills to improve their performance.

catch

Proper catching skills allow a player to not only catch the ball without getting hurt, but also position them to shoot the ball accurately. The fact is that catching and throwing are two of the fundamental defensive skills in softball. The ability to catch and throw a ball is very important as this allows a player to throw out a runner who is trying to advance to the next base.

launch

As mentioned above, pitching is one of the two most important defensive skills a player must learn in softball. A quick and accurate throw can make it difficult for the opposing team to advance their runners or score. Softball players must practice proper pitching technique to hit their targets quickly, accurately, and consistently.

fielding

Fielding is another essential defensive skill that a softball team must master. The team’s good fielding makes it difficult for the opposition to score runs. Players are trained in the correct way to field a ball that is hit both on the ground and in the air. Fielding drills also involve knowing where to throw the ball. Many times fielders must rehearse particular plays to know where to throw the ball if they are hit.

Hit

Hitting is probably the most challenging and enjoyable skill to learn in softball. Hitting a small ball with a rounded bat to a particular area – in a fraction of a second – is a technique that softball players must continually practice and perfect. A good shot requires hand-eye coordination, quick reaction time, correct technique, and confidence.

base running

A great base run isn’t just about speed, it’s also about smart running. Even more important than just moving around the bases is the wisdom to assess the current situation of the game. An astute baserunner takes into consideration the number of putouts and the opposition’s fielding locations. Fast and smart baserunning puts a lot of pressure on the defensive team.

In softball, where there is often running and sliding, a good pair of softball cleats and a trusty pair of moisture-wicking softball socks are essential items.

I expect serious privacy and civil liberties issues under a Trump presidency. I strongly recommend that you take steps to protect yourself, steps that I will describe shortly.

We now live in conditions that would make the great authoritarians of yore salivate with envy. The government’s ability to monitor us has never been greater. And, as that capability advances, politicians and bureaucrats adjust their understanding of privacy and constitutional liberties in ways that allow them to use it.

The only thing keeping them from defining those things out of existence altogether is the residual respect for constitutionality held by those in key positions. As I argued last week, the evidence of such respect is very scant in the incoming Trump administration.

So, love it or hate it, you must be prepared…

Privacy is your responsibility

No matter who is in charge, the government always find a way to justify new methods to invade our privacy.

For example, the Justice Department’s legal justification for monitoring our emails and phone calls is based on the old-fashioned postal letter. When snail mail was king, the courts ruled that any information on the outside of a letter (addressee, return address, place of posting) was in the public domain and therefore available to government investigators. That’s why the Post Office scans and records every piece of mail in the US every day.

That logic is now applied to the metadata of every call you make and every email you send. It may soon apply to your web browsing history as well. I just don’t trust key Trump appointees to resist that logic. So, this is what I recommend:

1. Get Signal and/or WhatsApp for mobile messages: Signal is a sophisticated Swiss messaging app that fully encrypts all your text messages. It requires both parties to use it, so it’s not ideal for everything. However, Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Open Whisper Systems, the developer of Signal, says there has been a huge expansion in its user base since the election. So you will probably find more Signals in your contact list as time goes on. WhatsApp is an alternative that encrypts your messages and VoIP calls. It’s not as secure as Signal because it’s owned by Facebook, whose approach to court orders is uncertain, but for ordinary purposes it will prevent real-time tracking of your communications.
2. Encrypt your computer’s hard drive: Full disk encryption makes the contents of your computer completely unintelligible to anyone without the password. For example, if you are stopped by the Department of Homeland Security upon returning to the US, your laptop can be searched before you officially enter the US. But if it is encrypted, there is no law that says you must give out the password . Both Apple and Windows computers have built-in automatic encryption. in if you activate it. That’s fine for most purposes.
3. Get a password manager: Using secure apps and utilities like the ones above means having passwords, lots of them. Don’t write them on your palm. Get a password manager that stores your passwords (encrypted of course) in one place and generates and even changes passwords for you. Other good password managers are 1Password and KeePass. I don’t recommend LastPass, another popular one, because they got hacked last year. That’s not good enough.
4. Use two-factor authentication: Most email programs, cloud storage utilities, banking apps, social media, and other sensitive apps these days offer two-factor authentication (TFA). TFA requires that each time you log in, you go through a secondary layer of security: a code to enter at login that is sent to your phone via text message. Some offer such codes by email, but do not use them. If hackers gain access to your email, they can gain access to your accounts by sending TFA codes.
5. Use HTTPS everywhere: My friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation developed a browser plugin for Firefox and Chrome that forces websites you visit to use the most secure connection protocol. If encryption is available on the site you visit, your connection to the site will be encrypted and you will be protected from various forms of surveillance and hacking during that session.
6. Don’t rely on your browser’s “incognito mode” to do things you shouldn’t: Browsers like Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge allow you to start a browsing session that doesn’t record anything you do during that session. All websites visited, cookies downloaded or other connection statistics will be deleted when the session ends. “Private” browsing modes protect you from searches on your computer. But unless you’re connecting to an encrypted site (via HTTPS Everywhere, for example), whoever runs the site can collect all your browsing data anyway, since it’s logged by the site’s server.
7. Use DuckDuckGo for confidential searches: If you’re not convinced that Google’s “do no evil” motto is more than just a marketing ploy, try DuckDuckGo, an alternative search engine that doesn’t log your searches or anything else about you. It produces great results, so you really won’t lose much if you use it instead of Google.
8. Use a virtual private network (VPN): A VPN is the best all-round protection you can get on the internet, because it encrypts everything you do, including your identity and location. VPNs can be used on both your computers and your phones. That’s important because, as Eva Galperin, a global policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says, “logging into airport Wi-Fi without using a VPN is unprotected internet sex.” As a bonus, you can also use a VPN to spoof your location and gain access to region-locked streaming content like Amazon Prime when you’re abroad. The only drawback is that they slow down the connection a bit. VPNs are provided by specialized hosting companies that charge around $5 per month for the service.

These techniques make some or all of your electronic communications and data instantly invisible to anyone. They use levels of encryption that would take a bank of supercomputers hundreds of years to crack.

When it comes to protecting your privacy, now is the time… because after It’s too late.

There is no doubt that social media has taken the world by storm. All over the world, with more and more social sites and users sprouting up, companies have found a new platform for marketing. It evolved into one of the best ways to reach a target audience and market products effectively.

With the rise of social media, it’s important to have the right tools at your disposal to take advantage of its many benefits. Here are 5 essential tools to try:

hoot suite

Hootsuite has more than 2 million subscribers around the world. The tool allows a faster and more comfortable management of social networks for any end user. It has a dashboard that ensures you save time and energy when you need to post to multiple social networks simultaneously. The tool also allows monitoring of social sites and creating reports based on collected analytics.

sproutsocial

This is another great tool to use in managing your company’s social media. Sproutsocial combines all the necessary elements for a strong and productive social media presence. It integrates the top three social sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and offers an easy social media management concierge for your network. The tool features reporting, contact management, analytics, competitor insights, lead generation, and much more.

message marker

Message Market is a tool created by the National Institute of Standards for the development of a test tool that creates messages for the HL7 specifications. The tool is available for free. It is currently in beta version.

engagesciences

The Engagesciences is a leading social marketing platform that has a large customer base. It is a self-service tool used by many companies around the world. It works with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The tool helps complete many campaigns for corporate websites. It allows you to create a social marketing platform that understands every need to successfully complete any social media campaign. You can launch multiple Facebook promotions and other related events all in one place.

conversational

Conversocial is another tool that allows business owners to connect effectively with their customers. Helps manage conversations on Facebook, Twitter and other supported social sites. This way, you can stay in touch with your customers and offer them the support and customer service they need. It even allows for greater internal collaboration, customer service, and marketing. Merchants using Conversocial can be aware of the activities of their team and also control their activities accordingly. It is the ultimate tool for maximum social media production and allows full control over various business social media processes.

With all these tools at your disposal, along with exemplary business management, social media will perform better and entrepreneurs will experience incredible ROI in no time; all with the help of these social media tools for businesses.