Social Media

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:12 Hello and welcome to The Luxury Podcast. My name's Jonathan Vernon-Smith, and with me is William Hanson. This is the podcast that helps you live a more luxury life.

William Hanson 0:01:22 Hello, Jonathan and I are here to help you create the everyday moments of luxury that make life worth living, whatever your budget.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:29 In each episode of The Luxury Podcast, William and I tackle an area of life that we think you should upgrade. Sorting the Onslows from the Hyacinths. Advising the nation in gracious living. So William, what are we going to talk about today?

William Hanson 0:01:42 We are going to talk about social media.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:45 Sosh.

William Hanson 0:01:45 Sosh med.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:46 On the sosh.

William Hanson 0:01:47 On the sosh.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:48 On the sosh.

William Hanson 0:01:49 Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:49 We're all over the sosh this week.

William Hanson 0:01:51 Yeah, we were on the sosh earlier, weren't we?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:54 That was the soak.

William Hanson 0:01:55 Ah, fine. Okay, fine. Yes. Um, yes, social media.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:59 Yes.

William Hanson 0:01:59 Or is it— may now just be called media?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:02 Really?

William Hanson 0:02:03 That social?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:04 Well, I don't know. How are we going to tackle this then? What are we going to do? We're going to talk about how you can live a luxury life on social media, or whether social media can be luxury at all.

William Hanson 0:02:14 Yeah, and which platforms are more luxury than others. Maybe we should rank our top 3 luxury platforms.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:21 Let's talk about what we're on.

William Hanson 0:02:22 Okay.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:23 And what we're not on. Because I'm sensing I might not have even heard of some of the social media that you might be on.

William Hanson 0:02:30 Have you heard of Grindr? No, I don't think that counts as social media. No, I jest. Well, what are you on? Let's start with you.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:46 What am I on? So, I was quite an early convert to Twitter.

William Hanson 0:02:52 Now called X.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:52 I joined Twitter, I think, in 2009. Yes. Well, I say I joined it, I was made to join it at the time.

William Hanson 0:03:02 Oh, by people you work with?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:04 By producer Laura.

William Hanson 0:03:05 Gosh, was she still working for you in 2009?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:07 She's worked with me for a long time, yeah. And she decided that actually she thought it was a good way of us being able to communicate with people, Um, get more stories, find out more views.

William Hanson 0:03:20 And has she been proved right?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:22 Um, well, she was for a while.

William Hanson 0:03:24 Well, yes, not so much now.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:25 Before Twitter went absolutely crackers, as it seems to have done now.

William Hanson 0:03:29 I think, do you know what I'm going to try and do here?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:32 What?

William Hanson 0:03:34 I've actually— it didn't take very long. I've scrolled to the top of our direct messages on Twitter because I first connected with you, well, on the radio, but we then exchanged numbers on Twitter on the 6th of May, 2010.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:46 Really?

William Hanson 0:03:47 Yes. Hi, Jonathan. Please note change of mobile number. Please stop booking me.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:52 Not that you were needy.

William Hanson 0:03:57 You joined on the 7th of October, 2009. There you go. I said, hope you're well, William. And then I messaged you on the 19th of May. Jonathan, could we actually do the int on my mobile? May not be able to get to a landline by then. I'll make sure I have good reception. RSVP. Yes, that's fine. Talk later. Dravios.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:15 Oh, you're doing my funny voice.

William Hanson 0:04:17 Yeah. Next message to you. Sorry, I'm sorry, this is quite funny. Jonathan, can I please be introduced as etiquette expert and social commentator? The youngest etiquette expert is so 3 years ago. Thanks. You didn't reply. You also didn't reply to the next 3 messages.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:40 No.

William Hanson 0:04:40 Hi, when is my call time? I need to be free by 1:45. Thanks, William.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:44 Oh my God. Yeah, I didn't realise what a stroppy little diva you were. I don't remember that side of you. Yeah. What else did you say?

William Hanson 0:04:53 What time do you normally finish work, Jonathan? I'm in London on Monday, just working out a schedule. I'm talking to a WY in the evening. Hi, William, I finish at about 3:30 PM on Monday. Where are you thinking of meeting, Jonathan?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:11 You see, I like the fact that we kept it businesslike.

William Hanson 0:05:13 I think we'd met clearly by the 12th of October, 'cause I put, watching Desperate Housewives Series 1 again. You were right about Jesse Metcalfe's nipples. And you replied, told you.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:31 That's 'cause he's got funny nipples.

William Hanson 0:05:36 Yeah, wonky nipples.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:36 They're wonky, they droop down, yeah.

William Hanson 0:05:39 Your phone-in topic should be renamed, do breastfeeding mothers get on your tits?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:43 Wow. Well, you see, so we have Twitter to thank for connecting.

William Hanson 0:05:55 Yes. Wow. Then there are some—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:00 You're obsessed now, aren't you? Going through all the various—

William Hanson 0:06:02 I'm going to search those later on and see what other gems I can find. Right, so that's Twitter. So, Twitter did used to be— let's start with Twitter. Twitter did used to be a nice place. I met lots of friends, you included, sort of via Twitter. Um, not so much now. I don't use Twitter.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:22 No, it's absolutely mad at the bottom, isn't it, really? It's, um, it's become just a kind of cesspit of just weirdos now, hasn't it? Twitter.

William Hanson 0:06:36 Yes, it's very—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:37 it's a very strange place.

William Hanson 0:06:38 So do you still post on Twitter?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:40 I do, um, but I don't really know why I bother. Um, I do just because I know that every day, you know, a few hundred people— and that's literally all it is now because Twitter seems to only let your tweets be seen if you're being some kind of weirdo extremist. If you're just posting something that is not weirdo or extreme, then they don't seem to share it with very many of your followers.

William Hanson 0:07:06 No, if you're doing a phone-in about do you like coriander, yeah, then, you know, no one's going to see it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:10 Hardly anyone sees it. But there are still hundreds of people every day that do see my tweets. So I do kind of think, well, for them, you never know, they might log into Twitter just to see what I'm doing that day.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:20 So I do do that, but I don't really share— I don't really share stuff about my life on there anymore. I don't put photos on or No, I don't. You know, years ago, if something funny occurred to me, I might go onto Twitter to share it with people. Now I just think, well, if I do, no one will see it because Elon Musk doesn't want anyone seeing my tweets unless you're a radical. He doesn't seem to want anyone seeing your tweets.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:44 No. So what's the point?

William Hanson 0:07:45 Yeah, I can remember back in the day when Twitter was Twitter, there was a great stock within sort of our industry or similar on whether you had the blue tick mark. Now, on pretty much all social media platforms, you can pay for that blue tick mark, so it's completely diluted it to the point where— I mean, I've got it on Instagram, and I have it not because I pay for it, I have it because I was given it— to the point where I actually don't want it. I think it's probably chicer not to have it.

William Hanson 0:08:17 Hmm. Because why do I need a little blue tick mark to say that I'm a person of interest? However, I do remember when I was verified, I was verified on the M5. I remember I was driving home for Christmas, I pulled into the service station, and all of a sudden it ticked and said, you are now verified on Twitter. And they had gone through the verification process when I started writing for the Daily Mail.

William Hanson 0:08:38 So that was about 2015.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:08:39 I was verified, and then I lost my verification.

William Hanson 0:08:42 Yes, because you changed your— I changed my name.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:08:45 I didn't realise changing my name meant I'd lose my verification.

William Hanson 0:08:49 Yes, because it verifies the handle, not the account.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:08:51 Yeah, so I changed my name, From— because my Twitter handle used to be—

William Hanson 0:08:55 Big Boy.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:08:56 Big Boy. Big Boy 79. 79? No, it used to be JVS Show. And then I thought, well, that's just— it looks like it's just my programme rather than me. So I changed my name and my blue tick disappeared. So, hey ho.

William Hanson 0:09:17 Yeah. Okay.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:18 Never mind.

William Hanson 0:09:20 So, yes, Twitter, definitely not luxury. I think we can say. We can agree.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:24 No, it's not. Twitter has become like going around the back of the Arndale Centre, hasn't it? It's round by the bins.

William Hanson 0:09:34 When were you last around the back of the Arndale Centre? Well, I've never been around the back.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:37 That's how I imagine it now.

William Hanson 0:09:38 When we do Luxury Live in Manchester— sold out, incidentally— I could take you around the back of the Arndale Centre.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:44 We could go around the back. Well, I was thinking about the Arndale Centre in Luton, actually.

William Hanson 0:09:47 Oh, were you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:48 There's 2. Well, in fact, I think there might be more Yeah, Arndale Centre. But I just imagine— Mr.

William Hanson 0:09:53 Arndale was very busy.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:54 Twitter has just become kind of like a whole load of people hanging out around the bins, hasn't it?

William Hanson 0:09:59 Yeah, so yeah, it's not nice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:01 That's how it feels.

William Hanson 0:10:02 Definitely not luxury. Um, do you do— I mean, there have been sort of Twitter rivals like Bluesky and Threads, and I think there was another one. Oh no. Yeah, Threads I sort of occasionally post to. It's Instagram's version of Twitter. And apparently it's actually fine, that it's quite normal and can be quite interesting, but I just sort of can't be bothered. I think there are so many platforms now, you don't need all of them.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:26 I'm on Bluesky.

William Hanson 0:10:27 Oh, are you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:28 Yes, I'm on Bluesky. So are you. I put you on it, do you remember?

William Hanson 0:10:32 Oh yeah. I put you on it, but you don't post.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:36 I post very rarely. It's not— it's never really taken off.

William Hanson 0:10:41 No.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:41 So that's not really my cup of tea either now. So, Twitter, Bluesky, they just, they sit there in the background, but they're not what I would consider to be luxury, high-end, quality social media for a better class of person.

William Hanson 0:10:55 Let's talk about Facebook.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:57 Okay.

William Hanson 0:11:01 Now, again, I was an early adopter of Facebook. I remember I was still at school. I was 16 when I got Facebook, and you had to be. It was back in the day where you had Facebook was for academic— you had to be affiliated to an academic institution, which is how the whole thing started.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:16 Really? I don't remember that.

William Hanson 0:11:17 You had to, like, I had to use my official school email address to prove, and it was done like a face book, like a yearbook at the end of school. It absolutely was.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:26 I don't remember that.

William Hanson 0:11:27 People will back me up on this. If you also watch the film The Social Network, it's all about that because they, like, almost sold it into the American colleges like Harvard and whatever, and then they opened it up. not long after I joined, uh, to everyone. And Facebook used to be quite fun. I mean, you would post— can you remember? You would post statuses. It would be, Jonathan Vernon Smith is… and then you would say, contemplating what to have for dinner, or something.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:54 Why are you doing my funny voice?

William Hanson 0:11:55 No, actually, no, no, that wasn't your funny voice. That was just, you know, your generic funny voice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:00 Now it's become my funny voice.

William Hanson 0:12:03 William Hanson is Thinking about etiquette again, or something, you know. It was, yeah, dull, but people would interact with that.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:10 But Facebook used to be nice. It used to be a nice, friendly place.

William Hanson 0:12:14 The trouble is, and I'm going to say it, and I don't take this personally, the middle-aged people have taken over Facebook. Middle to older-aged people.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:21 Well, they were always on it.

William Hanson 0:12:24 Not initially. My mother's not on any social media, but It's my mother's generation that— and particularly— no, I'm not just going to say particularly women, because I think men as well, but it's the parents' generation who are now on it, and it is so not cool anymore, I would say. I do have a Facebook page. I think you have a Facebook page, don't you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:45 Yes, I use Facebook quite a lot.

William Hanson 0:12:47 Does the podcast have a Facebook page?

Speaker G 0:12:47 I'm not sure if the podcast does.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:49 No. No.

William Hanson 0:12:50 So, I post professionally, but I don't do the sort of—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:54 No.

William Hanson 0:12:54 I mean, you, as we have discussed previously, used to do albums of your cleaner.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:58 When Facebook was, was a nice, friendly, social place, uh, I used to like Facebook.

William Hanson 0:13:05 Yeah, I did too.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:06 You could kind of go onto Facebook and you could see what your friends had been doing.

William Hanson 0:13:10 Yep.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:11 People would put photos of, you know, their families.

William Hanson 0:13:14 Well, I think it killed holiday snaps. Can you remember people you'd go around for a cup of tea and they'd go, do you want to see my holiday photos? And actually nobody ever did. Whereas now you can put them on Facebook, and if you are interested— or now it's Instagram, I guess— you can sort of look at a couple And then if not, you, you know, just like it and move on.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:30 That's right.

William Hanson 0:13:30 So, I think it did at least kill looking at holiday snaps, which is fair enough.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:34 But, uh, I, I then put my show on Facebook, and we have quite an active show page on Facebook.

William Hanson 0:13:43 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:44 And, uh, it's great for my programme.

William Hanson 0:13:47 Yes, you use it to pull—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:48 We— so, we, we try questions out, we try topics of discussion out, see whether people are interested or not. And also sometimes through Facebook, we then find funny contributors. So if I put a question on, you know, what's the funniest thing you've got your head stuck in or whatever? And somebody then says, oh gosh, you know, talking about this, you know, you'd never believe the time we went to Whipstead and my mum got her head stuck in a rhino. You know, we'll then message that person and say, that sounds hilarious. Do you want to come and tell the story? And people say, yeah. Yeah.

William Hanson 0:14:20 Okay.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:21 So that's very useful.

William Hanson 0:14:22 It's where people see, and it's not just on Facebook. And this is obviously where you have to be very careful of anything you see on the internet, is where they see something that they accept as gospel.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:31 Oh, well, but Facebook has changed now because all it is now is these fake videos, adverts for stupid stuff being sold on the other side of the world that when you buy it and get it shipped over, it's either going to blow your house up or, you know, it's clothing that's about 15 times too small for you by the time it turns up. So it's all that kind of stuff now, isn't it? And you don't really see the stuff you want to see.

William Hanson 0:14:58 And it's where people go, have you seen on Facebook? Have you seen on— and they say it with almost such authority that if it's on Facebook, it must be true.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:06 I know.

William Hanson 0:15:06 Whereas I think that the slightly savvier amongst us realise, actually, if it's on Facebook, it's probably not true. It's rubbish.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:15 It's rubbish. Yeah.

William Hanson 0:15:16 Or recently, someone I know got contacted by a relative, and they said, oh, have you seen— Facebook has got some great videos of the lightning last night. As if Facebook have curated those videos. It's like, no, Facebook haven't. It's like Debbie down the road has taken— I don't care about lightning last night, nor did this person. But yes, it's, um—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:38 It also brings out the very worst in people now, whereas back in the day people were quite nice to one another on Facebook.

William Hanson 0:15:45 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:46 Now it feels as if all of life's angry people. They sit there in their home typing furious messages filled with venom to people that— I mean, even— have you ever joined one of these community Facebook groups where you join kind of your local area?

William Hanson 0:16:04 No, but I'm on Nextdoor.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:16:07 Okay.

William Hanson 0:16:08 I don't actually ever check it, but I get email summaries each, and they're always like, parcel thief! Again, they're all, you can't believe what she's done to me! People are outraged. Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:16:18 Well, where I live, sometimes on the Facebook page for the community, sometimes people start having a fight with one another on there, and they live just around the corner. They're perfectly nice people. In any other walk of life, they'd be perfectly civil to one another. And yet something will kick off on Facebook and they start having a go at one another. I mean, it's very entertaining to watch.

William Hanson 0:16:39 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:16:39 But it just feels as if Facebook brings out the worst in people.

William Hanson 0:16:43 It does. Well, again, it's that protection of just, I can sit at home, I can say what I like with no immediate consequence. Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:16:49 So, I would say whilst Twitter has become the conversation round by the bins at the back of the Arndale, yeah, I think Facebook has now become a family event where everyone's had a little bit too much to drink and your controversial uncle has kicked off. Yes, that's what Facebook is now.

William Hanson 0:17:07 Yeah. Okay, I agree.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:09 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:17:10 Instagram.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:11 Instagram.

William Hanson 0:17:12 Now, I quite like Instagram.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:15 You do surprise me.

William Hanson 0:17:17 What do you mean?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:17 Well, you use it all the time. Well, yes, you're a big deal.

William Hanson 0:17:23 But I would say Instagram— I'm noticing a slight change in Instagram, and I worry that it might be going down the route of a Facebook or an X, but it might take a while to get there. But I generally like Instagram, right? It shows me a load of rubbish, don't get me wrong. Not rubbish I disagree with or, you know, that's extremist or stupid. Yeah, just comparatively a lot of rubbish that I don't really need to see. Yeah, but I like Instagram.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:49 It's quite moreish, though. It's quite addictive.

William Hanson 0:17:52 Do you know what I think they should do, though? Can you remember on Facebook, they used to— like, the Facebook Messenger platform was within the Facebook app, and then I don't know how many years ago, they split them off into 2 apps.

William Hanson 0:18:03 You had your Facebook app and then Messenger as a separate app that you use for messaging. I really— and it's the same company, obviously, Meta, that do Facebook and Instagram, I really want them to split off Instagram, i.e., the feed and the Reels and the Stories, that is one app, and the Messenger is another app, because I would absolutely delete my Instagram app, and I would just keep the Messenger just to message friends.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:29 Oh.

William Hanson 0:18:30 Or whoever.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:31 Right.

William Hanson 0:18:32 I don't— now, I'll be honest with, like, people on my main Instagram. It is posted by a team of professionals.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:41 Hang on, I send you messages on that. Yeah, I don't— Is that not you responding?

William Hanson 0:18:45 No, it is. It is. Jonathan, I've changed my mobile number.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:50 Yeah, I always send you messages on Instagram.

William Hanson 0:18:54 Yeah, but you sometimes send it to my main account, and then my— what's called a Finsta.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:59 Your secret one.

William Hanson 0:19:00 My secret account. Big Boy 74.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:03 Big Boy 74.

William Hanson 0:19:04 Yeah. You send it to me on that. So sometimes it depends, but I would absolutely, even on my fake account— not my fake account, my Finsta— I would absolutely just— I don't need to be posting, actually. I've decided.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:17 I like some of the videos that come up on Instagram.

William Hanson 0:19:20 You generally send me videos recently, either of scenic views of Frigiliana.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:25 Yes.

William Hanson 0:19:26 Yes. I feel I've already—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:27 Beautiful Frigiliana videos. I feel I've already been.

William Hanson 0:19:31 Or Mercadona adverts.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:33 Mercadona, yep. I've sent— started sending you some Mercadona adverts. I sent you a nice one, didn't I? The floor cleaner. That was nice, did it? In fact, I don't think you responded to the last couple that I've sent you.

William Hanson 0:19:44 No.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:45 I did see when I sent, I thought, oh, he's not responding. Did you send them to Sadie as well? She doesn't follow me on Instagram.

William Hanson 0:19:51 Yeah. You don't follow Sadie on? No.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:55 I don't know.

William Hanson 0:19:55 You bitch!

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:19:56 I don't know who you are!

William Hanson 0:20:01 Rodrigo, do I follow you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:20:02 No. Oh, look, it's all coming out now.

William Hanson 0:20:06 Jonathan follows me.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:20:08 Oh, well, you've got me covered. I've been on holiday with you, Rodrigo. Look, this one, I like this one of the— that floor cleaner, Mercadona.

Speaker H 0:20:18 Is it just an ad?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:20:19 Yeah. Anyway, so I quite like Instagram.

William Hanson 0:20:21 I do like Instagram. It's fun.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:20:23 And I haven't encountered— I mean, apart from when we did— when we did Arm and Daughter Rippers. I wish they'd still— still basically threatening death on both of us, but I've not encountered quite as much, you know, horribleness on Instagram as there is on other platforms.

William Hanson 0:20:44 Yeah, it was suggested to me by my team of professionals that I uncollabed on that video. Did you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:20:53 Yeah. Did you? Ruthless.

William Hanson 0:21:02 You wimp!

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:03 You wimp!

William Hanson 0:21:04 I was fine not, but it was some—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:06 Well, I am there, collabbed up to the neck! So feel free to have a go, you weird Madonna fans.

William Hanson 0:21:15 Do you ever row with anyone? I mean, yes, obviously, we know the answer to that, but online?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:26 Not really. It's just such a waste of time, isn't it?

William Hanson 0:21:29 It is, really.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:30 It's just a waste of time. I mean, I quite like the fact that you're sometimes quite defensive, aren't you?

William Hanson 0:21:36 Well, you're defensive of me sometimes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:37 Well, if I'm gonna be bothered. I do. But you know, if someone's mean about me, you know, who's that man with a big red face?

William Hanson 0:21:48 You should stop commenting that, sadly.

Speaker H 0:21:51 I'm my fencer.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:53 You sometimes come to my rescue, don't you?

William Hanson 0:21:55 Yeah. Yeah. If I can be bothered.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:57 Leave him alone! Take a look at your own profile picture, you great big fat lump! He says things like that.

William Hanson 0:22:05 Yeah, I'm not sure various people would be happy I'm saying that, but they haven't noticed yet, so. Oh, I tell you what. Have you— are you aware of— I bet your nephew will be aware of this. football player. There's a football player called Erik Haaland.

Speaker I 0:22:23 Oh, yes.

William Hanson 0:22:24 And there was a video of him that he posted around the time of the World Cup, I think, eating a croissant. He was sitting in the Ritz Paris, and he was eating a croissant that he dunked into his coffee, and then he like leant over, I think, and then ate it. It was just horrible. It's just absolutely not what you do. So, I just commented, no.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:46 No, no, no.

William Hanson 0:22:46 Daily, I'm getting— I mean, I have picked up a few followers from it, but I'm getting people going, yo, yo, you Stop!

Speaker J 0:22:54 Who do you think you are?

William Hanson 0:22:57 And you say, I don't care about that.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:01 No, no, no. I mean, I genuinely, I just don't care what people say on there. So when they become quite— what was it? What was it someone said on the Madonna one? She went, they said something about, who is this chubby man?

Speaker H 0:23:20 I've been hiding some of them.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:24 And I thought—

William Hanson 0:23:24 You've been hiding some of them?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:26 I thought, there's no way to talk about William.

William Hanson 0:23:34 No, years ago I would have been offended by that, but not anymore.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:38 Anyway.

William Hanson 0:23:38 Okay, so we like Instagram. So, of the ones we've done so far— Facebook, Twitter, Instagram— Instagram is leading. Yep. TikTok.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:48 Oh, now—

William Hanson 0:23:49 Now, I'm— again, I'm on TikTok.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:51 I don't think I should say anything about TikTok, because you're big on TikTok, and I don't want to ruin it for you.

William Hanson 0:23:59 Oh, why? Why would it ruin it for me?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:24:03 Well, I hate TikTok.

William Hanson 0:24:04 Why? It's basically Instagram Reels.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:24:06 Oh no, I don't like it. Don't like it.

William Hanson 0:24:08 Having just been to Disneyland Paris, and we had a lovely time, I Obviously, like, watched one or two Disneyland Paris reels that came up in my algorithm, and now my algorithm is pretty much Disneyland. But I am worried because obviously I have to—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:24:24 They'll put you on a register. Not what I was gonna say. Sorry.

William Hanson 0:24:39 Because occasionally I get served videos, occasionally, if it's a very popular one, of a little critter that I don't like. And so I know that if I watch that— I mean, I'm not going to watch it anyway, but I have to swipe off there as quickly as possible because the algorithm is going to clearly work out that I absolutely do not want to see that content. And touch wood, by and large, I don't get that.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:02 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:25:03 But obviously Mickey Mouse, I have been watching a lot of videos of Mickey Mouse. I'm slightly worried that the algorithm is going to think I'm now okay with mice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:13 Right. Well—

William Hanson 0:25:14 So, alligators. I've talked about this on Sex Ed recently. I'm obsessed with alligator videos.

Speaker G 0:25:19 Spoke about it on here as well.

William Hanson 0:25:21 Yeah, I love alligators.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:22 They are horrible.

William Hanson 0:25:23 Yeah, I know, no, they're not great. Also, just on a little mouse update, whilst we're on it, when I was backstage at Titanic, not a single mouse. There you go.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:32 You see, you were worrying over nothing.

William Hanson 0:25:34 And actually, I did talk to stage management and I said, oh, by the way, I'm really phobic, so if there is anything, you need to, like, deal with it or tell me. And they went, oh, actually, in that theatre, they're actually hardly there.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:44 Right.

William Hanson 0:25:45 So, I was like, okay, well, that's quite good.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:47 Good.

William Hanson 0:25:47 It's reassuring.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:48 Well, I'm delighted.

William Hanson 0:25:49 Okay, TikTok. So, we don't love— I would say TikTok is fine, but it's not as luxury as Instagram.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:56 No, TikTok is— it's like The Range.

William Hanson 0:26:04 And for those that don't know what The Range is, tell us what The Range is.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:07 The Range is— it's kind of a homeware store that's not as nice as Dunelm, which is not as nice as John Lewis.

William Hanson 0:26:18 Which is not as nice as Harrods.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:21 Which is not as nice as Harrods.

William Hanson 0:26:24 Any ones that we've missed? Snapchat.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:26 I've never done Snapchat.

William Hanson 0:26:29 I did Snapchat, and I remember my cousin was coming over for Christmas, and they haven't been over for— Yeah, so 2008, 2009. Again, I would say Instagram Messenger, or even TikTok Messenger, it's kind of like, it's basically the same thing. You can send a disappearing story, I don't know why, or photo. I don't know why you'd want to do that. Or WhatsApp, even WhatsApp you can do that on now. So Snapchat, I'd say is—

Speaker G 0:26:53 People use Snapchat, I don't use it, for the almost like Find My Friends where you can see where everyone is.

William Hanson 0:26:58 But again, you've got Find My Friends.

Speaker G 0:26:59 I think it was on there before Find My Friends was a thing.

William Hanson 0:27:02 Oh, okay, fine.

Speaker G 0:27:04 Yeah. Yeah, I don't have it.

William Hanson 0:27:05 I think it's called the Snap Map.

Speaker G 0:27:06 I think you're right.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:07 Well, I'm not on that. No. WhatsApp is supposedly social media, isn't it? Is it? Yes, they class WhatsApp as social media.

William Hanson 0:27:16 Oh.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:16 I like WhatsApp.

William Hanson 0:27:17 Yes. It's good. I like WhatsApp.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:18 That's good. WhatsApp's very good.

William Hanson 0:27:20 But I don't do the po— you can post stories on WhatsApp. Oh, no. I absolutely don't do that.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:24 No, my dad, I think accidentally did that the other day.

William Hanson 0:27:28 Uh-oh.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:28 He shared a photo of his friend's garden, It wasn't even his garden. It came up with this green circle, so I thought, what's he done? I clicked on it, it was just a random garden.

William Hanson 0:27:40 Well, on Instagram now, there's this thing called Instants, which is like sort of their version of BeReal. We'll just touch upon BeReal in a minute. And, um, they— it's sort of, you just take a photo in the moment, forward or front-facing. And the other day, I think it was Freddie, but he messaged me going, That's boring. And I had just done it by accident. It was just like kitchen worktop. And I thought, shit, that could be really dangerous. I don't know how I've done that. I also then spent like 5 minutes trying to work out how to delete it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:10 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:28:11 It's very odd.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:13 You might accidentally do one on the toilet.

William Hanson 0:28:16 Or the lavatory, as we have in my house.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:20 You peering down into your—

William Hanson 0:28:28 Let's talk about BeReal, because this—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:30 That would ruin your etiquette credentials, wouldn't it?

William Hanson 0:28:33 Well, that's what I'm worried about. Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:34 William's toilet face. I can't imagine. Oh dear. Yeah.

William Hanson 0:28:46 Now, BeReal is my favourite social media app.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:50 Well, I don't know what it is, but every now and then when I've been with you, you suddenly will photograph me.

William Hanson 0:28:55 Well, I'm gonna do it in a minute, so brace yourself.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:57 Yes, but you just do— you take a photo.

William Hanson 0:28:59 Yeah, because it's you being real.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:00 Yes, but I don't photograph well at the best of times. So the BeReal photos probably make me look like I've got 15 chins.

William Hanson 0:29:10 Yeah, well, the real Gen Z will do it where they literally just go, and they don't— they are doing it, and it is absolutely instantaneous. I do a little bit of, you know, get the angle. Of course you do. Yeah, right. Pose. But BeReal, for those that don't know, at certain times of the day, random, it will just go, time to be real, and you can only see what your friends are posting if you have posted.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:32 Who's got the time?

William Hanson 0:29:33 Well, I have. Who am I friends with? I'm friends with Fraser, Alex, Mikey, my husband, George, Freddie, Luke, And Max. That's it. Those are my friends. And it's lovely because on all my other social medias, generally, there are quite a few people that I, you know, there is a responsibility. Yeah. BeReal, blah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:57 There you go.

William Hanson 0:29:58 And we will post silly photos. Look, I'll show you. I'll show you what everyone's been doing today.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:01 What, does it save the photos?

William Hanson 0:30:02 Only for 24 hours. George is hoovering, so he does forward-facing and got his headphones on.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:09 He's got an old-school Dyson.

William Hanson 0:30:11 Yeah, I knew you'd be interested in the Hoover.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:12 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:30:13 Luke's at work.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:14 Oh yeah, using open media.

William Hanson 0:30:16 Yeah. Mike is at home in his yellow, canary yellow hoodie.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:20 Oh, he's done a cheeky little smile though, hasn't he?

William Hanson 0:30:23 Do you like his new bookcases, by the way?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:24 Yeah, it looks nice. Yeah.

William Hanson 0:30:25 Karen the carpenter came and put those in. Alex is at work.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:29 Okay.

William Hanson 0:30:30 Max is at work, but at home. And that's it today. No one else has done it so far. Oh, and then I was in the other studio doing that. That was mine.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:40 Right.

William Hanson 0:30:40 So I'm going to now just do one in here.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:42 So can you just do it whenever you want?

William Hanson 0:30:44 You can once you've posted, but you can't—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:48 Oh, you're doing it of you, are you?

William Hanson 0:30:50 Well, my forward-facing, and then on wide it'll be of you too. There we go. Posted. We'll pop that on our lecture page.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:56 What about me? When do I— You're in it! Well, you haven't told me! I'm not—

William Hanson 0:30:59 I was being real, look!

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:01 Okay, let me— no! Let me do another one!

William Hanson 0:31:06 I'm screenshotting it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:07 No, that looks horrible.

William Hanson 0:31:08 Okay, well, tell you what, you do it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:10 Do it? No, just do one of me like this.

William Hanson 0:31:12 How's that?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:22 Yeah, it's lovely.

William Hanson 0:31:28 Again, if you want to go and see that, go to luxurypodcast.co.uk/club.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:36 Well, there we go. Oh, I better get that.

William Hanson 0:31:38 It's probably Elon Musk.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:33:29 Welcome back, Bucketheads. We've been discussing social media, and it's now time for your questions. Let's check out our heaving bags of posts, shall we? Do remember, if there's something on your mind that needs a luxury touch, postman@luxurypodcast.co.uk is the place for your queries and your questions. Also, a little reminder, you can watch these episodes on Patreon if you join our Luxury Members Club. So just head over to luxurypodcast.co.uk to join.

William Hanson 0:34:00 This first question comes from James. Dearest William and JVS, it seems a frequent occurrence with a certain community, friends of the podcast, to have a more exclusive selection of followers as close friends for more risqué content. Oh, wow. Is this a tasteful use of social media, or is it as common as muck? Thank you for the ever-sensational podcast. You bring absolute joy to my week. Cannot wait to see you both at Luxury Live.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:34:22 Oh, how nice. In November.

William Hanson 0:34:24 Manchester sold out. London, couple of tickets available.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:34:26 Just a couple though.

William Hanson 0:34:28 Just a couple. Don't laugh.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:34:32 Don't you leave us to talk to ourselves.

William Hanson 0:34:37 We can assure you Walthamstow is very luxury.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:34:43 Yes.

William Hanson 0:34:44 It certainly will be by the time we finish with it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:34:46 And actually, I mean, at our live show, it's going to be pretty impressive. Because— and can we let the Bucketheads into a bit of a secret?

William Hanson 0:34:54 I don't know, what secret are you going to tell them?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:34:56 Our live show will feature song and dance, and we will be revealing exclusively for people there our holiday snaps from Frigg! Oh yes.

William Hanson 0:35:10 Well, if that's not worth the price of a ticket, I don't know what is. And we are potentially booking a big headline act, aren't we?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:35:17 We are. Yep.

William Hanson 0:35:18 Friend of the podcast, we'll put it that way.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:35:20 Yep. Just talking to her people.

William Hanson 0:35:26 Dougie.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:35:28 Polyhedron triangle. Oh dear.

William Hanson 0:35:37 Yes. So, yes, close friends. Are you aware of this concept on Instagram?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:35:41 Nope.

William Hanson 0:35:41 So, you can have on— and actually, I do actually think Instagram are changing sort of, or evolving this, but you can on your story— I do, it does actually work on feed as well— you can post, when you post a story, you know, when you like, you post your graphics with stickers and whatever, uh, you can, you either click post or—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:36:01 There's a slight dismissive tone to your voice there. Do you notice that? You know, when you post, uh, yeah, uh, with your stickers.

William Hanson 0:36:09 Love a GIF, don't you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:36:11 William, I don't really know what I'm doing. I've told you before, I don't know what I'm doing.

William Hanson 0:36:16 It doesn't come across. Anyway, but if you've got close friends set up, then there is another button next to it which has a green— I think it's a white star in a green circle— that only goes to a— you literally select. You could have, let's say, 100 people follow you, but it will only show it to 10 people that you have selected. And amongst what James says, Amongst many friends of the podcast, they might use that to not post nudes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:36:46 Oh, shall I start doing something a bit risqué for my followers? Shall I? What? What do you mean, please?

William Hanson 0:36:55 It'll make your dad posting your friend's garden look quite normal.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:37:02 What? I could do some, some, um, adult content. Here I am, getting ready for bed. Slap on the Tulipan Negro.

William Hanson 0:37:16 No, because the thing is, you don't know what you're doing with normal stories. No, I don't. I can see what'll happen. You'll try to do a bit of risqué content and think you're posting it to close friends, and it will go to main.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:37:29 Share it with everyone!

William Hanson 0:37:31 And you'll lose your job.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:37:33 You'll lose your house. Oh no.

William Hanson 0:37:35 You'll lose your friends. The pub will ban you. It'll be—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:37:38 I'll be persona non grata.

William Hanson 0:37:41 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:37:42 Oh no.

William Hanson 0:37:42 So, I just don't think you need a Close Friends.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:37:44 I'm not gonna do JVS OnlyFans on my Instagram. I'm not gonna do that. No. No. No matter how much the people demand it.

William Hanson 0:37:53 No. So, that is the concept of— Did you just laugh, Rodrigo? That's the concept of Close Friends. friends. And it is a thing within the gay community. Not everyone does it, but there are quite a few. And you see a little green circle and you go, oh, I'll open that later.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:38:11 I'm sorry.

William Hanson 0:38:13 Well, you can't open it on the Tube normally.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:38:16 What?

William Hanson 0:38:17 Well, because you don't know what it is. Sometimes it is literally just people— like, often they use it also in— I should say, sometimes people use close friends for photos of their children, so they don't want to put it out in public, but they are fine with it just being seen by select friends and family. So, it's not always explicit.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:38:32 I thought the green circle meant they were online.

William Hanson 0:38:34 Well, that on chat, yes, but not in their stories, no.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:38:41 I thought that meant they were online.

William Hanson 0:38:43 If it's a tiny little green circle by their name, right, then in the bottom right, that means yes, they're online. But if it's their story with a green circle around it, that means, oh, hello, potentially spicy content. And if they're a homosexual male, Don't open that on the Central Line.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:38:59 I'm gonna do a photo now, live.

William Hanson 0:39:02 Oh god. Jonathan is fully clothed.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:05 How do I— how do I— well, I am now. But how do I make it just for my friends? 'Cause I'm just—

William Hanson 0:39:11 Close friends.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:11 I'm just gonna add you. Hang on. Make it, make it, make it work.

William Hanson 0:39:17 You haven't even got Instagram to allow you to use camera and microphone.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:21 No, no, I don't want it spying on me.

William Hanson 0:39:23 Right, well, it is now.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:24 On what?

William Hanson 0:39:25 Right, so hang on. So, here you go. You need to set up your close friends first.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:30 Just put—

William Hanson 0:39:31 Close friends, 0.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:32 Yeah, I don't have any.

William Hanson 0:39:34 Okay, me.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:35 Just you.

William Hanson 0:39:36 Done.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:36 Right.

William Hanson 0:39:36 Close friends, 1.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:38 Right.

William Hanson 0:39:38 So now, when you take a photo—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:41 Right.

William Hanson 0:39:41 When you add a story—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:42 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:39:43 How do you add a story? You want to take a photo. Let's move your granddad case. I do— Take a photo of Sadie.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:39:49 No, I'm doing one of me. Looking— oh, I'm doing an adult one. All right, ready?

William Hanson 0:39:54 Jonathan's posing. You can watch this on Patreon.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:40:01 Oh, I forgot about the cat! I literally forgot I was sitting in a room surrounded by cameras. So, I've done it. I've done it, right? How do I share this?

William Hanson 0:40:33 Right, don't press anything.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:40:35 Right.

William Hanson 0:40:35 Show me the phone. Now, you see close friends. Don't click your stories. Click close friends.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:40:41 Now it's gone a green circle.

William Hanson 0:40:43 Gosh.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:40:44 So you—

William Hanson 0:40:44 Your whole career flashed before you. Now, any minute now, it's going to appear on here.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:40:52 Okay.

William Hanson 0:40:53 Has it posted?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:40:56 I don't know. Yes, it's gone green.

William Hanson 0:41:02 Oh yeah, okay. Here we go. Can you see— and you see up there? It's got the green. So that is only to your close friends.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:41:22 Right, that's only for you. Well, now I know how that works. No, do you know what? That's too dangerous. I'm not going to do that.

William Hanson 0:41:27 No doubt.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:41:28 Can you turn the camera and the thing off on my phone?

William Hanson 0:41:30 Oh, for God's sake.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:41:31 I don't want them spying on me. They'll be listening to everything I'm saying.

William Hanson 0:41:35 Well, why don't you read the next letter whilst I work out how to do this?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:41:37 Willy's been in touch. He says, Willy says, for your social media episode, is it ever acceptable to have work colleagues on your social media accounts, or is this a recipe for disaster? Do they need to see half-naked pictures of us on holiday? Or photos long since forgotten.

William Hanson 0:42:08 Well, again, this is where you could use close friends if you wanted to add colleagues. I mean, if you are— as in, I have colleagues but then sort of tune out, whether it's, again, saucy stuff or just holiday snaps, pics of your family, kids.

William Hanson 0:42:21 And you can— the close friends thing also works for feed. So, when you post on the grid, you can just share photos that go to close friends. As I said, I think Instagram are now bringing in— I think it's a paid feature where you can have lists So, you can post and it will just show it to— let's say you create a list of colleagues, you can send a list of colleagues and friends, you can have a list of— so, you can sort of control who sees it, which I think is actually quite clever. Right. And I'm not sponsored or anything to say that, but I think that's quite sensible.

William Hanson 0:42:49 Um, but yeah, I would say Instagram has become— I've got colleagues and—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:42:54 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:42:55 I've got you on it and friends.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:42:57 Just don't post anything on social media that you wouldn't share with your work colleagues, then you're fine.

William Hanson 0:43:02 Well, I always have— I mean, my grandmother's dead, but like, if my grandmother was still alive, if she saw this, how would she feel? And if the answer is she'd be fine with it, I'll post it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:43:12 She was a big Madonna fan, hence you uncollapsed.

William Hanson 0:43:15 Admittedly, I posted me dressed as Kylie Minogue. Not sure how Granny would have felt about that, but in the grand scheme of things, right, she would have been fine with it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:43:27 Well, do you know what? I am absolutely shattered.

William Hanson 0:43:32 Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:43:32 I can't wait to get back on my Instagram and do some more adult content. So we'll leave it there for now. Of course, you can check back in again tomorrow for our bonus episode.

William Hanson 0:43:43 Jonathan's bonus. Hahaha.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:43:46 Didn't see it.

William Hanson 0:43:49 Until then, goodbye!