Navigation through Social Media

There is evil hidden everywhere social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. So navigating through this particular space is never going to be that easy as we are always against the bad guys. So, here I am going to share a few guidelines on how to identify these people at the earliest so that the navigation can be rather smooth. If you have been talking something about Malayalam movies, there is a good chance that you will come across such terrible creatures. I have recently come across one while talking about the movie CharlieΒ and too many people do that in support of Ennu Ninte Moideen.

The guidelines mentioned here are based on my experiences only and this can actually vary for each person. These creatures can actually come through a different path, and we will always have to be careful with them because there is absolutely nothing positive about them; they will make the attempt to drain all the good things out of you because they are good at nothing else except for hate and abuse which they inherit from their friends an family, working on it to make these factors a lot worse. Here are the guidelines.

1. There will be no original photo :: They wouldn’t really put their own photo because they have to use the profile for abusing others. There are common photos which they use, which are of movie stars, cartoons, cricketers, football players and sometimes the photo randomly found or their own edited photo. It is time that Facebook and Twitter provides verified accounts for those who have voter’s ID and aadhaar card to get rid of these fakes. This way, we can also know who these people are when they abuse; everyone should be made to know the culture of each and everyone who hate their fellow countrymen for no reason.

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Photos of nature can be nice for these people too!

2. Capital letters won’t be discovered :: It is difficult for them to type in capital letters because some of them are yet to discover where to use them and the others just need something different for what might be their special profile for abuse. Well, if they had something in their brains, they would have been doing something positive for their nation, but as they are only abusing their own countrymen, I don’t see why they would use capital letters even in their name. In a special navigation which is powered by hatred and traveling towards unlimited abuse, there will be rarely any capital letter or even full stop. Sometimes, there is not even a name!

3. Speaks in other languages :: He will take the opportunity only to speak in regional languages as much as possible. This quality which is a lot seen among Malayalis becomes bad when he is speaking in a forum, page or group which has a majority which doesn’t understand the language and most of the things that this person will be talking about are related to abuse. It could be the words which they are using in their family, but using them in public space brings trouble to social media navigation unless the owner or moderator takes the steps to ban them early.

4. Pretends to be intellectual :: This is quite a necessity for them as they steal quotes from famous people and put it on their profile, or sometimes add them in the middle of a paragraph as their own words because they are not good enough to write even one sentence without mistakes. They are always sitting in front of the computer ready to copy something from here or there. It is something that they really need to cover their lack of culture, and so they will only keep searching for the same even on the profiles of others. When they find something, they shamelessly steal it and it on their profile.

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And such a person has his or herΒ vision clouded by hate all the time!

5. Shall surely be a mindless fan of someone :: This is one feature that will be a clear part of these people and their lives. They will be supporting one person or two so much that they will be infatuated with that particular celebrity forever; there will be even sports teams. So, they will keep searching for those who are talking about these celebrities and randomly attack them or even the fans of other celebrities. They navigate through all the social media, and find someone because they have no other job. These are the kind of people who like to hate their own friends and family for their favourite celebrities! When you navigate through Facebook or Twitter, if you come close to these creatures, be prepared; or you can just block them instantly.

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me only.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

TeNy

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Reviews and Appreciation

I remember Drishyam (Malayalam) as the one big review I wrote on Movies of the Soul. It came before I developed most of my ideas about this movie blog, and hadn’t shared it much. Still it went on to become the most visited review and remain so for close to an year, only to be overtaken by the review of Om Shanti Oshana which kept that title until yesterday. Where Sapthamashree Thaskaraha coming so close and failed, Kunjiramayanam managed to do that in a day and half. Yes, this review had become fourth most read in twenty four hours and made it to the first spot with just half a day more.

I was actually surprised to see this big leap on the first day itself. It was unlike what I had imagined, and it was like whenever I looked, the number of visits just increased. When I looked at my own review page, I saw that the Facebook button showed the numbers in thousands. This was so huge. I was surprised and found out that the link to the review was shared by both the Official Page of the movie and one of the main actors in the movie Aju Varghese on his own page. It was also later shared by the director of the movie, Basil Joseph on his profile, and a lot of others had also shared my review due to the same reason.

When the movie's official page shares your review, that boosts your confidence.

When the movie’s official page shares your review, that boosts your confidence.

I have wished for my reviews to be shared, but never really wrote for the same. I have written the opinions on the movies which I had watched, related to what came on my mind, and concerning that particular experience having that certain effect on me. My reviews were only shared on Facebook improving my traffic only on a few occasions, and it started with Angels review, which had my link as part of a video created consisting of the opinions related to the movie which was shared by the director of the movie Jean Markose, the Official movie page and Joy Mathew who played one of the protagonists in it.

My second share happened related to the movie Ivide when the Official Facebook page of the movie as well as the Assistant Director of the movie, Priya Chokshi gave the shares. The third one was related to Mumbai Taxi when the leading actress of the movie, Mareena Michael Kurisingal gave it a share on her profile. Only the influence of the third can be seen on the Facebook button of the respective review pages, as I had bought the domain after that. So, with the count missing on the pages, I had hoped for something to come up there, and it is big here with Kunjiramayanam as it is above 5000 as of now.

When someone like Aju Varghese shares the review, things get even bigger :)

When someone like Aju Varghese shares the review, things get even bigger πŸ™‚

One thing which I have noticed about Kunjiramayanam is that it has the support of the general public and the usual audience who use Facebook regularly. It is more of a common man’s movie without adding anything complicated to it. It uses simple and yet effective comedy to make things work in its favour, and with these shares, they have made it clear that value is given to the opinions of people. When you are with people, they are with you. I know some people who hope for higher and higher ratings all the time, but here they have chosen to share those fair reviews, which has to be appreciated.

Yes, there has been more shares here and there, but among these four big shares which have affected my blog positively, I will rank the latest one far ahead of the others, because they have all shared this review as something significant rather than just adding it to their profiles, and the results have shown in the re-shares which has been received. The fact that it was shared by Aju Varghese makes me a lot happier because he is the one young actor whom I always trust with the comic roles. I do wish that he had a bigger role in Jamnapyari and also in Loham; but he does steal the show in Kunjiramayanam.

And then the awesomeness continues when the director shares the same :)

And then the awesomeness continues when the director shares the same πŸ™‚

As Om Shanti Oshana which comes second in the most visited list has fallen more than a thousand visits behind, I expect Kunjiramayanam to hold on to that top spot for a very long time – the visits are still going on strong, and the lead is surely going to extend by a much bigger margin. There are only eight movie reviews on Movies of the Soul which has received more than a thousand visits to the page, and among them, seven are Malayalam with the remaining one Hindi – there is always a certain advantage in writing about the movies releasing in your own language, right?

I will leave you with a funny video song from the movie πŸ™‚

TeNy

Sharing Some Statistics

On this Sunday on which I choose not to go to a theatre because all people having work on the other daysΒ will be there causing rush, I shall share some statistics with you. So, if you don’t want to hear about my Facebook Page, you may run away right now when the opportunity is still there. It is a Sunday, and there is no shortage of possibilities. It is completely about my Facebook Page, and I hope you have all liked it at [https://www.facebook.com/Movies-of-the-Soul-378583758873946]. Even if you forgot and are going to like the page right now, I will love that πŸ˜€

I initially thought about starting a separate page for this blog, but that was to be totally unnecessary, because about twenty percent of the posts in this blog is also related to movies, and two pages will be a little too much for me. I also share the posts from here on the page as far as they remain related to movies. I started the page for the first time supporting my other blog, Travel Diaries: Of this world and beyond with only close friends liking it, and then changed it into a combined page for my blogs and finally into the Movies of the Soul Facebook Page and has kept it that way.

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If you look at the statistics, it is not even close to being the same for my blog and the Facebook Page. Those posts which have become successful on the blog have done less at the Facebook Page and vice versa, even though there are a few which have done good at both places. I haven’t been someone lookng at Facebook Statistics, but I did that last day, and this post comes as a result. Well, you can read a lot about what I found there, and here are the statistics for my Facebook Page.

The three cities outside Kerala which have the most likes for my page are Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai. The three top nations other than India are United States of America, Saudi Arabia and Canada. About half of the people who liked the page are between eighteen and twenty four years of age. I hope that some of you will contribute to change these statistics so that your age group, city or nation will be at a better spot in my list of likes. I would surely like that on a lovely Sunday πŸ˜€

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The top city from outside India is Toronto. The top language is the United States English as expected. With the best reach, the highest are Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. The reach for the nations has the highest in United States of America, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Other than United States of America, people engaged with the posts are very low, outside India. The most visits come from Piscataway as far as the visits from outside cities are concerned.

My most viewed, commented, liked and shared post on Facebook is the Premam review, which makes me wonder if I should have watched and reviewed that movie a lot earlier. It took me too much time to write on that one, and it meant that too many possible visitors had gone missing. Well, I did try, but the rush was too much for the movie. The second place goes to Drishyam which has claimed the Bollywood throne for the most viewed and engaged post from Bajrangi Bhaijan which overtook ABCD 2 which had temporarily been at the top of my Bollywood posts.

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Papanasam comes next and has become the leader of the Tamil movies list on my blog taking over from I, and that makes three out of three reviews on the same movie’s different versions success for me. The earlier leader among Malayalam movies was Iyobinte Pusthakam, and Mission: Impossible 5 – Rogue Nation is on its way to take over from Terminator Genysis as the top Hollywood movie on the Facebook Page – it is already there with the post reach. The Hollywood movies have given me less views, likes, comments and shares so far compared to the Indian movies.

***If you have any tips for my blogs after looking at these screenshots, do let me know πŸ™‚

TeNy

Appreciation Matters a Lot

Movies of the Soul is a blog which I started on 5th February 2013 as part of a desire to express my purely subjective opinions on the latest movies that releases in our theatres. The first review there was on Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a movie which I watched at Cinemax, Oberon Mall after the show got cancelled at Q Cinemas, Gold Souk Grande. Still, Annayum Rasoolum at Matha theatre, Aluva was the movie I watched first in the year. 2012 was already an year which saw me watching so many movies. It was my second blog after Travel Diaries: Of this World and Beyond not considering theΒ abandonedΒ ones.

The idea behind the same was based on the fact that I spend above ten thousand rupees an year (even when not including the travel, food and parking fees) for the movie watching experience in the theatre watching one hundred plus movies on the big screen to almost no result at all – not to forget the time spent. I have supported a lot of movies just because I felt that they deserved to, and even tried to watch those which I had less hopes as I felt they could use some support. But I had to do better that just staring at the theatre screen, because as a jobless person, the money I spend for the movies was too high – it had to work at least for the intellect.

A screenshot from the top half of Movies of the Soul.

A screenshot from the top half of the blog, Movies of the Soul.

The total number of movies I watched in the theatre last year was 103, along with the number of flicks I watched at home having a much bigger count – this year’s count is now close to one hundred. I visited nine theatres last year, a number which has increased to fourteen this year. I have travelled kilometres just for a movie that I really wanted to watch, and I have made journeys in a limitless manner in the circle of Ernakulam, Paravoor, Aluva, Angamaly, Perumbavoor, Muvattupuzha, Vytilla and Edappally on a two-wheeler in the rain as well as the extreme heat.

When the newspaper shows the wrong information and I end up on the wrong theatre to watch a particular movie, I travel more, until I find the particular movie. Sometimes, a cruel multiplex cancels a show saying that they can’t have the movie there unless there is a minimum number of viewers, and then I have to travel from one mall to the other. Sometimes, I watch two or three movies on a day continously in a theatre. That was with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens at Q Cinemas, Gold Souke Grande. I have spent all my pocket money for the movies as if I didn’t have to eat or buy new clothes.

A screenshot of the Facebook page of Movies of the Soul.

A screenshot of the Facebook page of Movies of the Soul.

I have spent too much of my time watching movies, and in the words of some people, rather “wasted”. I have also had Film Studies as my elective for post graduation. With all these, I did hope to be noticed. I have had a seventy five thousand plus viewers so far, so it is more about being “seriously noticed by Keralites”. I don’t know if this has happened before and if it did I have failedΒ to notice the same, but I didn’t miss this one, thanks to my friend Ajai. It was shared by the movie on its official page itself (Angels) Malayala Manorama and PrimeGlitz, and was noticed and shared by the director of the movie, Jean Markose and one of the main actors, Joy Mathew. This one has a mention for my blog, even as they messed up the spelling.

I have had very less attention from Keralites for my blog, and with fan clubs making decisions around here, I was sure that the hope was very less. It is the same reason why I decreased the number of Malayalam movies I watched this year, and I even ended up missing a few movies which I really wanted to watch. Yes, my take Malayalam movies do get read more, but the appreciation has been very low for the opinions. People would be more like, “you don’t really have the right to opinion”, unless they are also blogger, and know the value of opinion. Meanwhile, I make clear that I have always wrote opinions on how I felt, without any prejudice.

Due to the same, I am glad that my blog gets a mention somewhere. Not that I am in desperate need for the same, as I have lived without the same for quite some time now, but this mention makes me happy and it is one of those things that assures me that I am not really wasting my ideas on a blog, and neither am I always a jobless person who is of not much use. At the same time, thanks to my blogger friends, who have made sure that there is a meaning for my blog and has kept me going all these years to this point, and it is something that I admire unconditionally, no matter how much appreciation I get from the world outside πŸ™‚

Watch the video; the mention is by the end of it πŸ™‚Β 

Do spend some time at https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/ with the Vampire Bat and his partial best friend, the Vampire Owl πŸ™‚ To go directly to my post on this movie which I strongly recommend, go to https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/angels/. I know that there were times when I have been a bit careless about the Malayalam movies (it also took me some time to develop my style in writing reviews), because I felt that nobody outside my blogger sphere really noticed them or cared what I wrote, but this small mention is a big boost to my confidence, and I will try to watch more of Indian movies and will try to explore them in a deeper and a more detailed manner. I do wonder if they changed the spelling of my blog intentionally though; after all, I am a cynic; but thanks nevertheless πŸ˜€

*Edited from the original post; another one, this time with the right spelling, blog mentioned second πŸ™‚

Thanks to Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com/) for finding this one, and thanks to those behind this video πŸ™‚

TeNy