Powerful Communication Podcast

Being able to 'read the room' and say things in an appropriate tone.

Treating others the way you wish to be treated and respecting other people's boundaries are all valuable things to learn - in life and on social media.

One key attribute is being able and willing to let someone else have the last word.

All too often discussions become arguments and arguments escalate into something even stronger because neither side can let things go.

It pays dividends to be the one to - sometimes - let the other person come back at you - and then say nothing in response.

Being content with having some people disagreeing with you and not feeling obliged to try and change their mind also goes a long way to cultivating a healthy community around you on social media.

Sarcasm doesn't come across well on social media and expressing even minor irritation in a jokey way can be perceived by some, as aggression.

I say all this as someone who's got it wrong myself on plenty of occasions but who has tried to learn!

The old adage - if you've nothing good to say , don't say anything is worthwhile - and think about the implications for your employment, or other friends and family members all of whom may well see everything you post on social media.

Every post - from a private WhatsApp group to public Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all part of our personal brands and we should think carefully before we say anything that might jeapordise these.

Online hactivist group Anonymous has released a video threatening Vladimir Putin with further cyber attacks against his regime - telling the Russian leader 'your secrets are not safe', until he stops attacking Ukraine.

Anonymous claim to be 'ethical hackers' and have taken action in the past against governments and corporations.

SocialMediaToday.com is highlighting some strong growth for a new social media app called 'BeReal'.

The idea is users share a photo from their real life, once a day at a different, very specific time. The app uses the back and front cameras on your phone so you are sharing where you are and what you're looking at, as well as your face.

It's enjoying good growth and could give us a sign of new features that might make their way into Instagram and Facebook.

BeReal is seen as the antitode to the perfectly polished and fake versions of themselves that some people share on other social apps.

Headphone giant Beats has launched some new colours of its Studio Beats buds - the high end devices are now available in blue, gray and pink as well as black, white and red.

Google has been forced to take action after it emerged more than a dozen apps contained malicious code which has been harvesting people's phone numbers, email addresses and even their locations.

Among then was a widely used QR Code scanner which failed to meet its data protection policies.

There's no suggestion the app developers were actually using the information for anything other than legitimate purposes and the apps affected will be allowed to ask to be reinstated into the Play Store.

Staying with Google for a moment - have you tried Google Lens?

It's an image search - if there's a product, perhaps a piece of equipment, jewellery, or an item of clothing and you want to find out more about it snap it with your camera and Google Lens will give you any information it can find about it.

It's great for identifying something you might want to buy, without having to type in text to search.

And with council elections taking place soon across the UK, there's a fascinating article on cnet.com from Estonia, which has enabled digital voting, letting citizens vote from anywhere and even change their preference right up until the polls close.

Twitter has confirmed it IS working on an edit button.

The feature is one users have been requesting for years but it's fraught with difficulties.

What if someone Tweets something perfectly reasonable, you ReTweet it and they then edit it to something offensive?

It's been suggested some sort of 'edit history' might be included.

I'm always looking at ways your tech can save you money.

One of the most important things to do is to make sure you're not paying for something you don't need. So cancel free trials when you reach the end of the free period and don't let it roll into a subscription.

Pay attention to apps you use once that might auto renew every month or every year.

And if there's something you really do want and use regularly, there can be big savings by paying for a year up front.

And bundles are always worth a look too - your broadband deal might offer a discount on a mobile phone and some TV packages include things like Netflix or free music streaming subscriptions.

You can also benefit by 'referring a friend' - many providers will give you both cash so if there's something you love - you can use your social media to shout about it.

Elon Musk - the world's richest man and co founder of Tesla, is now the biggest shareholder in Twitter.

Musk bought 9.2% of the company and has previously expressed concerns about Twitter not doing enough to adhere to the principles of freedom of speech.

On the 25th of March he even asked his followers if they thought a new platform was needed.

There's been a fierce debate about the role of social networks in spreading misinformation and whether they should allow vaccine sceptics, gender critical commentary and Donald Trump a free rein.

Whether Musk has any answers to any of this remains to be seen and there's concern from some that such a Ruch and powerful individual now owns such a large chunk of such an influential communications platform.

Closer to home, the cost of living squeeze continues to bite.

But social media is full of ideas of every day money saving ideas and tips to reduce the costs of everything from central heating bills to broadband.

Community, bulk buying is another opportunity social networks can provide and of course the 2nd hand goods market with sites like Gumtree, eBay and a huge rise in clothing exchange sites like DePop, Vinted, and Hardly Ever Worn It all letting you sell clothes you're finished with or pick up potential bargains.

With all of us being squeezed tighter than at any other time for generations, think about shifting the way you use social media and spending less time caught up in celebrities and more time working together to save money.

Are you sometimes asked to sign documents you've received online?

You can print them out and physically sign the paper with a pen - but you then have to scan it back into your computer or take a picture of it with a phone.

It can be time consuming and frustrating.

Online e-signature software like 'signature' and 'docusign' are often used in a professional context but there might be an even easier way.

If you turn the document into a PDF, visit 'Tools', then choose 'Annotate' and 'Signature', depending on the device you're using, your camera might open and you can sign a piece of paper, hold it up and then insert the image into your PDF.

It works very well on certain models of Macs and Chromebooks as well as certain PCs.

It's certainly easier than printing out and scanning back in.

If you're interested in the use of Augmented Reality - you should know about Volograms.

This could be the next frontier in video - it turns almost any video into 3D and augmented reality.

It's already been used in Ireland for the 'Inspiring Women' project around STEM - the iOS app is available now and Android coming soon.

Google is encouraging businesses to make the most of a free opportunity to promote themselves online - by filling out their own 'Google My Business' profile.

You can do it through the website or dedicated Google My Business mobile app.

It's entirely free and lets you start to manage how your business is displayed across Google products including the main search results as well as Google Maps.

It also now has a new feature which lets businesses highlight their commitment to recycling.

Check out the Google Blog for more on this.

Playstation fans don't seem entirely impressed with the gaming giants plans for its new PS Plus subscription service which launches in June.

One gripe seems to be the treatment of PC gamers who'll face a price hike to continue playing Playstation games on their computers.

Snapchat users are now able to share YouTube videos within the app - just visit the video you're interested in, hit the share button and choose Snapchat.

And have you been mysteriously locked out of Facebook for no apparent reason in the last few days?

You're not alone - hundreds of users around the world report seeing a message telling them their account had been disabled, only for it to reappear a few days later.

The company has acknowledged the issue but hasn't said what caused it.

Watch out for those social media April fools.

I won't give anything away and spoil the fun but if you are browsing your favourite social media channels or seeing messages from friends or famous brands and news organisations and you're thinking 'that can't be right!' - then just remember what day it is!

An incredible story breaking in the Washington Post with allegations that Facebook's parent company hired a political campaigning group to run a campaign designed to highlight the dangers of TikTok.

The newspaper suggests rumours were spread about dangerous TikTok trends.

There's no suggestion of any laws being broken but if this is true - I think it backfired. The extra scrutiny forced TikTok to take action, which it did, and it has successfully addressed some of the concerns - exaggerated or otherwise - that people might have had about it.

This year I expect TikTok to overtake Instagram and to be come the 2nd most widely used social networking platform.

RODE have made a name for themselves manufacturing microphones and some of their range work well if you need sound for videos or live streams and video conferencing.

Now, for the first time, Rode is getting into headphones. Their first set of headphones are aimed at high end users involved in 'critical listening' such as mixing and mastering.

Thanks to podnews.net for breaking the story.

Some new options for YouTube users if your channel has more than 1 thousand subscribers - a 'Go Live Together' option lets you bring guest presenters into your live stream and a Q+A feature will make it easier for viewers to submit questions, rather than trying to catch them all through the main live chat.

And we talked about GIFs recently on the Digital Minute - those short little clips often of people clapping their hands, or laughing, some are from films and music videos - I told you how you could create your own GIF - well it just got easier for Twitter users with iPhones as a new feature is being rolled out which will let you make your own GIFS from pictures you've taken all within the Twitter app.

There's also GIF action on TikTok which has launched a new GIF library.