Envirosoft, or Encore Tissue, has a Twitter handle @SafeTissue.

The bio proclaims: “Australia’s only Toilet Paper endorsed by Planet Ark. Made from 100% Recycled Waste Paper. A Better Choice for Our Planet!”

I’m vaguely aware, of course, that companies and organisations have Twitter and Facebook accounts. Although I’m no expert in social media, I would have thought these accounts should inform and engage readers.

@SafeTissue teases with snippets of information, but fails to deliver with any consistency. For instance, I was intrigued to learn: “December has been a huge month for SAFE; so much so that we ran out of our Double Length 6pk for a short period (ranged in IGA & other independent supermarkets). Stock is being shipped now and will be avaliable again soon”.

That’s a relief, especially if you’re holding out for the truck to arrive.

That was the most recent tweet (and Facebook update) on January 8.

I’d really like to know why toilet paper stocks were flying off the shelves. Is there a link between Christmas festivities and demand? Do extra indulgences have a downside, or an upside in the case of toilet paper manufacturers?

The previous tweet and Facebook update was on November 20: “Best wishes to the Sea Sheppard (sic) crews on the “Bob Barker” and “Steve Irwin” as they prepare to head back to sea. There (sic) a hardy crew and lifes (sic) tough out in (sic) the ocean, but Safe Toilet tissue is bringing a little softness to thier (sic) day.”


I can only assume that @SafeTissue sponsors Sea Shepherd, but again this was an isolated, tantalising post with no supporting information.

I’m sure the crew appreciates the comfort, but how did Safe Toilet come to be a sponsor? Are they flush with funds?

A flurry of tweets in October revealed special prices, National Recycling Week and the fact “SAFE Toilet Tissue is 100 percent Australian owned and made”. That’s important to stress when your competitors are plundering Sumatran rainforests and killing tigers (my words, not theirs).

I started writing this post with no idea of where I was heading. It just seemed an interesting prompt.

Now I’m feeling a little deflated and less likely than I was earlier today to purchase Safe toilet tissue.

Apart from the Twitter account being random and erratic, the spelling is atrocious!

There may not be a manual yet on how companies should promote themselves in social media, but I’m sure there’s a common-sense rule to spell correctly.

While the marketing department at Envirosoft hasn’t quite pulled this one off, they might be onto something if they can get their shit together.

There were a number of internal “shuffles” throughout the year though, to keep things fluid and interesting.

Today I received an email from LinkedIn saying that 17 of my 121 connections changed jobs during 2011. That’s 14 percent of people.

I wonder how that compares with the total workforce?

It’s probably on the low side, because according to this web site, nearly 25 percent of Australian employees will change jobs this year.

According to Life Work Solutions:

• More than 50 percent of the people recruited in to an organisation will leave within two years.
• One in four people recruited will leave within six months.
• Nearly 70 percent of organisations report that staff turnover has a negative impact.
• Nearly 70 percent of organisations report having difficulties in replacing staff.
• Approximately 50 percent of organisations experience regular problems with employee retention.

I’m lucky to be happy doing what I’m doing, and in fairness to my 17 LinkedIn connections who changed jobs, I know some of them at least simply had their titles varied and they continue to perform the same work.

As for LinkedIn, it’s an interesting form of social media. I don’t use it as often as Twitter or Google+, but it fills a niche for employment-related activity.

My LinkedIn profile is here.

“EBook Share and Make Money: Affiliate elegantthemes Payout $78 – have Proof (link) via @TieuRamBo . Join today”

It’s disturbing that these tweets were made and I have no idea how it happened. I have changed my Twitter password as an obvious precaution.

In an email to subscribers today, the company says: “We’re excited to announce that LivingSocial is now offering more locally targeted deals in your area.”

“As you know, we’ve been featuring daily deals throughout Adelaide. As of today, we’ll have two daily deals in the region: Adelaide-North and Adelaide-South.”

The regions have been automatically assigned. I live just west of the Adelaide CBD, but I’m categorised by LivingSocial as being in Adelaide South.

That meant today I received an offer for “Skin Analysis, Microdermabrasion and Non-Surgical Facelift” whereas the Adelaide North deal was dinner for two with a bottle of wine at a pub in Port Adelaide.

I would much rather have the dinner for two.

Members can choose to receive offers from the other zone, which I will probably do, although it hopefully won’t mean an extra email each day.

I’m not sure if there will be increased options as the service expands and matures, but I would like to only receive offers for things that I’m interested in.

So far I have only bought meals. It’s great to get these for half price.

I currently have accounts with both. Also with identica, Tumblr and Type Pad.

Twitter is the one I use most. The Twitter updates also feed through automatically to my wall on Facebook.

Let’s take a look at the differences between Twitter and Facebook, bearing in mind this is my private view and each person will be different.

I find that Twitter is more professional than personal. More than half of my contacts are people who work in the media and public relations.

For that reason, I’m fairly self conscious about my updates, knowing they will be read by my peers and potentially a public audience, rather than close friends.

I tend to focus on writing tweets related to my work or current news, injecting humor when appropriate.

These posts also go through to my Facebook wall, where my readership is entirely different.

Most of my Facebook friends are relatives and friends, many from places far away where I used to work.

They’re more likely to comment on my updates than Twitter followers and I make an effort to read theirs.

Dare I say it, Facebook is more popular with young people. Two of my children have Facebook accounts and most of my staff are on there too, but none of them show any interest in Twitter.

When it comes to following people and being followed, I’m happy to link up with anyone on Twitter I find interesting. With Facebook, I just allow people I know.

Because I’m careful about what I publish on Twitter, I sometimes make more casual posts on other sites, either my own blog or a new Type Pad microblog.

I’ve stopped using Tumblr, I just found it not very social and it delivered poor search results on Google.

So in effect, I’ve created boundaries around which web services I use for what purpose. The boundaries aren’t solid walls and can be moved, but in general terms they provide a consistent point of reference.

I also uses a “lifestream” aggregator on my personal blog for a while to bring together most of my content, a sort of personal Friend Feed.

If you have both Twitter and Facebook accounts, how do you differentiate between them?

Categorised under “Organizations – clubs and societies”, the group was called “People who think Joe is annoying”. There was a photo of Joe wearing his cricket club cap, with a red line drawn through his head.

The description read: “This group is for people who all agree Joe is an annoying tool.”

Some of the early members published mildly insulting posts, nothing in isolation that would trigger a defamation action in the real world, but collectively … a recipe for depression or worse if they continued to aggregate.

I don’t know the legal definition, but the site was definitely vilifying its subject according to my understanding of the word: “To make vile; debase; degrade.”

Fortunately, some commonsense started to show itself.

One boy wrote: “wow u guys really don’t understand do u. this guy has done nothing wrong. in fact i would say he ha helped people out. u realise that this is the weakest form of bullying and it is also a criminal offence. u cant ignore me by deleting me messages cos im just gonna keep posting them. delete this now before u get urselves into to much shit. trust me i would.”

A local man who discovered the group entered the discussion: “ok everyone who thinks this is a funny joke – think about this….. think about what kind of impact this kind of thing can have on someone, I attended a funeral of a young gentleman only 2 days ago who happened to be the victim of bullying … so just imagine if this was about you, your brother/sister, best friend, team mate or other family member … seriously you should all be aware what this can do to people, you should all be ashamed of yourselves for being involved in this group, remove yourselves and this group. its the right thing to do.”

The heat was on the perpetrators. A couple more posts targeted them:

“freeking disgraceful by all involved, all of you need to have a look at yourself, i echo what A and B (names removed) have said and have felt sick since heard about this group was hoping it was a urban myth. Your generation has experienced enough pain and grief without inflicting it someone else who too be honest is honest and would do anything for any body and i emphasise anybody!! really disappointing stuff and makes me wonder what makes you tick and your sense of humour well that’s debatable. Oops, the group creators did a runner. They removed themselves from the group, but left it live and open to comments.”

One lady observed: “I hope that you wankers realise that most the people that have joined this group are the ones telling you what tools you are. Leave the poor kid alone. Oh would you look at that all the admins have left the group, guess they couldn’t hack the crap from all the normal people.”

Someone who knew the creators chipped in: “The group getting deleted tonight. Weren’t you a kid before? They make mistakes. Think stuff is funny and all that shit, they just need an adult to tell them its wrong and not called for them to realise the effects it has on others. I know for a fact the person is scared shitless and doesn’t know what to do.”

Well, it would appear you can’t delete a group if the administrator removes himself as a member. Catch 22. The administrator had to find a deep hole to hide himself in, or come clean, rejoin the group and close it.

Genuinely contrite, or perhaps under some pressure from others, the creator made this post:

Apart from the creator acting stupidly, this whole incident raises a number of issues.

1) Should children be allowed free access to social media websites? No.
2) Should Facebook or any other social media be allowed to publish whatever it likes? No.
3) How do you regulate social media? That’s hard.

In my view, authorities need to urgently examine the regulation of popular interactive websites, such as Facebook.

It is not acceptable that mainstream media are subject to laws and responsibilities, while so-called social media have free reign.

Vilification is a terrible act at any time, but coming in the wake of a local death attributed to bullying, it’s reckless and reprehensible.

Most newspapers are now active online and seek to maintain standards of commentary that conform with societal standards.

The speed of publication and its inherently interactive nature makes for a more dynamic environment, but standards are maintained. Facebook however, in this case at least, abrogated its responsibility as a publisher.

The mechanisms for others to report a distasteful page or comment failed.

Trawl the web and it’s not too difficult to find flame posts, personal attacks and vilification galore.

The task of taming this giant beast is nearly impossible. In most cases, the authorities and those vilified are helpless to act.

I genuinely believe this issue ought to be on the agenda for world leaders to discuss at the United Nations and the G8 summit.

Not the attack on a South Australian teenager, but how to regulate social media without surrendering freedom to publish responsibly.

Wikipedia is a model that should be looked at, ie community editors.

Perhaps every website publisher should have to sign a code of conduct with the webhost and risk automatic closure if the code is breached.

Yes, that will require legislation, bureaucracy, appeal mechanisms and controls. Impose a tax at the hosting level.

They are some options off the top of my head that don’t involve filtering.

I wasn’t up at 2am when the personalised addresses became available in Australia, but having a relatively uncommon surname has its advantages.

I now have the same username for Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Skype and Facebook.

I don’t actually use Facebook much. The wall content published there is my Twitter feed. I just check in occasionally to see if I have any messages.

When it comes to vanity URLs, John Abell has an interesting take on it.

He argues people are better off “grabbing the domain name” that best represents them.

“You still probably can find something that works. Do that, stick with it and brand yourself on any social media site you want forever,” Abell says.

I’m lucky to have gorey.com.au. With the domain, email michael @ gorey.com.au and mgorey usernames I think my “personal brand” is pretty consistent and easily found.

My children can also have email accounts with the domain if they want them.

Nevertheless, I like to try new things and stumbled across Identi.ca yesterday and set up an account with the short, early-adopter user name of mjg.

The service is Open Source and I like the fact I can login with openID. There is the promise of things to come in terms of integration and updates, such as SMS, Facebook and WordPress.

There is a good in-depth discussion here.

I go through periods when I tweet regularly and then I do nothing for a week.

For such an inactive and boring tweeter I was surprised to find that 15 followers had jumped on my bandwagon in the past few weeks.

As Jessica points out, it’s not easy to block spam followers, who appear to be peddling nothing more than links.

At least I have now disabled the email notification, which was starting to become a right pain.

“For a service this popular, better native blocking tools should be a no-brainer. Hopefully they will be before the spam really catches on,” Jessica writes.

Not being a big twit (is that the correct term?), I can’t complain as much as some others who must be really feeling the nuisance value of this, but I agree the management system should be improved.

A new one has come along though called Explode. I registered early and so far I’m impressed. By signing up early I got a good user name (michaelg).

I have previously experimented with Myspace. With no disrespect to the operators and participants, myspace and others seem to be more like dating sites for young singles.

I like the fact that even with a small community (so far) Explode has a high percentage of members aged over 30. It’s possible to link with these people minus any assumption that you’re interested in a relationship. It’s also more likely (for my age group) that we’ll find people with common interests.

There are benefits in linking blogs, such as web traffic for Google ads and interaction generally, so the Explode concept is great and I hope it succeeds. And as Paula says, it’s addictive (Paula’s blog).

Update: Explode is no longer online.