#the queue is about to run so. brief post yay!

[hazelplaysgames]

something i don’t think i actually noticed before, in Dusk, is that the early game areas that the games asks you to go to for the Union quests are actually easier as a whole than any of the optional areas. i don’t think Limit Velley would be hard even if i didn’t have a single Champion on my team.

that said, Seasarmon, Grimmon, pretty much the exact same as Dusk. the Bronze tamers had their time in the sun.

[theunconcernedembalmer]

Toko! I was thinking of creating an ask the character blog for IDV or Genshin Impact and wanted a few tips on how to start off. Anything you can share?

ey yo my dude!! thank you so much for this question, now im lowkey tempted (again) to make a genshin ask blog sjadhlkshgkahshglsaj anyway my 1.5 cents is under the cut, yall know how much i talk here HAHAHAHAH

uhhhhhh so i guess we start with picking a character u really Vibe with tm? I KNOW THIS SOUNDS LIKE COMMON SENSE BUT LIKE ive been considering making a genshin ask blog for a while now but i never really got to it cos i couldnt really decide on a character (plus the fact that their outfits are. so intricate. is also a hmm since i try to follow details to a t) (at first i wanted to do zhongli, but i feel like to be able to muse him well u need to know the lore super super well, which i dont n im too lazy to research on that aha. n u know how much i respect characterizations, especially for such a complex character like him. i also considered xiangling for a period of time mostly for guoba but also like i have 2+1 blogs here n having one more might not be a very good idea aha) (as for aesop he was my Hyperfixation Character tm also cos i looked at his kit n went Yep i could work with this. probably)

so assuming ur not a dumbass like me n u kinda know who u wanna pick, id actually say to snoop around here for other ask blogs n kinda get a feel of the... scene? is that the word? or like u know, other blogs that u can potentially vibe with. ive run a couple of ask blogs before this current one (both that have died for different reasons) n from my experience interacting with other blogs (if theyre okay with it, i think most should be) is pretty fun. it also kinda helps get ur blog around to other ppl on other blogs so they can go Oh whats this cool shit n check u out, n its also a reason why we kinda reblog promo posts for other blogs (also cos we’re always excited when someone new comes on, its really the more the merrier. we see all :eyes:). interacting with other blogs is also an option when ur inbox is looking real roomy too

another reason why i havent exactly done a genshin blog is that idk i cant actually seem to find genshin ask blogs around (i have seen rp blogs, or those that answer asks with mostly text instead of art, but thats. not my thing since i hate my own writing aha) (i did find one aether blog some time ago, but for some reason i hardly see them around anymore??? idk man i might be wrong). its not like im trying super hard to find them ask blogs, so im sure they exist out there (hopefully?? im not sure but im being optimistic). i mean theres nothing wrong with just starting an ask blog without others around, but for me i do find a difference when i interact with other ask blogs n when i dont, n i prefer when theres others to have fun with (unfortunately i couldnt find any ask blogs to interact with in my previous fandom. i tried, but the blogs i approached seemed to go inactive shortly afterwards...) plus u get to meet friends that way too :D (i made a lot of friends via idv askblogs n its really been a joy vibing with others)

as for the idv scene. gestures around me. unfortunately there are a lot of ask blogs that arent that active anymore, but theres still some of us who are alive n kicking empty inboxes, n im sure everyone would love to see a new face around. winks at u. also there seems to be a lot more blogs popping up lately, which is really heartening to see.

then u kinda just. make ur blog? n a starting introduction post so ppl can reblog it n spread the word XD n yay u have a blog i guess??? XD

i gotta say tho. dont expect ur blog to take off immediately (especially for smaller fandoms like idv, tvbh i didnt think my blog would even get half this far when i started cos of how non existent idv tumblr seemed to be) n ur inbox will probably be looking pretty empty a lot of the time (or at least filled with some that u havent quite thought of how to reply to yet aha) (but also like empty inboxes happen pretty often, im sure most of us here have experienced this problem)

in the case of the first ask blog i ever started, it never really took off at all. ngl it was kind of demoralizing n depressing but to be fair i had picked one of the more obscure characters in the series, so obscure that many ppl in the fandom would have never heard of this character before. if u wanted to know, i took a character that only appeared in the 2nd musical of the series, who also made a very brief cameo in the manga to acknowledge his existence within that universe. thats how obscure my character was, but i went with him purely because he was my favourite character. i will say though i did enjoy it while it lasted n i learnt a lot from the experience, n i think thats whats important really.

i guess this kinda leads on (not really but let me digress) to the whole uhhhh thing where if u choose a more popular character, u get more attention. which is fine i guess? if u really vibe with the character, i mean theyre popular for a reason. n choosing a more popular fandom (like genshin) would objectively also get u more viewers n numbers. but like honestly i believe that ask blogs are meant for u to have fun with, n like trying to get popular gets tiring pretty fast (this shouldnt be like a main goal, but u know sometimes u subconsciously also want that gucci follower count n bomb ass notes or something. i used to be guilty of this until i realized it isnt worth it) especially if ur not enjoying yourself in the process. (case in point: my previous fandom was considerably larger n my blog got about 700 followers within a year or so, but it got very tiring n stressful to maintain after my interest in it died, n no one was really interacting with the blog even though i tried which kinda made it even more depressing despite the so called success n popularity of the blog)

anyway on a less serious note, theres a lot of fun stuff u can do with the ask blog, like some ask blogs have really fancy tags that i really like n try to do but also like not really HAHAHAHA. i kinda just channel what i want to see in an ask blog into my own ask blogs (good art is one, i try very hard for it to be good :,DD another is characterization, n others is just extra miscellaneous arts n stuffs like au ideas or memes. these are also somethings u could work on during ask box downtimes perhaps)

uhhh another side thing is like a posting schedule i guess? like ppl would be more likely to interact (i think) if ur blog is relatively active, n this is usually determined by the last post u made (i think XD). but like generally for blog maintenence id say try to kinda find a frequency that ur comfortable with?? cos i know my once a day posting is kinda insane if i wasnt so hyperfixated on all of this n fight the urge to dump all ur replies when u finish them XD (though ive seen some blogs do that n they do it pretty frequently so its pretty nice to know once u see their post u can spend some time going through the latest batch of posts XD) the queue function is pretty useful here even though i truthfully have never really used it, i kinda just post from my drafts really but it also helps to space out ur content to seem somewhat active especially when u dont have the time to be working on replies sometimes. i hope u know what im trying to say here aha

ANYWAY that was like my 1.5 cents cos i dont even think its worth 2 cents HAHAHAHAH these are just my thoughts from running all my blogs up till now, some that are still running n the others that have just died a natural death. i wouldnt actually delete them (theyre still around actually XD) cos theyre kinda like archives n i can look back at what i did last time. cos ngl i made some high quality stuff back then, n i dont even know how i managed to do that aldhflhdsgk. also ppl do look at archive blogs every now n then for the content thats there yknow

BUT YES anyway if u do decide to join the idv ask blogs hmu, ill be sure to give u a lil shoutout here. winks

[patriciahaefeli]

A Cautionary Tale? A Love Story? You Decide

It's been one of those rollercoaster weeks, one that began with a great deal of pain, which I tried to ignore at first, so as not to ruin my 17- year old’s already Corona-compromised birthday party. At some point during our 5 p.m. family Zoom celebration, I quietly left the room and went upstairs to lie down, writhe in pain, get back up, bend over, moan, repeat. This continued through the night Monday – and at one point, I remember thinking that labor wasn’t this bad and that I should probably go to the emergency room. In this new world we’re in, that thought was quickly dismissed by one word: COVID. I paced the floor at 3 a.m., alternately moaning and then bopping my head and sort of softly singing what kept running through my head, which was the chorus of The Knack’s 1979 hit song, “My Sharona.” Only my version went “My Corona.” Yes, even while suffering, I’m clever that way. 

By Tuesday morning the pain had subsided. I was exhausted however, and slept throughout the day. “Tricia! Drink this! Jesus, she’s burning up.” It was the alarm in my husband’s voice that I responded to more than the command. I sat up, drank the water he was holding out to me, and when I caught my reflection in the mirror over the dresser I had the brief, feverously detached impression of someone who’d sat under a sun lamp for too long. Sun lamp, the words made me almost giggle out loud. Sun-lamp, sun-lamp, sun-lamp…Does anyone even know what that is anymore? A few hours later I had a virtual appointment with my regular GP, during which the decision was made for me to go to the office first thing Wednesday for a full exam. My instructions (my fever-addled brain again added the words “should I choose to accept them” - hehehe), for entering the building would come in the form a text. 

My office exam was efficient and thorough. Upon arrival, I called the office and someone met me at a side door. As we were both masked and gloved, we nodded and murmured muffled greetings. Two PAs and an MD palpated my tender abdomen while I stifled screams. They decided that I should have a C-T scan that day, with the expectation that the offending culprit was a kidney stone. As many radiology facilities are currently closed, it took a few hours for them to locate one that would take me. My scan took place at 4:30. I was the last patient of their day. 

 Fast forward to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. I picked up the call, which was remarkable in itself because anyone who knows me knows how irritating it is that, a) my phone is always on silent mode, and, b) I rarely answer numbers I don’t recognize. It was another doctor from Vanguard, calling to let me know that my C-T scan showed no evidence of kidney stones – “Yay!” BUT, he cut in, it did show acute appendicitis. What I needed to do, he said, was to go directly to the nearest ER. 

So here’s where this story really begins, because I was about to get a reality check regarding the difference between the inconveniences of “social distancing” and quite literally, matters of life and death. For those of us who are shuffling around at home in our sweatpants, eating too much, complaining about the buffoonery of our President, laughing at all the funny memes, and who are, to one degree or another, COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS to the fact that health care workers do not have the luxury of ANY of that, here’s the newsflash: The Corona virus has virtually SHUT down normal operations for hospitals and surgical facilities, so if you’re also laughing in the face of social-distancing guidelines, and just can’t wrap your head around the possibility of contracting this deadly disease, know this too: If you break your arm, or your spouse has a heart attack, or your child’s strange rash won’t go away and you’re just really concerned, good luck. We are NOT in Kansas anymore, peeps. 

 I considered doing a bit of a negative a rant on the first hospital that I went to here, but perhaps that wouldn’t be fair. “The nearest ER” for me would have been another hospital, but due to their somewhat dubious reputation, we opted to go just a bit farther away. The best thing I can say about that experience was that the safety protocols to enter the ER were impressive. Picture the scene in E.T. where the Hazmat-suited guys from the space program find out about him and “invade” the house in a tunnel of white - then picture the people standing six feet apart outside of say, ShopRite, only these people don’t look so great. They’re kind of bent over, or swaying, or leaning on someone else. Then count your blessings that your gut hurts and you’re not bleeding out…or struggling to breathe. 

Three hours later, after they’d reviewed my scans and completed all of the necessary pre-op tests (blood work, EKG, urine analysis), I got the word that most of the ORs were being used as ICUs for COVID patients, and they were only doing “emergent” surgeries. They sent me home with massive doses of antibiotics, and a referral to see their staff general surgeon - outpatient. 

I figured they were right, too. Must not be very serious. I was doing well with that notion until the following morning, when I heard the barely concealed shock in the voice of my regular MD.  

“Did they see your scans?” his tone serving only to increase my anxiety. 

 “Yeah. But my appendix hasn’t exploded yet.” I said. 

 “Ah,” he sighed, “I know things are being handled differently in the ‘current environment,’ but last time I checked, acute appendicitis was emergent.” 

Okay, pay attention now, because here’s where it gets really interesting: See if you can answer his parting questions: 

 “Do you have a general surgeon? Preferably one with their own facility?” 

 So, do you? And if you do, are you sure they’re even open right now? I sure as hell didn’t (and the name they gave me at the hospital turned out to be for a doctor whose answering machine told me he was not seeing new patients). And the idea that it was now pretty much my problem to solve was a little intimidating – especially for someone who generally needs to be told that they’re sick (enough) or in (enough) pain to seek help—but that’s another story. Now that doctor, who I respect and like a lot, said he’d be trying to find me one, but that I should do my research as well. 

 My husband and I made a fairly long list of people/places to call, and split it. Those we were able to reach at all offered possible solutions to my dilemma, but each dead-ended pretty quickly. I focused on the task now, trying to ignore what it might mean that the ache in my belly seemed to be spreading down my right leg. 

As of this writing, I have yet to hear back from my regular GP and yet, here I sit, post-op, able to get this down mostly because of a Facebook message I sent to one of the nurses in the Belleville Public School district. The only real help I got came from her, a nurse, who responded immediately to an “in-boxed” message, and kept responding for the next hour, sending me the names and phone numbers of doctors (sometimes with their credentials!), links to possible facilities, and words of encouragement. She gave me her personal cell phone number and encouraged me to call it if I had questions and/or to let her know how it was going. I felt like she meant it, too. I also think she was responsible for the first in a series of serendipitous events that just may have saved my life. One of the names she gave me turned out to be the dad of one of my kid’s friends. 

 At that point, things happened pretty quickly. I called him (at home) and told him my situation. In a matter of 20 minutes, he had my scans and had booked  a time slot for me for same-day surgery at Clara Maass. He’s a high-energy, outgoing kind of guy, and although I’d stood on sidelines with him and his lovely wife at many a sports event, I don’t know him well enough, nor did I think it was appropriate to laugh out loud when he laid out the plan: “With everything going on, I just really want to do you – and get you the hell out of there!” 

So here I am, more grateful to him than I can possibly express and having some time to consider just how random and crazy and dangerous that whole situation was (turns out, my appendix had begun to perforate after all, and the real fun was just beginning) and how fortunate I am. 

 But the real heroes here - Oh, and God, aren’t we all a little sick of the “hero” thing? – well get over it, and listen up! From the minute I walked through the door of Clara Maass yesterday, my experience was the best it could possibly have been. The nurses! OMG the nurses - I was in pre-op for hours. Lucky as I was to have been squeezed in to an already crowded surgical schedule, the truth of the matter was that my presence had required a quick shifting of resources—stretchers and space and - nurses. My sudden appearance in the queue was inconvenient, possibly even annoying. And yet all of them, including the nurse who ran the OR, came by to check on me, to give me extra blankets, to chat with me, and laugh with me. A friend’s daughter-in-law, who is a nurse there, got a text from him and even she came from three floors below just to say hello and charm me with her Australian accent and tired-but-twinkling blue eyes. I swear, for me? The whole experience was a cross between a weirdly sterile spa stay, and – as mine all happened to be women - a girls’ sleepover with your best girlfriends—only these were women I'd just met (but they’d also pretty much seen me naked, so, there’s that…). 

Most of them were nearing the end of a 12-hour shift. As I lay there, relaxed and warm, reading and texting, they race-walked back and forth among those of us who waited, or were recovering. I lost count of how many times one of them asked me if I was okay, or if I needed something. They ate their dinners on the move, taking bites and then sprinting off, tearing off one set of gloves, putting on another. These people Do. Not. Sit. The sink was right near my bed, so I saw a lot of hand-washing traffic too, and a lot of red, chapped, over-sanitized hands. They spoke in soothing voices to those who were waiting, and possibly scared, and loud-enough voices for those emerging from the cloud of anesthesia to understand. Sometimes they shouted good-natured complaints to one another, or teased one another – and me, as when one started repacking those bags they give you for your clothes, amusement in her voice as she yelled, “What the hell did you do here, shove it all in like a little kid? Your purse is open – Maria, come over here and see this – she’s a mess!” Hahahaha! One came by and pointed to the cover of the book I was reading entitled “The Silent Patient”, and joked “That’s the kind we like!” 

I even began to wonder if what I was getting was “special treatment” reserved for those whose surgeries were personally called-in by the surgeon. Once he arrived, however, it was clear that not only did they not know he was the one who got me in, but they chided him in the same affectionate way. At a point, I said to one of them, “Doctors think they’re all that, but nurses really run the show don’t they?” She winked at me and elbowed me a little, “Like husbands, honey – they just think they’re in charge!” 

I lounged, for over four hours while they stood on what had to be tired feet, hands on hips as they talked to me, telling me which part of the hospital they’d spent the morning in, or where they were headed next in this crazy, all-hands-on-deck environment. We chatted about jobs and kids, and only when the topic of this deadly disease came up did the lack of words become conspicuous. Then it was all a mime of sad shakes of the head and downward glances. 

It occurs to me today that after all of this, I'm not sure I would recognize any of them tomorrow if I saw them on street – nor they me. Of course, we were all masked. But maybe I would – if I could see their eyes again. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that most of all, those eyes conveyed a profound kindness. And laughter, and concern, and compassion, and dedication—and a toughness that allows them to do it all. 

I'll tell you a secret: I am a person who often has a weird response to unexpected kindness - it makes me cry. I welled up more than once yesterday afternoon. I may have been just one of many for them – this is just what they do - but for me, a bond was made. I will always remember them. 

Make no mistake: it’s no hardship to be home in your sweatpants with your gel manicure looking a little ratchet, and your spouse and kids seeming more like houseguests who have overstayed their welcome. Today, I want you to feel really, really blessed and grateful, and if you’re like me, a generally healthy person who never really gave too much thought to the job that these people do, I hope I was able to convey just a little of it. 

That school nurse who rescued me put it this way: “I took an oath when I graduated just as physicians do. I have followed it for 28 years and it has never let me or my patients down.” That whole oath thing is good and important and all, but the heart behind it gives it grace. 

So, if you get an invitation to do one of those car processions where you beep your horn and cheer for the local health care workers as they go in to, or leave, work– get in your car and go. Or, just mail them each a check for a million dollars. Either way.

[reiews]

Crowdfire Review [2021]: Does it Live Up to the Hype? Social Media Management

In our Crowdfire review we will discuss key features, pros, cons, and factors to consider.

Are you looking to attract more customers via social media? Or do you want to grow your online following? Perhaps you’re looking for a better ROI on your social media marketing campaigns? 

Either way, if you relate to any of the above scenarios, you’ll need a reliable and easy-to-use social media management tool.  

Cue, Crowdfire. 

This is one of many tools on the market, boasting the features you need to manage and automate your social media marketing tasks. 

But, to ensure this software is the best possible match for your needs, we’re going to review this tool thoroughly. That way, you can make a more informed purchasing decision.  

Does that sound good to you? Great. Then let’s delve straight in.  

Who’s Crowdfire? 

First things first, let’s take a brief look at who Crowdfire actually is and what they do. They’ve been around for years, and during that time, they’ve certainly evolved and fine-tuned their services.  

By this we mean, features have been added and taken away. So as you can imagine, there are tons of reviews on the internet that are out of date. But, never fear, you’ll only receive the best possible info in this article! 

Depending on how long you’ve been in the digital marketing game, you might already know that Crowdfire was once called JustUnfollow. One of its major selling points was that users could follow tons of media accounts in one go. The theory is that some of these people would follow you back.  

Then, you could keep an eye on who hadn’t followed you in return…and subsequently, unfollow them. But, over the last year, Crowdfire has distanced itself from these ‘spammy’ style tactics and got rid of the follow/unfollow functionality from its feature list. 

As we touched upon in the intro, Crowdfire is a social media management app that provides users with tons of features to help manage and schedule social network content. Crowdfire boasts seamless integrations with all of the following social networks: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube media accounts.

Crowdfire also integrates with platforms like WordPress and Twitch, as well as several other media accounts. So, it doesn’t matter where you want to grow your online presence, there’s a good chance Crowdfire has the tools you need to help.  

It’s not just the scheduling and posting of media Crowdfire handles. You can also study the reports and analytics Crowdfire produces to get a better feel for which content types (media) and campaigns do the best.  

Now that we’ve taken a broader look at who Crowdfire is let’s take a closer look at the more specific features on offer… 

Crowdfire Review: Key Features 

Crowdfire boasts a massive list of features, some of which we’ve already hinted at. But, for your ease we’ve listed the most notable hallmarks here:

You can link to lots of different social media accounts, track mentions, and your private messages, all from the convenience of one place. 

You can queue and schedule content for automatic posting. 

Access tools that help you discover relevant and engaging third-party content (this is amazing for upping your content curation game!).  

Advanced analytics and reporting, so you can track the success of your social media strategies

Support for multiple users who need access to one account (this comes in handy for teams and agencies).  

Tools to help you monitor the performance of your competition.  

There’s both an iOS and an Android app available. So, you can use Crowdfire to manage your social media accounts from wherever you are — great for busy entrepreneurs on the go! 

Unsurprisingly, not every feature we’ve listed here is available across all pricing tiers. This leads us nicely onto our next section…here’s how much you’ll have to shell out for Crowdfire.  

Crowdfire Review: How Much Will Crowdfire Set You Back? 

There are a few pricing tiers for you to choose from, pitched to suit a variety of needs and budgets, so let’s see if there’s a package that accommodates your business…

The Free Version

You’ll be relieved to hear, Crowdfire works on a “freemium” pricing model. Yes, you heard correctly, there’s a completely free version available here!  

But, as we’ve already hinted at, the free version doesn’t boast Crowdfire’s full suite of features. So, if you’re using this solution for professional purposes, you’ll undoubtedly experience a few limitations. For instance, you can only do ten scheduled posts per account. 

Our best advice is to make good use of the free version Crowdfire offers, it’s by far the best way to get a feel for the product. It’s also a handy tool for sharing small bursts of content across multiple social networks.  

But, when you’re ready to take your social media strategy seriously (or once you’ve got a better grasp of what Crowdfire provides), you’ll need to upgrade your account to a paid-for subscription. 

The Plus Package: $7.48 a Month (When Paid Annually)

This is what you’ll get with the ‘Plus’ package:

You can link to two accounts per social media network

You can schedule 100 posts per account 

Access to a Chrome extension to share articles 

A custom posting schedule 

Support for video posts  

You can connect up to five RSS feeds

Hashtag recommendations 

Support for posts containing multiple images 

Auto-tailored posts for each network with a preview function before posting 

An ad-free experience on mobile 

Social analytics displaying 30 days worth of data

Advanced analytics showing 90 days worth of data 

Access to post analytics 

Access to an unlimited number of articles recommendations for topics relevant to your audience (a content curation tool). 

Access to an unlimited number of image recommendations to you to help you grow your Instagram and Pinterest profiles.  

The Premium Plan: $37.48 a Month (When Paid Annually)

This is best suited to medium-sized businesses and includes everything in the ‘Plus’ package, as well as:

You can link to five accounts per social media network 

You can schedule posts in bulk and use a ‘Calendar’ view to plan your content.

Connect up to 15 RSS feeds 

Track mentions on both your Twitter and Facebook accounts inside of your team inbox. You can reply to all these mentions with images and gifs. 

Access to competitor analysis. By this, we mean, you can compare critical metrics for up to two competitors per social account. 

You can add and manage one company profile 

You can add and manage one team member

Access to email support 

The VIP Plan: $74.98 a Month (When Paid Annually)

This is Crowdfire’s most extensive plan, so unsurprisingly, it’s best for larger businesses and agencies. This is probably why the leap in cost is so substantial, you’ll get everything in the previous two bundles, plus:

You can link to 50 accounts per social media network 

You can schedule 800 posts per account 

Connect up to 25 RSS feeds 

Access to competitor analysis for up to 20 competitors per social account. 

You add and manage up to two profiles ($25 for each additional profile)

You can add and manage two team members per profile ($25 for each extra team member) 

Access to priority customer support 

As you can see, you have to upgrade to the more expensive packages to access Crowdfire’s more sophisticated features (mention tracking, competitor analysis, bulk posting, etc.) So, if you can’t afford a minimum of $37.48 per month, this probably isn’t the solution for you.   

It’s also worth noting: You benefit from a 14-day free trial for each of these pricing tiers. So, you can try the app for a bit to see whether it suits you, without risking your hard-earned dollars. Good news, right? 

Crowdfire Review: Main Advantages

Here’s a quick rundown of Crowdfire’s perks: 

As we’ve just said, Crowdfire offers a free version (yay!) 

The ‘Plus’ package is an affordable entry-level tier

Its content curation tool is excellent. 

For further clarification about what Crowdfire has to offer, we’ve outlined some of its more notable hallmarks in greater detail:

Content Curation, and Scheduling

Content scheduling is one of Crowdfire’s key features. Crowdfire allows you to select either your own posts to schedule (these are automatically detected as they’re already published). Or, you can pick any of the relevant posts and images curated by Crowdfire. 

You just plug in the topics you’re interested in and go from there. As you can imagine, keeping your social media presence active is a breeze. Gone are the days where you spent hours surfing the web to find engaging content to share with your following.  

Also, within Crowdfire’s “Scheduling” and “Content Curation” sections, you’ll find some of the more sophisticated features. For instance, the calendar view and the ability to upload (in bulk) future posts via a CSV file. If you have or you’re planning on hiring a virtual assistant to pre-prepare and schedule your social media content for you, this feature will certainly come in useful.  

Crowdfire even provides you with a ‘Queue Meter’, this tool is fabulous for ensuring you have enough content scheduled for the week by telling you whether your profile looks ‘active.’  

Last but not least, when you post something new on your blog (or anywhere else online), you should see a desktop notification from Crowdifre. This prompts you also to post your content on other social media platforms. Handy, right?

Analytics

The only way to examine whether you’re running a successful social media campaign is by assessing the analytics and letting the figures guide your strategy. This is where using Crowdfire’s detailed reports are worth their weight in gold.  

If you’ve opted for one of Crowdife’s higher price tiers, then in addition to data on your own social media marketing, you’ll also benefit from competitor analysis. You can access this info from the ‘Analytics’ section of your Crowdfire account.

Mention Tracking    

Are you trying to establish an online presence on lots of different social media networks? If so, mention tracking will shortly become your best friend.  

This tool permits you to reply to all your @-messages from the convenience of one place. Never again will you have to log in and out of tons of different social media profiles to handle this monotonous task.  

It goes without saying, if you’re an agency or a social media manager managing multiple social accounts, this is especially useful. Think of how many hours you’ll save yourself and your team! 

Crowdfire’s Main Drawbacks 

Like any other social media marketing software, Crowdfire isn’t without its drawbacks. So, here are some of the more notable downsides to using Crowdfire: 

Using Crowdfire Can Be a Steep Learning Curve 

As we’ve already mentioned, Crowdfire allows you to handle lots of information at once. So you’re probably not shocked to hear that, to begin with, its interface can be a tad confusing. This is especially true if you’ve connected your Crowdfire account to tons of social media profiles. If that’s something you’re planning on doing, then prepare your dashboard to look a bit crowded.  

Also, in terms of clutter, it doesn’t help that if you’re on a lower pricing tier, users can still see the features that aren’t available to them…  

For some, getting to grips with Crowdfire’s dashboard can be a pretty steep learning curve. Still, once you familiarize yourself with the interface and get the hang of the layout, things quickly become easier. Also, if you get stuck, there are useful tooltips and onboarding tutorials to help you out. 

Note: The Chrome extension in the “Plus” package is a great LEVEL UP here to make Crowdfire easier to use with media platforms.

The Removal of the Block/Unblock Features 

Unfortunately, Crowdfire came under some flak for falling short of the terms of services laid out by major social media networks. For instance, in early 2019, Twitter clamped down on many social media tools, including Crowdfire.  

As we’ve already touched upon, one of Crowdfire’s primary functions (used to be) that it could follow hundreds of social networks in one go. But when you consider most social platforms value user experience above anything, it’s not surprising these annoying tactics don’t go down well with the social media giants. This is especially true of Twitter and Instagram. They despise these automated follow/unfollow tools.  

So, to put a stop to this, Twitter removed Crowdfire’s API access. Consequently, this prevented these sorts of features from working. 

As a result, Crowdfire has undergone a complete overhaul of its product. Fast forward to today, and this app only offers features and services that are compliant with standards set by social media networks.  

What we’re saying is, you can no longer use these follow / unfollow people tactics with Crwodfire. Which depending on your marketing strategy can be construed as either a good or a bad thing. 

Side Note: Although some see this as a disadvantage, we actually think its more of a benefit. It’s ALWAYS best to comply with the user guidelines provided by the social media platforms themselves.  

It’s also worth reiterating: As things stand, since the bulk follows and unfollow features were removed early in 2019, Crowdfire is now a safe management tool to use. 

Crowdfire Review Frequently Asked Questions

What is the number of posts you can schedule on Crowdfire?

The number of posts you can schedule depends on the plan you are subscribed. With the free plan, you can scheduled 10 posts at a time for your social media accounts. For more posts, you can upgrade your account to a more advanced plan.

How do I stop my account deletion?

Just go to your account, and log in! By just doing this, you will avoid your account of deletion. Make sure you log in within 48 hours after activation of the deletion.

What are the languages Crowdfire is available in?

You can set up your Crowdfire account in any of these languages: French, Spanish, English, Russian, Latvian, Greek, Japanese, or Estonian.

Small Glitches

Some users have reported a few small glitches in Crowdfire’s software. For instance, it sometimes fails to pull the featured image associated with a post. It’s nothing major, but it’s kinda annoying.  

The Bottom Line: Is the Crowdfire Social Media Tool Worth It?

In short, Crowdfire isn’t any better or worse than the majority of other social media marketing tools out there, say, Buffer or Tailwind. So, if you’re already shelling out for other software, it’s probably not worth the money.  

Bottom Line: But, if you haven’t yet got a management tool to help grow your social profiles presence, then Crowdfire is an excellent option. Its suite of features is impressive, and the pricing is reasonable.  

[365gigs-blog]

#40 LDRU

24 Feb • Sydney City Limits • Sydney, New South Wales

I shouldn’t count LDRU. But I wanted to tell this story, so I'm bending my own rules a bit.

There are important things you have to do as a festival organiser. The first is bring together a lineup of musicians that people want to see. You have to have a space in which those musicians can play, and people can listen to them, and the various personnel and equipment required to make that happen. These things are obvious, you would think, but a lot of festivals seem to forget about them: those tend to be the ones that go under after a few years.

Sydney City Limits delivered on these basic necessities. They’ve got a great lineup, they’ve got a good space, they’ve got the technical expertise to make sure it’s all going to work. This isn’t their first rodeo – they’ve been running the successful Austin City Limits festival for years.

Which is why I was a bit surprised when they fell down in one of the other important aspects of running a festival: getting people there. Centennial Park is not well connected to public transport; there’s no trains or light rail, and any buses that might say “Centennial Park” on their destination indicator could be going to any corner of the enormous parklands. SCL didn’t run shuttle buses from Central like most events do, they didn’t provide a map on their website, no list of buses to catch – nothing.

Which is how I ended up on a bus with a load of other punters and not a single one of us knew where we were going. In a twist of dramatic irony, we were doomed from the start: the bus we were on was going nowhere near the festival entrance. We didn’t know, of course. We were going to Centennial Park, this bus was going to Centennial Park, we got on this bus, and we would get off at Centennial Park. Which is exactly we did, although a clued-in few seemed unsure that we were getting off in the right place.

It became clear pretty fast that we were on completely the opposite side of the parklands to where we were supposed to be: we could hear the music but it was obviously miles away. That was a bit of a bugger for me because I wanted to see Ziggy Ramo, and if I didn’t move like crazy I was going to miss most of his set.¹

The festival site loomed into view, but still no hint of what direction to go. Security were no help, so with nothing to go on but our guts and the wisdom of the crowd, we followed each other to what was hopefully the entry. Slowly we started to see other punters trickle in from other directions and we knew we were heading the right way. Maybe fifteen minutes left in Ziggy’s set – I could probably still see a couple of songs.

I’m getting close to the other side of the park. The crowd is thickening, as is the festival atmosphere. We’re nearly there; I tell myself. Just a little further now. Finally, after walking nearly a mile across the park at a frankly uncomfortable pace, I round a corner and see the entrance for the first time.

There’s a queue.

There’s a very, very big queue.

I join the queue.

A security guard comes up and tells me, unequivocally, that my bag is too big to take in, and I would have to cloak it. Where’s the cloak room? Oh, it’s over there. At the front of that even bigger queue.

I’m not seeing Ziggy Ramo.

If I’m having to cloak my bag, then I need to finish what I was doing before I go in. I was foolishly messing around with my RGBShades on the way over, and even more foolishly ignored the battery warnings on my laptop. As luck would have it, I ran out of battery right in the middle of uploading new code to the shades, which meant they were doing nothing but showing full blue on every LED. So I needed to fix that before I went in. Where could I find some power?

There’s a cafe nearby, and even though they’re clearly not open there are some staff hanging around, setting up tables. I rely on my dejected air to gain some sympathy points when I ask if I can use a power outlet. It works, and before long I’m waiting patiently for my laptop to come back to life. A few more minutes of work and I’ve successfully got my shades scrolling text and connecting to my phone, which is enough for me. I pack my stuff up hurriedly and head back to the bag check.

It’s still an enormous queue, and I suddenly realise that Ziggy Ramo has finished and LDRU have started; thanks to SCL’s double-stage setup, there’s no breaks between bands. It’s moving a bit faster – it looks like there’s more than one person on the desk now – and it doesn’t take too long before I’m at the front. It does take quite a while to actually process the matter of giving them money, and then there’s some palaver over credit cards: is the machine working? Can I just give you cash? Please, let me go.

I head to the ticket barriers. There’s about half an hour of LDRU’s set left. It takes an age to even find my ticket in my email – who did it come from? What inbox was it in? Damn, the internet is slow here. Why didn’t I save the ticket before I got here?… ah, found it, okay, here you go, it’s… not working. I press the button that says “Display Ticket” and it just opens a new tab on the same page. It never actually shows me the ticket with the barcode.

I am directed to Ticketmaster guest services.

Because I am far from the only person in this predicament, there is a queue. Quite a sizeable one.

I poke and prod, trying to get the damn thing to show me the ticket. In a flash of brilliance, I open a private browsing tab, go to ticketmaster.com.au, and request the desktop site. This involves logging in again, navigating the bulky ad-ridden desktop site on my tiny phone screen… god, it’s so slow. But I find the ticket in my purchase history, and hallelujah, it actually opens the PDF. The barcode is there in its resplendent glory.

I bail on the guest services queue, hurriedly mentioning to the person behind me how I solved my problem with the idea that they might pass it on to the other hopeless souls. Ticket barrier. Scanner. Phone brightness, right. No, that’s as bright as it goes. Maybe rotate the screen. Ding! Awesome. Yay. Cool. Let’s see some music. What? Oh right, my wristband. That would have been embarrassing.

I reach the main stage with about 15 minutes left in LDRU’s set; less than I need to meet my "more than half the set" guideline. That's why I shouldn't count them. Still, in that short time, they bring out a plethora of guests, and play what feels like five or six songs; even so it’s depressingly brief, and I’m so damn mentally and physically exhausted by the ordeal that I can barely take it in. Instead I use the energy of the music to rally, to straighten out my emotions, to prepare for the fast-paced one-day festival I’ve got ahead of me. LDRU didn’t give me much music, but they gave me the rest of my festival.

¹ The astute among you will have figured out where this is going already based on the fact that this post is titled LDRU and not Ziggy Ramo.

[twentysomethinginorlando]

First Disney Visit Part Two: Magic Kingdom

New Post has been published on https://twentysomethinginorlando.com/part-two-magic-kingdom/

First Disney Visit Part Two: Magic Kingdom

Staying in The Lion King suite, I regret not setting the 6:30 am alarm to “The Circle of Life”. I have it on my phone, but I wasn’t thinking so I woke up to my usual Zumba music. It was a slow start but I had the boys packed up and walking out the door by 7:10, only ten minutes behind my original goal. We loaded up Jay’s car since we were only staying the one night and drove to the Ticket and Transportation Center (the TTC, Magic Kingdom’s parking lot) with only one wrong turn. This is what happens when the navigator offers to sit in the back. This was my first time to Magic Kingdom since they relocated the security check points to the TTC from the park gates. Since we were there so early for Extra Magic Hours, there was a minimal wait. I’m curious to see what it would be like during peak hours, but I like the new flow at the park gates much better. The fences forcing everyone to a choke point are gone. I also like that people are being screened before being on enclosed, high speed vehicles with other guests.

Doug’s first interaction with an actual Magic Kingdom Cast Member was not what I would have preferred. We picked a ticket line at random and waited our turn. The Cast Member manning the touch points, whose name was an older gentleman named Dave, kept fussing at us to stand single file instead of three across. Having spent most of my time as a Cast Member trying to get guests not to stand single file, I didn’t understand this and asked him why. He said we had to be lined up on the first touch point and could only use the second one when we called us over. He then snatched Doug’s ticket from his hand when he didn’t scan it fast enough, having never done it. Not the first impression for Magic Kingdom I wanted, and we had to double back to check his name tag.

I grabbed a Times Guide and we headed through the tunnel to Main Street. I wanted to get to Fantasyland to knock some rides out before the Welcome Show, but it was understandably hard to get Doug to move quickly. Jay described it as sensory overload, and he’s absolutely right. Mainstreet U.S.A. has a lot to take in, and that was without me explaining hidden details. It took us about ten minutes to get from the train station to the hub and we only stopped for one picture! We found the check point where they were scanning Magic Bands for Extra Magic Hours and headed

Getting into the Honey Pot.

into Fantasyland. Our first stop was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was basically a walk on. I know what you’re thinking, “Pooh, really? His first ride is going to be Pooh?” Pooh is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom because of a memory I have with my mom, and for as long as I can remember, Doug has called my mother “Mom”, so it was a perfect starting point. Plus only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open for Extra Magic Hours, and I already had Fastpasses for Space Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Our second stop was it’s a small world, because it must be experienced at least once but I don’t like to spend a lot of time on it. We headed towards New Fantasyland but double backed to the castle as it was getting close to 8:55 for the Magic Kingdom welcome show called “Let the Magic Begin”.

Mickey is the first character to appear.

I had actually never seen “Let the Magic Begin” myself, just because I rarely open a park unless I have company in town. Jay has seen it numerous times while working and he told me we didn’t need to make it a priority but it was cute. I disagreed, I wanted to see it too! I’m so glad we did. One of the Royal Majesty Makers comes out and welcomes everyone before Mickey and Minnie arrive with their friends in tow. Apparently the character assortment is random and can change by the day, much like the old welcome show on the train. I was surprised to see the Evil Stepsisters from Cinderella, but it made sense as we had seen them earlier meeting with guests. The fireworks went off, just a tiny spurt, and Mickey and Minnie walked off hand in hand. I looked over at Doug, he was wiping a tear away! “It’s magic!” He said and I grinned ear to ear, “It absolutely is.”

At Jay’s suggestion, we headed for Liberty Square where the Haunted Mansion had just opened, or so we thought. We arrived to find it closed for technical difficulties. Jay talked to the butler, who was a friend of his, about the problem and we agreed to try back in a little while. We headed for Big Thunder Mountain but everyone else had the same idea, so we switched to Pirates of the Caribbean instead. It was a walk on, and one of the pirates out front, who Jay and I both knew from the Jungle Cruise, told us to look for treasure in the queue. I didn’t know what she meant until I found gold plastic coins scattered on top of some of the props. I don’t know when they started doing that, but I like it! We each took a couple and made sure to leave plenty for the kids behind us.

We made good use of our time and knocked out Under the Sea: Journey of the

Blast off!

Little Mermaid, Barnstormer and Space Mountain before we grabbed our first snack of the day. We stood munching on the Mickey pretzels as we waited for Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire. I am one of those terrible people who like it better than its predecessor. Had I realized Doug had never seen Princess and the Frog or Frozen, I might have been more inclined to skip it, but it’s cute regardless. Except for Daisy Duck. She is never cute.

Our next stop was to use our Fastpass to meet Mickey Mouse. I’m not sure who was more excited, but Doug’s reactions to everything were making me so happy. We waited our turn and we were the last ones in the room with Mickey. Jay and I let Doug go first, and it was adorable and wonderful, but I was a little sad Mickey didn’t do a card trick. The photographer took plenty of photos and I made sure to get it on video. I love having unlimited Photopass downloads on my annual pass.

We then had to go the long way around the park to get to lunch at Columbia Harbor House to avoid the three o’clock parade… that was being held at noon and three-thirty that day. Yay spring break. Doug and I were going to do the later option after Jay went to work, so we tried to avoid him seeing any of the floats. Harbor House was packed, but we still had our food and a table within fifteen minutes. Jay had to scarf his food and run to get changed for his shift at the Riverboat and we told him we’d be by after it reopened from the parade dessert party. Roughly 1 pm and we had already done six rides, two shows and met Mickey Mouse. Disney considers eight and a half attractions to be a full day, so we were doing pretty darn good. It seemed like a good time to slow down a bit and take it easy, so we headed for the Country Bear Jamboree. While this Magic Kingdom opening day attraction isn’t on most people’s “must do” list, Doug and I grew up in East Tennessee and going to Dollywood. If there is one thing in all of Walt Disney World that screams East Tennessee, it is the good ol’ Country Bears. The cast member started to give the safety briefing in what was the driest voice possible and Doug sort of scoffed at the lack of enthusiasm until I started to explain he was doing it for comedic effect, except I broke off into a fit of giggles as he launched into the spiel for the Carousel of Progress. “What? Wrong show? Tiki Room?” More laughter. He finally got to the right introduction and I went up to tell him how funny he was after the show ended. The closer I got, the more familiar he looked, and when I made it up to the former skipper, “I should have known it was you!”

Yo ho?

Our next stop was “Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial”, where I was hoping Doug would get picked as part of the crew. No such luck. “You! With the teddy bear! Come on!” But of course, Duffy and I were born to be pirates. We ducked into the Enchanted Tiki Room for some air conditioning before heading to stand in direct sunlight to wait for “Festival of Fantasy” in my favorite spot across from the Country Bear Jamboree. Its my favorite because it has great viewing and its not hard to get a spot since the shade is across the street. We waited about forty minutes, and saw three separate high school marching bands come through before the parade music started to play. This parade is one of my favorite things at Disney, and I was certain Doug would love it too. I wasn’t disappointed. He loved Flynn and the ruffians swinging on their float. He actually yelled out loud when the Dragon breathed fire, and said he took that picture at the right moment. Mickey waved down at us as the balloon passed, and we headed across the road as soon as the end was clear. Time to visit my old home, the World Famous Jungle Cruise.

“Sit right down next to that complete stranger. He doesn’t bite, he might drool but it’s a water ride.”

Every time I go by the dock, I know fewer skippers. However there was one old friend out front and she sent us up the Fastpass line. We wound our way around when I spotted a veteran skip, Robert (Jay’s pirate friend from Gasparilla), hanging out at unload. I talked him into doing a bote for me, and we commandeered onto the next one that came in. Call me a snob, but I am very picky about whose bote I ride. (That is the correct spelling for a Jungle Cruise vehicle.) I heard a few new jokes and Doug couldn’t understand why everyone else was so quiet. “They were so fast! Did they just go over everyone’s heads? Why weren’t they laughing?” “Welcome to my life. Welcome to every skipper’s life!”

Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny

We had now given the parade enough time to clear Mainstreet U.S.A. so we made our way to where the Easter Bunny was scheduled to be. For the four years I’ve been living in Orlando, I have tried to meet Mr. And Mrs. Easter Bunny with no luck. I never make it to Magic Kingdom at the right time. Doug didn’t mind taking the detour and their line was only about ten minutes. I may have squeaked.

“And here’s a thing that does a thing.”

We made our way to the Riverboat to see Jay. Doug wanted to watch him work the steam engine. Fun fact: it’s a real 1800s steam engine. There’s no button to push that makes it go, you have to put water in a boiler to create steam. It’s a very technical engine to operate and like most car guys, Doug is fascinated. However Jay wouldn’t be in the position that works the boiler for a little while so we knocked out Big Thunder Mountain and came back, just as he moved onto the Liberty Belle. Jay launched and she began her cruise around the river, and Jay began explaining all sorts of technical mumbo jumbo about how the engine works. A few guests were paying attention too and taking pictures.

Next, we did Peter Pan’s Flight before our Fastpass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with a quick stop at Mickey’s PhilharMagic in between. After Mine Train we waited out the line for Rapunzel and Tiana, and Doug had a much better time with the princesses than he expected. We then wandered down to the Carousel of Progress to see our final show of the day before we staked out a spot for “Wishes”, Magic Kingdom’s fireworks, with forty minutes to spare. I miss having “Celebrate the Magic” as a preshow, it makes waiting so much longer and I like it better than the new show. Jay got off work just in time to come find us, about five minutes before Jiminy Cricket started narrating. The music surged and I was torn between watching Doug and watching the fireworks. I don’t know if I’m going to make it back before this show is retired next month, but when it got to the Hercules part I saw Doug wipe his eyes. I grinned ear to ear, tearing up myself.

His first Dole Whip.

As soon as the lights went back up, we bolted for Adventureland to grab our Dole Whips and carried them to Frontierland to wait in line for our final ride of the night, Splash Mountain, the happiest ride in the park. We made it off just before close and we made the long slow walk to the front of the park, stopping for one final Magic Kingdom picture.

A quick ride on the resort Monorail took us back to the Ticket and Transporation Center to find our car parked in the very front row of the Aladdin lot, fifteen hours and 35,000 steps later.

Check back to see if we break those numbers when we plan to split a day between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Read Part One to learn about our stay at the Art of Animation.