Category: twitter (Page 3 of 3)

150,000 page views!

2016-11-01 / Muaad Elsharif / 0 Comments

Looking at the status bar at my blog I realized that I have reached 150 thousand views, and you might have noticed that I didn’t post a status update like this in a while. I decided to celebrate the bigger milestones, as they began to happen more often (thankfully).

150K banner made in Gimp

Passport rush!

Over the last few months my blog attracted thousands of Libyan readers trying desperately to reserve an appointment to take the passport photo, my blog views spike on Thursdays (as it’s the only day the reservation system is open on), so in sense these people aren’t here for my blog, they think it’s associated with the passports somehow and most of the comments are questions that I shouldn’t be getting! The people who actually work for the overmanning and get paid for it should be asked these questions!

The polar ends are Thursdays!

Welcome in!

Well you know the old saying: All publicity is good publicity and as long as my blog is out there and getting views, I should be happy! Even when I know for sure that these lurkers don’t care for my blog or what I post, they just want a passport.

Maybe what I wanted is for people to come to my blog for the things I’m passionate about and actually enjoy, like open source, Linux, and video games! We’ll get to that sometime I hope!

Posting less, meaning more

I’ve also managed to pace myself, I try to post at least once a week, I realize now that blogging has more work to it than creating posts, right now my goal is to finish all the drafts I have on before the end of the year (hopefully).

Social media interactions

I’ve also reached 22,000 twitter followers thanks to my follow back system, I’m not even trying that hard to get fans, but I guess it’s my thing now and it’s far too late for me to go back.

As I use Twitter as my main platform to connect with readers and promote my blog it’s important for me that my account is synced with a good followback ratio and to have some fresh accounts following every now and then.

Got retweeted by OpenDocument

I also gained some valuable input from the open source community on two of my recent posts about LiberOffice, plus a few retweets!

Got retweeted by LibreOffice

Final words

Thank you all for being a part of this journey, and I hope to keep your trust and support. I’ll see you soon in another site update.

Please share this post and help my blog grow!

Blog updates and fan reactions, going for 100K views

2016-07-31 / Muaad Elsharif / 0 Comments

This could be the last update I provide before reaching my 100,000 views milestone which I have been building towards for years now!
To begin my update properly, I have to thank the fans from around the world (mostly Libya) for showing me their support and standing behind me, it really makes my day even if you think it doesn’t!

Just an example of positive feedback I’m getting from fans

Following up on my latest post (unplanned downtime) I began to look into second device options (still don’t know exactly what to get, any help?), and reading this article changed my views about my work flow completely, a must read if you are stuck in a third world country that’s struggling, funny thing about that post is that it relates to two of my posts, unplanned downtime and blogging from a civil war zone, so think of it as a survival guide in a country going down the tube, there is an Arabic version too if you like.

I finally finished creating my Facebook page, it took so long because I maxed out on friends and then turned my profile into a page (yes you can do that!). Despite my opinion against Facebook, I have to admit it’s my biggest visitor source, I can’t just let that go to waste without building on it, can I?
Here is the link to the page.

Hey! I have 5,000 friends 😀

I’ve started blogging on other sites too, lately I’ve posted on Itwadi and the feedback was rather positive, the post is in Arabic, expect to see my posts in other blogs very soon! I even started a section on my blog to collect all my guest posts in one place! It has only one post, but it’s going to change very soon god willing!

My fan feedback is very important to me, I wanted to what kind of posts you would find interesting. The poll was on the blog home page for 2 weeks, and not a single vote was casted! Luckily I put the same poll on Twitter and got some feed back I could use, the result was: 40% in favor of technical posts,
40% for Libyan affairs, and 20% for Diaries. No clear edge here, but I’ll try my best to give the fans what they want, and maybe to try on vlogging for a change.

Twitter poll results

I created a new youtube channel, I’m yet to add a proper user name to it, I need to get 100 subscribers first, subscribe please 😀
I will post my 100,000 video on it once I make it and reach 100K, I’m still wondering whether to make an Arabic video with English subtitles or vice-versa, as it turns out Youtube doesn’t allow multiple audio sources on one video, and I’m not open to the idea of posting two videos (when the idea was pitched my fan base was mostly English speaking, my blog caught the Libyan attention after the passport post series, and still does) uploading on video will be painful enough!

Isn’t that a nice page view number?

Thank you for reading this rather detailed update, please tell me what you think in the comments section below, and share the post with your people using the social media buttons 🙂

90,000 page Views!

2016-06-30 / Muaad Elsharif / 0 Comments

Today I noticed that I reached 90,000 page Views!!

Another significant milestone on my blog while reaching for my goal of 100,000 views which doesn’t seem too far away! There are some changes and things I’d like to address in this site update

Blogging about Libya in Arabic

The 90,000 views post banner that I made in Gimp

Since my last milestone a few months ago I made some changes to the blog regarding content, I decided to put more focus on Libyan readers (seems only natural since I’m a Libyan living in Libya, duh!) and I have to say it’s starting to pay off! After all my top viewed post is the passport post, a pure Libyan matter.

I added a Libyan section on my blog collecting all the posts I made about Libya in Arabic and English too, I am afraid I can’t express some matters properly lately, we have some very unique problems and explaining it to foreign friends is really frustrating, people can’t imagine a country without cash flow in banks for over 6 months!

Putting more focus on Libyan readers and blogging more in Arabic doesn’t mean that I’m not blogging in English anymore or neglecting my English speaking fans! I can do both (I hope!). After all I posted this in English haven’t I?

I also started post journals, it’s an old school kind of blogging, where a blogger captures his impressions and events of his daily life and turns it into blogging, lets see how that turns out.

I also been doing several S.E.O (search engine optimization) tweaks on my blog, I hope they come into play soon and help my blog grow.

CAPTCHA much?

I’ve taken a courageous step and decided to remove the CAPTCHA from my blog, it attracts spammers like crazy, but it’s a risk I’m willing to make, I mean Google’s CAPTCHA has become so annoying lately it drives me off stuff I want to see, so I guess it’s the same for readers wanting to comment, I’m moderating each and every comment tho, no chance!!

I got me a new logo!

I’ve been helping a friend promote his Radio show on Twitter (Checkout 96.9 FM Wednesday at 10:)) PM CET) and he thought he would reward me by designing me something, I asked him for a logo I can use on my blog, what do you think?

My blog’s new logo

Social media update

I’ve reached 20,000 followers on Twitter and I’ve decided to take a break of the whole “Followback” system, it requires so much energy without real reward, and don’t get me started on spam! I will continue to follow back people who follow me, but not the in same way I used to do.

My 20,000 Twitter follower banner, also made in Gimp
I’ve decided to create a Facebook page, not a personal page, a page for my blog! Who would have thought!
While I’m known to be an anti Facebook person, I know for a fact it’s the biggest social network out there, and it’s a shame not to share my content there, it would be interesting to preach about the dangers of Facebook while being on the site! I have to admit that Facebook is my biggest traffic source. As we grow up we learn to compromise, I guess this is a price I have to pay to grow my blog.
I’ll post a link to my blog’s Facebook page when I have it ready.

On a lighter note, this is my 300th post after the cleanup I did a few months ago and I didn’t make a banner because this wasn’t supposed to be my 300th post!

With less that 10,000 views separating me from my blogging goal, a lot of work is due to celebrate that properly, and I’m going to need tons of fan feedback, so keep that coming folks!

As the month of Ramadan is coming to an end, I wish you enjoy a peaceful month with your friends and loved ones, and that things in Libya and all of the Arab and Muslim world improve soon.

Thank you for reading this update, please leave your comments in the comments section below, and have a nice day.

5 Reasons why I still use my Symbian phone at this day and time

2015-04-23 / Muaad Elsharif / 0 Comments

Hey there. Good day to you

How are you doing today. I hope you are doing fine and well!

I still use a Symbian phone to this day. Why you ask?

Knowing that Android has the biggest market share today. And that Symbian was put to rest by Nokia in 2011 in favor of Windows Phone. That all didn’t change my mind! Here are the reasons why I still use my Symbian phone:

It looks professional!

It’s kind of a shallow reason. But the look of a Symbian phone to me is professional to my eyes٫ do you agree with me?

E72 doesn’t look 10 years old. It’s screaming business and seriousness!!

It’s stable No annoying update messages for programs or OS. Smooth riding!! If you look at it that way of course.

Battery backup

No matter what you think, the battery life of Android is really bad. Even with tweaks and all. While Symbian has lower specs and consumes less power.

It feels like a phone!

Phones now days are growing larger and larger. And becoming less like a mobile phone and more like tablet, some of them doesn’t have a single button on it! While Symbian keeps it together. Better phone reception and more focus on the phone!

More efficient!

The apps you need. And nothing more! Being far behind means lack of support! No Distractions from Snapchat or Twitter! Less means more focus. More productivity. It’s another way to look at the restrictions of the Symbian phones. So if you have one. Get it out. Shake off the dust. And use it too disconnect a little from the noise of the digital world around you! How do you like this post? Do you still own a Symbain? Let me know what kind is it?

Physical QWERTY keyboards

To me really it comes down to QWERTY input. Which I admit I’m addicted to. It makes me much more productive. There aren’t many QWERTY phones anymore. That’s why I went for an E6-00 Have a nice day. Please give kudos. G+ and share with your circles.

This is an outdated post, I sold my Symbian phone a long time ago.

S	S	M	T	W	T	F
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30