“Tag” and “share”

“Keep it short,” my good friend ****** ****** says, an editor at the Mighty Mezz when I was there.
She was expounding a basic tenet of newspaper production, namely the average person zones out after maybe six words. In fact, yer doin’ good if ya can get ‘em past a sentence.
This isn’t criticism; it’s just an observation.
Word-generators love the fact they can easily sling verbiage. More-than-likely the average reader will stop and glom a potato-chip.
So how do I say this without losing readers? It’s rather arcane.
My verbiage is aimed three ways: -1) blogging,-2) e-mail, and-3) Facebook.
The average word-slinger cranks directly into their blog, e-mail, or Facebook post box. Not this kid! I write first into a word-processor, in my case Apple’s “Pages.” I don’t use Microsoft Word® because it punishes sloppy keyboarding, a result of my stroke 25 years ago.
What I do is copy/paste from my word-processor into the appropriate post box. I don’t remember why I fell into doing this, but it probably was to offset some stroke-effect.
It also gave me the option of “Save-As.” I could save the document as a separate file on this ‘pyooter. E-mails are sometimes a document; even some Facebook posts are worth saving. I also wanna continually save my post, in case some mistype sends it flying to Never-Never Land. I’ve had that happen.
Apparently now a Facebook or e-mail post is much like a word-processor. I’m sure blogging is. Misspells get flagged, and you can even have it say “Naughty-Naughty” when you use passive voice.
But I like “Saving-As;” that is, saved as a separate document I keep saving. No doubt e-mail and Facebook are saving things too, but finding stuff ain’t easy. My folders are easier.
Now I find my way of doing things causes trouble. The fact I type separately disallows Facebook autofill of names. If I were to type directly into Facebook, instead of copy/paste from my word-processor, it would autofill names. And now I hear autofilling is the same as “tagging.”
Not that I care, but I do use Facebook occasionally, so wouldn’t mind knowing what was going on.
I e-mailed a blog-link to a lady in Valley Forge (PA) who interviewed me by phone regarding my getting another rescue Irish-Setter. The lady represents Above-and-Beyond English-Setter Rescue. She liked my blog enough to crank it on her Facebook and “tag” it. Maybe she meant “share.”
Terms like “tag” and “share” have special meaning to Facebook. Having been born in the prior century I have absolutely no clue what this stuff imeans — or so I’m told by youngsters.
My questions prompted a phonecall to my brother-in-DE’s wife, who uses Facebook a lot.
“So what’s ‘tagging?’” I asked.
“Yada-yada-yada-yada.” Translated: “‘Tagging’ is to tag someone.”
“I need to know what happens if I ‘tag someone.’”
As I understand it, the person “tagged” receives a Facebook notification they been “tagged.” They can thereafter read what they’re “tagged” in. I guess this only works between Facebook “friends;” i.e. I can only “tag” a “friend.”
Also as I understand it, tagging occurs only when a “friend’s” name has autofilled in a text or picture post. But I’m not sure of that. My Valley Forge contact said she “tagged” my blog. This implies something beyond autofill.
“So define ‘share,’” I asked my brother’s wife. “And not scantily-clad Cher. I need to know what happens if I ‘share.’” If I get a post from one of my “friends” I can “share” it, whereby people who aren’t my “friends,” but are “friends” of my “friends,” can read what I shared.
Utterly confused. What happened to Facebook’s “wall?” I suppose it still exists. What little I know is to post something to a “friend’s” wall. And if I post something to my own “wall,” my “friends” can see it.
And when I get a FB notification some “friend” commented on a “friend” post I can view that.
Or so it seems....
I gotta understand all this just to know my nephew had a baby?
That was months ago, and I never knew because I rarely fire up Facebook. No e-mail, no phonecall.
WRONG CENTURY, Dude!
Say something about rabbit-ears to a millennial and they think yer talkin’ about rabbits.

• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired 12 years ago. Best job I ever had — I was employed there almost 10 years — over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern. (I had a stroke October 26th, 1993, from which I recovered fairly well). (“Canandaigua”  is a small city nearby where I live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 14 miles away.)