@natwm10 “Believe it or not, I struggle with social media, despite having a personal Twitter account and looking after three other work based accounts. I struggle because I always saw social media as a shouting post for the loudest and the brashest, I didn’t want to post mundane pictures or comments that didn’t mean anything. I then found out that it’s so much more than that. Twitter certainly is where I now go to find out about the latest news or to find information on professional matters or on anything that interests me really. I have had a Twitter account for around five years and I now have my third avatar. My first was a street sign that had the names of three villages on near where I live, with deep blue sky in the background. I have no idea why I put this on there but, I like where I live and perhaps, being quite sentimental, it reminded me of home.
“I then got quite into Twitter, as well as meeting new people that shared the same interests as me (meeting being sharing the odd 140 word tweet). I remember at the time reading a lot about if there isn’t a real person in the avatar then other people can often think that they are maybe a tweet bot. Which is slightly odd really considering that my tweets were clearly from a Sheffielder! (thee, thy and reyt) So I changed my avatar to a slightly dodgy looking picture of me. There you are Twitter, instead of tweeting with a street sign, you are now tweeting with an uncomfortable looking man in a lilac shirt…. This picture was a work picture taken for my new name badge. I remember that it was very sunny that day and I feel I never look good in a picture, I didn’t in this one, I just remember it being a good day.
“I then changed to my current avatar in July 2015, I broke my thumb making a world class save in a five a side football match. In reality the ball was going about two foot over the cross bar and I still put my hand to it to ‘save’ it. My thumb bent back and twisted in a way it wasn’t designed to do. My friend Mr Joe Langley, thought it funny to send me a YouTube clip of Mr Thumb (a animated dancing thumb from the 60’s) since then Mr Thumb has stayed as my avatar. I feel comfortable with Mr Thumb and feel safe with him there. Who knows I may get another head rush and put a picture of myself back up…”
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