[Sigia-l] Your take on MySpace

[Jay Linden]

Answering a couple of posts here.

Eric Reiss wrote:
 > Jay Linden wrote:
 >
 >>Who in the name of Zeus' white beard is going to go to my website if
 >>they don't already know who I am?
 >
 >
 > Er...isn't this why we create machine-readable metadata?

Um, no.

We create metadata so that search engines can index our pages, and if 
applicable, so that applications can use the information in the 
metadata.  It doesn't speak to humans and can't attract them to do 
something they didn't already want to do.

We create marketing presence so that humans can be attracted to us, get 
to know us, become our customers and stakeholders.

http://myspace.com/jaylinden (if you're into folk music, you might even 
stay and listen to some of the songs I have posted there)

There is no metadata that would prompt you to click the above link if 
you have no idea who I am, what I do, etc.

And with 100,000 other folksinger websites in the world, there is also 
no reason for you to click mine even if you find it in Google.  That's 
the above quoted statement.  Musician is not an exclusive business (you 
wouldn't listen to only one songwriter the way you probably would hire 
only one IA).

And there is no metadata in the world that will purvey the 
differentiation between musicians, since it's all on taste.

But if you are a fan of Tom Mitchell, or Jon Brooks, Andrea Zonn, or any 
of a couple of hundred other artists whose MySpace pages recommend me to 
their visitors, you are very likely to find me.  In fact, I've sold CDs 
to people who found my page because a British songwriter I'd never heard 
of listened to my music, liked it and recommended me to all his contacts.


Skot Nelson wrote:
> On Aug-8-2006, at 6:50 PM, Jay Linden wrote:
> 
> 
>>Skot seems to be suggesting that one should have a MySpace space  
>>*or* a
>>Website.  That's like saying one should have an automobile *or* a
>>refrigerator.
> 
> 
> Hmmm...I understand the interpretation, but it wasn't *really* what I  
> meant.

(Just for reminder's sake, the statement that prompted my comment was 
Skot's observation that while a lot of musicians are creating MySpace 
presence, not many are abandoning their personal websites.  My point was 
that it would probably be a mistake if they were.)

> I think the key to My Space is the "social networking" aspect. 

It is for people who use it that way.  For people who use it for 
marketing, or for making information available for dissemination to 
stakeholders, or for collaboration, or business networking (eg. 
musician/artist with venues, industry associations, possible shared 
tours with other artists, other musicians to perform on one's CDs, 
etc.), it's essentially serving the same purpose as if it were simply 
designed as an e-marketplace, without the "friends" convention and all 
the hype.

And for people like me, it's a little of both, because not only are all 
of those contacts there and all those benefits available, there are also 
a few hundred thousand potential fans who would never find me on a plain 
website.  See comment at the very top of this post.  They can 
social-network with me if they like (post comments, be my "friend") to 
very minimum effort on my part.  And I can book tours and sell CDs and 
show my stuff to media and presenters and do other things to help 
support my business.

Most people's business includes people.  There really isn't anything 
incongruous about an environment that combines both business and people. 
  It's a matter of each of us understanding how best to leverage the 
tools we use.

[...]

> The two can compliment each other, and I think are very different  
> tools. I see many musicians (this being My Space's initial target  
> market) setting up My Space networks with what I would characterize  
> as preliminary information then linking to more dedicated, more  
> information rich personal sites.

Some do, but even that notion is also somewhat arbitrary.  It's one 
potential description of the relationship between different aspects of 
one's presence (eg. MySpace vs. website), and it is certainly common, 
but it isn't the only one, nor necessarily the best for all people 
(artists, businesses, whoever).

Think of each part of one's presence as an extension of an overall 
presence, sort of like the different wings of a building, rooms of a 
house, or departments of a company's organization.

There's no rule requiring one to use a website for a "more information 
rich site", any more than there is a rule requiring the living room be 
used as the social hub or the room beside the kitchen as a formal dining 
room. While a kitchen or bathroom is structurally designed to fit a 
common purpose, and is most usually used for that purpose, what you use 
your rooms for depends on many things and really ought best be 
determined in the context of your requirements, not a set of conventions 
or common usages.

I use MySpace for marketing, communications and networking -- 100 
million people are already in the environment, which makes 99,999,997 
more than are typically on my website at any time.  It's the best front 
door in the world to my presence, because it's on the world's busiest 
street, and vast quantities of my stakeholders are there.

I use CD Baby (among other outlets) to sell CDs; it is a specialized 
service, much as my kitchen is specialized for cooking.  I use Sonicbids 
to provide information of use to media and presenters -- there is 
overlap with MySpace and the website, but the Sonicbids EPK puts 
specialized information in a more insulated environment, in a format 
media stakeholders are happy with, and provides direct interchange, 
including application submission, to festivals and other booking 
opportunities.

And the website?  For whatever I want it to do.  Sales to people who 
would rather pay in Canadian dollars (CD Baby is $US) ... "fun stuff" 
... links to friends who may not already be on MySpace ... a lot of 
common information ... but with the understanding that most of the time, 
people who come to my website already know who I am, or have already 
become interested in my stuff through one or more of the other sites.

More information-rich?  Maybe, but my whole bio is already in the other 
places, and there is more music to sample on all three other sites than 
in my personal website.  The website is really more of a hub, and a 
place where I can target more stakeholder groups than I could on the 
other sites, or where I can put features that don't comfortably fit 
elsewhere.  It's the one with the flexible infrastructure that can 
accommodate flexible and shifting requirements.