Bring me your social media circles

Five O'Clock Shadow 52.jpg

Originally uploaded by evo_terra

I hit this briefly on a recent post, but it's worth going deeper. Rather than join the fray and argue my point, I'm going to make a statement.

I hereby promise to try out each and every social media application that one of my listeners/readers is using, upon request. I may not stick with it, but I'll join, make a profile and try it out.

Why am I doing this? Because I understand that I do not and cannot control *all* of the conversation. Sure, I could draw a line in the sand and tell you which methods of communication I prefer. But honestly, that's bullshit. It's your intraweb. You get to pick where you want the conversation to take place. If you send me an email, you probably expect me to email you back -- not call you on the phone. Understood. And welcomed, actually.

So the ball is in your court. How do you want to communicate with me? While I can't promise to respond super quickly, most of these services have a notification system in place, so it should not take me long. And who know? Maybe you'll help me discover something that somehow enriches my life and communication style.

Bring it on!

Note: this picture is not me right now. I took it last week before I moved in a little coffee shop in the town I used to live in. You don't want to see me right now. House is a disaster (just moved), I'm half nekkid and rather pissed at a home warranty company. Three things make it a not pretty picture.

Moving and slow posting

Gang,

As I may have mentioned, the last few days and next several have been and will be eaten up with moving and unpacking -- in that order. So don't expect many (read: ANY) posts until I get my office and this house in some semblance of order.

E.

Evo talking on Writers Talking

I had the honor of appearing on Writers Talking recently. Just to make things fun, I decided to phone-in the interview from the airport. Well, that's not true. Yes, I was at the airport, but chalk it up to poor planning on my part and not some desire to make a nifty sound-seeing tour of Sky Harbor at the same time.

Thanks to Matthew Wayne Selznick for inviting me to the show, and also to Kristopher Young of Another Sky Press for joining me on the program.

Friend blogathoning for Leiomyosarcoma

My friend Lejon is doing what he can to benefit the memory of Joe Murphy and for research on Leiomyosarcoma, the cancer that took Joe from us way too early in life. Lejon has signed up for Blogathon and he's looking for sponsors. You know the drill. Give what you can, tell your friends, and we'll eventually all make a difference.

I miss Joe. I miss him every day. And I'm glad that people continue to remember him and continue to want to help. Thanks, Lejon.

• Pledge to support Lejon (registration required)
  
• Why he's doing this

Harry Potter and illicit filesharing

The latest and lastest Harry Potter book is out, and the intrawebs have been buzzing about bootleg copies circulating around the net. Two things seem to be cited the most as the negative of that:

1. Less copies will be sold, since readers can get it free online
   
2. Early-readers were posting spoilers from the book

Let's deal with these in reverse, shall we? Spoilers happen every time any piece of highly-anticipated media is released early. Advanced copies are a normal part of the distribution process. Spoilers are easy to avoid -- don't read anything or listen to things that are likely to spoil. It's not 100% fool-proof (I'm guilty of one of the larger ones, but it was also funny), but it should keep almost everyone who doesn't want to be spoiled away from the offending content.

And to the first, that's a crock. Unfortunately, the debunkers are also off the mark. I have a lot of respect for most of what future-thinker Seth Godin has to say, but when he poo-pooed the power of freely available publics desire to read online books:

Books are souvenirs. No one is going to read Potter online, even if it's free. Holding and owning the book, remembering when and how you got it... that's what you're paying for. Books are great at holding memories. They're lousy at keeping secrets.

... he blew it. I agree that books are souvenirs and that holding a book in your hands is a great feeling. But to say that no one would read HP online, even if it is free? Seth, wake up. People *are* reading things online. And quite often, when they read things online, they then go out and buy those things in the store.

Strange as it may sound, there are folks who aren't reading the HP series. I'm one of them and I know countless others. I'm on the Cory Doctorow side of the fence on this issue. I know that putting something like HP out as a free digital download -- by the publisher or by enterprising readers -- will actually increase the overall sale of the hard copy by allowing folks who didn't care to give it a shot. Yeah, it's heretical. Yeah, it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. But I remain convinced that the group of folks who want to read it free were not going to buy the book anyhow. And more importantly, exposure to folks who weren't planning on buying the book can actually cause some of those to make the purchase -- assuming the material is good. And I'll bet you that last group will back up and grab the previous six books as well.

Let the fruit fly. 'Tis a brave new world when content wants to be freed.

Four things pissing me off this evening

Five O'Clock Shadow 51

Originally uploaded by evo_terra

I'm not very happy tonight and certainly in a thumbs-down mood. Here's why:

• NPG Cable just might be the worst internet company I've ever had to deal with. I can barely keep my VPN connection open thanks to the constant drops during the day. Upload and download speeds are terrible, customer service wait times extraordinarily long... sucks. To top it all off, they have the audacity to run commercials for their other services while you are on the dedicated support line. People! When I'm having trouble with a product is the exact wrong time to pitch on more things that probably won't work! Good thing I move in a few days.
  
• Why are so many connectors suddenly griping about too many social media sites? Um.. hello? You sound like a bunch of curmudgeons. No one expects you to jump on board with everything, but they do expect us to give new things a try. We can say "no thanks"... we can say "that doesn't look like it's for me"... but we should never say "I'm getting too many requests to join even more social networks". I thought we were the ones folks turned to to see what these were all about?
  
• Off-topic blog comments come with the territory, but this guy Harry is on my last nerve. If you're going to try and get all "hard hitting expose", have the nuts to post with a real address And also have the nuts to step up and say when you've made a mistake.
  
• I have a presentation to due tonight, two chapters to write, packing to do, and no time to do any of it. So I'm cranky.

Maybe I'll be a happier poster tomorrow. In the meantime, this song by Beatnik Turtle sums it up

What's the point of Gleamd?

A few days ago, J.C. Hutchins was good enough to list me on Gleamd. What is Gleamd? Damn fine question. I've read the FAQ, and I'm still not sure. Well, I have an idea, but I don't want to mischaracterize the site. Perhaps one of you has some further experience with the site and can help me figure out the point?