myyspace vs facebook vs business cards???
This has been bothering me all day, so....I have a few comments to make about this post by Justine Larbalestier, because she's making a huge mistake, and it's a mistake I see adults making all the time in relation to the internet. This is my attempt to try and correct it, for the general adult YA writer populace & for my own sanity because the blindness is driving me crazy.
The post is basically about the demographics of myspace and facebook, and which an author should use to connect to readers, or if it makes sense to use them at all.
I agree with the post on demographics she links to, and I think that the woman's comments on Myspace vs Facebook are right on. However, at the end of the post, Justine explains that despite her fascination with this topic, her plan is to use business cards to try and direct the teens she meets on tour to her website rather than having them friend her on Myspace or Facebook. She'll get better turnout than word of mouth, sure, but she is missing such a huge opportunity.
Here's the deal: connecting to teens today, whether you're an author, musician, dancer, comedian or politician is all about the internet. And the internet creates it's own opportunities. The incredible power of the internet is routine. How many of us wake up and check email first thing in the morning? Livejournal? Twitter? Those routines are what create the diversity of culture on the internet.
Why? Because not many people seek out life-expanding things; pieces of information, opinions, art. There's other things more important; we are constantly preoccupied with making our life now work, not with changing our lives. In other words, we love the comfortable routines of average daily life. And yet every day, we are exposed to thousands of new things, because they show up as a chain email in our inbox, are a trending topic on twitter, or are linked to in our LJ F-list. I would have never looked up Michael Jackson on Google & thus discovered his death. "Oh, I wonder if MJ is alive today? " is not a question that regularly crosses my mind. And yet I knew he had died only a few hours after the fact, because it was a trending topic on Twitter.
Teens do the same thing with Facebook and MySpace. We wake up, and check facebook/myspace, in case anything juicy happened during the night. We log in as soon as we get home from school, to friend the person we just met on the bus, chat with our friends and comment on the latest photo scandal. IF we find new websites, it's typically because we were using StumbleUpon, as we do every day.
The point I am making is this: people form routines, and if you don't fit into those routines, they are far, far less likely to pay any attention to you. Business cards are way out of a teens mentality. So is a new website URL. Sure, if we really loved what you were doing, we'd check it out. But how many people are going to be THAT interested? I promise you, not many.
If, however, you ask people to add you into their daily routines rather than change their daily routines, they will respond much, much more strongly. (This is true in RL & internet & with adults & teens, but it especially applies to teens & the internet b/c it is more ingrained) They're logging into facebook or myspace anyway; the simple act of doing that will remind them that you said you had a profile & they should friend you. And so they will, because both of those sites are colossal wastes of time & frankly, they're just looking for anything to do. Business cards, OTOH, will be stuffed in a pocket and forgotten until they are nothing more than a white pile of pulp after the third trip through the wash.
If you want to connect to YA readers or teens in general, find out what the trends are and jump on the bandwagon. If you're a sirens call from the side of the road, you may entice one or two to jump ship, but once you're on board, you can scream loud enough to be heard by the entire crew.
Again, this applies to more than just teens, but the difference is that you CAN connect to adults via other venues. With teens, the only truly viable option is following internet trends & NOT holding out so long that you miss the energy. A lot of authors will end up a step behind - getting a myspace as everyone is migrating to facebook & finally getting a facebook when twitter becomes vogue. Don't be that person. Swallow your pride and follow the trend. There is no real victory in being the last to join the popular masses; it doesn't make you independent, it gives everyone else the last laugh. Do you want popularity among your audience? I thought so. Sit down, shut up, and sign up.
And for the record? It's not myspace OR facebook, it's myspace AND facebook.
The post is basically about the demographics of myspace and facebook, and which an author should use to connect to readers, or if it makes sense to use them at all.
I agree with the post on demographics she links to, and I think that the woman's comments on Myspace vs Facebook are right on. However, at the end of the post, Justine explains that despite her fascination with this topic, her plan is to use business cards to try and direct the teens she meets on tour to her website rather than having them friend her on Myspace or Facebook. She'll get better turnout than word of mouth, sure, but she is missing such a huge opportunity.
Here's the deal: connecting to teens today, whether you're an author, musician, dancer, comedian or politician is all about the internet. And the internet creates it's own opportunities. The incredible power of the internet is routine. How many of us wake up and check email first thing in the morning? Livejournal? Twitter? Those routines are what create the diversity of culture on the internet.
Why? Because not many people seek out life-expanding things; pieces of information, opinions, art. There's other things more important; we are constantly preoccupied with making our life now work, not with changing our lives. In other words, we love the comfortable routines of average daily life. And yet every day, we are exposed to thousands of new things, because they show up as a chain email in our inbox, are a trending topic on twitter, or are linked to in our LJ F-list. I would have never looked up Michael Jackson on Google & thus discovered his death. "Oh, I wonder if MJ is alive today? " is not a question that regularly crosses my mind. And yet I knew he had died only a few hours after the fact, because it was a trending topic on Twitter.
Teens do the same thing with Facebook and MySpace. We wake up, and check facebook/myspace, in case anything juicy happened during the night. We log in as soon as we get home from school, to friend the person we just met on the bus, chat with our friends and comment on the latest photo scandal. IF we find new websites, it's typically because we were using StumbleUpon, as we do every day.
The point I am making is this: people form routines, and if you don't fit into those routines, they are far, far less likely to pay any attention to you. Business cards are way out of a teens mentality. So is a new website URL. Sure, if we really loved what you were doing, we'd check it out. But how many people are going to be THAT interested? I promise you, not many.
If, however, you ask people to add you into their daily routines rather than change their daily routines, they will respond much, much more strongly. (This is true in RL & internet & with adults & teens, but it especially applies to teens & the internet b/c it is more ingrained) They're logging into facebook or myspace anyway; the simple act of doing that will remind them that you said you had a profile & they should friend you. And so they will, because both of those sites are colossal wastes of time & frankly, they're just looking for anything to do. Business cards, OTOH, will be stuffed in a pocket and forgotten until they are nothing more than a white pile of pulp after the third trip through the wash.
If you want to connect to YA readers or teens in general, find out what the trends are and jump on the bandwagon. If you're a sirens call from the side of the road, you may entice one or two to jump ship, but once you're on board, you can scream loud enough to be heard by the entire crew.
Again, this applies to more than just teens, but the difference is that you CAN connect to adults via other venues. With teens, the only truly viable option is following internet trends & NOT holding out so long that you miss the energy. A lot of authors will end up a step behind - getting a myspace as everyone is migrating to facebook & finally getting a facebook when twitter becomes vogue. Don't be that person. Swallow your pride and follow the trend. There is no real victory in being the last to join the popular masses; it doesn't make you independent, it gives everyone else the last laugh. Do you want popularity among your audience? I thought so. Sit down, shut up, and sign up.
And for the record? It's not myspace OR facebook, it's myspace AND facebook.