There have been a number of management changes at Habbox lately. One of these changes being former Assistant General Manager (Staff), Expling, switching roles to the content side of things as our new Assistant General Manager (Content) following the departure of Welshcake a few months back. Responsible for the content side at Habbox, it is Tommy’s job to oversee the Content, Graphics, Rare Values and Articles departments. Let’s hope he approves of this article and that I don’t get fired for choosing bad questions!

So that you can all get to know our new main content man, I thought it would be fun to do a small interview with him! You can read the full interview by clicking ‘Read More and Comment’ below. If you have any questions for Expling, post them below and I’m sure he’ll give you an answer!

‍

Hey Tommy! Firstly, congratulations on obtaining the role of AGM (Content) at Habbox! Firstly, I would like you to tell me a little bit about your Habbox background and how you’ve got to this stage.

I’ve actually only been here for two years or so and have been in lots of different departments – I was previously Content Design Manager because I loved writing and it was one of the first departments I joined, I also really wanted to become the longest running content manager (which I didn’t get in the end ). I had always been interested in General Management because it’s such an exciting and interesting challenge, I was beginning to get a little bored of my old role so I wanted to stretch out my wings a bit more so I applied for AGM Staff and was successful! Then obviously Welshcake resigned from her role and it made more sense to just transfer me over.

What are your initial plans within your new role and what will be your main priorities to begin with?

I’ve known I’d be transferred for quite some time now and so I was thinking of plans before it was actually announced – I desperately want to get Rare Values sorted because it has a lot of potential and can bring in a lot of traffic too. Graphics was also a mess so that was another priority, as well as just general activity across the Content departments (including staff numbers). I want to eventually have four managers, with a few seniors running some rather large departments. I also really wanted to focus on little things like staff forum posting and communication with their fellow department buddies!

Do you have any exciting plans for content generally at Habbox in the near future? Are we likely to see any big content drives soon?

I’m going to firstly do the boring stuff (making the departments functional again) and then I’ll focus on new ideas with the Content Managers to boost activity. I was thinking of some sort of Content Takeover but it’ll have to be planned and finalised before anything is revealed…

How did you find your previous role of AGM (Staff)? Was it the challenge you imagined when you submitted your application? And do you feel you were able to carry out what you intended to within the role?

I found that the Staff AGM role was really different to what it used to be! It was difficult because it was new to us all and so it was hard to not step on each other’s toes – I enjoyed setting up the Challenges & Recruitment Ambassadors though, hopefully they’ll come in use soon. I had lots and lots of ideas and then when you’re given the role it’s sometimes hard because people disagree or it doesn’t work out as planned which is hugely disappointing but is a good learning curve I guess!

What are your favourite things about Habbox? What things about Habbox don’t you like so much?

I love the wide variety of people, having people of different natures/backgrounds etc. I really hate negativity and people who never forget stuff (like when they use past mistakes against you) or when people are just generally really harsh to people (managers/AGMs especially) so much so that people begin to feel like crying. Habbox is really supposed to be fun and friendly so I never understand why people have to be so cruel and harsh (in feedback threads a lot of the time). I hope this is something that will lessen as time goes on!

If you could choose any department to manage, which would it be?

I’ve always said Help Desk because it was the other department I joined with Content Design – I was hired as a Trialist on the same day and was promoted to Senior in both within the same week too, I really enjoyed the department so it’d definitely be something I’d like to manage!

What are your opinions about your fellow Assistant General Managers?

Laura’s hard working and supportive, she understands that we all need to learn and really tries to help me wherever. Likewise with Kelly, they’re both really lovely people and I’m fortunate to work with them – I don’t think there’s many others I’d pick to be in such a small team with! Love the girly chats too

What are your favourite things to do besides Habbox/the internet? What keeps you busy?

Well, I do go to Sixth Form and I enjoy making cute revision booklets on Word for that but I really like calling my friends a lot, just chatting about random stuff. Then meeting up and having a joke with people is cool too – I also really love visiting my family in Albania which is usually at least once a year!

Finally, what do you feel has been your greatest achievement at Habbox to date?

I’d have to say my Habbox Outstanding Achievement Award – I was so young and innocent when I was given it, I think I had just turned 15 at the time? I worked very hard on version 7 and wanted to make a good impression with Sam & Laura at the time due to me just being promoted to Senior. It was also really fun going through the pages and getting exclusive access!!

6