2013-05-23T22:28:27-04:00 Chidubem Nwabufo http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=chidubem-nwabufo Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Chidubem Nwabufo Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1710551 2012-07-27T12:27:20-04:00 2012-09-26T05:12:33-04:00

Chidubem Nwabufo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chidubem-nwabufo/
Now, fast forward to present day. And that excitement has over the years and months slowly turned to irritation and dislike (sometimes described as detest even), resulting in a complete removal (in facebook terms, deactivation) of myself from the social networking site.

So what is this dislike for Facebook about? It seems the twitterverse (the new King of social media) is trying to figure it out too. The trending topic #5reasonsIHateFacebook has been in the top 5 worldwide trending topics for hours, WORLDWIDE.

I've picked out some that I could relate to from the bunch of tweets:

@Jaypee_2much: "#5reasonsIHateFaceBook Getting tagged in pictures of Jordan Heels -_-"

@thesmithxx: "#5reasonsIHateFaceBook those stupid invites to those stupid games"

@DiddyTheBoy : "#5reasonsIHateFaceBook Dumb statuses. The Timeline. Beg for likes. Little kids swearing they're in love 💏 Dumb game requests 👾"

@giirllprobz: "#5ReasonsIHateFacebook Obviously you don't think the picture is ugly, YOU UPLOADED IT."

We've all being there with the above, we've all had those facebook moments; where you think 'Oh My Gosh, this is just ridiculous', I'm sure of it.

Consequently, I put my social media loving brain to work, attempting to decode this growing hatred for Facebooking. My conclusion? Short of simple.

So why have we come to detest/dislike Facebook?

The graduation of social media, has allowed us to 'recreate' our lives online, more so with every new creation. Take twitter for instance, there are so many accounts, which are set up without any real identity -many people can hide behind celebrity pictures, eggs, logos, shoes, clothes etc (used as avatars) and tweet anonymously, and still grab attention and gain a large following. We love a little bit of mystery in our online lives. Apparently.

Now, Facebook on the other hand is built on the idea of sharing information with people we know in our actual lives. The idea of 'friending' someone is a lot more personal than gaining a new follower. For one, you don't have to get the tweets of a new follower but a new Facebook friend pops up on your feed every so often (depending on their usership).
At first the idea of having a website space to interact with people in your life (old friends, new friends, friends across the pond, whatever) seems fun and appealing but that soon fades.

To me, the growing 'hatred' with Facebook is down to human obsession with want and our discontentment with what we have. Those are the things that drive us more towards the twitters and tumblrs.

But then again, it may simply, just be that Facebook is old and we want the latest toy. Or that you're more likely to get a celebrity response via twitter than Facebook (if that's your thing), or maybe it's the fact that once a Facebook account is created it can't be completely deleted. EVER.

All in all, it's really just down to individual preferences [as active MySpace and Bebo users will tell you].

Note: None of the tweets in this blog post are mine.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1302937 2012-02-26T20:56:08-05:00 2012-07-25T16:41:20-04:00

Chidubem Nwabufo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chidubem-nwabufo/ Even CNN published a pretty lengthy article about it!

I had to react to all the 'what message does this send out to our children' comments via Facebook.

Here are some things to clear before I continue with this 'rant'. I do enjoy Chris Brown's music. Yes, what he did in 2009 to Rihanna was inexcusable, I am not here to plead his case with anyone; everyone is entitled freely to think whatever he or she chooses of him.

My problem with the situation [the backlash] is the continuous use of the 'ROLE MODEL' argument! Really, are parents now reliant on celebrities to parent their children? Is that really what society has come to?

The Chris Brown-Rihanna situation is not the only case, of course. There are many more but I guess, this is most recent hence why I have used it as an example.

Dear 2012 parents,
Celebrities usually don't become that [celebs] because they want to be role models. (Granted once in that scenario, they should make an effort but *remember* they are human and make mistakes too - believe it or not)

Most of these people are doing a j-o-b, maybe more glamorous and public than our 9 to 5s but a job nonetheless.
The whole 'what message does that send out to our children' argument only reflects badly on today's parents (and their parenting)!! It is up to you as a parent to teach your children that violence, smoking, crimes, sexting or whatever else you deem bad or negative is a big NO! NO!

It's not up to some 16, 20 or 22 year old boy or girl to do that job for you.
So please stop with the "what message..." and focus on being a positive influence on us, kids.

Truly yours,
a 2012 kid]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1081610 2011-11-11T09:13:14-05:00 2012-07-25T18:13:21-04:00

Chidubem Nwabufo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chidubem-nwabufo/
How wrong you are! It may not be the first thing on our minds, granted (frankly we have clubbing, lectures and assessments to think about first and foremost) but it is there at the back of our minds, waiting for a trigger. My own trigger came early one morning when I received yet another one of those "unfortunately, we have reviewed your profile and don't feel that you are quite right for us," another rejection email! Another opportunity GONE! (Please refrain from pitying). It doesn't take one email to get you thinking about life after university, it's usually about ten, and the constant new reporting of how high the unemployment rates have risen (9% in the USA, 8% in the UK...4% in China...)

The excuse used by companies when rejecting your application or proposal; that you aren't experienced enough, or for my blog -- we really don't know who the hell you are; makes you think so how am I to get the experience I need or become known if you won't give me a chance? Then the thoughts about applying for a job after third year start to creep in, "I have no experience now and I won't be getting any soon, just a degree that will be undervalued." The uncertainty of a job after graduation and the thought of having to live in Momma's house are then coupled with the thought of being in some serious debt (No, thanks to David Cameron and his tuition increases.)

Many first year students (and even A Level students) have to deal with the pressures of the future. For A Level students, its now about getting the best grades possible so as to end up in one of the Russell Group or Ivy League schools. Such a school gives one the backing that puts you just that little bit above your classmates. And for us, university students, it's now about hustling to get that one internship with that big company *insert name as appropriate*, just so we have that supporting our CVs (or sometimes joining societies which already have that backing).

Of course all those things are great! We should all be striving for the best anyway, but at what cost? In one case, the pressure cost a life when a young girl (in year 13) had had enough and decided to hang herself, and in a less extreme case, one student simply shut down and couldn't take the exams that he'd worked so hard for. There isn't any way to completely stop the pressure - policies to lift us from the hell of this economic tragedy would help - but it is essential that we are aware of it. We must also try to give the most vulnerable the support that they need to overcome and succeed.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.932141 2011-08-20T12:44:40-04:00 2012-07-25T16:41:46-04:00

Chidubem Nwabufo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chidubem-nwabufo/
British moguls and their American counterparts have been harping on about the amount of money lost each year by the rise in unauthorised downloading! Just the negatives! The breaches in copyright! The loss of huge amounts of pounds, dollars and the likes.

Fair enough, the music industry is losing revenue because one person decides to share a song on a site or a friend copies songs off another friend's iTunes. Does the latter sound familiar? It is the equivalent of what happens when one person finishes a book and hands it over to a friend or a charity shop! The author of the book gets nothing through that change of hands! NOTHING! So why should it be any different for the music industry?

Okay, maybe my last statement isn't completely true. The author does get recognition, and if the book is good, a full purchase may happen next time. That then brings me to the point that unauthorised/illegal downloads isn't all bad news for the industry. How so?

Well, like the author who gains a fan by free or reduced exchange, if an artist's album or single is exceptional then he or she may gain a following willing to actually buy their music legally in the future. Although that is dependent on what type of person you're dealing with; a greedy person will just keep downloading for free, no questions asked.

When illegal downloads are talked about you almost NEVER hear about what good it has done for music. Like reducing the exclusivity barrier within music! Not the way shows such as The X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent have cheapened it! But in the sense that people who actually work extremely hard can get their music out onto people's ipods [not just their family and friends] thanks to many media sharing sites.

Yes, superpower artists, the Kanyes, Beyonces and the likes,lose millions to these host sites but they have given young talent and unknowns (who may be on par or even more talented than these stars) the occasion to be recognised! So maybe music insiders should be saying thank you for pulling underground artists into the main stream rather than nagging about lost money (while in their Ferraris or Lamborghinis).

Or instead find ways to persuade us to actually cough out £8 (seems like a fortune for some plastic and a few pictures and words) and buy their music! Up your standards, because obviously the little pictures of yourselves in the booklet isn't enough [excluding Rihanna's Loud album, I went down to my local HMV to buy that, thanks to the rumoured raunchy photos]

The era of copyright breaches isn't going anyway anytime soon so you [ARTISTS] will have to give it a run for your money! LITERALLY.]]>