It Looks Like I Have To Start Over

Just yesterday, I was sat down on one of my breaks at work and I was contemplating what kind of content to write for this here weblog thingamajig. {Wait, spellcheck says thingamajig is a word! Awesome!} One of my ideas for a post was to write about how, as an aspiring photographer, I've fairly successfully used Myspace to passively market myself and actively network with like-minded individuals.

Then I got home and checked my e-mail.

A photographer friend of mine, kindly pointed out to me that all of the links I had posted to this here blog, we're automatically being disabled as spam.

Wait, what? I'm not selling anything here. I'm talking and posting photos. I mean, I'm sure noone really wants to read what I have to say, but spam, that's ludicrous and isn't talking and posting photos most of Myspace's purpose in life?

Gutted, I started thinking about it.

Though, over the past few months, I haven't been nearly as active on Myspace as I have in the past, I have still noticed that their "anti-spam" measures have increased dramatically. I hadn't realised that they have actually completely and effectively cut the site off from the rest of the internet.

For example, when I went to reply to that friend and give him the link that Myspace had denied him, I was promptly informed that my account had been phished and it was shut down. I had to reactivate my account twice. Just because I tried to send my friend a link to something personal, this blog. Wait, isn't that the point of Myspace? To network?

Now, it seems, you can network on Myspace, so long as you stay within the confines of Myspace. It's like they've turned themselves into the isolationist internet equivalent of North Korea.

Or rather, as I tweeted last night: Myspace = Stalin.


So, now, I have to think. Will I stop using Myspace altogether. No. I have built up a good network of like-minded individuals and made some good friendships over the past four or so years and I'm not prepared to let that go yet.

It seems, thanks to this Draconian idiocy on Mypspace's part, I will just have to be careful and limit Myspace to Myspace and then find a new, friendlier hub for my social networking activities. Which means I will probably have to start strengthening my Facebook presence, the thought of which sends shivers down my spine.

I abhor Facebook and I will never ever upload my photos there, other than a few self-portraits. This has absolutely nothing to do with the recent idiotic furore over their terms of service. I have my own reasons and they're good reasons I promise, but that's an issue for a different post!

In the meantime:

Dear Myspace FAO: Rupert Murdoch,

Please consider a revision of the official Myspace logo in order for it to more accurately convey the execution of your company's business. I whole-heartedly recommend the implementation of an Iron Cross or the SS insignia. Another possibility would be to layer the current layer overtop some fancy lettering of the words Hitler, Franco, Mussolini, Stalin, and Pol Pot. This will give your consumer base a concise message of where you garner the inspiration for your business models.

Thank you for you transparency.
xoxo

/endrant

Social Networking For the Socially Inept

I hereby proclaim to the whole of the interverse:

I am socially inept.

I cannot cope in social environments. I get anxious and I completely shut down. Put me in a large group of people and I'll pretty much panic. Put me at a table at a restaurant with even a small group and I will only speak when directly spoken to and even then all you will get is one word answers.

It used to be, about 14 years or so ago, that I thrived on the internet. Good old chat rooms and forums and mIRC were somewhere that I could get involved socially without worrying about all the shortcomings of my social incompetence.

The internet has changed. Of course, I'm sure everyone and their dog is aware of this, but it has changed a lot. Everyone is on the internet. The internet is now wholly a mainstream social platform and a legitimate one at that. Find me someone who is regularly online and doesn't have or hasn't had a profile on a site such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc, etc. Being social on the internet is identical to be social in the real life with the exception of the different rules of etiquette.

Well, you ask, what does any of this have to do with photography or social networking?

I'll tell you.

As a person, none of this means anything to me. I could just ignore the social aspects and go on, invisible, behind the scenes a merry little outcast.

As a photographer, whom operates mostly on the internet, this is a very different story. I need social networking. I need to participate in the photographic communities and I need to be able to connect with potential customers. Therefore, I have to have and do have profiles on all the main social media sites as well as my main website and this here blog.

But do I use them effectively? Hardly.

I feel awkward randomly commenting on people's photos, statuses, blog posts, etc, etc. Even though, usually, they want me to. Or maybe that's the issue. They want "people" to, but I then ask myself why would they want "me" to. I know very well, or at least I suspect so, that I'm just being paranoid and that I'm very likely cutting myself out of great networking opportunities and denying other people a comment because my own wiring is a bit loose.

So here's the deal: I know what the problem is. I think I know what I should do to fix it. I need to get over this trepidation of mine and jump whole-heartedly into the social bandwagon. So from now on, I will try and make it a point, everyday, to comment and reply to people on Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, DeviantArt, Twitter and make sure that I comment on the blogs that I read.

I don't really care if I get any response or if I fall on my face at this point. I just need to get over this ridiculous fear I have of interacting with other people, especially those individuals that are like-minded.

So, if you have accounts with any of those sites, get in touch, you may well just be part of the catalyst I need to fix this issue of mine!