I have taken my sweet time since my last post. Yeah, Happy Holidays to you, too. However, this post is brought to you IN LIVING COLOR:

To Feed or Not to Feed the Trolls

This one is from today (as I write this), but don’t get too excited:

My friend Scott Monty brought my attention to Wendy’s recent Twitter responses to a troll questioning their claims of never using frozen meat. I’m as eager as anyone to applaud a brand having fun on Twitter (or Facebook, or wherever- but we all know Twitter is where it’s at), but how and when is it worth spending the time and energy? Follow the thread at the AdWeek link, but here is the “awesome” tweet (#sickburn):

You don't have to bring them into this just because you forgot refrigerators existed for a second there.

— Wendy’s (@Wendys) January 2, 2017

Setting aside whether or not snark is appropriate at all for a brand, I particularly love it when brands tweak each other (more please, and professional sports teams seem to lead the way there), but when advising clients on social media, “Don’t Feed the Trolls” is one of our wisest and favorite pieces of advice. Even with no apparent harm done here, is it good practice? I snark, you decide.

However, I will concede AdWeek’s claim of “2017’s Best Tweet So Far,” since it’s January 3.

Old News, Part 1: Why Your New Platform is Not the Next Big Thing

Sometime in December, I heard some of my smarter social media guru-esque friends discover House Party, a group video chat app. Cool idea, I’ll admit; though the concept is not new, the application for social media has not really gotten any glue. Of course, seemingly the instant many guru thumbs pressed “Enter” on their “Next Big Thing” post, Facebook came out with their own version of the feature, right there where everybody already is.

Houseparty, you got Periscoped! Maybe. Points for launching on Android as well as iPhone.

Old News, Part II: Facebook Gets Ugly Color
Let us all celebrate simple things, devoid of meaning but for their basic pleasing qualities. This, Facebook’s feature letting you add a color background to a short post, is so silly, and so cool, I can’t even make fun of it (or can I?).

I can!

I finally tried it. Maddeningly, I could only do it on mobile. But that’s fine. I guess. I couldn’t bring myself to use an actual colorful color in my sample.

https://www.facebook.com/doughaslam/posts/10158231103620105?pnref=story

As for the feature itself? It’s…fine. Do you like it? I probably won’t use it, unlike the

BIG FONT

feature, which is forced on us, in ways I don’t actually mind. So Facebook, force me too use the colors and I will neutrally embrace them.

Old News, Part III: Search Fail

Maybe this post I saw in December could rank for “lazy sports column” if I get enough links to it here:

http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/18/insta-graham-dont-read-bills-browns-recap-will-regret-forever/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Have a look: I’m pretty sure that’s not how search works, but maybe sports fans will enjoy your SEO humor, Mr. Sports Columnist (spoiler alert: very unlikely).

Old News Part IV: Evernote and Privacy

Yeah, we’ve all moved on from this one. I have nothing new to add. So…

2017 Predictions (Hint: It Will be the Year of Mobile- Again!)

It’s always the Year of Mobile! Let’s take a walk down memory lane: