Tag Archives: social media

mehrunnisa & omair

17 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by in andalucia, flamenco, food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, work

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Alternative title… When Sevilla Tapas Tour Guests Become Friends.

Last night I met up with Mehrunnisa & Omair from London, who had come my way via mutual Twitter and Instagram pals. They had actually arrived in Sevilla couple of days previously but, due to Semana Santa and other obligations, it was only possible to take them out on their penultimate night in town for a flamenco & tapas tour. But we made the most of it!

I knew things were off to a great start when conversation started flowing fast and furious even before we got to the flamenco venue. And by the time we got into the sherry and tapas after the show it was clear that we were kindred spirits. It was a great night out and the time passed far too quickly, but I will look forward to getting together with M & O again on my next London Getaway – I have been promised a Pakistani food tour (yay!).

sevilla tapas instagram

11 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by in food & drink, instagram, sevilla, social media, spain, tapas, tapas tours

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st instagram

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!

look at meeeee!

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by in instagram, internet, social media

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insta
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.

twitter is 10!

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by in social media, twitter

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twitter birthday

Twitter has just turned 10 and it turns out that it is also my 9th Twitterversary today (as @azahar). To be exact, I signed up at 12.36 pm on March 22nd, 2007. Since then I’ve had various other Twitter accounts and still have these 5 active ones. I know that a lot of people don’t “get” Twitter, but for me it’s been the most amazing social media experience. I’ve met friends and biz contacts, connecting with people all over the world. And I still learn something new every day by reading my various feeds. It’s good to be here.