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Ask HuSi: is Facebook necessary?

By johnny (Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 11:13:04 PM EST) pimping, whoring, dog emanations to threaten humankind (all tags)

As Kellnerin and
Cheeseburger will be happy yet very skeptical to hear, I have a book coming out sometime in the recent future. Plus, I'm always trying to pimp my old ones. Plus, I'm always trying to pimp my site.

So, I've been considering whether to get more involved in these newfangled things all the young kids have today, like facebook, myspace, second life, and the boring boring boring linkedin.

Only, I think they all suck, I don't understand them; their privacy policies scare me & plus I'm paranoid about everybody on earth disclosing their social networks, making it that much easier for NSA/Skynet to take over the world.

Back before K5 sucked, I used to pimp my wares there and that did a pretty good job of getting the word out to the geekoid world. It just kind of fanned out to slashdot, etc. But I think we agree that place ain't what it used to be.

The total extent of my blogwhoring these days is sending blogroll exchange request to sites I like, which are ignored about 99% of the time. I am distinctly unmodern in my use of the net to promote me. I have facebook and myspace accounts but never use them.

I know all the cool kids & bands & film makers & artists use myspace/facebook to pimp themselves to the world. Do I have to do that? Should I do that? I really don't want to. Am I just being paranoid & an old fuddy-duddy, or am I right that social sites like those aforementioned are satan-born and to be avoided at all costs?

I apologize if this post is even more distracted and stupid than my usual entries. My dog is at my feet and not only is she whining and fussing, she has also been farting up a storm like the checker demon all evening and I think my brain has melted.

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Ask HuSi: is Facebook necessary? | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

+1, dog farts by MohammedNiyalSayeed (2.00 / 0) #1 Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 11:26:03 PM EST

In order of utility: linkedin, then facebook. The zero mark for utility is located slightly below linkedin and slightly above facebook. Facebook does, however, have the cute, smart girl factor going for it, but I'm not entirely sure girls can read, so it still may be a waste of time.
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You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.

linkedin is kinda scary by johnny (4.00 / 1) #2 Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 11:36:45 PM EST

but I have the most contacts there. Probably a hundred or so. Not sure how to use it for pimping, however.

I got an email from the linkedin founder & president inviting me to join the group for the college we both attended. Maybe I should send him an email asking him how to use the site to spam people when my book comes out.

About facebook & cute girls: My daughters use it & have me listed as a friend. I don't look at their pages because I don't want to be scandalized by them or inappropriately curious about their friends (if you know what I mean, how do you enlarge the photos, dammit. . .)
Buy my books, dammit!
[ Parent ]

Yeah, I wouldn't have a clue how to use by MohammedNiyalSayeed (4.00 / 1) #3 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 12:03:18 AM EST

linkedin for pimping a book (or any other sort of product other than yourself, really), and although I find it more useful than facebook, I find myself at the site almost never. When I was actively looking for a job, much more so, now it just seems to be maintenance, like when the FNG at work sends a "hey, I just searched for your name, and now that we work together, let's be like contacts and shit". But if I ever looked for another job, I can see using it again. I just wish I could figure out how to get recruiters to take the "Not looking for anything" seriously.

And, on the Mac, Control+Scroll-wheel-up. Not that I'm trying to enable daughter-friend-oggling, mind you, because I'd never do a thing like that. But, you know, just sayin'.

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You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.
[ Parent ]

: Fuck, I forgot the important part by MohammedNiyalSayeed (4.00 / 1) #4 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 12:05:38 AM EST

which was that on Facebook there seems to be a pretty polished "buy ads" feature, with hit tracking, etc, built-in, if you create yourself a business/public entity/author/artist/musician profile. I've not messed with it much, other than to create a rudimentary profile for my band thing, but that may be a book-pimping solution with the ability to target specific networks of people, if you so desired.

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You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.
[ Parent ]

facebook by MillMan (4.00 / 1) #5 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 03:46:39 AM EST

is useless for pimping. You can't customize your user page with your own material, and people can't see it unless they're on your friends list anyway.

When I'm imprisoned as an enemy combatant, will you blog about it?

: However... by ana (2.00 / 0) #6 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 07:04:28 AM EST

Attention Motty Infidel, who's trying to pimp his band on facebook (and, if I'm not mistaken, myspace). Now, a band is a different kind of a thing from a book, of course, but as I understand it, if you wanna pimp music, myspace is your place.
To say nothing of scrabulous, which is most of what I do on facebook, and the reason I signed up.
I'm also on linked-in, where, if memory serves, I have two contacts, both of whom were job-searching when they invited me. I haven't actually logged in for months.
"And this ... is a piece of Synergy." --Kellnerin
[ Parent ]

My mom has a myspace page by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #7 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 07:04:30 AM EST

I don't, nor facebook or linkedin, though I'm toying with the linkedin thing.

My name is unusual enough that I usually occupy 6-10 of the first google hits, so I'm easy enough to track down.

I socially networked with your mom by herbert (2.00 / 0) #11 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:44:21 AM EST

IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

[ Parent ]

: anjali, you got a Husi account! by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #12 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:46:10 AM EST

[ Parent ]

LiveJournal and MySpace are the places to whore by lm (4.00 / 1) #8 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 08:55:46 AM EST

Blogspot isn't that bad either. If I were going to try to self publish, I'd keep a blog on each and at least once a week, publishing unique content for each site. It doesn't have to be a ton of content. Just one or two paragraphs.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

Sucking the joy out of the internet by nightflameblue (4.00 / 1) #9 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 09:24:16 AM EST

One site at a time.

I hang with a lot of musical folks and they all, every one of them, direct me to Myspace pages from hell when I ask how their music is going. Now, I realize the kids all giggle with happiness at the prospect of seeing an eye-scorching pile of feces on their screen, but as an old-schooler who just wants to see relevant information and not be inundated with a bazillion pictures and horrible page layout, Myspace makes my skin crawl.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you want to get the kids, you're stuck using the horrible networking sites that are out there. If you want to pick up us old fuddy-duddies, well, you're too late. We're all too busy shoving our head in a hole hoping we can just live out our remaining days without having to visit another crappy networking site.

market research by Merekat (4.00 / 1) #10 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 10:15:48 AM EST

The important and well researched information available here may help you pick your target market effectively.

They suck by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #13 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 12:33:21 PM EST

All "social ~~disease~~ networking" sites suck.

Earth First!
_{(We can strip mine the rest later.)}

Now now Johnny by Scrymarch (2.00 / 0) #14 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 05:56:06 PM EST

What would Paddy One-Tune say? Of course you have to be uncomfortably social if you wish to pimp your wares, no matter how attractive they are inherently.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}

: oh my gosh by johnny (2.00 / 0) #16 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:44:37 PM EST

A Paddy One-Tune reference.
I am so touched that I think I may cry a wee tear.
I will require a moment, or a day, to think of an appropriate response. In the meantime, I'll just say thanks from the bottom of his heart.
Buy my books, dammit!
[ Parent ]

I could stand on a street corner and scream... by mrgoat (4.00 / 1) #15 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 09:59:23 PM EST

I mean, I could scream about your books, instead of the spiral worms and the men with blocks for eyes, upon whom is incumbent the myriad sores of Babylon.

Would that help?

The Pains - Buy johnny's books!
--top hat--

: It would help one by johnny (4.00 / 1) #17 Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:48:18 PM EST

of us, at least.
I say, go for it!
Buy my books, dammit!
[ Parent ]

I don't know by Kellnerin (2.00 / 0) #18 Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 06:00:48 PM EST

I make it a general policy not to join any site that purports to manage my "friends." Forget the privacy issues (I mean, I'm just saying, try to imagine forgetting that), spare me the drama. That, and I have enough 'net addictions, thankyouverymuch. If I created one more online persona, I think I might fracture into little pieces.

--
"Late to the party" is the new "ahead of the curve" -- CRwM

Ask HuSi: is Facebook necessary? | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback