14 Wednesday Sep 2016
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That’s Richard @lucidcontent on the right, with his friend Neil. I’ve “known” Richard on Instagram for a couple of years now, the connection between us being his best friends David & Julie, who came out with me on a tapas tour a couple of years ago. Anyhow, Richard was passing through town this week and we got a chance to meet up in person. A very nice evening!
Dave, Julie & family
29 Friday Jul 2016
Posted in food & drink, instagram, sevilla
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08 Friday Jul 2016
Posted in food & drink, friends, instagram, sevilla, social media, spain
I’ve been following Elbah on both Twitter and Instagram for ages. She is not only as obsessive about posting fab food pics as I am, but a lot of her photos are taken in Sevilla and Málaga. So a few days ago I left a comment under one of her Sevilla food pics that we should meet for a tapita one of these days, and she agreed that this would be a great idea.
Then, when I was walking home from the Sherry On Top event on Wednesday evening, Peter and I decided to stop into Tradevo Centro for a penúltima. On the way in I spotted a spectacular looking fish dish and asked the people sitting at the table if they would mind if I took a photo of it (yeah, I know…). And one of the women said “Are you Azahar???” and we both went a bit crazy then, laughing and hugging like old friends. Of course, it was Elbah. And it turns out we are actually neighbours! So plans are now afoot to do some serious Tapas Research together. LOVE social media…
11 Wednesday May 2016
Posted in food & drink, instagram, sevilla, social media, spain, tapas, tapas tours
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When I first started using Instagram I made sure I didn’t make the same “mistake” I had made with Twitter… having too many accounts. So I started using my @azahar Instagram account for everything: personal, travel, sherry, tapas, food tours. I didn’t realise back then that I would end up using Instagram so much, but decided to leave things as they were. Of course this ended up with some confusion with linking, and people who knew me as Sevilla Tapas would use @sevillatapas on Instagram, which linked to nothing. So I created a @sevillatapas account as a placeholder, which directed people to my @azahar account. I also created a @sevillatapastours placeholder account, mostly so that b*tch who stole my name couldn’t start using it, but also because that’s how many people know me.
Then this week I decided to add social media links to the @sevillatapas account so that, say, if someone used that on Instagram, it would link to my Sevilla Tapas twitter and facebook. Confused yet? Anyhow, by doing that suddenly I started getting all kinds of new followers as this automatically sent out notices, and I wondered whether I should have just changed the name of the @azahar account. Too late now!
Meanwhile, I did set up a separate @WeLoveTapas Instagram last year, which made sense as it is a separate business and brand. But, for now at least, I will keep using the @azahar account for everything. Phew!
29 Tuesday Mar 2016
Posted in instagram, internet, social media
A while ago there were rumblings of Instagram changing their reversed chronological order system for an algorithm that would decide which photos you should see first, based on your online behaviour. Which not only sounds creepy, but also, like, fuck off. I follow the people I follow for a reason, and don’t want to see some of them obliterated from my timeline because they maybe post less frequently than others (hence, fewer “likes”) or end up seeing ones I’m only slightly interested in because they are Hugely Popular. Twitter also threatened something recently and – at least for now – has made it possible to opt-out and stay with a chronological feed.
Then an unfounded rumour about the algorithm apocalypse happening this week went viral, leading to countless Instagram posts like the one above, pleading with followers to enable notifications so they would still be able to see… THEIR posts. Like, what? My main concern about this change was that I wouldn’t be able to see everyone I enjoy following. But the idea of enabling notifications for the 500+ people I follow is a ridiculous notion, not only because doing this would be very time consuming, but seriously, I do not want to get notified every time a photo pops up on my Instagram feed. Part of the pleasure of Instagram for me is lazily scrolling through the various pics and stories, from various time zones, when I feel like it. I know I don’t end up seeing all of them. Though, for example, if I know someone is on holiday somewhere I’m interested, I will click on their profile page to see all their recent pics (instead of waiting for them to appear on my feed). And frankly, some people do interest me more than others, but I want to be able to decide who those people are, not some algorithm that – let’s face it – doesn’t REALLY know me.
Anyhow, it was interesting to see how many people were so concerned about their own photos being seen that they posted versions of the above “look at meeeee!” notice. Surely they should know people like me would be looking them up anyhow, if truly interested.
casa azahar 