Over the last year, or even longer (though less consistently) there have three or so major themes here:

1. Music/Sound
2. Electronic communications (social media, Web 2.0, new media, etc…)
3. Our human potential (self-motivation, self-help, goals, etc…)

These themes have taken many forms, including anecdotes, videos, and posts I’ve found online to quotes, book references, poetry, sound samples and musical references. That’s not going to change, but time has given me the benefit of being able to see what this blog is about; what scales, and what’s sustainable as a writer and leader of this endeavor.

If you imagine this blog as an impressionist painting, say a darker Monet (above) or Renoire, and you blur the specific content items into a single whole, the focus of the writing and the message start to get more narrow. You start to see that really this blog is about me and what I’ve tried to do since I came online with my music in 1999, I write a bit about that at the bottom this post here. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s funny because as I write this I remember what it was that attracted me to the Web. I was a musician/composer, and I was working on a recording. After having played guitar for years, being in bands, playing shows, and trying to sell music at venues, I saw that the Web had the power to change everything for me as a working artist — the playing field had been leveled. On the Web, in 1999, Mp3.com had just launched, and it was skies the limit for artists to get out their, hang a virtual shingle, and let the world know about their work. However, it wasn’t about huckstering your product and bombarding folks with spam to inform them about your work (though there was some of that); rather there was an openness that permeated throughout this new platform. There were new channels for sharing what you were doing, as well as for folks, from all the over the world, to share with you.

The Web was, is, the great liberator. It leveled the playing field for artists of all kinds, but for me as a composer, the benefits have been huge. Here are a few reasons why:

• Getting the message out is cheap (often free)
• Exposure is as great as the work you put into it (and free, not historically the case)
• Everyone in the world (with an internet connection) can access your work.
• You are your own limitation because the world is at your finger tips (or to use bad 90’s copy – just a mouse click away)

These items are unprecedented, and while they have, and will continue to, come with their own struggles, it’s has the potential to be a boon for the working artist, writer, and creative. Therefore, the moral of the, blog/story that I’ve been weaving for the past year  starts to look like this:

If you’re a composer, artist, creative, whatever then there’s no excuse to not get your work out there, do the most and be the most you can be; the Web and the many electronic communications tools available to you (including email, social media and even old school listservs and newsgroups) can help you get the message out there about your work.

That’s it.

That’s the fork in the message for creatives out there.

Bookmark:

The title  of this post, Work Smart: Mastering Your Social Media Life, is the title of a great article by Gina Trapani, of Lifehacker.com fame, that I just read over at Fast Company. I’ve been thinking about putting together an article like this myself. In fact, I was just talking to a co-worker about how I fuse together Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and how I’m looking forward to integrating Google Buzz into the fold.

It’s no simple task coming up with fresh content, doing the postings, cross-posting, etc… and being, basically, a one-man media empire; it takes a heck of a lot of work, and that explains both why so many people start and give up, and why the persistence of doing it is often rewarded with followers, comments, links, etc… in many ways it’s self-regulating. Don’t do it, no love lost… keep it up, and people become interested, you can become a taste maker, or a critical voice.

Having a good social media workflow in place allows you to get more bang for your, content, buck by getting the message to more people right away. So instead of just posting and hoping that something goes viral, or you’ll be found in organic Google searches, you’re taking the message to the people. Some might forward it, some might not read it, some might not care at all, some might really enjoy it, but either way it’s out there, and getting the message out there is what it’s all about. We can only take it that far. After that it’s left to go as far as it can on merit and value alone.

I’m going to post Gina’s video here, as well, because it’s a nice addition to reading the post. Enjoy.

Bookmark:

Found an interesting article here, called The 11 Rules of Social Media Etiquette at the Digital Labz Web site, and thought that I really should share it.

With social media, or any platform, it’s super important to know the etiquette. Kind of like the saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do…” same thing applies with social media. You learn about culture and etiquette from participating, but this site is a good primer.

Bookmark:

I’m constantly trying to grow my circle of “friends” whether it was in the old days on MySpace, where I mostly focused on promoting my music, or whether it’s Facebook, where I just want to be in contact with like minds and some not so alike for a different worldview. In either case, it’s not so much about people you’re actually friends with, but following interesting people, seeing what they have to say, and what kinds of interesting things they’re posting. MySpace never perfected this, though, they’re trying now, but their ship has sailed, whereas Facebook has mastered that. Which brings me to something I always find amusing.

As any avid Facebook user knows, Facebook is constantly trying to get you to grow your sphere of “friend”ship by showing you “friend” recommendations on the sidebar. Often times these are people I don’t know, but I’m willing to get to know them because Facebook’s “friend” algorithm says I should…. Ok… but implicit in that is that these folks might do nothing but post about dinners, bowel movements, and various other aspects of daily minutiae that just makes me want to un”friend” them. BUT, and this is what I’ve learned about Facebook, sometimes, you’ll be amazed by what folks can find and post that might not have otherwise found, or seen for yourself had they not posted it.

I’ve come to call this ambient information. Ambient information, in the case of Facebook, is information you wouldn’t have gotten had you not been there participating, in this case as a “friend”.

What brought this up for me was an email I received through Facebook. It was a user that I had “friended” and they wanted to know who I was because they didn’t recognize or know me by name. I get these emails infrequently, but frequently enough for me to wonder about them. These Facebook users, sadly, don’t get what social media is about. I would submit that they’re probably one of the early Facebook users, from a time when Facebook was more exclusive, and less inclusive. Social media is about inclusion, from folks you know intimately, to friends of friends of friends to people you don’t know, but might like too.

There’s nothing private or secure about Facebook, no matter how carefully you choose your friends. What you put out there, you put out there for the world, and rightfully so, that’s the point, that’s why it’s called publishing. Therefore, it’s important that you rely on yourself to make good judgment calls about what you’re posting and not rely on a for-profit software system to be your personal filter.

Anyway, my points are kind of mushy today, but what it comes down to is “friend” people, and use care when publishing information about yourself and your life don’t rely on Facebook, MySpace, or whatever comes next to do it for you!

Bookmark:

For this week’s Social Media Take Away I’m featuring a post that I read last week in The Future Buzz blog, 50 Blogging Lessons To Know If You’re Starting Today. Adam Singer has a great blog going over there, one that I’ve been reading for nearly a year.

I’ve been doing this blog on here for less than a year, and to read some of the points on here that Adam makes is great for not just myself, but for anyone looking to start a blog, or looking to integrate blogs into their work or communications plans.

Bookmark:

We come into working life doing just that, working. Sometimes, though, in the daily grind of trying to make a living and trying to make something happen for ourselves on a personal and professional level little opportunities present themselves.

It’s funny when I think about the work that I do now: electronic communications, Web and multimedia work; such jobs didn’t even exist when I was coming up. I sort of stumbled into what I do.

I was thinking about this a few days ago as I sat at my desk composing music for an internal video I was working on. To think that I’ve had the chance to get into electronic communications, Web, etc… is one thing that I feel really lucky for, but to be able to sit in my cubicle, in a corporate environment in 2009, when a lot of my fellow workers don’t even have jobs, and I get to compose music, man that just blows my mind!

Anyone who reads my posts regularly knows that I’m not prone to gushing optimism, more like cautious realism with slightly pessimistic undertones… But seriously, I, a guy of average intelligence, and not particularly gifted at much of anything, have been able to create these kinds of opportunities for myself.

What’s my point? Here’s the point: In the grind of the day to day it’s easy to lose track of what’s important, it’s easy to lose track of your goals, and your ideas, but if you’re passionate, and care about what you do, man, the universe will meet you half way sometimes, and give you what you’re looking for even if it seemingly comes out of thin air. Truth. Can’t explain it.

Bookmark:

For entrepreneur’s, small business owners, and self-starters of any kind I would say that you should get started using social media. In fact, this should have been the first post in the Social Media Take Away series, but hey I’m improvising and making things up as I go here…

What is social media?

Social media is any web tools that allows groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content (examples are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc…)

Social media is particularly valuable for entrepreneur’s, small business owners, and self-starters in-general, I’m thinking artists – painters, musicians and the like, because it gives them low cost, high value, far reaching exposure for whatever they’re doing. As I write more about the social media value, I’ll cover some of these. For starters, I would say see this post on Twitter or items tagged with social media on this blog. Though, I’ll be covering stuff more in-depth, and high level, alike as I develop this feature of the blog.

Bookmark:

I talk to a lot of people about Twitter. I was a serious non-believer in Twitter, for a long time. I registered an account not long after they opened up shop, and I just didn’t get it. I mean, I got it, but the idea of micro-blogging, and “What are you doing now?” seemed to be creepy and narcissistic, actually I still feel that way, but I have found value in it.

It’s not that I care so much about what somebody just ate for breakfast, or that they’re stuck in traffic, or “so excited for the weekend!” which may have some value among groups of Twitter users, but next to none for the general Twitter pool. However, it’s the quick blurbs of information with links to articles I’m interested in, interviews, and other information that has really pulled me into being a user.

The take away: If you’re looking for articles, information, breaking news and the like, I would say that Twitter has a lot of value. I would also say that if you tweet about your work, your interests, etc… and it caters to the sort of PR and tech folks that are on Twitter then they might get the message, and you might be able to build interest in what you’re doing locally; eventually making real-world, physical contacts.

Bookmark:

As I was cruising through my Google Reader today I had a realization — Don’t provide an RSS feed to your content, if you’re only going to provide a teaser title, sans the actual content, that links to your Web site. Yes, it’s true, you can get better measurements, and better ad hits if people visit your site, but if that’s the motivator, might I recommend FeedBurner (for measuring feed stats) and RSS feed ads to monetize the feed.

Otherwise, content providers just create another irritating step that I’ll breeze past nearly every time if only out of spite. The site in question is that of a large PR organization that I’ve talked about on here before, but try as they might they just don’t seem to get the digital perspective. I know they’re old school, and they’d like to folks to go to their site, and probably even read their newsletter, too… which may even be available via a SASE on printed paper and you might even get it in 6-8 weeks, come on… this is the Web, and the point is to spread your ideas, your perspective, and your voice out there, not lock it down behind another cumbersome layer of linkbait just to lock folks into your site. This is so very old school print media and Web 0.5 at best…

So the new rule for RSS Feeds is this: include the content in the feed, even if only a few paragraphs, or don’t bother offering an RSS feed, at all, as you’ll just make the people who want to read your content irritated. After all an irritated reader won’t be a reader of any kind for very long.

Bookmark:

Certainly, it’s a generational thing, or maybe just a communications preference, but for me, I just don’t like talking on the phone like I did when I was a teenager or in the early years of cell phone ownership. Send me an email. Email is unobtrusive, and allows for the most basic relay of data. I can respond at my leisure. I can organize my thoughts, and put them out there in front of me before committing to them. I can have a record of what I sent, because you never know when you might need a record of what you’ve said. Unlike phone calls from strangers, where I hang up almost immediately, I seriously consider and think about email propositions from strangers. Email just works really well. Sure there are folks who talk about the death of email by texting, and texting, sometimes, is an even more basic relay of data, especially when lenghty thoughtful statements aren’t needed, but that’s for another post. Bottom line: Send me an email, and I’ll guarantee that I’ll read it; entice me and I might even respond.

Bookmark: