Twitter Hellscapes Continue, Bigtime. And The Perils Of Turning 40.
Hope you enjoyed Twitter while it lasted....
In news that was wholly expected by….well….literally everyone, Twitter has indeed continued to devolve into a nightmarish Hellscape. Despite Elon’s ‘best intentions’.
I seriously have no idea what goes on in that guy’s head. (Does even he know?)
Has Twitter ever been perfect? No, far from. Could it have been improved? Yes absolutely. Is Elon the man to do it? Not from what I can see.
The completely botched rollout of Twitter Blue to many more people has meant that, quite predictably, it’s created a mess normally only reserved for people in various Governments. An achievement in some ways, if you think about it.
Practically within seconds of the button being pushed, jokers and scammers came out from their digital caves, and created all manner of accounts spoofing all and sundry. Government officials, celebrities, pharmaceutical companies, even Jesus. Yep, even Jesus is now verified.
Many people were expecting his return one day, I doubt no one had money on it being via a blue tick Twitter account.
Countless big global brands have been putting all their ad spend on hold within Twitter, until this whole mess gets sorted out, as an attempt at damage control.
No wonder, really, when someone promptly created a ‘verified’ account for Nintendo and tweeted this:
Going well so far, isn’t it?
Maybe Nintendo are happy to take this sort of thing in good fun, as probably not many people thought that the above image was a real tweet from Nintendo themselves.
However, things do take a slightly darker turn when another user created a fake account for a US pharmaceutical company, and declared that insulin is now free. Something which is far more damaging in the US where their prescription prices and healthcare is drastically more expensive at the point of use, than here in the UK.
This single tweet prompted Eli Lilly and Co, the real company, to immediately lose billions of dollars.
Now whilst most of us wouldn't necessarily shed a tear at a huge pharmaceutical company (who make amounts of money that are akin to Monopoly money to the likes of you and me), for losing countless billions - I feel for the people who may have seen that tweet, who NEED insulin and who perhaps struggle to afford it, and thought that it might be true. That would be cripplingly heartbreaking.
Then there are other accounts cropping up, again, paying their $8 for a verified status, claiming that people can get their blue tick for free. This could very easily open up a huge can of worms leading to people being duped, giving over their credit card details, or personal information, to God (or verified Jesus) even knows who. So, stay vigilant is my best advice.
So…….yeah. Not going swimmingly, really, is it? Who knows how much longer this will continue. I sure as hell don’t. Even Elon himself has threatened his own staff that ‘bankruptcy isn’t off the table’.
Well, that’s reassuring isn’t it?
In Other News
This week, I turned 40.
I know, I know, I don’t look a day over 39.
It feels like an oddly significant milestone, and I’m still coming to terms with it I suppose. Does it mean I suddenly have to work out ‘how to adult’, for real? Crossing a major life milestone like that does suddenly make you start re-evaluating things, increases the sod that is imposter syndrome, senses of achievement and accomplishment etc etc. You know, the usual.
But here’s hoping I get over it. I’m sure I will.
I dunno. At least there was cake.
The good news is, even with this milestone happening, it has made me concentrate on a little exciting secret project of late, which I will be talking more about in due course. Well, it’s exciting for me, anyway! Something which I hope will be useful for people, all over the globe, potentially.
But more on that in a later edition…
Discounted Software From Affinity - Version 2 Released
A few days ago, Affinity (the company that creates fantastic quality Adobe alternatives, with no subscription) announced their brand newly updated suite of software - their equivalents to Adobe PhotoShop, InDesign, and Illustrator.
Version 2 of all their software offerings is now available for purchase, at 40% off normal price for a limited time. If you’re looking to upgrade (or buy from fresh if you haven’t done so before), now’s the time!
They make fantastic software, and are real contenders to to things like Adobe’s suite, but without the huge subscription prices. You pay once, one-off, and it’s yours forever. I’m a massive fan of Affinity Photo, and have been for years. I’ll be updating to v2 of Photo for sure.
Make use of that discount while it’s still here!
(Not an affiliate link, I’m just a fan).
That’s your lot for now.
Until next time….