Ten things I love about blogging

If you've read last week's blog post, you'll already know that blogging is one of the new hobbies I've picked up over the last few years.

Inspired by Cat's blog post a couple of months ago, I thought it was about time I blogged about why I enjoy blogging so much. This also means I had the opportunity to make use of one of my greatest loves... a list!

1. I like to think of my blog as a digital journal or scrapbook. Although I look back at some of my older posts and cringe at the quality of the photography and sometimes even the writing, it's nice to be able to look back at the things I've shared over the years and to relive some of those memories.

2. I find it much easier to write about things than to talk about them. I've shared some very personal posts on this blog over the last two years since my cancer diagnosis, and it always feels very therapeutic to be able to get those feelings down on paper (or on screen).

3. Following on from the last point, writing is a great distraction for me when I need to escape from whatever thoughts I've got whirring around in my busy brain. Writing also helps me to be more mindful and to anchor myself in the present moment, which can only be a good thing.

4. Instagram is my favourite social networking platform, and I like to think of my blog as an extension or a supplement for my Instagram grid. If I've been somewhere instagrammable and shared lots of photos on Instagram, you can almost certainly expect a follow-up blog post on the topic.

5. I publish a new blog post every Friday at 5pm, and I've found that having such a defined schedule has really helped me to brainstorm and organise ideas for new content. When I used to publish hap-hazardly a few years ago, I'd either go for weeks without posting anything or I'd enthusiastically post a few times per week and use up all my ideas too quickly.

6. I particularly enjoy stretching blog posts on a certain topic into a series, such as my 'Twelve posts of Christmas' series or birthday haul posts. It makes my content last for a few weeks and also makes the posts more digestible for my readers.

7. Very few people read my blog, if I'm completely honest. However, although I'd be lying if I said I never got annoyed about this, I do blog for my own enjoyment first and foremost which means it doesn't really matter how many people read my posts in the grand scheme of things.

8. I'm pretty shy in real life. Blogging has allowed me to find my own voice and to share my experiences, all from the comfort of my laptop while wearing my pyjamas and drinking a hot chocolate.

9. I don't blog about divisive topics. This is partly because I've always worked in places where I have to remain politically neutral, but also because my blog is my happy place. I blog about whatever I want to blog about, and not necessarily about whatever everyone else is talking about.

10. Last but not least, my blog serves as my 'brain dump' for photos, exciting times, new adventures and, occasionally (see point 2!), difficult times. I love having a little corner of the internet that's all mine where I can document snippets of my life and blog about the simple little things that make me happy.



Have you blogged about why you love blogging? Let me know in the comments!

My frustrations with the blogging world

I've recently got my blogging mojo back and have been posting fairly regularly over the last few months. However, the general blogging world seems to be much more difficult to crack than it used to be when I first started out a few years ago.

Although I never write particularly personal posts as I don't have the confidence to publish and share them, I thought I'd go halfway there by sharing some of my blogging frustrations. Apologies in advance for the self-indulgent post, but I'm sure I won't be alone in some of these thoughts!

1. When you spend hours on a post and no one reads it

I know blogging isn't supposed to be about the numbers, but... let's be honest, the numbers are important. I blog as a way of keeping a digital scrapbook of what I've been up to and to focus on those things which interest me most, and I do obviously like it when lots of people read my posts. Who doesn't? I'm always keen to gather more views on posts I've spent a significant amount of time on just to see some return on my investment, but these are often the ones with the most disappointing take-up. For example, I literally spent hours on my recent Disney A-Z posts (here and here) and had low views for both even though people who have written similar posts have had lots of interest. It's difficult not to take it personally when you write at length about something you find interesting and are passionate about and no one takes a look!



2. When you try to take part in blogger chats but can't penetrate the clique 

This is something I've always struggled with, both in the blogging world and in real life. I've never been any good at becoming part of the 'clique' in my everyday life and it seems that it's no different when it comes to online interaction. How does one become part of that esteemed blogging circle? Everyone already seems to know each other and there often isn't room for someone who sits on the sidelines and isn't part of the 'in' crowd. I know engagement is the key to growing your following, but it's discouraging when you do try to engage and don't get acknowledged.

I gave up on the #lbloggers chats a long time ago for this very reason. I was hoping the more recent #disneybloggerschat would be different as the topic is right up my street and it's a bit smaller and more contained than the #lbloggers chat. Unfortunately not... it's exactly the same. When you feel as if you're standing on your tiptoes knocking on the window and no one's taking any notice of you, it gets a bit tiring and it's just easier not to take part. I used to contemplate attending a blogger meet-up but the thought of the same thing happening in real life where I can't escape or ignore it strikes fear into my very core!



3. When you can't get good lighting for your photos

This is a more light-hearted gripe, but how irritating is it when you've got lots of blog posts lined up which require a decent amount of photography and the weather is dull and grey for two weeks? Living in Wales, this is a frequent annoyance! There's only so much editing you can do to pretend you've had the perfect lighting, and I don't like using heavily edited photos on my blog.



4. When you proofread all your posts within an inch of their life and yet the badly written ones are still more popular

Those of you who know me in real life will be painfully aware that I'm a stickler for accuracy. I constantly and compulsively proofread everything from signage to labels to menus to my favourite books.. It goes without saying that I proofread all my blog posts dozens of times as they form an important part of my personal online 'brand', and I don't want any inaccuracies associated with anything I've written. However, I frequently read posts from all corners of the blogging world which are badly written and have been read and commented on tens of times. Doesn't good writing count for anything any more? I realise I sound as if I'm throwing my toys out of my pram here but it's something I feel very strongly about!



So... is there anything I can do about it? I could certainly improve on reading and commenting on other people's blogs which is something I'm determined to do more of. I read lots of blogs but hardly ever comment, and I'm also quite forgetful when it comes to replying to the few comments I get on my own blog. I also need to get better at reading through my Bloglovin feed - I often click on blog posts promoted on Twitter but haven't been very good at actively seeking out the posts from my favourite blogs in recent years. However, part of me feels that no amount of interaction will help with some of the issues above as it's just the way things are.

Does anyone else feel the same? Do you have any blogging gripes you'd like to share? Let me know!

As an aside... wouldn't it be ironic if this post wasn't well read?!

Social media objectives... a review of 2014 and new goals for 2015!

I wrote a blog post on my social media objectives for 2014 back in January 2014, and posted a 'halfway through the year' progress checker last July. Now that 2015 has arrived and it's already February (how did that happen?), I thought I'd take a final look at last year's objectives and set some new ones for the year ahead.

It might seem a bit OTT to set myself objectives for my personal social media presence... I really am that organised and like a challenge!


Blog objectives - 2014

• To revamp and rename my blog by April 2014. Done!
• To set up a Google Analytics account for my blog by April 2014. Done!
• To reach 100 followers on Bloglovin by the end of the year. I have 35, so not even halfway there!
• To ensure that I read other blogs and comment on them for at least half an hour every week throughout the year. I think I managed this most weeks. 
• To take part in at least two blogger chats per month throughout the year. I've given up on blogger chats if I'm honest... I find that they're very cliquey and quite critical, and not always in a constructive way. 
• To attend at least one blogger meet-up before the end of the year. Still no progress here!

Blog objectives - 2015

I do get quite demoralised with my blog at times as I put a lot of time into writing my posts and my follower base isn't really growing. However, if I enjoy writing (which I do), does it really matter if I haven't got hundreds of followers? My friends and family enjoy reading my blog, and I've made some great friends on Twitter who are also regular readers. I don't interact with other bloggers as much as I could as the blogging world can be so cliquey at times (see above). However, on the other hand, I think my blog would be slightly more successful if it was more professionally designed. Bearing all this in mind, I've only made a few objectives this year and I believe that they're achievable:

• To reach 50 followers on Bloglovin by the end of the year. 
• To post twice a week.
• To get my blog professionally designed by the end of the year... need to do some Twitter research for this one.  

Follow me on Bloglovin

Twitter objectives - 2014

• To reach 350 Twitter followers by the end of the year. I have 342... so close! However, I do have 624 followers on my professional account. 
• To ensure that I engage with at least 5 new people on Twitter every week throughout the year. I've managed this most weeks, between my personal account and my professional one. 
• To ensure that at least 40% of traffic to my blog is driven there from Twitter. The figure is actually 12% but I'm quite pleased with this as I'm also having a decent amount of traffic to my blog from Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. 

Twitter objectives - 2015

I really love Twitter and use it extensively in a professional and a personal context. When it comes to the apparent battle between Twitter and Facebook, Twitter is king!

• To reach 400 followers by the end of the year. 
• To increase my blog traffic from Twitter to 25%.

Follow me on Twitter 

Pinterest objectives - 2014

• To reach 100 followers by the end of the year. I have 53... I didn't spend enough time on Pinterest last year!
• To follow at least 100 new people/boards by the end of the year. I'm following 55, so again this was over ambitious. 
• To have at least one Pinterest 'binge' per week! I've had quite a few binges recently... hopefully this will continue. 
• To comment on at least 5 pins per week as well as re-pin. I haven't done much commenting, just re-pinning!

Pinterest objectives - 2015

Pinterest is my 'go to' place when I'm planning a holiday, looking for a new hairstyle, looking for colour inspiration and so on. It's not a site I use daily so it's unrealistic to expect big numbers from this one.

• To reach 100 followers by the end of the year. 
• To follow 100 boards by the end of the year.
• To continue to pin every image from my blog on a relevant Pinterest board.

Follow me on Pinterest

Instagram objectives - 2014

• To reach 150 followers by the end of the year. Done, I have 244! 
• To follow 100 new people by the end of the year. Done, I'm following 392...
• To make better links between Instagram and my blog by promoting at least one photo from my blog on Instagram every week. I do this for every blog post which contains photos. 
• To have an Instagram 'binge' at least once per week where I like and comment on other people's photos. This is a daily thing... I love Instagram!

Instagram objectives - 2015

It's safe to say that Instagram is my fastest growing social network, and it's quickly becoming my favourite. It's such a simple concept but I absolutely love it. Consequently, this is one social network where I think it's safe for me to set ambitious objectives!

• To reach 400 followers by the end of the year.
• To ensure that 5% of traffic to my blog is driven there from Instagram (currently 2%). 

Follow me on Instagram

LinkedIn objectives - 2014

• To reach 300 connections by the end of the year. Done, I have 346!
• To follow 10 new company pages before the end of the year. Done!
• To join 5 new LinkedIn groups before the end of the year, and to engage with these groups as and when interesting topics arise. Haven't had time for this one!

LinkedIn objectives - 2015

LinkedIn definitely isn't anywhere near my list of top five social networking sites, but it does serve a purpose so it's useful to have a presence on there.

• To reach 450 connections by the end of the year

I know some people think setting objectives for personal social media sites is silly and a bit overly meticulous, but I like having something to aim for and to benchmark myself against. 

Here's to more social media obsession in 2015! 

Pinterest and Instagram... aren't they just for wedding planners and coffee lovers?

I recently wrote a blog post on using Pinterest and Instagram in your marketing strategies which has been published on the popular Comms2Point0 website for creative communicators. I'm very excited about this as it's my first ever professional published blog post. I'm passionate about using social media channels for business use and Pinterest and Instagram are particularly under rated in a professional context, possibly because of the generalisations floating around about the two platforms. You can read the original post here, but I thought I'd also feature it on my own blog!


Pinterest and Instagram are about so much more than these generalisations suggest… read on to find out why!

Remember the days when we used to laboriously take photographs on our disposable cameras, take them to the shop to develop, wait a few days, go back to collect them, sigh because half your auntie’s head has been cut off, put them in a box and never look at them again?

Now, with superior smartphone cameras and the ability to upload your images straight on to your chosen platform, there is an endless world of possibilities. I love sharing images on my personal social networking sites, and there are also countless opportunities for businesses to utilise this technology in their marketing plans to transform customer and stakeholder engagement.

Why are images so effective? Well, if I told you I ate a burger last night, you probably wouldn’t be particularly interested (while silently wishing that I’d talk about something else other than food). However, if I showed you a photo of the burger I ate last night, I’d get more of a reaction. If I tell you I’ve got a new dog, you’ll be more interested in seeing photos than hearing my ramblings. A photograph can transport you to a place or experience and helps you to identify with the topic discussed. I often look through my Florida photos when I need cheering up… it wouldn’t be quite the same if I sat down and read some enthralling text about Walt Disney World. It might be a cliché, but a photograph really is worth a thousand words.

My favourite visual social media sites are Pinterest and Instagram. Although Pinterest is a foodie, interior designer and wedding planner’s dream, it’s also useful for a multitude of different fields. Your Pinterest profile is made up of different ‘boards’, and each board has a topic chosen by you. You then ‘pin’ images to your boards, which link back to the website they’re hosted on. Wouldn’t it be useful if your local council used Pinterest to update you on schemes in your area? They could have a board for each village, or a board for each school with details on performances, parents’ evening and so on. And perhaps charities could use Pinterest to promote their past, present and future fundraising initiatives. Pinterest showcases your images and infographics as well as promoting your website, and you can arrange everything into categorised boards where people can quickly find out what they need to. Your business will grow when people ‘like’ and ‘re pin’ your images, and you’ll soon see a rewarding return on investment.

Instagram is another obsession of mine… a simple concept, but totally addictive. Take a photo, make it look pretty, add relevant hashtags, upload. Instagram has fantastic potential for businesses and the retail sector in particular has embraced these opportunities. Your business could run a monthly competition which involves asking customers to photograph themselves using one of your products or using one of your community hubs. Customers then upload this to Instagram, using a particular hashtag, and you’ll choose the best monthly photograph and offer a small prize. Or you could simply use Instagram to showcase a day in the office, to show off your latest development or to share snapshots from your events. Your most avid followers will ‘regram’ your photographs, building your followers and creating a buzz. Oh, and contrary to popular belief, it is not obligatory to post photos of your Starbucks takeaway coffee on Instagram every morning.

Photographs are the quickest, most visual and most effective way to communicate and they’ll get people talking about your brand. It only takes ten seconds to let customers know about your latest initiative, and a further two seconds for them to share with their networks. Why not give Pinterest and Instagram a try to see how they can revolutionise your customer and stakeholder engagement strategies? I promise you’ll soon be as addicted as I am!

You can follow me on Pinterest here: www.pinterest.com/pinkbeth86

And on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/pinkbeth86

Famous tweets!

You probably already know that I'm a massive fan of Twitter. Do you know what I'm an even bigger fan of? Getting tweets from famous people!

I've been tweeted twice by famous people in the last few weeks so I thought I'd share these momentous occasions on my blog so that you can all partake in my excitement. You probably won't be as excited as I was (and still am), but you can humour me and pretend.

So on to momentous occasion number one... I had my second hen night a few weeks ago with my work colleagues. My lengthy obsessions with certain celebrities (mostly Welsh rugby players) are quite legendary so the girls had prepared masks of some of my crushes over the years which they wore during a game of 'Guess Beth's crush'. This game involved Rhian reading out obscure facts to see if I could guess who the facts were about... needless to say, I guessed them all correctly. I'm a mine of information when it comes to certain baby faced individuals! I loved this idea, and I especially loved the Rhys Williams masks as he's probably my favourite celebrity of all time. We decided to get all the Rhys masks together so that we could tweet a photo to Rhys as he's quite prolific on Twitter.

Look at that beautiful face! (His, not mine)

Much to our (my) excitement, he promptly tweeted back telling us we were awesome and asking what the occasion was. When he was told that it was my hen night, he tweeted: 'Please tell her congratulations and I wish her and her husband all the best for the future.' Waaahhh! What a lovely man, and I'm not even biased. Well, maybe a tiny bit. 

The second famous tweet came from David Mitchell of Peep Show fame. I'm reading his hilarious autobiography at the moment and love the fact that he, just like me, looks like he's trying to break back in to his house once he's locked his front door as he's so security conscious. I therefore decided to tweet about this similarity: 'Reading @RealDMitchell's autobiography... I'm not the only person who looks as if I'm trying to break back in once I've locked my front door!' He then replied a few hours later and said 'It's reassuring to hear I'm not alone.' Again, waaaahhhh! I would have thought that David Mitchell gets tweeted quite a lot so it's great that he made the effort to reply. He's now gone up even more in my estimation. 

Has anyone famous ever tweeted you? Did you also get super excited and write a blog post on it...?

5 reasons why I'll always have a paper diary

As much as I love technology and my smartphone, I could never live without my paper diary.

I buy a new diary every June as I'm still in the academic diary cycle, and it's genuinely one of the highlights of my year. As soon as I buy my new diary, I set aside an hour or so to transfer everyone's birthdays from the old diary to the new one, write down any holidays I've got planned, make a note of any upcoming Welsh rugby games and note any annual leave days I've booked. For me, that is an extremely exciting hour of organisation bliss.

So why do I love my paper diary so much?


1. I get to choose a new pretty pattern every year. I usually spend half an hour agonising over which pattern to choose, but it's totally worth it when I get to take a pretty diary like this home with me (after I've paid for it, of course).

2. Calendars on phones/computers are actually a bit too complicated and advanced in some ways when you want to find something quickly as you can choose from day, week or month format. It's never in the right format when I want to find a specific entry, and it's generally easier to flick through a few pages and find the exact day I'm looking for.

3. I love crossing off the days on the calendar at the front of the diary. It makes me excited about things I've got planned for the future... I must stop wishing all my days away.

4. I get such a sense of organised delight when I confirm a date and put it in my diary. I actually get very annoyed if plans get changed or cancelled and I have to edit an entry! I don't even cross out entries any more as it grates on me too much... I just write 'cancelled' neatly by the side of it. I'm well aware that this blog post is making me sound like a crazy person.

5. My diary is perfectly pocket sized so it fits into my many bags and I don't go anywhere without it. I can always whip it out when I need to check if I'm free on a certain date, and I can also use the 'Notes' section at the back to jot down important details, financial transactions and so on while I'm on the go.

I love my paper diary! Does anyone else even still use a paper diary or am I a dinosaur? Let me know!

My social media objectives for 2014 - a mid year update!

You might remember that I wrote a blog post on my social media objectives for 2014 back in January. I thought I'd revisit these objectives six months on to see how I'm progressing and to make sure I'm on track. I love a bit of measuring and evaluating!


Blog objectives

• To revamp and rename my blog by April 2014. Done!
• To set up a Google Analytics account for my blog by April 2014. Done!
• To reach 100 followers on Bloglovin by the end of the year. Still a lot of work to do on this... I'm only on 28. 
• To ensure that I read other blogs and comment on them for at least half an hour every week throughout the year. I've managed to achieve this most weeks, but some weeks are too busy to fit in even half an hour!
• To take part in at least two blogger chats per month throughout the year. I started well at the beginning of the year, but haven't had time to take part in any chats for the last few months. 
• To attend at least one blogger meet-up before the end of the year. No progress on this one!

Follow me on Bloglovin

Twitter objectives

• To reach 350 Twitter followers by the end of the year. I'm on 314... not bad!
• To ensure that I engage with at least 5 new people on Twitter every week throughout the year. I'm doing pretty well with this one. 
• To ensure that at least 40% of traffic to my blog is driven there from Twitter. I'll have more definite statistics when my Google Analytics account has been up and running for a longer period of time, but initial impressions suggest that around a third of my blog traffic comes from Twitter. 

Follow me on Twitter 

Pinterest objectives

• To reach 100 followers by the end of the year. I currently have 44... I must admit, I've neglected Pinterest this year! 
• To follow at least 100 new people/boards by the end of the year. I'm following 47, so still some work to do here. 
• To have at least one Pinterest 'binge' per week! I definitely haven't had time to do this very often. 
• To comment on at least 5 pins per week as well as re-pin. No time to do this either!

Follow me on Pinterest

Instagram objectives

• To reach 150 followers by the end of the year. I currently have 132, so doing pretty well on this one. 
• To follow 100 new people by the end of the year. I'm following 388, so I've smashed this objective!
• To make better links between Instagram and my blog by promoting at least one photo from my blog on Instagram every week. I've been doing this for every blog post which contains photos. 
• To have an Instagram 'binge' at least once per week where I like and comment on other people's photos. I'm a bit obsessed with Instagram so have been doing this much more often than once per week!

Follow me on Instagram

LinkedIn objectives

• To reach 300 connections by the end of the year. At the time of writing, I'm on 299!
• To follow 10 new company pages before the end of the year. I've followed 4 company pages so far this year.  
• To join 5 new LinkedIn groups before the end of the year, and to engage with these groups as and when interesting topics arise. I haven't started on this one yet. 

Considering how busy this year has been so far, I'm pretty pleased with my progress. My Pinterest presence needs a lot of work, but I'm hoping I'll have more time to have guilt-free Pinterest binges after the wedding. Although planning a wedding should encourage a lot of Pinterest binges, I've got to the stage where looking at people's perfect weddings is stressing me out! I did enjoy looking on there for ideas right at the beginning of the planning process as I was still deciding on colours and so on, but it doesn't appeal to me at the moment. 

I'm very pleased with my progress on Instagram and it's quickly joining Twitter as my favourite social networking site. I love sharing my own photos as well as nosing at other people's. Don't we all?

Does anyone else set themselves objectives for their personal social media presence? Is it just me...?

iGrann... that's Instagram to you non Blackberry users!

I've been on the hunt for a decent Instagram app for BlackBerry for months as I love sharing photographs and also enjoy having a nose at other people's photos. I was previously using the substandard Blackgram app but it was very glitchy and eventually conked out on me, so I was delighted when I discovered iGrann.

As far as I can gather, iGrann works exactly like Instagram does and has all the same functionality. The only functions it lacks are the Instagram filters and the ability to upload videos. I never feel the need to upload videos so I'm not bothered about that, but I do miss the ability to add filters as Blackgram did have that functionality. However, I can definitely live without them until the app has an upgrade.

My iGrann profile page

As you can see below, I can like and comment on photos in exactly the same way as you can on Instagram, and the 'double tap' shortcut to like photos also works on iGrann. I can also tag users really easily on iGrann by selecting their username from the list, whereas with Blackgram I had to type them all in manually. You also couldn't delete photos from Blackgram... worst app ever! 

I love being able to share photos of anything and everything without bothering people on my Facebook and Twitter news feeds. Instagram is clearly a very self indulgent social networking site but I am a tiny bit addicted. As you can see from the screenshot of my recent images below, I post photos of everything from food to holidays to the sky to nail varnish to days/nights out. I love photos!

I mostly follow friends, fellow bloggers, Disney accounts and wedding accounts on Instagram and am always looking for new people to follow. Please feel free to leave your Instagram links below if I'm not already following you :)

You can follow me here: http://www.instagram.com/pinkbeth86. 

Come to say hello!

New Bloglovin' link... please come back, followers!

As you'll have noticed, I've finally changed my blog name and URL! This was one of my social media objectives for 2014 so I'm really pleased that I've ticked it off the list.

Although I loved my 'Little Miss Busy' blog name and thought it was a great way to sum up my rather hectic schedule, my URL didn't match as I set them both up years ago before I was aware that it's preferable to have a matching URL and blog name. So, after trying to think of a new name for months and coming up with all kinds of weird and wonderful concoctions, I finally settled on 'Little Miss Disney'. Not too different to the name I had before, and very apt! Obviously I don't just blog about Disney, but I think it's a nice way to describe me as a person and a lot of my content.

My page views have decreased dramatically since I changed my URL, and I think this might partly be because I lost all my Bloglovin' followers when I switched over. Just in case you weren't aware that you're no longer following me due to the switch, you can now click here to follow me on Bloglovin'.

Please come back, followers!

My social media objectives for 2014

I love a good SMART objective. All objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound. If they're not SMART, they're not objectives!

I've decided to set myself a few objectives for my social networking sites this year as it's useful to have some goals to measure yourself against to make sure you're making progress and achieving everything you set out to achieve. I work in communications so I've been busy setting objectives and writing a strategy for my professional social media sites, so I thought it would be beneficial to set some for my personal sites too. I'm a self confessed social media addict and I'm keen to achieve more on my social networking sites this year than I ever have before.

So here are my personal social media objectives for 2014!

My blog 

• To revamp and rename my blog by April 2014. Although I like the way blog looks at the moment, it could look a lot more professional. I also really like the name of my blog, but unfortunately the littlemissbusy.blogspot.co.uk URL isn't available and I want the name to match the URL. 
• To set up a Google Analytics account for my blog by April 2014. I use Google Analytics for work and absolutely love it, but it's always been set up for me by web developers so I need to figure out how to set an account up myself for my own blog. Can anyone link me to any blog posts on how to do this?
• To reach 100 followers on Bloglovin by the end of the year. I will (hopefully) achieve this by publicising my Bloglovin presence a lot more and taking part in more blogger chats. 
• To ensure that I read other blogs and comment on them for at least half an hour every week throughout the year. I'm very busy at the moment with wedding planning so I think this is a realistic time commitment to set for this objective. Achieving this objective will also help me to achieve the second objective!
• To take part in at least two blogger chats per month throughout the year. Blogger chats are a great way to engage with other bloggers and to find new blogs to read. They're also very helpful as you often find out that other bloggers have exactly the same insecurities about their blog as you have. 
• To attend at least one blogger meet-up before the end of the year. I'm very scared about this one, but I'm determined to step out of my comfort zone and just do it!

Follow me on Bloglovin

Twitter

• To reach 350 Twitter followers by the end of the year. I currently have 255 so this is a realistic objective. I will achieve this milestone by taking part in more blogger chats as I've mentioned above and tweeting more about current affairs which are of interest to me, using the relevant hashtags for increased exposure.
• To ensure that I engage with at least 5 new people on Twitter every week throughout the year. These could be fellow bloggers, authors, retailers and so on. 
• To ensure that at least 40% of traffic to my blog is driven there from Twitter. Twitter is the biggest promotional tool I have for my blog at the moment and I'm hoping this will continue throughout 2014.
   

Follow me on Twitter

Pinterest

• To reach 100 followers by the end of the year. Achieving the set objectives below will help me to achieve this milestone. 
• To follow at least 100 new people/boards by the end of the year.
• To have at least one Pinterest 'binge' per week! I absolutely adore Pinterest but I do sometimes forget to visit the site for weeks at a time if I'm particularly busy. 
• To comment on at least 5 pins per week as well as re-pin. I re-pin loads of pins on Pinterest but never take the time to comment, which means I'm not making the most of my engagement opportunities.
   

Follow me on Pinterest

Instagram

• To reach 150 followers by the end of the year. I currently only have 30 followers as I've only had an Instagram account for two months, but I think it has huge potential for me so I think this is a realistic objective. 
• To follow 100 new people by the end of the year. I currently follow 115 people, most of which are bloggers or Disney people.
• To make better links between Instagram and my blog by promoting at least one photo from my blog on Instagram every week. I love a bit of social media integration. 
• To have an Instagram 'binge' at least once per week where I like and comment on other people's photos. Again, I can't expect people to engage with my photos if I'm not reciprocating. It's all about two-way communication. I do have difficulty with Instagram as I have a Blackberry which means that I don't have the official Instagram app. The Blackberry version is called 'Blackgram' (I know, awful name) and is very glitchy, to put it nicely!

Follow me on Instagram 

LinkedIn

• To reach 300 connections by the end of the year. I currently have 240 connections and this number tends to creep up quite slowly, so this is a realistic objective. 
• To follow 10 new company pages before the end of the year. There are lots of relevant company pages on LinkedIn with interesting content, both from a professional and a personal perspective. 
• To join 5 new LinkedIn groups before the end of the year, and to engage with these groups as and when interesting topics arise. This will be a great way of engaging with like-minded people and picking up tips on various topics which interest me. 

I'll write a 'Halfway through the year' post in June to let you know how I'm getting on these objectives. I'm now off to read and comment on some blogs... I'm going to start as I mean to go on! 

My love of Pinterest

Pinterest is absolutely brilliant. It's a combination of organisation and categorisation, along with pictures of food, lovely places, home decor, crafts, clothes, and anything else you can think of. What's not to like? I treat it as an online scrapbook where I can 'pin' recipes I spot on various websites, keep photos from places I've been to or places I want to visit, and just generally store photos/ideas I like.

I have 26 different boards at the moment, and the Food and Dessert boards are the most populated. I bet you're not surprised by this. My Animal, Things I Like and House boards are also very full of a huge variety of different pins. Here are some of my favourite pins:

I don't actually use Pinterest as often as I use other social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook, but it's very satisfying and difficult to stop when I do decide to have a 'binge'. It's very addictive... don't say I didn't warn you!

You can also use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog, by 'pinning' all the images from your blog onto your Pinterest boards. Every pin on Pinterest directs you back to its original source, so it gives you some extra exposure on a different channel. I love a bit of streamlining. 

I'll be researching Pinterest for businesses over the few weeks and would be really interested in hearing from anyone who is already using Pinterest as part of their organisation's social media strategy.

You can view my boards and pins here. Enjoy!

Facebook v Twitter

I'm a bit of a social media geek, and would love to have more time to explore the vast range of social networking sites which are springing up all over the place. These are the sites I'm most familiar with and use most often:

- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Blogger
- LinkedIn
- Flickr
- YouTube

I use some of these in a personal capacity, some for work purposes, and some for both.

Twitter has to be my favourite, closely followed by Pinterest. Facebook is definitely lingering at the bottom of the list, whereas in 2007/08 I was totally obsessed with it. It actually took me a long time to get used to Twitter, whereas I became obsessed with Facebook straight away. However, once I got the hang of it and realised its appeal, I began to use Facebook less and less. So why is Twitter so much further up my list of social networking sites? In some ways it isn't a fair comparison as the two sites are largely used for different purposes, but I found that I lost interest in Facebook when I started using Twitter more. Most of my close friends are on Twitter too, and it's actually easier to communicate with them on there most of the time than it is on Facebook. Here are my reasons for preferring Twitter, please feel free to comment and disagree!

1. I consider Twitter to be much less intrusive than Facebook
My Facebook profile is totally private, to the point where you can't even find me in search results. However, I still feel very wary about sharing my information on there because Facebook keep changing their privacy settings and are increasingly becoming more commercialised and (probably) selling people's data. My Twitter profile is public so anyone can find me and follow me, and yet I embrace this openness. I obviously don't publish any of my personal information on there (such as date of birth, phone number, address) so I'm perfectly happy to share my tweets with the world, if people want to read them! Although I don't publish that information on Facebook either, I'm much more wary about who has access to my profile and my photos.

2. No petty arguments!
You don't tend to get the same level of arguments on Twitter as you do on Facebook, as the dynamics are totally different. If people do want to argue on Twitter, you can only see the tweets if you're following both profiles. Even then, the annoying tweets tend to get lost on your news feed as other people are tweeting at the same time. On Facebook, the arguments are there plainly for everyone to see, whether you're 'friends' with the other people involved in the argument or not. Why do people feel the need to argue on a social networking site? Sometimes these people actually live in the same house and are probably sitting in the same room! Talk to each other, people.

3. Twitter is a constant source of news and information
Major news stories are quite often broken on Twitter these days before they hit the news websites. People tweet live updates, tweet photos from the scene, and a lot of journalists also give their accounts via Twitter in the first instance. I never actually watch the news and rarely visit news websites. I don't need to, Twitter tells me everything I need to know! I've even passed a crime scene in the past, searched for the street name on Twitter, and found out exactly what's happened. I definitely never find out any real news from Facebook, apart from who got evicted from the Big Brother house or what the weather is like in Carmarthenshire. Obviously people tweet about these things too, but you still get some real news thrown in too as long as you're following the right people!

4. Hashtags!
Hashtags are a brilliant Twitter invention, and something Facebook will never be able to rival. You can find out who else is tweeting about a particular topic at any time, however random it might be. During big events such as the Six Nations, elections, awards and so on, you can follow the official event hashtag to find out what's going on. I quite often follow the hashtags for events without actually watching them on TV, it's just as informative and means I don't have to fiddle around with my TV aerial for hours. I can't see how this would ever work on Facebook, as it's more of a closed community in my opinion. Your content (in my case, anyway) is restricted to those who you choose to add as friends, so it doesn't give the same scope for discussion.

5. Connect with 'celebrities'
I put celebrities in inverted commas because I don't follow big celebrities such as Britney Spears or various Premier League footballers. However, I do like knowing what the Welsh rugby team are up to, so I follow a few of those. I also like following my favourite authors to get an insight into their daily lives and also to get updates on when their next books will be released. My favourite celebrity on Twitter is Tom from McFly, as you get a real insight into his personality from his tweets and he doesn't put on any airs or graces. You should definitely all follow him.

6. Sense of community 
Even though there are millions upon millions of Twitter users and tweets which can make it feel very vast, I still feel a sense of community when using Twitter. I follow a lot of people who I've never met in real life, yet I feel as if I know them and would probably get on with them straight away if we were ever to meet because we'd have some common ground. I don't get this sense of community from Facebook as it seems to be more self involved in some ways, rather than encouraging communication and discussion.

What do other people think? Which do you prefer?