The Chad & Jeremy Yahoo Group

A quick note to start. I noticed a disclaimer today on Twitter: “Tweets handled by Caswell as press agent.” I’m sure you all know that Caswell is also the administrator for their MySpace site. And Facebook as well, as we shall see tomorrow.

I should probably raise the rhetorical question “If artists don’t do their own Twitter and/or MySpace, with whom are we establishing a social network/relationship?” Or, should we expect at least a modicum of interest/input? Please let me know what you think.

And, I see there are new pictures from the Iron Horse show in MA, and nice to see Lenny in some of the shots. There was also a short blurb about the show at The Narrows, http://backstageatthenarrows.blogspot.com/ , but I’ll let you decide if it qualifies as a review. Actually, just four sentences, and the author misspells Art Garfunkel’s last name, but, never mind.

I used to love the Yahoo board. Now, it’s just a like :). Realize that it’s very tiny, just 236 members, and maybe just 10% of those participate in discussions. Many of those who joined when the board was founded in December of 2000 seem to have vanished (I’ve been a member since 07/2001), and many others have come and gone.

The atmosphere has always been supportive, with probably two, and now maybe three, major exceptions. There really haven’t been many old school flame wars, because I’d think that most of the members are too mature for that. There probably will be even fewer going forward, because I recently noticed a message above the posting window that states posts now go to the moderator for approval, prior to publication. For the most part, it’s been a place to rave rather than rant, a place to pass along information, ask questions, from time to time get some info from the moderator, and a nice place to visit. I made a bunch of friends there, and still read postings pretty much daily, but have slacked off a bit on posting. Obviously, posting to the Yahoo board is definitely preaching to the choir.

Lately, though, I’ve sensed a change in tenor there, a break in the force. Rather than getting in trouble here by interpreting and paraphrasing what happened to give me this impression, best you go and check out the whole thing on Yahoo and draw your own conclusions. Read the topics concerning the DVD, and the launch of the “official” store, posts dated between 9/3 and 9/8, and draw your own conclusions. And if you’re not a member, by all means join and chime in on stuff.

Chad and Jeremy have not posted, and generally ignore mentioning it when listing off their various web things. I take that as tolerance but not necessarily support, but that’s just my opinion. I’m probably right in assuming that they know about it, as the moderator also runs their official web site, but no matter.

All things considered, I don’t know of any real value the Yahoo board brings to the brand issue, though it is real big (relatively) on the networking side. People there already know what and who and why, and unless some steps are taken to utilize this group, it will remain what it is; a small enclave of dedicated fans, talking amongst themselves. I was going to add “and looking for direction,” because it does occur to me that, more than once, people there have expressed a desire to get involved, to help further the cause. There’s really not much more to say about this aspect of the on line presence, so maybe we should include the fan club as part of this post.

Or lack of a fan club. I still don’t know if this is an archaic idea. It does reek of kids, and dances, and crushes, and 45’s, old school for sure, but if one were to modernize the concept and view it more as a support group type of deal, a “street team” thing, then maybe it’s a viable idea for making contacts and phone calls, doing local flyers and maybe doing ads in local papers. Yes, this has been suggested, and no, nothing happened.

Anyway, a fan club was put together through MySpace more than a year ago, a president and various officers chosen, and then…nothing. Or at least, I think nothing, as I can find no evidence that anything came out of it. I did collect a bunch of names from Yahoo and forward them on for membership last summer, and then… nothing. I think, as they say, a ball may have been dropped, or communication sort of ceased, but, through fault of no one, I’m sure, the concept remains in limbo. And of course I’d like the real inside story about it, so please send it on if you know.

Facebook tomorrow.

Oops, almost forgot. While we’re at it, what about Audio Boo, the free iPhone app?

“Do you enjoy blogging every moment of your life? Or maybe you like to keep people updated on the latest news, or record music to share with everyone. Well Audio Boo just might be the app for you! Audio Boo allows you to record and post audio, called “Boo’s,” directly to the audioboo.fm and let people on other social networking sites know when you post and where they can go to listen to it. The audio files can be easily accessed through Audio Boo’s website, or through the links generated in various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. “

We’re gonna need a bigger tool box.