Facebook and other odds and ends...

9/21/09

After receiving some email feedback on two of my previous posts, I should explain some things a bit further. And I thank you for letting me know.

When I was commenting on MySpace as being loud, obnoxious, etc., I must make clear that that’s how I view the MySpace experience in general, and certainly not the C&J page specifically. I know that MySpace has a lot of fans, and for some is their only place to get involved with social networking. If you read to the end, you’ll note that I was very complimentary about how well the C&J had been revised, how clean it was kept and maintained, and how it did consolidate several services for Chad & Jeremy. So, visit, by all means, and your comments there are welcome.

I also commented about the Yahoo group and the fact that suggestions had been made on how to utilize some of the members who wanted to get a bit more involved with their support. Bearing in mind the “preaching to the choir” concept, it was no wonder that no action took place, because the comment was made within the group, and to no one in particular. The “if a tree falls in the forest with no one to hear it, does it make a sound” type of deal. So, no one to blame but myself that that idea failed, or at least wasn’t followed up.

And, finally, I received an email from someone who claims to have posted several questions on the Yahoo group regarding the status of the DVD “Yesterday’s Back, ” also claiming that the questions never appeared in the group, wondering about the release of the DVD. I still don’t have any information on a release date, but I did discover www.candjdvd.com this evening. This looks like a “work in progress” type of thing, so I’d say to keep your eyes there for some further word.

So, Facebook. I read last week that there are now 300 million users. As the kids say, OMG.

We’ll cut to the chase with Facebook, as you know, 300 million members already, you’re probably there. As am I, my kids, and soon, my wife. I know that there are people who do not have time to check all of these things on any regular basis. We have things to do, other interests, some have jobs, etc. So as we wind down on this, maybe we should start considering where we’d go if we could only have one place to go for our C&J fix.

It appears that artists can use Facebook in three ways; as an individual, or by creating a fan site, or by being represented as part of a group. In appearance, the individual option doesn’t seem to differ much from the fan site option in terms of offering information, although fan sites typically don’t contain personal details, and are left to the business of being an artist. Depending on what you want to do, and how involved you want to get, you can post fan pictures, videos, concert dates, and short (or long) blurbs as a way to maintain contact and let folks know you’re there. Or at least that’s how it’s being used by some independent artists I follow. Others, like Roger McGuinn, have a personal site and use it like a fan site (nothing personal posted, just business related).

Chad & Jeremy are represented by a moderated group. There are 315 members (participants in groups are termed members, rather than fans), again a small number in the grand scheme of things. (Some examples of independent artists and their fan page “fans”; my daughter has 100, Gregory Douglass has 552, Edie Carey has 997) .The bio, list of hits, TV shows, etc., is the same as on MySpace, and tour dates are included. There are 2 officers noted, who I think were or are also fan club officers, and I don’t know whether or not they take an active role here. You can also post messages here, though there have been only 53 posts since March of 2008, and some of that is hugs and kisses types of things. There are three video postings, two of which are incomplete and taken from such a distance on a camera phone as to have no facial detail, and 56 photos.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the group deal doesn’t really take full advantage of being part of the Facebook community. Groups are typically established by fans, without artist involvement. And again, I found no evidence that any of the artists represented by groups and some fan sites are personally involved, though C&J have mentioned Facebook in concerts.

Does the group help at all with anything? If you intended to chase brand awareness with Facebook, I’d say that the work had just begun. If you didn’t go to the shows, how would you know they were here? I could not find any mention of Facebook on the official web site, though MySpace is mentioned. Facebook has rarely been mentioned in the Yahoo group, probably because it doesn’t contain unique information. If it’s social networking we’re after, then social networking within the group is almost identical to the MySpace experience, with no real give and take between fans, or between fans and the artists.

This is it on the social networking thing, so before we move on with observations about their web site and store, both of which you should already know are mucho impressive, where do we and they stand here? We know that one person is moderating three sites (Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, the more “au currant” avenues of web presence), and another is involved with three others (web site, store, Yahoo group, the more traditional). Who's doing what is all public knowledge, so no secrets revealed here. I know that I have seen little to no evidence of personal involvement from the artists with any of the sites we’ve looked into so far, and I think that’s pretty much the norm for sites like these.

We’ve seen that there are very small numbers of fan involvement on Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook, and somewhat larger numbers on MySpace (though I did a quick count to determine that about 43% of the total number of friends on MySpace are actually business, other artists, or other competitors in the marketplace). Would it matter to you if the artists were personally involved with these sites? Would you visit more, or encourage others to visit, if you might actually, say on certain days and times, know that your message or question was getting through directly to real artists, and not designated hitters? I would think that with every visit to any of the sites, there’s the possibility of a new concert ticket, DVD, or CD sold, so is there a downside to artists taking advantage of this stuff?

Opinion
If you buy into the idea that social networking is a “really big deal,” as many millions of people do, then what we see here might be a bit disheartening to those fans who are interested in seeing their career furthered, developed, and expanded. We’re really talking about marketing, and salesmanship, and the virtually free tools to achieve greater levels of both. It’s certainly something that every business deals with, and spends bunches of money and time to investigate, test, and support. My closest involvement in this is with my kids, and both are forever selling themselves and their music in public with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, as well as the more old school methods of flyers, radio, and print, ads and interviews. They have given sampler CD’s away to fans at shows to keep the interest level up for the next show, or the next sale. Because it is what they need to do to be heard. And to be remembered. After all, it is their brand.

www.chadandjeremy.com

Go check it out, if you haven’t already, before next time. I know you’ll be entertained, educated, and amazed.