Monday, July 16, 2007

I have a social disease

I've been doing some light consulting lately, getting back into the swing of media relations and public communications training I last did in earnest a decade ago. I'm not actively looking for gigs, but occasionally something interesting crosses my path and I try to make time for it. Largely, I'm working with non-profit (and the odd for-profit) arts organizations, helping them bring their A-game to their current PR strategies and to navigate the thorny thicket of new media and the web.

As a result, we usually wind up talking about one or more of the big social networking websites, like MySpace or Facebook, and how they can be used as or as an adjunct to a group's existing web presence. Of course, the "network" aspects of these sites are the most intriguing bit, particularly since they can reach young people, the predominant users, and the audiences arts organizations most want to attract.

Frankly, although I talk a good game about these sites, I'm learning along with everyone else. Of course I've read the more academic thinking on social networking sites, but the only true way to get a grip on them is to dive right in and get your hands dirty. Last year, I built a MySpace page for my own theatre company and even though it's only beginning to get traction (thanks to pimping it in advertising and other collateral), I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I recently finished helping another group build out a MySpace site and what Friendster calls a Fan Profile so, naturally, now I have to get one of those going for The Rep too.

As I said, I'm learning a lot about these sites as I go. One thing I've learned that will come as no surprise to anyone is that trying to bring any kind of order to a MySpace page sucks. The CSS sucks. The page module control sucks. The tools to manage message, bulletins and media suck. The whole experience just...sucks. Unless you're a teenager gleefully adding videos and glittery GIFs...then MySpace is all good.

But you gotta be there. I feel like a modern-day Willie Sutton. Why is The Rep on MySpace? Because that's where the people are.

In particular, I'm frustrated that as much as I've been able to hack our MySpace page into something resembling attractive and usable (while retaining the characteristics that make the site work), I can't make certain elements disappear. I don't want a MySpace blog, for example. The theatre already has a blog elsewhere and I'd rather folks read that instead. But internal blog subscriptions are a big part of the MySpace magic and I'll probably wind up having to cross-post between the two. That is, until I get the Friendster site set up and have to have a blog over there too.

Even though it makes my stomach hurt thinking about it, I'd be okay with the notion if it didn't make more work for me. Heck, someone could probably write an application that triple-posts my blog entries on our website, MySpace and Friendster all at once.

Oh, except they couldn't. There's nothing resembling an API for MySpace, at least that I can find. I'm too scared to go looking around Friendster. Or Facebook. Or whatever the next big thing is going to be.

And now that theatres and dance groups are beginning to add limited release riders to actor contracts, there's video sharing to think about too, with YouTube and Veoh and MySpace and Google and bang crash, the lightning flashed and well that's another story. Never mind. Anyway...

If you're a pal of mine, you may have noticed an uptick in the number of invitations you've received from me recently to be my "friend" on one service or another. It's not that I'm emotionally needy. (Well, it's not because I'm emotionally needy.) I'm just using some of those long dormant accounts to find my sea legs with social networking. If you really want to reach me or get to know me, I pretty much stick to Facebook. Or, you know, this old place.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

links for 2007-02-08

• Fake Your Space | Be Popular
  "...a new and exciting service which offers help to all the men and women out there who don't feel like they are popular enough on social networking sites." (See also Break Your Space, to dump your friends.)
  (tags: myspace humor)
• Smaller on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  New Orleans by the book: Jonno lines up the pre-Katrina NOLA phone directory next to the newest one. This may be the saddest (and clearest) example of "data visualization" I've ever seen.
  (tags: katrina)
• SXSW Music Festival FAQ, How To, and General Guide
  Kathryn has updated her fantastic SXSW Music survival guide for 2007. It's a must-read if you're headed to Austin for the shows.
  (tags: sxsw sxswbaby)