2K
I wear reading-glasses and seem to need stronger ones every day. So when I looked this morning at the little box which gives the number of times a post has been shared or recommended on Facebook, beneath my piece about Nicola Abela Garrett (A spontaneous act? No, just an act. She’s a theatre studies student), and it said ’53’, I thought that’s amazing, the highest number of any post so far.
But I must have missed the third digit, because when I looked again tonight, the little box said ‘2K’. I cleaned my reading-glasses and had another look.
2K.
I zoomed in.
Yes, 2K.
Impossible.
Was that really what I thought it was? Who could I ring to check without sounding daft because obviously, it couldn’t be.
But it could be, and it is. Two thousand people have shared or recommended that Nicola Abela Garrett post on Facebook.
For purposes of comparison, a really hot post here might get shared 25 times, most posts four or five times, some none at all, and the highest number of shares on a single post, as I recall, was 45 for the video of Joseph Muscat, the priest and Sandro Chetcuti’s red Ferrari.
And now this – TWO THOUSAND. That post has been recommended/shared 2,000 times on Facebook. I’ve spent the last half hour trying to work out why. Is it that hot a topic? Is this a national issue? Why has it captured people’s imagination?
I couldn’t think why, and then the realisation dawned: it’s been particularly relevant to the Facebook generation. And that’s just fascinating, a real eye-opener.
But still. Two thousand. Goodness.
I had better go and lie down.
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Yes, a real eye-opener, that’s for sure. The boys and girl at Tal-Pieta seem to be waking up to the fact that the constituency “online inhabitant-English speaking-university student” does not necessarily mean any more that one is prepared to wrap oneself up in PN madumas in 18 months time. Maybe they are seeing that, among first-time voters (like our “heroine”, by the way) it might not, after all, be so “cool to be PN”. For a party which rested on the “cool” factor last election (remember the “inzabbab” t-shirts anyone?), this might be bad news indeed! Big movements and changes in politics often begin with one little unexpected and, of itself, insignificant incident. Have we just witnessed it?
[Daphne – Sigh. Albert. How shall I break this to you? When people recommend/share something on Facebook, it’s generally because they like it and find it interesting and want other people to share it too. It’s an eye-opener PRECISELY BECAUSE THE SITUATION IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU THINK IT IS. People her age and thereabouts do NOT see Nicola Abela Garrett as a heroine at all. They would not be passing my piece about her around to each other via the internet if they did.]
Albert,
I knew you were going to reply. .
I repeat, do you think this generation cannot read through the message? This medium bites back, it can.
Yes, this younger generation can read, and will decide for themselves about Little Joe and the Dinosaurs.
As a twenty-something who has grown up with Facebook and the like I can confidently say that ‘sharing’ a link does not, in any way, imply endorsement or agreement. I have sometimes shared creationist drivel, just because it is so silly and amusing, but I do *not* believe the world was created in seven days. Similarly, I may share a link to a news item about a natural disaster, but that does not mean I am rejoicing at whatever tragedy has befallen some poor sod on the other side of the planet.
‘Liking’ on the other hand most certainly implies approval.
So if that stat you quote refers to ‘Likes’ then feel free to pop a bottle of champagne. If it refers to ‘shares’, it simply means that your article has attracted attention (and isn’t that enough at the end of the day? ;P ;), but you can’t conclude that it has attracted broad approval.
I just noticed that the button reads ‘recommend’ rather than ‘share’. That most definitely implies approval. Egg meet face.
Perhaps it shows the admiration the majority has for Austin Gatt’s performance.
The Times story that broke the news was shared over two thousand times too. This has definitely piqued a lot of people’s interest, and I don’t think it’s just the curiosity of the thing.
There is a genuine sense of resentment (justified or not) towards current institutions amongst students, and Nicola Abela Garrett has provided a means of venting that.
And I don’t think your story was shared to snicker at Nicola’s behaviour, rather it’s one of the more high profile responses to the incident.
Internet culture necessarily involves sharing and accumulating bits and pieces of information that can then be assessed against other reports, while creating internet memes (the “Arriva girl”, the doctored pictures of Dr Gatt and Nicola, the scribbled out faces) and tangential responses.
Actually forming an objective, coherent opinion isn’t too high on that agenda.
I hate having to disagree with you on anything Daphne, as I once said I’d love to have a bunk next to you in prison (if God forbid that had to happen)….but sharing/recommending on Facebook does not necessarily mean agreeing.
My not so historic guest post http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110515/blogs/yet-another-reason-against-divorce.365479 also got over 2k of recommendations but we all know the way that went….divorce came through and people shared it to disagree with it!
Within Facebook’s community it is understood that recommending is merely sharing and not necessarily agreeing….
2000 recommendations is still a great feat, because you got all those people discussing what you thought was important …which is what we do when we write anything.
My two cents on this is that yes Nicola planned to give unlce Austin a piece of her mind. She planned to be there for his speech and to speak out, but the outburst, including the words FW, were spontaneous. The spin that the media gave it was just that a spin…either way it was skewed as great or disgraceful, whilst it was neither of these two.
Without Gil Grisham to prove either one of us right we could go on to debate whether it was spontaneous or not until we’re both blue in the face, but believe me FW is much less than what I would have called AG had he passed by me as I waited for the bus to take me to Mater Dei last week!!! And this is not something I do on a daily basis, but just a one off event which I had all the time in the world for, and yet, it still drove me up the wall, round the bend and straight to cussing hell…and I come from a background where the mere mention of Muscat’s name, causes the earth to shatter!
The reason why your piece was recommended on Facebook is simple: because it is old-school journalism – digging deeper into a story, something that The Times was very good at until it was taken over by hacks.
A large number of my Facebook contacts recommended this article, and the vast majority highlighted the inaccuracies of your article: there were indeed lectures held on Monday and Tuesday, and there is indeed a bus that goes from Attard to Naxxar (even if not a direct one). Others commented that just because her outburst was premeditated does not necessarily mean that her vulgar name-calling was too.
The labourites tended to praise her actions, but so did many nationalists, save for the hard-core anti-divorce ultra-conservative ‘she should be jailed’ kind of nationalists.
It got shared so many times because it is such an excellent piece of journalism, otherwise unknown to the Maltese media. And it exposed The Times of Malta for what it has been made by the same of some of the individuals who have wormed their way in to work for it, apparently only to further their own causes.
Your blog is generally my first and last port of call for the day.
You bictch you lost him his job and he wasn’t even the one to report the incident. Will Sarah Carabott, also lose her job?You bitch you lost him his job just because he was a facebookfriend of Nicola. You bloody funcking Wonkers chief.
[Daphne – When you pick a nick, make sure it matches the tone and age group of the language used. People called Josephine are generally my mother’s age. I don’t know any Josephines even my age, and don’t remember any at school, where there were hundreds of girls. How exactly can you possibly connect me to the loss of Matthew Bonanno’s job? I don’t work for Allied Newspapers and haven’t done so for 15 years. Mr Bonanno’s Facebook exchange with Miss Abela Garrett was viral on Facebook by the time I uploaded here – in fact, it was sent to me as a screen shot – and I can assure you that nobody at The Times takes instructions from me, even had I any desire, inclination or incentive to set about getting this man fired. He did that all by himself. But as an aside, a contemporary of his did email me to say that The Times could have saved themselves and others a lot of trouble by not hiring him in the first place, because he is more suited to Malta Today. They made the same mistake with another young chap, also asked to leave The Times and now working for Malta Today. Recruits have to fit the newspaper’s profile, standards and readership. This is not so hard to understand. The biggest mistake a newspaper can make is to recruit a mixed bag in the belief that they will balance each other out. Not so. The result is choppy standards and a weird mix of reporting – and no apparent editorial line to speak of.
As for the repetitive comments and hysterical comments which you have posted several times under this and another name, which I have deleted, please know that it is normal for immature people to blame others, rather than their own actions, when they get into trouble. The fact remains that a reporter who works for a reputable newspaper should not be gossiping on Facebook and trying to stir things up.
He lost his job because of that, not because of me, and I am quite sure he knows this, given that The Times knew about his Facebook exchange before I did, from what I hear. In fact, I learn of these things quite late because I am not on Facebook and so depend on other people to send me screen shots. You might also wish to know that, contrary to what you alleged, my newspaper column with The Sunday Times was not stopped (in 1996) because I ‘slandered Alfred Sant’. The problem there was Guido de Marco, and I do not wish to say anything further or resurrect this matter.
Your other allegations that his career has been ruined are entirely unfounded. If he has no career in journalism after this it is merely because he was not up to it. My career was not ruined after I stopped writing for The Sunday Times, despite the best efforts of some to ruin it, and despite the fact that I was at the time at least 10 years older than Mr Bonanno is now and had three children to support, which he does not. ]
Yes my name is not Josephine Borg, but knowing you you would try to slander me if you knew who I really am.
[Daphne – Believe me when I say I wouldn’t. I think you’re the person in question, or somebody close enough to be so upset as to be hysterical with rage two days later. Nobody’s life is over at 22, not unless they’ve committed murder or imported hard drugs and been imprisoned for it. Use the crisis to your advantage. I know how you’re feeling – raw and exposed – so take it as fact when I say I sympathise.]
I have only posted under this name posts under another name are not mine.
[Daphne – Then somebody else must have used your network, because they came in immediately after yours with the same IP number.]
As you well know my other posts were not hysterical, on the contrary they were too close to the truth for your liking.
[Daphne – Screaming ‘bitch’ at somebody is hysterical. It ensures that you will be ignored. However, I do not wish to ignore you precisely because I know how you feel.]
Thank you very much for showing me what an undemocratic facist you are, and for showing me that although I’m not yet sure PL is the party to vote for, PN is definetly not my party. So the choice now is between AD and PL.
Maybe a coalition between the two would work best, but since we don’t want a Faccist Regime, and since last election votes for AD were totaly disregared I think I will be voting for PL, followed by AD. Once again thank you for opening my eyes, to what a Facist Regime your party is.
[Daphne – Matthew Bonanno (you?) was sacked by his employers, not by the Nationalist Party. Austin Gatt issued a statement himself saying that he’s not bothered by the insult, that Miss Abela Garrett is a student, and that he considers the case closed. The Times, however, clearly had objections to having its name brought into disrepute. People who work for a company represent that company at all times, even outside working hours. Sadly, too many people just don’t understand this.]
Josephine Borg, welcome to the world of hard ball. You do not have a clue about real Fascism. On your trip to the other side you might want to read up on Stalin .
Ms Borg,
You don’t know what it is like to live in a fascist regime. Stop claiming to do so.
The difficulties faced by the Maltese are nothing compared to those faced by other countries at present, and using the word fascist just because someone got the sack by their employers because of his involvement in such a story shows that you have no idea what you are talking about.
In every country the internet is someone’s best friend and their worst enemy.
Employers often Google prospective employees to do a background check on them, including checking their Facebook profile just in case they are part of a group called “get high everyday” or something along those lines. This is a classic example of how Facebook can make or break your career. That’s just life.
Facebook, and in fact the whole internet, is not a place where you can do and say what you like and never suffer the consequences. There are always consequences. If you are a professional in such a business then you must be careful.
Daphne had nothing to do with this whole silly situation. She just reported it, like everyone else. If it hadn’t been for the front page report on The Times then this would have been just another person who dislikes politicians.
It is 2K because word of mouth also got out about your article.
I had two colleagues at work say … ‘Wow did you see Daphne’s post? That outburst on campus was all orchestrated!’
These people don’t usually read your blog. I think your readership is spreading wider in age and social background.
And yes, it was a brilliantly written piece pointing out all the obvious bits people should have known but did not think to question… such as 4 months of being late for lectures? They only restarted on the 3rd October … route Attard- Naxxar to get to Msida? Weird etc…
It is frightening how we Maltese read articles and automatically take everything as fact, instead of questioning.
And what about Arriva being in Malta for three months and not four.
:) 2000 !! glad I contributed to it
This generation takes everything for granted. Mohhom fid-drittijiet mhux fid-doveri.
Although I’d agree that there are worse things to complain about than how the buses work that does not mean that people should just lump it.
The way I see it, this is what happens when you get an outside company to organize something in a country like Malta where people know the area better than, say, people in London know London.
Places on the London tube map are shown to be miles apart when in fact they are right next door, and the buses in London never take a direct route, making your journey twice as long. No one complains in the UK because no one really knows that they are being taken all the way round the borough, and when they do realize they usually get off at a different stop and just make the 20/30 minute walk which, yes, is quicker than staying on the bus.
But the Maltese know Malta better than Londoners know London.
They know when they are being taken on a tour round the island when all they want is to get to their destination.
This is something I suspect Arriva didn’t think of because it doesn’t happen anywhere else they have worked.
When it comes to the transport in Malta, all we needed were new buses and a few extra routes to better connect Sliema/St Julian’s to the rest of the island since they are also main destinations for the Maltese and tourists.
We did not need to be given routes we’re never asked for or needed. I don’t even think Arriva did the proper research into everything since, if they had, they would have understood this.
Do I think it’s worth calling someone a Fucking Wanker? No, not really. And I don’t even think it’s worth glorifying someone for doing so.
It’s not like she stood up against someone ruthless and violent. She just swore in public.
Uh… I thought the routes were planned by Transport Malta and not by Arriva though.
But I agree. What they should have done was leave the routes as they were and add a few others. If you notice, most of the routes are nearly the same as the old ones, and they are even introducing the old routes back, such as those connecting villages to the University and hospital.
If they were planned by Transport Malta then they were done badly. Either way, the public’s needs were ignored.
“I couldn’t think why, and then the realisation dawned: it’s been particularly relevant to the Facebook generation. And that’s just fascinating, a real eye-opener.”
Daphne, not to disappoint you. But are you sure it is not an indicator of the number of elves on the loose?
[Daphne – Definitely. Elves may be a bit thick, but even they are not going to post links to pieces of information that undermine their cause.]
The Times is making a big mistakes by not scrutinizing its recruits and i can assure you that there are others like Bonanno.
It wasn’t Bonanno who wrote the article. Hardly a case of a journalist staging his story.
Nicola’-with-an-accent Abela Garret sure got her 15 minutes of fame. Now she has got to wake up to the real world.
timesofmalta.com’s comments board is regularly invaded by “elves” . Their comments are obviously concerted and “organized”, albeit in a disorganized manner.
An eye-opener for the bigwigs at The Times.
Gloating doesn’t suit you, leave that to others
[Daphne – This isn’t gloating, Matthew. It’s astonishment. And a revelation to me.]
Wow you really don’t get it. Its a popular story because there is such a huge amount of students who are sick of this system, and who have complained continuously for months. Having to spend close to three hours traveling when it used to take 45 mins is something series. If that is your main means of transportation it can completely mess up your day.
[Daphne – Matthew, get the gist of that post and then ask yourself why anyone would share or recommend it. I think I get it. But do you?]
Well as our students never had any guts to defend anyone or protest about anything (except when they wanted cost of living increase in their stipends) it is refreshing to see only one standing up to a politician in Malta. We all know what she risked! The spoilt selfish Maltese students are in awe.
What exactly did she ”risk”?
Please do enlighten us.
Unbelievable! Just goes to show how little, people have to talk about on this boring old island. Had this happened in a country like France, this story would barely make its way into a mundane conversation let alone a national daily.
While our neighboring EU countries are protesting in the streets about high unemployment levels and tuition fees, we’re all marveling at the outburst of a student on campus. How pathetic!
in awe….only if it were truly corroborated………..
[Daphne – It doesn’t have to be. The tally is kept by Facebook.]