The internet has changed rapidly in the past few years. Data has progressed slowly to smaller and smaller forms. The impact of a hard hitting article has the same potency as ever, but at the same time a well timed tweet can shatter the world. Impressive for 140 characters or less. Amidst this whirling, swirly incessant buzzing world of tweets, statuses, check ins and notifications sits me. Lost.
I don't misunderstand it on a technical level. Indeed, I work for a company pursuing the channeling of social media good will into the local fresh food businesses around the user, and have had to spend many an hour pulling out my hair writing the features for it. No, it's far more fundamental than that. Before I begin the descriptions of my character that make social media ill fitting, I suppose I had best prevent any misconceptions forming in your heads about my past. I've grown up in a liberal, tolerant and accepting family - with supportive parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and others. At school I was never bullied, well more than the norm you'd expect for an academically minded student. I am not an incapable public speaker - I enjoy presentations, a surprise considering my quiet nature. Thus - nothing in my past has lead me to feeling I can't express myself. It seems I can only blame (if that is the correct word for the situation) myself. So why when it comes to the internet - surely the perfect place to express oneself in anonymity - am I constricted by my mind?
Quite honestly I don't know. I have the tweeting equivalent of two left feet. The ins and outs swoosh over my head leaving me like the runt pathetically crying outside the main circle. Much of it may stem from the emphasis on what I am doing at the current moment. What I think. I, I, I. Me, me, me. Talking about me is just not me (ironically he says writing on a blog about himself). Do people really want to hear what I think? Surely there are far more qualified people to talk on a subject? Maybe it is interesting, in my head it is inane dribble. My primary habits on Facebook are posting amusing videos, news articles and other things that I find interesting or provoke an emotional response. But amid the clamour of "My latest party photos", "Summer 11 at the beach" albums and the gooey "I love you" statuses (rest assured they get blocked pretty fast) it seems somehow ill fitting to the audience my Facebook has. It seems a hopeless middle man which could be avoided and simply talk to my close friends about said video, article, editorial. Losing the six words at the beginning of a conversation: "Hey, did you see my status…" I doubt will be missed by either party. When I do join in the crowd I find that statuses come out in a sort of self mocking irony. Short and blunt, devoid of any real enthusiasm bar what typically is a sugar driven euphoria which soon crashes out. My media teacher often says they make her laugh. Oddly enough this actually made me happy, they weren't being taken seriously!
Don't get my wrong however. It seems from the paragraph above I have a massive downer on social media. I think it's a pretty fantastic evolution of the web. After the recent riots the sudden flurry of activity - live from the people at the scene, commentators, the #riotwombles and the sharing of interesting articles regarding the reasons - kept me up until stupid o'clock in the morning. Again however, aside from the odd tweet in agreement I felt like what I am. A lurker. Terminology usually seen on Reddit or Forum boards, lurking is what I do best. Gripped by fear of disapproval of my fellow internet goers I tend to operate a read only policy. Harking back to the hectics days as Management of a busy forum, I remember the mental effort it took to post outside of my usual duties replying to "feedback" (read abuse, nit picking and a general sense of entitlement on a free-to-use board). I managed it for the sake of my role, but upon resignation it didn't take long to cease and return to lurking. The mental process seems to be concerned mainly with "what will I add to the discussion?". Typically the reply from my skull is "Not a lot". I've had an account on a large and very active board since 2006. I managed to get about 1000 posts, before archiving reduced that now to 60 or so. In five years, 1060 posts. Hardly the chatterbox am I?
Maybe my problem is the written word? I disagree since I am enjoying writing this immensely, but lets press on. Audioboo and such others do hold a fascination for me. Especially with the android app opening up possibilities lost to me when it was iPhone only. Indeed as I mentioned above, I do enjoy speaking aloud and I do eagerly listen out for my good friend's self therapy Boo's. His tangential way of speaking is refreshing in such a controlled world. Could I join in? Again the problem resurfaces: What do I have to say? Evidently by my inaction in signing up: nothing. Don't even get me started on Vlogging - my ugly mug spouting something inane? Fat chance!
I think the above issues show a massive lack of self confidence. Perhaps this is the root of why social media goes over my head; it requires a bare minimum level of self confidence to rise to the podium and shout out to the unknown masses. A room fool of like minded students listening to a presentation on a subject we are all studying is one thing - but to find a topic alone and speak it is a whole other kettle of fish. Another short-coming of mine has been an asset so far in my academic life. I've never rebelled, never really been on the receiving end of punishment. Mistakes made have very rarely been from a lack of active engagement, but stupid overlooking errors which have always caused me a deep burning embarrassment. My friend group comprises of several incredibly gifted individuals. Maths, english, philosophy, physics. After exams would come the dreaded discussion afterwards. The burning sensation as they explain a question that suddenly sounds so simple. The dreaded teacher picking someone to speak who normally doesn't, as I fumble my answer I never intended to give still sends shivers down my spine. So the idea of stumbling onto some platform and making a cock up is instantly suppressed by a brain that has a very hard time dealing with errors. "Best leave it, someone else will have a much better reply than me".
Google+ is the latest shiny new social toy, and I am struggling to find my place on it. Is it for links? For articles? For extended writing pieces? I've seen all posted and I've been commenting but this is between friends. The similarities in terms of interface to Facebook quite often throw me off. I don't want to post statuses, yet this box is positioned exactly to do so. Tech blog articles saying the end of Facebook is nigh, and vice versa. Where is my place on it? I've posted a few links around - and I am trying to use the +1 button a lot more than I have ever used the "like" button but it still feels like I'm jumping around the outside of a circle made up of vastly taller beings like a little lost puppy.
Or, quite possibly this long analysis of my short comings is needless. Perhaps my struggle to find a topic, to speak my mind or speak with passion about my life is that quite simply, I'm rather dull. The conclusion to this is either a complicated mix of personality, lack of confidence and fear of making a silly mistake, or the simple fact above. I'm not sure, all I know is writing this was a great deal easier than condensing it into 140 meaningful characters.
Greetings, my name is James and I'm the answer to your problems…
Firstly I converted all the icons to CSS sprites. Loading one image saves on HTTP requests, I think most browsers are limited to around 4 simultaneous downloads. So this is time wasted on icons that serve really only a superficial purpose rather than any core functionality. As well as this I used 2 spritesheets, one for normal displays and one for high DPI displays such as those on the iPhone 4. In version 2.0.2 and below I simply used icons twice the size needed and shrank them using CSS. On a normal display this is downloading 50% more pixels than needed.