If You Blog on MySpace You Are Truly an Idiot
This is a long rant with some funny shit, but it is long and some people will frankly not give a shit about what is talked about in here. Now before I launch into this I want to make three points:
1) When I say “blog” I mean write seriously, care about an audience, and put some time and effort in. I don’t mean someone that throws up a post about their favorite tv show, an occasional poem, or basically has something up so four or five people can read it. Saying that you don’t really care but then talking about your numbers, whoring yourself out, or continually returning after you have been deleted shows you really and truly care, so shut the hell up and take your lumps.
2) I started out on MySpace, I owe blogging on MySpace for my current job, blog, consulting, and the reason why I am in grad school. In fact it has possibly gotten me laid, although I would like to think it is my good looks and charm. I have in fact I have blogged about how to get a large audience blog audience on MySpace, and I am not going to deny it is a good place to start but past that… well we will get into that.
3) This isn’t a criticism of anyone’s writing and I don’t think I am better than anyone else, well except a handful of people. Half of the time I look at my blog and wonder if a dyslexic retarded midget with no limbs posted that day. I don’t fashion myself as a writer or have an air of superiority about me, well except when it comes to janga… I’d own all of you.
A few weeks ago I met with the professor that is probably going to be guiding me on my thesis and we talked about potential topics for me to write about. We decided on me writing about how I personally used the social web to accomplish a few different things. It is going to be a mix of my personal story with academic reasoning for certain things; bringing in marketing theory, web theory, and probably some sociology. As I started writing up the outline for this I had to go back onto MySpace and cite some different things. Being back on there and looking around made me so glad to not be blogging on there. I realized that blogging on there is pretty much the dumbest thing I could go back to. Why you ask?
From a financial and artistic perspective-
1) MySpace Owns and Profits from Your Content While Holding it Hostage- Read the terms of service hopefully that will clear up any questions about the owning statement. As far as profiting goes, I had over two million blog views in 2006 and had in general one of the most read blogs on the site. What to know what I got from it? Nothing. Now examine that against possible advertising revenue I could have leveraged and I easily missed out on thousands of dollars. Little did I know that I had cornered the market on dick and fart jokes, midget porn references, and anal fisting mentions. Think about how many craigslist hookers I probably could have gotten or the sheer amount of money I could have spent watching Eastern European girls strip for me via webcam.
As far as holding your content hostage, try exporting your blogs from there. Oh that’s right you can’t. Now go through and spend the time deleting them or copying them, kind of a pain in the ass… I wonder why they do that? Also with their delete without warning policy your entire profile could be deleted taking your content with it, well not really. The content still exists on their servers, you just can’t manage it anymore.
So the question asks, why are you helping a multi-national company by giving them your content? What do you get out of it exactly?
From having it be a limitation on my overall potential audience-
2) Why fight over a limited number of users when I can whore myself to the entire interweb- I really get a kick out of the people that brag about their MySpace numbers (page views, subscribers, etc) or that post their spot on the MySpace blog rankings on their blog or their page. First of all people that sit their and brag about their audience like my male stalker Super Douche does shows how totally stupid they are. It really isn’t their audience, it is people that are on MySpace and go to their blog, they are just providing content within a system that already exists. To give you a comparison it would be like the weather man on your local news saying that he draws a huge audience to the show. While he might have people that are interested in what he has to say and like him, the audience is already tuning into the program. If the weather man leaves, most of the people aren’t going to be tuning out of the program.
That is kind of evident with people trying to leave MySpace and blog. They can’t carry their audience and they can’t build a new audience because quite frankly they aren’t what they think they are cracked up to be.
For example, let’s look at the alexa.com (a site used to determine traffic and advertising values) rankings for a few MySpace bloggers that have left, these rankings depict your overall standing on the web:
Super Douche: 1,140,081 (plus he attempted to milk the traffic of other semi popular writers)
Zara: 708,711
Me: 135,997 According to alexa.com I have the 135,997 most trafficked site on the web… what that means I have no idea. I just know it is better than being over that million mark. Apparently I know something about extending my reach past a social networking site and not getting caught up in my own popularity on there. But then again when your only goal is to have women write balls on their bodies for you, I guess you don’t have to look past your nose and understand the world around you. (Like 10% of you know what that means, I am not going to go into it past that though.)
Some people just care about the ego stroke and the instant gratification that they get on MySpace, others understand that building an audience past there takes work, talent, and good content.
As far as bragging about the MySpace rankings, hell I used to get caught up in it and care. But then I realized that I am looking at a fraction of exposure of what I can get by leaving that website. I am losing out ultimately on search engine traffic, new readers, and a ton of other ways to expose myself.
The blogging subculture on MySpace has totally grown out of hand when you put it into context against the larger scheme of the web. People act like blogging on MySpace is the end all and be all of their existence, they care about who is gaming the all so important MySpace blog rankings, who writes crappy stuff and is yet still popular, who co-blogged with who to get there… Does any of it matter? What is at stake? Money… nope we cleared that up. The sanctity of the rankings? Please, nobody beyond MySpace knows they exist, they don’t care nor does the vast majority of people on MySpace. Bragging about where you rank on MySpace is like bragging about fucking the fattest and ugliest cheerleader on the varsity squad, sure she is a cheerleader but I mean really do you want to stake claim to that?
And stop putting a screen shot of where you ranked in the rankings on your page or blog. Some might say that they are proud at what they accomplished so why not show it off. But what did you accomplish, think about it. It is like a slave during the 1800s bragging that he is the best slave on the plantation. He isn’t getting paid, he isn’t getting a better job, he isn’t getting a slave of the year award at the national slave convention… MySpace loves that the bloggers have fed into this and care about their rankings because it keeps members on the site, increasing page views which helps in their ad revenue generation. You are foolishly buying into it.
From having to deal with the drama-
3) Lets fight over the rankings that don’t matter, who is a fraud, and whatever petty bullshit we can muster- I should explain first what MySpace drama is for those that don’t blog on there or follow what goes on. People routinely attack other writers, create fake profiles to attack other writers because they don’t have the guts to do it from their own, create fake profiles of other writers to parody them, leave nasty comments, and so on and so forth. Basically take everything bad about high school, magnify it by ten, and make it public. The best part is most of the people that are involved in it are adults.
I have to say the drama at times is totally entertaining and a lot of the times what people are saying is valid on some level but honestly if you really don’t like reading someone or think their stuff is shit why attack them? If I took the time out to write about everyone that I came across that sucked or that was a cheater or that I thought was an asshole I wouldn’t have a blog. I would just have giant bitch list about other people, who the fuck wants to read that? What does it really gain? You can expose them? For what? To whom and who cares? Yeah there are a lot of writers that suck on there and that goes the same for everywhere else. I am sure there are some fakes, cheaters, and misogynistic assholes that you will run into them in real life as well.
Granted there are a lot of people I have tussled with in the past and I had to learn over time that it is pointless to fight on a website that is filled with people trying to make up for short comings in their life… Maybe mommy didn’t love them enough or they didn’t gain attention until they started using a social networking website. Whatever the case maybe why get into a pissing contest with someone that doesn’t impact your life in the least?
Sure bloggers outside of MySpace get into it here or there but that is usually called link baiting and it usually only happens amongst geeks. On MySpace though people get so vicious and personal over something that doesn’t matter. There isn’t money at stake, there isn’t professional reputation at stake, there is nothing at stake except people’s opinions over like a two day period, in the end what does it matter?
So what am I really saying?
I’m not saying be nice, that you should get together and sing kumbaya or even stop the throat cutting. I am trying to put this all in perspective for you. Don’t blog on there anymore, start a site on blogger, wordpress, or register a site with yahoo. Don’t piss away your writing in a place that will never let you get anywhere, that is filled with petty bullshit. And expose your work past the walls of a closed garden and to the open world. Your friends and readers, if they really care, will come… It will be rewarding, trust me.
Plus I need more people to start websites and link to me. I want the google juice.
This is going up on Humor-blogs.com even though it really isn’t funny
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On 11/29/07 at 8:42 am
said:
Take a deep breath and tell us how you really feel about it…..
I agree, and that is why I have quit blogging on there as much. Too much stupid drama ( remember the stupid death threats I got this time last year?) and life will truly go on with Myspazz without me.
On 12/15/07 at 6:08 am
colin said:
Who gives a fuck!
On 11/29/07 at 8:47 am
said:
Myspace SUX!
On 11/29/07 at 8:59 am
said:
Great rant, 100% true. Awesome.
65 Poor Life Decisions - out TOMORROW!
theCDP.net
On 11/29/07 at 9:01 am
said:
El Supremo?
On 11/29/07 at 9:04 am
said:
What are you trying to get at Kevin, you aren’t making yourself terribly clear…
I still just come here in hopes of one day humping your leg.
On 11/29/07 at 9:06 am
said:
Wow…you nailed it on the head what I was talking about yesterday.
F-ing idiots.
On 11/29/07 at 9:40 am
said:
Wow, you may possibly be the smartest person I know
On 11/29/07 at 9:41 am
said:
Maybe these people that spend all their time thinking about their ranking just need to get laid. (This is pretty much the answer to everything in my life.)
On 11/29/07 at 10:02 am
said:
Aw, you mean I shouldn’t be proud of my 12 whole blog subscribers? No, I see what you mean, it would suck if I were trying to actually get somewhere with my writing rather than trying to elicit a cheap easy laugh out of my friends and family. Actually the whole reason I wouldn’t seriously blog is because of myspace, I wouldn’t want to get attacked just for writing about things I’m interested in which is what people do there. So what if somebody only writes about really horrible dating advice? It’s their page and their interest to write about but I guess people don’t always see it that way. I do, however, love being entertained by the drama, it’s way fun and there are experts at it on my subscribe list.
On 11/29/07 at 10:05 am
said:
Yeah myspace is a good way to waste time. It’s hard to take it seriously when the best reason FOR writing on myspace is the instant feedback…and maybe only 3% of myspacers are intelligent enough to give it without resorting to stupid schoolyard bickering.
On 11/29/07 at 10:15 am
said:
for me it is like my diary, I dont care who or what reads it, I dont post my ranking, half the time I dont put a category so I couldnt even get a ranking. But I have friends from far away and we keep up, we complain about things our husbands dotn get. It’s just a general forum to keep in touch and get some feelings out. Also I like reading whats out there. Well I used to like reading whats out there. But there is not alot of good stuff out there right now. I only read and handful of blos, and I wish I didnt read you, cause I hate being redirected, but alas I am a junky.
Anyway, in summary the reason to blog is not monetary gain, or notoriety but simply sanity. Things I would never say to my kid even if she pushes me, or hurful things I owuldnt say to my husband when pissed. Or when I am missing a friend who died.
Not money, not fame, just sanity. Why not make Tom rich off my sanity? I guess I could pay a psychologist 90 dollars an hour rather than have a symbiotic relationship with Tom.
I just, write, read and stay out of the drama.
But I can see that if you are here for money or fame why MySpace does not make sense for you.
On 11/29/07 at 10:17 am
said:
I need spell check cause my typing sucks
On 11/29/07 at 10:18 am
said:
I’ll follow you Kevin where ever you go; you are the most wonderful, intelligent, whoremaster a girl could ask for!
MySpace has been passe’ for a while now.
You’re just now catching on?
On 11/29/07 at 10:18 am
said:
Ah yes, I’ve been waiting to hear something like this. I have used myspace to get actual readers for a few months but I agree with what you say and do plan on making my own site in the near future. Myspace is like high-school, it’s just plain stupid.
On 11/29/07 at 10:24 am
said:
In addition to my last comment, I will say that I have met a lot of good people on there, but all and all, I don’t feel as though my style of writing is best suited for a site like that. The popular stuff seems to be more about socializing on there and telling stories about your life. I don’t do any of that and write creative stuff almost exclusively. I would much rather explore alternative places to write at where there is more similar content to what I write about. I don’t see anyone writing about the shit I usually write about on myspace. It probably isn’t what’s best for me. Although the instant feedback, which is usually positive, I do enjoy. You don’t get that luxury anywhere else that I’ve seen.
On 11/29/07 at 10:29 am
said:
I was writing, just for fun on Myspace for quite a while, and then I realized that it’s pretty much another form of the myspace popularity contests; because I’ve seen actual blogs on the top ranking that were just lyrics someone copied and pasted, and got that many views? Jesus.
So- I went to blogger and I’m really digging it. I’m just writing for the hell of it, but It’s good to write somewhere that’s not just a popularity contest.
On 11/29/07 at 10:31 am
said:
Thanks for writing about this. I have been thinking lately about doing just this, and one of my biggest motivations was that I learned that myspace owns my writing. Next motivator was reading someone’s blog about the multitude of ways to make money off of your blog, all of which you can’t do on myspace (as far as I know). It’s just so easy to get people to read it while it’s on myspace, and I’ve never been much of a driven reader-seeker.
On 11/29/07 at 10:36 am
said:
umm, so am i not supposed to be proud of being the most competent person in cubicle land? it is pretty much like being glad to be the best slave. darnit.
On 11/29/07 at 10:38 am
said:
I webmaster for a living, and there are SO many ways to manipulate your Alexa ranking. I’m not saying you do, I’m saying that it’s so easy to do, that you could plump up your ranking without a whole lot of effort. Alexa used to be the be-all, end-all for garnering advertising dollars through ranking, but it’s so easily manipulated that it’s dropping in popularity a little, simply for its inexactitude. People are moving towards using Quantcast. To track your ranking on Quantcast, you install a pixel on your blog, and you are ranked by actual visitor numbers. Compare a couple of your favorite sites on both alexa.com and quantcast.com and you’ll see what I mean.
That said, I agree with your myspace sentiments. It’s kind of like your band not being paid for a gig. You’re providing free entertainment all night for a bar’s clientele, and perhaps bringing in new customers or making others stay longer, and that’s not valued? Bullshit.
On 11/29/07 at 10:44 am
said:
i have no clue what this is about. i left a few comments on a random blogs. i never named or associated or gave hint to who i was referring to.. hold on let me hit my pipe ok i made some nasty comments on cl list. if u go back and review the last few days.there was so much wetback Mexican hatred going on and no one was defending them selves meaning us the beaners. so i said some shit back. in no way was any person group club or organization mention.. not one word of a description on one who i was talking about.why u who ever u are is thinking it was geared towards u i dont know.you really seem to think it was about a certain person.go look at the days before my remarks everything posted was putting down Mexicans.why do u feel it was geared for u. one last thing. the same thing happens to me when i am in a chat room seems like some men and women like to goof on me. for Christ sakes i am the gillagan on the internet.id like to say u will never see me say anything negative down talk ask questions or talk shit about a man.it aint my style. my remarks that day were directed towards all men including me read it again.this is what i am talking about everyday people are talking shit about someone right.. its the drama. but when i say a few lines. its like lets go dog pile on hunter aka game aka andrew. go back read last two days cl rants read mine again . when i got excited about shit i that was about me laugh told me i was a dope head. why was i making a big deal out of nothing.i just wanna know if i can get amen my brother
On 11/29/07 at 10:49 am
said:
You’ve got myspace blogging summed up to a T there Kevin. Its so petty and annoying and one big ego massage. Infact theres no-one remotely interesting in the whole top blogger gang since you left. Its all bollocks these days.
I pin up the odd blog simply cos it makes me chuckle and hopefully makes my handfull of friends chuckle too. But for anything else its a pointless popularity contest.
On 11/29/07 at 10:50 am
said:
I gotta hand it to you, that was probably one of the best ive read so far b/c it was informative, and you definitely have good points especially about the terms of service.
But MySpace allows you to build your audience, the one you will try to take with you and who will say fuuuuuck no! heh.
I recently went private b/c of the drama and I know I sure as shit didnt help with my parody in one of my blogs, but I think the drama level has hit an all time…well craziness? insanity? even dangerous?
That shit spooks me especially when people start mailing me telling me they hope my kid dies. What.the.hell?
Who does that?
You have your points, Kevin, and you’re a smart guy (using myspace for bulletins to link over here is brilliant by the way
:) ) and I dont have anything against all you top bloggers but you all have egos. Give me a break. Does this mean you’re not going to blog on myspace at all?
Ah well. Enjoyed the blog.
On 11/29/07 at 10:58 am
said:
I think if anyone was to view my latest blog, it pretty much says anything I could add here. And yes, I did just shamelessly whore myself out to your audience, didn’t I? Does that make me a slutty little whore, or will you at least call me one in private?
On 11/29/07 at 11:09 am
said:
Great blog!
On 11/29/07 at 11:15 am
said:
LOL. well, i double post my blogs to blogger and to myspace. but who knows, im probably not a serious blogger anyway. not many people read it. youre right of course that at a certain point, you have to go beyond myspace if you want to be a real writer. but it helps for people who not many people know about or read.
On 11/29/07 at 11:22 am
said:
So can we start writing “fist me” on our bodies and send the pics to you? You can have your own group of girls.
On 11/29/07 at 11:28 am
said:
Jabs just wants to be like you but the problem is that he doesn’t have the talent you have in terms of content generation.
Jab’s has big dreams of being an internet superstar, but he’s not stupid as he looks because he knows he can’t retain an audience of any significant size once he steps out of the small pond. It’s better to be a big douche fish in a small pond than a tiny douche fish in the ocean.
It’s all about the content you can generate and lets be honest, there is no one on MySpace who can do what you do. And nobody there has your level of understanding about blogging on the web.
I don’t know anyone that can generate consistently good content, because that’s a true discipline. That’s why we’re all on MySpace.
I just like killing time on MySpace because frankly I have no life and it entertains me. Half the people on MySpace are barely literate anyway. It’s just one big chat room with blogs being just long form instant messages.
I don’t really think there is a lot of money to be made in blogging unless you are generating content that people want to consume each day such as the Hollywood gossip or political bloggers.
And you care what happens on MySpace or you wouldn’t be so on top of it or be writing about it because you know this blog will be of interest to people on MySpace.
It’s all pretty funny though, it’s just a big daily trainwreck soap opera and I’m fascinated to know what stupid messed up stuff is going to break out on any given day.
Cause i’m easily amused.
On 11/29/07 at 11:30 am
said:
Thanks for themorning read. Although im not a bloger per say. I do see whats going on as on there. And I was thinking man these are adults acting like this.
I just like to read and I choose a few selected bloggers I enjoy to read. You guys make my day go by quicker and as of yesterday I just finally found out who “Super Douche” is.
On 11/29/07 at 11:32 am
said:
alexa.com is cool. Yes, MySpace is a total ripoff for a writer and I should jump ship, but I don’t feel like starting all over somewhere else.
On 11/29/07 at 11:38 am
said:
balls…oops this is the wrong blog. I like what you said in this blog. Altho I write some pretty silly stuff once in a while, some of it is personal and thought out and I think it deserves to be shared…but short of doing drama blogs or whatever, I don’t know how to get an audience. (maybe I should reread your Audience Blog). Its not that much of a priority to me but I would be hurt if it all got lost to myspace death..I’ve taken to blogging instead of writing in a journal most of the time.. So perhaps I will take your advice and at least have another way of, if not sharing, then saving, my thoughts. Good job.
BUKKAKE!
On 11/29/07 at 11:38 am
said:
hey kev. thanks for the head’s up. I knew about this blogging site and thought I should maybe, chk it out sometime, as far as, blogging here. I also, read King Steve there..(well, he likes being called that) lol-and although, I first started reading blogs on myspace..with you actually being one of my first bloggers. I’d say you must know what your talking about here. I have often said that Something has to be better than myspazz. the rankings are a joke, alot of the people are a joke. and the whole concept is getting old. maybe-I’ll ck it out further and sign up then.
take care ole’ friend.
On 11/29/07 at 11:39 am
said:
“Some people just care about the ego stroke and the instant gratification that they get on MySpace, others understand that building an audience past there takes work, talent, and good content.”
Excellent point!
work - check
talent - check
good content - check
I’m proud of you and I misses you to pieces.
On 11/29/07 at 11:40 am
said:
I kant understand whyz you hatin on bloggy blog blog?
I run dis myspace sheeit, aint no betta place to blog.
On 11/29/07 at 11:42 am
said:
Brilliant. I recall a few messages back and forth on this topic. I think you covered it, and covered it well.
I’m off to write balls on my man boobs.
On 11/29/07 at 11:47 am
said:
Oh man, this is some funny shit. As are ALL your blogs….which apparently I’ve been missing out on lately. POO! I’ll be back to read you here. Often.
Now, where do I leave the kudos???
(Super Douche. Balls. Not difficult to figure out THAT one… Heh.)
On 11/29/07 at 11:57 am
said:
I feel ya. Great Blog now Breatheeeeeee :}
On 11/29/07 at 12:04 pm
said:
hellooo *waves* your bulletin / blog is being pimped round myspaz and i thought i’d take a loook…
i see your point and it’s a good one
there are those of us who blog on myspace cos it’s fun - cos we’re on myspaz anyway for social networking not just the advancement of our careers or whatever
i’m aware of all the bullshit that goes on and i stay well out of it - if people want to act like teenagers that’s fine by me so long as they do it over there *points*
i love blogging and i’m not an idiot - myspaz is the forum i use because it’s where i discovered blogging but i’m not so close-minded i wouldn’t look further afield if i knew where to look or could be arsed to bother…
On 11/29/07 at 12:04 pm
said:
wow That’s a lot of reading hahah I’ll get on it right away.
On 11/29/07 at 12:05 pm
said:
I think it depends on what you’re trying to do. Certainly if your goal is to be a “blogger,” to make online social commentary and profit from it, MySpace is not the place to hang your shingle in the long term.
If you are marketing work created and published away from the Internet (which I would hope would be your ultimate goal), then any means of drawing a large audience is a good thing. MySpace is a good marketing tool because you can so easily reach a large audience, and because people go there for more than just blogs. They stay in contact with each other, meet each other, create relationships.
There is nothing wrong at all with just being a blogger. People make a living at it, and the affect change with it. Social networking and online publishing will only continue to grow. But if I’m going to market my books, or whatever offline content I create, I can easily reach a larger audience on MySpace than my own web site.
Zach Braff and Jenna Fischer are great examples. Building loyalty with their audiences in a way they really couldn’t do otherwise.
On 11/29/07 at 12:11 pm
said:
Yeah, a few months ago I had seven thousand blog hits in one week and had the realization that MySpace wasn’t sharing the revenue. I’ve got my own site now. I’m still building the links page, and PointlessBanter.net will be on it.
On 11/29/07 at 12:27 pm
said:
So, what you are saying is that I am a loser? Are you saying I am a LOSER?!
Well, I am not the loser Kevin, you are! You are! I hate you! I will never read your blog again!
Boo-hoo-hoo! (Hides head in shame.)
When is your next posting?
Love ya!
Kiss! Kiss!
On 11/29/07 at 12:33 pm
said:
I am a blogger on MySpace with a modest audience… but I was thinking about the future. Your blog was a wakeup call to me. I don’t like being pimped at my job, yet I’m letting MySpace pimp me for the potential audience it provides. I was putting off putting up a blog because I’m lazy as hell but this did it.
Thanks.
On 11/29/07 at 12:49 pm
said:
EXACTLY! This is what I have been saying since I first scrolled the pages of “top blog posts”. I can’t take ANY blog serious once I find blog.myspace in the URL.
It’s so clique oriented too. ridiculous.
want to blog, get a real blogging platform.
On 11/29/07 at 1:43 pm
said:
Great blog, I agree with all of it. There are too many douchebags on myspace, but I’ve met a lot of great people ‘online’ and blogging is the best way for me to interact with these cool peeps. I like reading what they have to say, and I think they like me too. I don’t know if I could ever take myself seriously enough to put all of the work into it that you do, and I’m always pressed for time as a single mom. I admire what you’ve done with your blog and you’ll always be one of my favorite bloggers. But me, I’m just doing it for a hobby right now, and really don’t give a hoot where I rank at the end of the day. Thanks for the PSA Kevin, we can always count on you for a good dose of reality every now and then!
On 11/29/07 at 1:56 pm
said:
I’ve been on MySpace for a couple years now, and it suits me okay. Then again, I fall into pretty much every one of your prescribed exceptions. I have maybe 40 subscribers - mostly close friends and family - and get maybe 150 hits a week for about an average of a post a week.
Pretty much just keeping folks up on my goings on, venting about the good and the bad of said events, and focusing on my geek-related hobbies of barbershop harmony, drum corps, sci-fi and the like.
I’ve always been told that I write well many have even suggested I try it professionally (with the heavy use of the spell-checker) - but my topic focus is tuned to such a narrow audience, I get to avoid the drama.
You’ve inspired me to check out some other platforms and see where this can lead. Any suggestions on topics that get hits from the non-brain dead? I want to avoid mostly ’sex’ (I talk too freely and my wife may get irked if I accidentally divulge too much) and ‘politics’ (too heated and the dittoheads crawl out of the woodwork, leading to speedy depredation of the discourse).
On 11/29/07 at 2:30 pm
said:
MySpace can be a pain in the ass sometimes but it does help promote people. I am one who barely blogs (I really only blog when I have something to talk about, I use my blog for more of a discussion forum) and I agree. With as much time and effort I put into my little blogs EVERY NOW AND THEN, I couldn’t imagine spending as much time as I’ve seen some people spend on one EVERY day without getting paid.
I still love that you went out on your own and am glad to see it going so well. It’s kinda like graduating from high school (leaving MS) and going on to college.
Yeah, I know, I’m weird. I’m all about the profits, CLEARLY haha
On 11/29/07 at 2:43 pm
said:
Sweet
On 11/29/07 at 3:07 pm
said:
Excellent reading.
I’m not sure if it was your last Myspace blog or not, but we had a convo at the end of your comments that was partly about blogging off Myspace and bring the social networking aspect of it to your own site. I think what you are doing will pave the way for a lot of others. One thing you mentioned that I disagree with is taking your blogs to sites like blogger.com. Yes, it is a good starting point, but you do not want to end there. The pennies that Google might pay you for the hits you generate pale in comparison to what you can earn by having your own domain name. That’s where the real revenue and ownership is. Having your own website is like owning your own home and renting it out. You have your small mortgage (domain fees) and sometimes you need to spend money on upkeep (expanding servers), but no matter how much money you put out, if you are good enough, you will get a lot more coming in.
Not everyone is in it for the money, but the money can be great. I have a friend who has a site called http://www.dirtynewport.com (check it out, you’d love it). All it is is him getting pictures of people from different cities, posting them, dropping a little comment and thats it. The site is making him a small fortune from the word-of-mouth. It proves that you don’t have to be good or great, you just have to know how to connect with people. You got that gift, many others don’t.
Myspace is a great tool to expand your audience whether you are a celeb or not. The best thing to do is build a relationship with the people you have the opportunity to interact with. If people like you they will follow you and tell friends about you. Whether you blog for fun or blog because it helps you find what people laugh at or cry at, do it and take ownership of it. Perhaps one day you can write something letting people know how to best start their own website, what they should pay, etc. That would be helpful.
Thanks
On 11/29/07 at 4:30 pm
said:
I believe MS addressed the ownership thing very recently and you not MS own your words. They retain any monies earned in return for their free hosting. U.S. copyright law was amended in the 70s and if you are citizen of the U.S. you own it by default. Not saying having your own site is a bad idea simply that you own your words - that is if you wish to move them elsewhere or get a publishing deal you owe MS nothing.
Also you need to save everything you write to your own hard drive and/or online storage. This applies no matter where you are hosting - ever hear of a server completely crashing with no recovery possible or a hosting company selling a site out from under you - or just disappearing?
On 11/29/07 at 5:09 pm
said:
okay i read it and as far as i can tell, you want to lock up african people, kevin i think you should just marry me you need some fun in your life. and does “The Donk” read this particular blog? i swear i never see him but i thought he was part of this group, or is it another one, btw i have like 5 subscribers on my myspace blog!!! GO ME!!!
On 11/29/07 at 5:17 pm
said:
Hey! Ms Myrtle Corbin is MY myspace avatar. I think a girl with 4 legs and 2 (yes, only 2) crotches has it goin on, don’t you?
On 11/29/07 at 7:02 pm
said:
Good points for the lemmings. Anybody who thinks a MySpace blog is going to reap them the reward of, well…anything while toiling around MySpace needs a healthy kick in the rear. They should use a Wordpress (or other) site for the material they really care about and keep MS for the social networking aspect and/or to post a quick nugget of randomness.
On 11/29/07 at 7:13 pm
said:
lol. you said “expose yourself” Sorry… immature middle school giggle phase terminating. =x
On 11/29/07 at 7:22 pm
said:
You’re right. I used to want to be a “top blogger” but then I realized that that takes so much time and I don’t really get anything out of it. Now I just blog mostly to update my friends on my life. Does this mean I’m an idiot though? Because I write blogs on Myspace?
On 11/29/07 at 7:40 pm
said:
I thought the drama was only limited to High Schoolers. I couldn’t take it anymore so I got a Facebook, which I use to stay in touch with old friends from High School, and even then I’ll drop an occasional, “Hello.” Time for the Packers vs. The Cowboys!!! Go Cowboys!!!
On 11/29/07 at 7:55 pm
said:
Well Kevin, we’ve known each other for quite a while, and during that time I think we’ve come to have a fairly good respect for one another’s points of view.
I guess I want to go in a few directions……
First, as far as I’m aware (haven’t looked in a little while), MySpace clearly does not “own” content posted, the TOU at one time did imply that however a year or so they were revised to clearly say the Copyright stays with the one who writes the material.
Second, as far as “making a mark” out in the world, if one types “SteamGeek” in Yahoo, I will be most of the top 10 hits, not too bad for my “writing and self publishing hobby”
Third, while most of what you said is true, I think the key is folks need to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. Those with “bigger aspirations” need to understand MySpace may well be a “proving ground” and a place to “practice one’s craft” but they also need to think beyond MySpace.
That all being said, I will say now and forever there are some truly gifted writer / thinkers doing their thing on MySpace, it really is what one makes of it, for better or worse.
On 11/29/07 at 11:01 pm
said:
But at least you got something out of it. Imagine all the ones who toil to help provide MySpace with ways to keep people on their mega-site but don’t use it to their advantage by marketing yourself as well as you have done. One hell of a job I might add.
Nice rant and so true