One Of Us

I feel my resolve cracking. I have been holding strong against the facebook, but I don't know for how much longer. I was happy to add this social network of things I'll never do. Said list includes watching the film Titanic and well anything Twilight related. Then my husband joined in and everyone I know is apparently there. In fact I haven't gone a day online without several people mentioning the damn place. I really don't want to join another social network, I already deleted my indiepublic profile and I've all but completely abandoned myspace. Won't this just be another place to waste time. I already have this blog, the wunderkammer, my etsy store, flickr, steamteam and of course the twitter, when am I even going to find time to maintain a new place.

I know, you're thinking why am I whining about this when I could just continue to ignore it all. Well, last night my husband chanted, 'one of us' at me and even though he has never seen Freaks, the implication was clear. I know I will soon succumb to the siren call and become one of them, or you...I assume. So I'm curious, what's the point? Do I set up a personal page and then a business one and what the heck is up with all this 'fan' stuff. I'm constantly seeing people asking for fans and I keep thinking how silly it is to ask for fans. Is this one of those words that has an entirely different definition in this world, because I was under the impression that fans were people that liked you and/or your brand, not people trying to get reciprocal attention. I really don't want to get into a numbers game again and I certainly have no desire to play games and answer quizzes. Is this place going to annoy the crap out of me? It's a moot point I suppose...I'll join eventually, but that doesn't have to stop me from questioning the reasons why.

Network It

This is going to be another 'I love twitter' post, so if you're sensitive to the subject, look away now. I began my twitter life the same way I've approached almost all of my Internet habit since joining Etsy, that is I followed etsians. They provide a ready made audience with at least one guaranteed thing in common. Eventually that got boring honestly and I ventured forth into worlds unknown. I followed those who followed me regardless of familiarity and soon I had a brand new group of twitter friends.

I'm not honestly sure how I happened upon a group of fashion minded bloggers, but I did and they have been wonderful people to talk to. They have also helped expose my work and tatting in general to a whole new audience of people, which is the most wonderful thing of all. It is easy to share my craft with other artisans, but it is preaching to the choir for the most part. To continue the metaphor, I want to leave the church and take it to the streets. Twitter, my friends, has done just that for me without me even having to be a promotion machine. I just tweet my blog posts in the morning and new listings as they occur and remain chatty randomly throughout the day.

I just got another google alert yesterday morning for another wonderful blog feature from a lovely gal I met through twitter. I love the surprise of finding features of my work I didn't know were happening. This one is at Broke & Beautiful, another great blog full of tips and finds that I would have never found without twitter. Am I saying that you NEED to get on the twitter to get attention? No, but it certainly doesn't hurt to network. I never enjoyed MySpace, haven't joined Facebook and there are half a dozen other places one can go for this alleged 'social networking' business so go where you like, but this socializing online stuff is here to stay and you might as well find a place you're comfy and settle in.

In other news, I am starting week two of the corset waist training and it's going well. The corset is now almost completely closed all day long and I'm feeling no discomfort at all. It continues to cause me to modify my behaviors, but not drastically so. I am finding issues with compatible clothing, particularly as it is getting hotter, but I will endure. My current plan is to go for a three month period and see if I can get this stomach under control. Speaking of clothes though, I am still going crazy over what to wear to the Maker Faire. I have this great bustle skirt, but will it be too much for a day long show, plus it's two days so I need two outfits of steamy goodness...aargh! I'll figure it out...I hope.

What Else Do You Want, Blood?

Well, I found something to be annoyed at this week. It's not really something new, but I did get a message this morning that got me thinking about it again, overexposure. You see, my online presence is directly related to my etsy experience. Before I discovered etsy as an outlet for my developing craft of tatting, I had no online presence. I used the Internet for games and music and as an endless source of information. I was a lurker that rarely if ever engaged others. That all changed when I first discovered the etsy forums and joined the plague of locusts on their seemingly never ending conquest of social sites.

I ran with the locusts to MySpace and Indiepublic, I applied and was rejected from Trunkt...twice. I started a blog, joined, never listed anything and left Lollishops and landed in the Twitterverse. I have all but abandoned both MySpace and Indiepublic, in fact the only things I maintain now are my Etsy shop, my blog and Twitter and you know what I'm done. I've left the cloud of locusts. I am now flying alone. As I've stated before, I'm just not that social, so stop asking me to join you on another Ning site or random networking site. I'm giving you all I've got already.

This also means that I have no intention of starting a facebook page, joining ArtFire or any of the half dozen other new selling venues. Sometimes I envy the youth of some of my crafting peers and their endless energy for social networking and maintaining multiple storefronts. I, however, have two small children and a craft that is a bit on the time consuming side. I wish that I could build up a lot of inventory to spread around, but unless I want to further neglect my real life, it isn't happening. My eggs shall remain comfortable in their little Etsy basket. There may come a day when I give in and get a facebook page, and who's to say that there won't be another place that I like even more than twitter one day in the future, but for now I'm spent.

All The Cool Kids

I might have mentioned this before, but I was a geek, nerd, outcast, social reject, etc., you get the point. As as child I tried very hard to get noticed by the popular kids. When it became obvious to me that I was working toward an unobtainable goal, I gave up and simply tried to be me. I never, however, let go of the desire to one day be more than them and to be able to show them that success whatever it may be. I just can't completely let go of that insecurity and I still find myself on the outside looking in.

On the twitter, along with following my actual friends and contemporaries, I have chosen to follow who I think are the cool kids. The other day one of them asked all those strangers follwing her why we were stalking her. I replied that I try to follow the cool kids and live vicariously through them. I am still that geek, hoping that they will turn around, notice me and realize that we would get on famously. More often than not, I still go unnoticed my those I deem cool and even though I know that it shouldn't bother me that people I have never met and will probably never meet don't pay attention to me, it brings back those juvenile high school feelings of rejection.

Every once in a while something will happen to make me question my invisible geek status. Usually that thing will be a comment left on a blog feature of my work. A comment like this, "I've loved her work for ages." or "I've been a fan of her work for sometime.". They always make me stop and audibly utter, "Really?". Then I sit and wonder if there are in fact people who think that I am one of the cool kids? Are there people out there who wish that I would turn around and notice them, 'cause that's really weird to me. Sure I get the occasional odd follow on twitter from someone I don't know, I assume that they are just randomly picking people by their avatars, but is it possible that a few are, dare I saw, fans?

I have not accepted this scenario at all, though I do entertain it from time to time. When I imagine that it is all true I get a little sad that even if it is, I doubt that Internet fame is something I could lord over my childhood cool kids. I can never go back and redo my childhood, though I don't think I would even if it were possible. That rejected kid I was developed a great, albeit strange sense of humor and relatively healthy sense of self. It is that kid that bonded over a similar past with the rejected kid that was my future husband. I know I'll never be that cool kid nor friends with the cool kids I live vicariously through on twitter and really that's fine.

Plague Of Locusts

Locusts are a bit understood as a whole. In a normal season these grasshoppers spend most of their lives where they were born, only leaving to find a mate. It is only when the weather conditions are just right that they breed unchecked and form a cloud of mass devouring that moves from field to field leaving nothing in its wake. Why am I telling you about locusts? Well, I made an observation yesterday that will lead us back so let me start there.

I was playing with Twitter yesterday. If you have not yet been pulled into its wake, like even my husband now has, let me explain a little something. You see, you can click on a random name someone you follow 'tweets' to and then click through the people they follow and continue into infinity if you so choose. I was doing this is an attempt to find more interesting people to follow. I was getting bored of the same tweets that I am guilty of, I just listed...I got a treasury...did you see that forum thread...etc. During the search I made the observation that I mentioned: Etsians are a plague of locusts.

Before I discovered Etsy, I was generally competent online, but it was merely a tool for information and entertainment. I did not interact with others online and I felt no need to do so. After I discovered the forums, I began participating in mass attacks on online social outlets that were deemed useful for promotion by the etsian collective. This led me to myspace, flickr, indipublic, blogging and now twitter. With each new site the same thing occurs, hundreds of etsians flock there expecting to find a new audience and then they end up talking to each other...again.

I'm certain that each new endeavour finds a few new people, but then the sheer number of etsians overwhelms the new audience. They are devoured and the etsians eventually begin to complain that they are selling to each other again and the next big thing to try will be 'discovered'. I have also noticed that each new generation of sellers starts a new plague cloud and the threads asking who's on myspace, flickr, etc reemerge and the onslaught begins again. I don't mean to diminish the usefulness of networking in general, clearly talking to others that share our passions and experiences is good, but it's not the best promotion especially en mass.

I will likely continue to run with the locusts, but at least I will move forward aware of the bigger picture. Sure it might be more productive to find my own way, but at least with the locusts I'll always be in familiar company.