Why Are Social Media and Technology So Challenging?

Do you ever struggle like I do?

Yesterday's mistake.

If you subscribe to the emails from this blog, you probably wondered why the subject line of the email I sent out yesterday (March 24) said "Happy St Patrick's Day." In fact, I bet you thought it was old news and never even opened it.

Ugh. 

I know I'm out of practice, but social media and technology seem more difficult now than they ever did to me. I make mistakes while using my phone, sending emails, and posting content on social media.

I make mistakes when I send texts

Have you ever composed a text and then sent it to the wrong person? I've done this, more times than I'd like to admit. Autocorrect has assisted me in many not-so-helpful ways.

I make mistakes on social media

I've made a bunch of mistakes while trying to acknowledge or comment on other people's posts. Spelling errors, double comments, neglecting to acknowledge the posts of my dear friends  ... you name it, I have done it.

Just yesterday, I somehow managed to add the same post to Instagram not once, but THREE times. How on earth did I do that? The first two times the content just didn't seem to load, so I kept trying. And then, later, all three appeared. Before I noticed this, people had liked and added comments on all three posts. Now, I have no idea what to do. Delete two of them, or leave my mistakes for all to see?

I make mistakes when I send blast emails (See yesterday's for proof!)

I work hard to craft an interesting weekly newsletter for my blog subscribers. I came up with the idea to change the subject title line every week, to make these emails look more interesting when they appear in the subscriber's inbox.

On March 17th, my email had the subject title, "Happy St. Patrick's Day." I thought I'd changed that wording to "Happy Wednesday" before my email went out on March 24, but for some reason that edit didn't stick. The subject line of the email remained, "Happy St. Patrick's Day." 

Of course, I didn't notice until the email was already sent. How many of my followers do you think, would have clicked an email when it referred to a holiday that occurred the week before?

Do you make mistakes like this, too?

How to stop making these mistakes

• Practice makes perfect, or so they say. I think it's more like trial and error until I get it right.
• Send a test email to my own email address before sending it to everyone on my list. Had I done so, I probably would have caught and corrected the subject line mistake.
• Hire a virtual assistant–––Nope. This blog doesn't make enough money to pay that person's salary, so I won't be doing that!
• Pay more attention to little details, like always proofreading texts and posts and checking to be sure I'm posting them correctly.
• Stop rushing to get things done.
• Learn more about how to use the social media platforms on which I participate.
• Don't sweat the small stuff. Most of the time, much of it probably goes unnoticed.

Or ...

Maybe someone should just take my phone, computer, and blog away from me and save me from embarrassing myself. 

As long as you don't mind getting the occasional strangely-worded email subject line, I think you would enjoy the contents of my (at least for now) weekly newsletter. 

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Also, if you didn't read the email I sent yesterday, I really hope you will!

Please keep social distancing, wear a mask, wash your hands, get vaccinated, and stay healthy! 😷