Two things annoy me: being expected to read almost 100 pages for each history class, and when my Facebook news feed is filled with reposted images.
I value originality or at least the effort to take that interesting quote and put it in a status with some context or reason why you posted it. I’d rather see a photo of my Facebook friend or a picture they took than another shared image from “A relationship is not a test so why cheat?” (That’s an actual page that appeared on my news feed.) Although if you share a Pinterest photo linking to some delicious-looking food, I’ll probably click on that. What especially bothers me are the photos urging people to like and share to end cancer or feed a starving child in Africa. This is a lie. It’s like a chain letter. No one actually benefits from those likes and shares. They just raise awareness.
This barrage of unoriginal posts is why when my news feed began to contain comics from the Facebook application Bitstrips, I was so pleased and began deliberately looking to see if more friends had posted from the app. Bitstrips is a website and app that allows users to create a pretty accurate cartoon version of themselves. They can then place their cartoon selves in comics and cartoon images that can also include other friends who use the app. Scenes are pre-made, so it doesn’t require much effort other than choosing a scene. The real creativity and benefit comes in the opportunity to be witty, choose specific scenes and come up with captions and quotes.
Bitstrips can also be used to depict events. The best Bitstrip I have seen so far showed someone hiding in a trashcan to spy on her crush. That’s the beauty of Bitstrips. People can use them to update their statuses and share what they’re doing with a cartoon version of themselves rather than a poor-quality photo. Friends can be included, and, rather than just a status telling something that happened in my day or an interesting thought I had, I can visually depict it with a comic.
Bitstrips are outlets to demonstrate wit, be humorous and stand out among other Facebook posts. I love using them to share things I’m thinking about in a way that isn’t a status, and I’d rather have them dominate my Facebook news feed than reposts.
