11th Nov 2023

Getting Social Media Savvy: Blitzy’s guide for getting the most out of social media

Hi everyone, Blitzy here! Do you find yourself overwhelmed by social media, or feel like your accounts are controlling you instead of the other way around?! Fear not, super Blitzy is here to save the day with my simple-to-follow guide to social media everyday use. I’ll give you some great ideas for making the most of your online networking, and I’ll update you on all the latest and greatest from the Bingo Blitz social media world.

Which social media platforms are you familiar with? My favorites are YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok. That’s quite a lot to keep track of!

The one thing all these different platforms have in common is that they are about connecting with people (hence the “social” part). Beyond that, each platform has its own flavor and speciality:

YouTube is all about video-sharing
Tiktok is a platform for sharing short-form videos, usually less than 60 seconds
Facebook offers multi-media sharing, and is like a giant international bulletin board
Instagram is for sharing photos and videos
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform, where posts are very limited in length
Pinterest is a visual discovery engine, basically a virtual pinboard

These are the most popular social media platforms throughout the world, but there are many other social media apps including WhatsApp (which started as a messaging app and has slowly developed into yet another form of social media), Snapchat (another messaging-based social media platform), Weibo (a Chinese microblogging site, which is hugely popular there as many global social media sites aren’t available in China), Quora (question and answer format) and Reddit (focusing on news items).

Down to business: Blitzy’s top tips for social media beginners

You probably already have at least one social media account, but if you don’t, it’s easy to get started. You definitely don’t need to have accounts with every type of social media platform. Stay in control of your communication by choosing which kind of account works for YOU. As I mentioned, each platform has its own specific niche, and people usually choose according to which ones their friends have, which makes sense because it’s all about staying connected.

To sum up, here are Blitzy’s top tips for staying on top of your social media:

Only sign up to the social media platforms that interest YOU
Find out which apps your friends and family are using, so that you can connect with the people you want to hear from
No pressure: share what you want, when you want. There’s no need to post every day or at any particular time. Just add the content you want your friends to see.
Have fun!! Being able to connect with friends and family around the world can bring you so much joy, and you can even enjoy your favorite games together (such as Bingo Blitz!)

Learning the Lingo

The world of social media has created a whole new lexicon! And to make things even more complicated, each platform has its own vocabulary, but since the internet is so interconnected, words get “borrowed” from site to site, so it can really help if you know at least the main acronyms and vocab. There are plenty of websites where you can look up individual terms, as the list is endless and constantly growing, so I’m just going to include a few which I think might help:

Hashtag (#) – this term has now been adopted by most social media platforms, but it originally began life on Twitter. Using a hashtag before word is a way of indexing topics, so if, for example, you are a huge bingo fan, you could look up #bingo to find posts that might interest you. It can also help narrow down your search, so you could type #bingoideas or #bingoevening or even my favorite #bingoblitz.

User Tag (@) – The user tag works in the same way as the hashtag, but instead of indexing topics, it tags an individual, as each person has their own specific tag.

#TT #TBT #FF etc – these are acronyms which were originally used by small businesses to give their weekly content some kind of framework, and have become widely used as they are kind of fun! TT or TBT stands for “throwback Thursday”, when people post old photos or memories. FF can mean “follow Friday” (used to recruit new followers, without inundating people with requests throughout the week) or “Friday feeling” (no explanation needed!) There are now hashtags for every day of the week, but those are the original ones.

Story vs Status – like I said, social media can be confusing because different apps use different terminology to mean the same thing, and sometimes use the same word to mean two different things. If you use WhatsApp, you can post a “status” which is a temporary cover which only a chosen group of people can see. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook offer a similar function, but it’s called “stories”. These posts are popular because they are more fun to play around with, you can add filters and stickers to make them look cool.

Instagram Highlights Buttons – Instagram offers a clever function so that you can keep your favorite stories (which otherwise disappear after a specific amount of time) and even group them into categories so that you give your followers a taste of your content in one click. These highlights are accessed from buttons, also called covers, at the top of your page, and you can personalise these buttons to suit your style or personality.

“Blitzy, why do you have so many accounts?”

I’m so glad you asked! Businesses and public figures often have accounts on many social media platforms so that fans can stay in touch in whichever way suits them best. Being the mascot for Bingo Blitz is so much fun, and I love to hear from my friends around the world, so you can find me on the following accounts. Join me for all the latest news, freebies and fun, and meet a whole community of Bingo Blitz players: