8/10/2019 Annoying the Internet

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2 R.AGE Star2, FRIDAY 6 APRIL 2013

By MELLY LING

a t erage@t estar.com.my

JUST over a month ago, world-famousAmerican YouTuber Ryan Higa, betterknown as N ga H ga, posted a v deo

t tled Most Annoy ng People On TheInternet, now better known simply as .

The v deo, w th close to s x m ll on h tsnow, talks about people l ke n n a boasters,over-zealous hashtaggers, trolls and manymore. Not sure what those are? Well trustus, theyre annoy ng.

These days, ts not ust about people who

type rude or annoying messages on chat-rooms any more. Accord ng to d g tal med aand culture consultant N k Cheong, thereare many d erent plat orms on the Internetnow, each with its own set of user behav-ours (translat on: each w th ts own set o

MAPOTI).ts no d erent among Malays an soc al

media users, some of the most prolific in theworld. Heres a l st we comp led o some othe trends on soc al med a now that havebeen annoy ng Malays ans.

Every social media platformhas its own set of annoying

tren s.

W at are some o

Ma ays ans most un eara esoc a me a a ts

Annoy ng

owmanytimeshaveyouseenan

nstagramphotowithl

ikeanessaymade

outofhashtags?Itsb

adenought at

peopleover-usethem

,butitsworse

whentheyputinunre

latedones.

MalaysianYouTuberJ

inLim(of

JinnyBoyTVfame)expl

ainedthatthe

reasonpeopledothis

istogetmorefo-

lowersandLikes.For

example,peope

areconstantlysearchin

gforp otos

ofcats.Soifyouputa

#cathas tag

onyourphoto,yourch

ancesofsome-

onesearchingandfin

dingitareway

higherwhetherthe

photohasanything

remotelyrelatedtoca

tsornot.Andif

youput#cat,#kitt

en,#cloudand

#sexyonthesamep

hoto,well,youl

beverywellLikedin

notime.

Hashtagsarean

noyingingeneral,

unlesstheyareusedtosendamessage

andnotjusttogetmo

relikes,saidJin.

Masscommunications

studentand

avidInstagramuserL

imLiXian,22,

however,disagrees.

Ithinktheyrepartof

thefunof

Instagram,shesaid,n

evermindt at

theyautomaticallyapp

earonalotof

Facebooktimelinesto

o,wheretheyare

completelyredundant.

#Too #many#hashtags

the Internet

ing

dll

,ge

in.d,

atofyare

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: -

@AnthonyGreen: Lastnight was surreal.Singapore was like adream. Arrived safelyin kuala lumper. This isthe view from my room. Frontmano Amer can roc anC rca Surv ve ormer ySaos nAnt onyGreen was n Kua aLumpuror t e rst t mean p aye a co-

ea ne our s owa ongs e o eean am r a.

#Gwiyomie a es ou u e ance a as een

p c ngupover e as mon . uoes everyonet n t s t at cute?

... rea y w s ce e r t es new owtocount eyon s x :... No, g r s. Act ng e a a -w t s NOTcute. #Gw yom

... Ser ous y #Gw yom s so NOT A. ouon ymoveyour an s your ea moves a

tt e too.#Just ceForGw yom An KpopFans... w yom wasn ma e or everyone.O ay? Trust me. It s so annoy ng to see

ee ng cute gw yom p ayers a overmyFace oo news ee :... er aps cu eness w never eo so ete.

8/10/2019 Annoying the Internet

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Star2, FRIDAY 26 APRIL 2013 R.AGE 3

NinjaboastersWere sure many of you have seen photos of people

showing off their fabulous lifestyles party photos,branded goods, flashy cars, etc. and pretending thattheyre just regular posts. They go like, Today is abeautiful day! Happy Sunday! #ootd #pretty #chanel-bag, and the Chanel bag just happens to be the focusof the photo.

That act is called a ninja boast, something whichaccessory designer Harmini Asokumar (right), 24,does regularly, but only because of her job. She oftenposts photos of her outfits and hashtags the differentbrands shes wearing, and people have complainedto her that it comes off as pretentious.

It really doesnt make a difference to me. If I wasa celebrity like Beyonce Instagram-ing about shopping in

London, nobody would say Im showing off. I guess its all subjective,she said.

YouTuberRyanHigasv

ideoontheannoyingha

bitsofsocialmediauser

smusthavereallystruck

achord

withnetizens

itwasviewedfivemillio

ntimesinitsfirstmonth

!

BACK in the early days of theInternet, annoying users were most-ly confined to people who were rudein chatrooms or forums, and peoplewho forwarded chain mails.

These days, its not so much thatpeople are becoming more annoyingon the Internet there are just moreways people can get annoyed.

There are so many differentplatforms now. You have Facebook,Twitter, Instagram... Users on eachplatform will have their own setof behaviours, and something thatmight be common on one platform,like hashtags on Instagram, might beannoying if you see it on a differentplatform, like Facebook, said digitalculture consultant Niki Cheong.

Cheong isnt a big fan of the ideaof social media netiquette, becausethe whole point of these kinds ofplatforms is that people are allowedto use them as they see fit. And if you

dont like how someone uses it, youcan always unfollow them.

Whats annoying anyway? Its avery subjective thing, he said. Theonly rule or netiquette Id suggest isthat people stop and think about theinformation theyre about to share.Users should think whether thesource of it is authentic and credible.

There are apps you can down-load, like Winnow, TweetAgora orTwitterlator Pro, that allow you tomute certain friends or even key-

words.So lets say youre sick and tired

of a friend who keeps ninja boast-ing about his/her #OOTD (outfit ofthe day), and you dont want to riskunfollowing him/her in case thatruins a perfectly fine offline friend-ship.

An app like Winnow would allowyou to filter all tweets contain-ing the #OOTD hashtag. You willstill be friends with that friend, butyou wont have to deal with theannoying amateur fashion updates.Relationship crisis averted.

Facebook obviously knew annoyingpeople were putting off some of theirusers, because theyve allowed themto filter the kind of updates they getfrom individual followers. YouTubetoo, have tightened up, requiring userto use real names. No pseudonymsallowed. It wont keep the best trollsdown (because you can just create a

fake name), but at least its a deter-rent.

Social media consultant Teoh MeiYing, however, believes Malaysiansdefinitely need help when it comes tomaintaining some form of etiquetteon social networks.

Many people think the Internetis some kind of lawless place wherethey can just say anything and every-thing. There should be a certain codeon being polite on social media, saidTeoh.

Were sure many of you have seen photos of people

branded goods, flashy cars, etc. and pretending that

beautiful day Happy Sunday #ootd #pretty #chanel-

s

g in

Socialmedia etiquette

SuperselfiesEveryone on social media would have

some friends who keep bombarding peoplewith photos of themselves, usually shot bythemselves and at the most flattering anglepossible. These annoying photos are calledselfies.

Creative director Shaiful Ayisy said self-ies are now unavoidable on social media.Like em or not, youll just have to deal with

them.Some selfies are okay provided thesubject is good looking, he said jokingly.Its more annoying when their captionsare unrelated. For example, a photo of agirl pouting at the camera, along with thecaption When life gives you lemons....#Annoying.

But Ayisy said as much as these peopleannoy him, he wouldnt unfollow them,because god forbid it might hurt some oftheir feelings.

Blogger and YouTube actress Charis Ow,on the other hand, thinks taking selfies is

just some harmless fun.Theres nothing wrong with taking pho-

tos of yourself. For me, I always like postingphotos of my outfits, said the 22-year-oldmass communications student, who uses

Instagram (and other selfies) to find fashioninspiration and stay in trend.

Foodie fanaticsThe ultimate Malaysian Internet sin

taking photos of your food. Its alright ifyoure about to tuck into some spectaculardish that you think is worth a share. Butdoing it for like every other meal? Thats

annoying!Foodie shots on social media really irri-

tates writer Ian Loh, 25, and its not becausehe hates food its because they appearway too often on his Facebook, Twitter andInstagram newsfeeds.

Nobody cares what youre eating.Especially when youre posting a picture ofvery, very expensive meal, it actually seemskind of snobbish, said Loh.

Brand executive Danny New is fully

aware how people like Loh feel, but he stillenjoys posting foodie photos.I dont really care much because its up

to me what I want to post, said New, 24. Ihave a few other foodie friends who appre-ciate food-related post. Its a good way toshare about new places to eat.

Terrible trollsThis is something most bloggers and

YouTubers are familiar with. There willalways be people out there who have noth-ing better to do but post ugly, hateful com-ments. These people are commonly knownas trolls.

With these people, its never a matter offair comment or constructive criticism. Its

just abusive messages, something were

seeing more of now that the general elec-tion is near.For Ow, getting trolled comes with the

territory of being a YouTube personality.She gets horrible comments all the time

on her videos. These days, shes prettymuch immune to it.

I just reply politely and thank them fortheir feedback, tell them Ill try to improve,she said.

iSnapme towatchRyan HigasMAPOTIvideo.