Tag Archives: social media

THE Shannon Municipal District needs its own social media accounts, the July meeting of Shannon Municipal District heard. Councillor Donna McGettigan (SF) said that the overall county council Facebook account isn’t enough. “If you look at the Clare County Council Facebook page you have to scroll down really to find anything about Shannon in it,” she said. “I’m not trying to be negative about the staff that monitor this, it’s just that there is so much information on one Facebook page.” She said that the lack of freely available information about Shannon is causing some problems. “There was one issue that happened in Shannon recently and it was made out that I was aware of what was happening beforehand and I wasn’t,” she said. “That was the removal of the furniture in Pinewood. Then there was the issue around the N19, and in fairness to Tony [Mulcahy] he got a good response, the roadworks there and Irish Water. “If we …

AT A time when thousands of us are learning to appreciate the natural world within our 5km travel limit, a Donegal man is offering a fascinating insight into the wealth of plant and animal life around his North Clare home. Cormac McGinley, who is an expert in zoology and marine biology, spent 11 years as a ranger at the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre before setting up his own coastal walking tours company. While the pandemic put a bit of a spanner in the works, Cormac admits, he decided to make good use of his time by sharing photos, videos and expert insights on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. “I live in Liscannor, so literally, wherever I walk within the travel limits, there is something spectacular to see,” he said. “I was building up the tours business and working with Leaving Cert students giving Geography field trips, and also training companies based along the Wild Atlantic Way. Then, …

AN ANCIENT craft is undergoing a revival in Mountshannon. Artists and blacksmith Mark Wilson has created a video series to share the knowledge and lore. A series of short pieces, shared on his Facebook page, have been getting major traction, and in Mark’s own words have “literally gone bananas”. Entitled ‘Revival – Tricks and Trades for the New World,’ the series has touched, to-date, on topics including wood crafts, making gifts and the ‘heritage of hammers’. On Hallowe’en night, Mark went live on Facebook and – lit by candle light – discussed the traditions and folklore associated with the festival. “I had been travelling the length and breadth of Ireland working in schools and passing on craft techniques,” he explained. “I have quite a lot of knowledge at this stage and I wanted to pass it one. This was something I was working on well before lockdown, but now making videos has become incredibly trendy.” While the production values of …

THE working from home revolution, prompted by the pandemic, has inspired a creative trio to make the move to the Banner county, where they hope to breathe new life into a much-loved North Clare venue. Kymann Power, Áine Leech and Diarmaid Keane who are all digital creatives, with a strong interest in arts, culture and music, have made Daly’s in Ennistymon their new home. The three have been reaching out to musicians and those in the arts with a view to using their digital skills to support them in finding new audiences online and on social media. “Before the pandemic, I was working from home in Dublin,” explained Áine, a Westmeath native. “I was tired of looking at the four walls and got out just before lockdown.” Clare was the destination of choice according to Kymann. “I had travelled here with Áine a few times and when we were looking for a base in the west of Ireland, we happened …

TULLA Comhaltas are making sure younger members stay in tune, while their regular music lessons and band practice sessions remain suspended as the Covid-19 crisis continues. The organisation, which has up to 100 members in the under-18 age category, has been inviting its junior musicians to record performances in their homes and share them on the Tulla Comhaltas Facebook page. The activity has proven hugely popular with audiences worldwide and has been instrumental in keeping young musicians busy and learning while the lock-down continues. The initiative is the brain-child of Youth Officer Aisling Hunt, who, up to the advent of the crisis, had been busy training junior members for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the All-Ireland Fleadh. “At the moment, there are no individual lessons going on, no group practices and no sessions,” she explained. “We don’t know if or when the Fleadh will take place. That was scheduled for August in Mullingar, but it’s now postponed. Our young members had …

LIKE thousands of schools across the country, St Anne’s Community College in Killaloe remains closed in a bid to limit the spread of the Coronavirus. And while the 500-strong student body are following the new rules of social distancing and staying apart, they are coming together online to keep their spirits up and to avail of support and guidance in these challenging times. School Chaplain Karol Torpey, who lives in Feakle, told The Champion that the school’s social platforms have come to fore in the current crisis. “Our Facebook page, Humans of St Anne’s Community College, is now operating as a virtual chaplain’s office. It’s a way of getting as much support and advice to people as possible and of gauging how people are feeling.” The importance of staying apart in order to protect the vulnerable is one key message that the school has been promoting across its social channels: “We have been working hard to get the message of …

THE new problems that come with young people living out their lives through their phones are a bigger danger to them than alcohol, drugs or teenage sex, according to sport psychologist and teacher Keith Begley. He will deliver a talk at the community hall in Newmarket-on-Fergus on the evening of Saturday, February 16 entitled Let’s Play Outside-The positive role of sport for the wellbeing of the smartphone generation. In very recent years the internet has become constantly accessible meaning young people are growing up very differently to their parents, he says. “It’s a huge problem in that they don’t socialise the way they used to, they’re not involved in the same level of what I call sweat inducing activity as they once were. They don’t need to leave their bedroom anymore to socialise, they socialise online, they socialise through their apps, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Houseparty and so on. It means they don’t have to cycle to their friends, or go over …

Social media companies have been called upon by a local TD to take a more proactive role in guarding against the misuse of their platforms. Deputy Timmy Dooley’s call comes in the wake of further revelations regarding the role of social media in political discourse and elections. Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Communications, Climate Action & Environment has highlighted the scourge of so-called “Twitterbots”, which are essentially computer programmes used to generate tens or hundreds of fake Twitter accounts, which are then used to promote certain content on the platform. “Twitterbots have become an extremely disturbing phenomenon – a recent study from the University of Southern California and Indiana University suggesting that there may be up to 48 million of these accounts active on Twitter. That’s about 15% of the overall number of Twitter users worldwide, so there is no way that Twitter is unaware of this issue”, said Deputy Dooley. “A person or group can quite easily run a computer …