Category Archives: Facebook and Twitter
7 Twitter tips to inspire new tweeters
After a lot of requests for help using Twitter I’ve been running workshops which are going down really well. You can see the upcoming dates here.
Here’s a quick free guide I put together for Twitter newbies.
Stacey
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Things you shouldn’t post on Facebook according to ME!
After reading this post from Jeff Bullas ‘Things you should not share on social media’
I’ve come up with some of my own in particular…
Things you shouldn’t post on Facebook according to ME!
ANY copy and paste statuses
Most are pointless, some are sickly, some are just a front for racism.
If you have something to say, say it in your own way. They’re like a modern version of a chain letter trying to guilt trip you into posting it on.
Copy and paste this if you love your child/mother/father/brother/sister/nan/dog/cat etc etc.
Obviously if you don’t copy and paste it you are a cold heartless b*st*rd with no feelings. Erm… actually no. I love my family and friends very much. They know this because I am there for them and I also tell them.
Copy and paste this if you know anyone who has been affected by cancer/depression/the common cold etc.
I don’t want to sound unfeeling on this but if people truly give a sh*t about an issue then why not post up a link to a site with information or ways you can donate to the charity? Why not write a note or blog to say why this issue is important to you and why you are raising awareness of it? I care rather too deeply for the plights of people in worse situations than myself. In no way do I think that copying and pasting something into my status will help anyone. Instead I work, share and promote the causes that are important to me.
Copy and paste this if, like me you’re a racist who can’t articulate your own words.
You know the ones. They usually involves some ridiculously inaccurate Daily Mail statistics about immigrants or how our NHS is failing because of Polish people blah blah blah. If you have a valid agrument and have checked your sources fair enough but really, try harder or just don’t post anything at all. Failing that just change your profile picture to Hitler and be done with it.
Copy and paste this if you have no ability to think for yourselves. . . You get my gist.
Over-lol-ing
Now I like to laugh out loud in real life. The occasional typed lol is fine (although I am a haha-er myself) but WHY WHY WHY do people insist on using it as a punctuation? Rather than a full stop people type lol at the end of statuses or comments even when it does’t make ANY sense to whatsoever. LOL.
Just had gammon and chips for tea. LOL!
Took my car for an MOT. LOL.
Broke my leg today. LOL.
NOOOOOOO! Not LOL.
Minute details of pregnancy, childbirth, babies’ toilet habits….
I love babies, I love that some of my Facebook friends are happy to be pregnant. However, I do not need to hear about every symptom they experience from conception to birth. Even more so I don’t want to hear about placentas, the state of their child’s nappies when they do arrive, potty training fiascos or similar. The odd scan picture and a few pics after the birth for us to aaahhh at is cool. One of my Facebook friends would post a weekly picture of her little (VERY cute) baby boy and it was nice to see because you could see how he changed and it didn’t become boring as it was not complete timeline bombardment. Had she posted an update every time he had a poo that would be different!
Relationship issues
People who feel the need to live their whole relationship good and bad via Facebook. Warts and all (in fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if people did post pics of their warts an’ all!). Now occasionally I may post a comment on my beloved’s Facebook and he on mine. Occasionally. If we want to tell each other we love each other we can do that at home. If we want a row we can use our voices to adequately convey our feelings. We do not feel the need for everyone on our friend’s list to know about it. OK so we do occasionally poke each other for fun too but that is also private!
Racism
A sure fire way to get unfriended. No more explanation needed.
Countdowns
42 days until I go on holiday – Repeated every day until said holiday.
Only 196 days until Christmas! I’m starting my shopping today.*smug face* - SAD!
Wishing your life away
Urggh, Monday morning, roll on Friday.
Is it the weekend yet?
It nice to have things to look forward to but Facebook seems to be full of miserable people who just constantly wish their lives away. Live for the now. Yes Mondays can be rubbish but life’s what you make it. If EVERY week you just moan that it’s not the weekend then you need to be reviewing what you’re doing with your life. Get something mid week to look forward to, change your job, sort out your relationship, whatever. Embrace every day. Life’s too bleedin’ short. And if you’re having a bad day deal with it, get help from those you love but please, don’t bring us all down too!
Hangovers *yawn*and Booze Bores
It usually goes something like this…
Can’t wait to get wasted on Friday.
Having a few before we get to the pub.
Incohererent status full of typos.
Oohh why do I feel so terrible. I’m never drinking again.
REPEAT. Every week. Get a life or get some help.
So that’s my rant done for now. LOL. ; )
Stace x
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Johnny’s Story – 8 months & counting
Thinking back to the panel on Stigma and Discrimination at the National Drug Conference in Dublin this month it was highlighted that we never read good stories in the papers. Bad news sells. Users get all the bad press but rarely do we hear of the success stories. Maybe we can’t change the newspapers or society’s hunger for bad news but the more positive messages we can get out there the better. Twitter gives me an opportunity to engage with some interesting people and this is the story of one of my Twitter friends. I thought it would be nice for Johnny to get his experiences heard.
Stacey
Johnny Collins and his dog Marley
When Johnny was 16 his grandfather passed way and soon after his grandmother. He had little understanding of how to deal with grief and death and began drinking a lot. One night he tried Heroin for the first time.
“It was my miracle answer; it took all the pain I was feeling away”.
He admits his understanding of addiction back then was that it was all in the head, a choice people made that could be controlled. His use increased to every Friday, then every Friday and Saturday and it wasn’t long before he was using every day. In the early stages off his addiction when he worked he remembers particularly bad times. One of these was when he was talking to a guy at work and found out one of his friend’s had died from an overdose. Again grief affected his use.
“I was convinced something would happen and the penny would drop but then I accepted that I was going to die an addict. I wrote a suicide note explaining to my friends and family how they would be better off if I was dead.”
Luckily before it got too far an unlikely source helped him…
“It was a policeman who came to tell me I was being watched on the town’s CCTV. He noticed my low mood and asked what’s up? I’d wanted someone to listen so I showed him the suicide note explaining how life would be better with me dead!!”
That was how Johnny was first directed to help and got into rehab which began a cycle.
“Every time I got into rehab I always seemed to have it in my head that I would still have to use again.”
He eventually began a relationship with his lifelong friend and it was made clear that drugs couldn’t be a part of it. Although he initially struggled with this, with her love and support he got his life back. Johnny also has high praise for Methadone.
“The reality is that Methadone allowed me to have stability, a fiancé and a life. I think it’s more addictive than Heroin but it gave me a chance to see there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”.
When I asked Johnny what he thinks would’ve helped him more along the way he simply said.
“Reassurance. No one had ever said to me how you are feeling is OK, normal, part of the process. You can do it Johnny”.
Johnny who used Heroin and other drugs for over 15 years is now 31, 8 months Heroin free and engaged to Hazel. They live in Ballymena, Northern Ireland with their ‘son’, their dog Marley. He is looking forward to getting married and getting back into work. He would also like to be able to help others recovering from dependency like him. He would like to say big thank you to all the people that helped him along the way especially Hazel and his big mate Jim.
Johnny and his supportive friend Jim
This is a poem Johnny wrote for Hazel….
Acceptance
While I was looking for a perfect verse, so happy I was fit to burst
Acceptance, just 1 word. Cos u accepted me as I was, a junkie chasing a buzz
This is pure n simple truth, u welcomed me under your roof
At 25 you got ur own place, while i was still gettin off my face
When I was a teen I wanted to sell drugs, cos then id be one of the cool thugs.
How could I be such a fool, for flip sake I was still at school
I love you with all my heart and life would be bad if we were apart
There’s just one dream id like to come true, no more gear-just me, marley n you
I hate it when you cry cos youre my love and thats what gets me by
So, no more tears except for joy, me, you n our doggy boy!
No more madness cos thats the reason for ur sadness
To Hazel
from Johnny.
I love u forever. xoxox
Johnny Collins
Ballymena, Northern Ireland
You can follow Johnny on Twitter @wjc80
Hello November
My new idea to get me blogging more frequently is to blog about any random trending topic on Twitter.
Resisting the urge to blog about the eloquently hashtagged #10twitterpeopleIwouldbang which is currently trending I decided on…
So today is the 1st November. I got a bit excited earlier whilst I was on the phone to my Mom as it was 11.11 on the 1/11/11. I shouted…
Happy 111111111!
which she repeated to her office.
I have an interesting November coming up, I’m off to Dublin tomorrow to the National Drug Conference of Ireland and will get to see a lot of my real and Twittery what I call ‘drug friends’. You can follow my tweets from it @StaceInspire and @InspireHandM if you are so inclined and the conference hashtag is #NDCI11.
I’m also looking forward to going to The Cavern in Liverpool on the 17th for the HIT Fundraiser in aid of The Roy Castle Foundation and Release. As I’ve got to get a hotel anyway to make the most of it I’m taking my man Ban with me too. If you want to come too (the fundraiser, not our hotel room!) then click on the ticket above.
At the end of November it’s my Mom’s birthday which means we can do nice faaaaamily things like eat and play games. We’re also going to go on a makeover day at some point in November. Neither of us are particularly girlie but I thought it might be a nice thing to do and we’ll look ace of course.
Hello November!
Bring it on.
I will only mention the ‘C’ word in December.
Stace x
My Scuzz TV iRock Playlist
Scuzz TV, the best music channel (because it plays proper music) had the great idea of viewers submitting playlists, the best to be played on the channnel.
I submitted 15 songs on the Scuzz TV Facebook page discussion tab that I thought would be great to hear back to back.
I was chuffed to find out last night that my playlist had been picked and will be played next Saturday, 11th June at 9.00pm.
I found it on this TV schedule
So for those at you that may be interested, these are the songs that I picked…..
Machine head – Davidian
Sepultura – Roots Bloody Roots
Pantera- Cemetery Gates
System of a Down – Sugar
Slipknot – Spit It Out
Biohazard – How It Is
Metallica – One
Rammstein – Ich Will
Faith No More – Surprise You’re Dead
Hatebreed – Destroy Everything
Romeo Must Die- Defined By Enemies
Slayer- Bloodline
Unearth – Sanctity of Brothers
American Headcharge – Just So You Know
Skindred – Nobody
Scuzz TV - Sky Channel 374 Saturday 11th June.
Watch, bang your head, singalong, bounce around!!
Stace x
30 Day Song Challenge – Day One
So I’ve not quite managed #postaweek but I thought I can always schedule these 30 day Song Challenge posts ahead and maybe achieve #postaday instead. I got the idea from this Facebook page. I’ll have quite a few metal songs I’m sure but there will be other genres too along with some guilty pleasures.
Day 01 – your favourite song
Difficult but if I had a gun to my head and had to pick just one it would be this. . .
Pearl Jam – Alive from one of my favourite albums Ten. Eddie Vedder is God. It reminds me of being 14 and into Grunge. Me and by best friend Stella would sing it and fight over who would marry Eddie. Neither of us have yet but there is still time!
National Conference on Injecting Drug Use 2010
Thanks to winning the Hiwecanhelp competition I had the opportunity to attend the National Conference on Injecting Drug Use (NCIDU) at The Sage, Gateshead, Newcastle. The venue itself is pretty impressive.
Overlooking the Tyne I resisted singing Fog on the Tyne on Day One but by Day Two it proved far too difficult for me as there was actually fog on the Tyne. It wasn’t mine though. . . .
I was kindly put up for two days by Roweena, Managing Director of Hiwecanhelp who was exhibiting at the conference as well as chairing day two. As I was staying with Roweena it was nice to have a base at the Hiwecanhelp stand also with the lovely Barbara. On Day One I made the mistake of wearing my high heeled boots as I hadn’t realised The Sage was on three levels with a crazy amount of stairs. My buttocks certainly got a workout! My Skecher’s were a better alternative on Day Two despite them making me look like a bit of a short arse next to Nigel (see below!).
I’ll be writing separate posts about some of the presentations I attended and found the most useful and interesting to share.
It was great to be able to meet some of the Drug peeps I have known for a while through Twitter such as Nigel Brunsdon of Injecting Advice fame, Allison, a harm reduction worker who works with Nigel on the brilliant Hooked podcasts, Tony Lee, and Maddie O Hare from HIT.
Me, Nigel Brunsdon (Injecting Advice) and Roweena Russell (Hiwecanhelp)
Allison, me and Roweena
Being the social butterfly that I am I enjoyed walking around and chatting with the services that had stalls there which included HIT, Lifeline, Concateno, NNEF and loads more. I was also interested to see that South London has an addictions clinic specifically aimed at users of party drugs.
Throughout the conference as well as the plenary sessions in the main conference hall there was a choice of different presentations to attend. This made it more flexible and I found that I was able to concentrate much better on the information as I could pick and choose the sessions that were most relevant to me.
Highlights
Staying with Roweena and Ruth (rather than being lonely in an overpriced hotel!).
Meeting my Twittery folk.
Viewing the new Lifeline animation ‘The Tale of The Two Charlies’.
The presentations on Drug Purity.
Seeing how chuffed Tony Lee was at getting thought his very first conference presentation. (Well done!)
Nigel and Allison’s Twitter presentation – despite the fact they had tweets up on the big screen including mine, one of which was: -
Watch this space for more info on the content of the days, I’ll plough through my notes and get things blogged in my very own special Stacey way over the next few days : )
Stace x
@StaceInspire
Stace’s Seven Happenings In September
I’ve had an interesting and inspiring month of opportunities, events and new contacts. Here is what I’ve been up to.
1) My random TV debut!
Me and Apache Indian
I had a random phone call a couple of Tuesdays ago from Brit Asia TV asking me if I wanted to be their drug expert on their discussion show Real Talk. I said I’d call them back. I nearly bottled it but thought, ‘what the heck’ so that same night I trundled off to Apache’s Bar in Birmingham to be filmed. I met Apache Indian who was very nice and alongside Ricky, my sidekick who I co-deliver training with we sat there being asked questions and responding to discussion points made by others in the audience. It was a nerve wracking experience. When it was shown on the Thursday I went round to my Uncle’s house with my partner and family to watch as it was on Sky Channel 833. (We haven’t got Sky). I came across quite well in what I said which was the main thing but of course I wasn’t too happy with my accent or face, haha. A good experience all the same.
2) On the same day I also found out I had won a competition through HiWeCanHelp, a Northern service who help people affected by drugs.
I had applied a few weeks before by telling them about my work and my blog but I didn’t think anything would come of it. I am now really excited that I will be able to attend the National Conference for Injecting Drug Use in Newcastle next week, all expenses paid (useful now I’ve left work and will only get paid by invoice chasing!). It’ll be great to meet some of the contacts I have on Twitter in real life. I’ll be blogging about it too so watch this space
3) After two and a half years working as a trainer for Birmingham Drug and Alcohol Action Team I left to go freestyle (as I like to call it) to concentrate on developing Inspire Health and Mind. I did a lot and learnt a lot during my time there including writing the DART Guide and the E-learning package as well as all the courses I developed and delivered. Now I need to spread my wings, get out there and focus on all the areas of work I love in the community including my drug awareness work with young people, training staff, supporting service user involvement and spreading the word about EFT.
4) Lynette and I attended a talk by Daniel Priestley on how to be a Key Person of Influence. He is a highly successful entrepreneur and his talk focused on the importance of social media.
5) I’ve met so many new people at the events above and below I things it’s worth a mention in itself. I really buzz off getting out and about and seeing what other people are doing out there. I’m hoping some of these contacts will shape the next few months for me and allow me to have new challenges and work to focus on.
6) I had the opportunity to hear the brilliantly inspiring Harry Singha and Rachel Leigh presenting at the Youth Coaching Academy Midlands Event. Young people, staff and parents altogether engaging and learning about how to make a difference to their lives and the lives of others. I will write more about this soon.
7) Attending the launch of Park House, the new residential treatment service in Birmingham. You can see my post about it here.
So that was September, who knows what October will bring.
Peace, love, empathy.
Stace x
Seven (plus one) of my fave people on Twitter
1) My Mom AKA Wendy AKA @wendy2918
Read her blog and follow her.
When she gets round to writing a post they are usually very funny. When I grow up I’ll be as funny as my Mom.
Examples:
Mom on Lady Gaga – Why oh why oh why would you wear a telephone on your head?
Mom on Teenagers who walk in the road - One day if I can be sure I wouldn’t really give them too much pain or cause too much damage, could I not just ‘bump’ into them? Just once please can I? Promise I will only run them over gently.
Mom on personal safety - My Blackberry phone goes in my left cup and my slimline ipod goes in my right one.
2) My friend Ruth AKA @bintofsparkles
She follows some crazy people and likes to retweet lovely and funny things because she is both lovely and funny herself.
3) Another friend of mine Kate. AKA @allfivehorizons. I started my blog inspired (and helped) by her. She has a little human growing inside her now. Check her blog All Five Horizons.
4) A great bloke called Nigel Brunsdon AKA @injectingadvice and @Mannaz who has an excellent website called Injecting Advice who always includes me in his #followfriday shout outs as one of his imaginary friends.
5) Dr Evan Harris AKA @DrEvanHarris
Fights the fight for evidence based drug policy. Makes the other politicians look ridiculous by stating facts rather than tabloid fiction. Lost his seat in the Election which was a massive travesty. I got a tweet thanking me for stalking him. The equivalent of a celeb tweet for me, I was most excited.
6) Gary Delaney @GaryDelaney A comedian. Makes me laugh. As does his girlfriend @SarahMillican75.
Examples.
I used to play around with time machines when I was older.
Somehow it doesn’t seem right to eat reformed meats, not after they tried so hard to change.
Ah, shit, I once gave Naomi Campbell a blood orange, am I in trouble too?
7) Roadrunner Records AKA @RoadrunnerRecords originally enough. They have all the great bands on their label and their tweets keep me up to date on them all. Yeaaaaaahhh!
7 ( b) Ricky AKA Ranjit AKA @RanjitBhandal
(Because I have to stick to the magic seven otherwise my OCD tendencies will freak!)
My Robin, my right hand man at the DAAT. Doesn’t tweet often enough but should do and will do when I’ve nagged him enough about how useful it is for the drug world. For all your Bhangra/football/drugs/celebrity stalking needs. He follows Katie Price unfortunately though, much to my despair. Desperate to get a celeb tweet, I hope one day he does. When I leave work next month to go completely freestyle (lance) with Inspire I may as well lose an arm. Or a leg. : (
Oh and I suppose you should follow me too @StaceInspire.
I feel a few more blogs about Twitter coming on so watch this space.
Tweety bye
Stace x
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Back after a while!
I’ve not blogged for a while for the following reasons:
1) I’ve been busy busy with the business and some exciting planning which I can’t quite talk about yet but watch this space. Excel has been my buddy for a few weeks now.
2) Tweeting has taken over more of my life. It’s so great! Follow me!
3) The Election – I’m a proper grown up now so I have followed the Election for the first time. May blog my thoughts on it if I have time. Basically pissed off so many voted Tory though.
I shall endeavour to find some time and inspiration over the weekend 
.
Have a good one.
Peace, love, empathy.
Stace x
