Social Media is Not Free: The Broke Blogger Blues

So, if you follow me on twitter, you'd probably know that I attended Vancouver's own Social Media/Blogging/Communications UN-conference, Northern Voice. It didn't really occur to me to bring my laptop for some reason, so I didn't get around to updating much during the course of the day. 

Yupp. I was hanging out with this little moose-guy right here. Anyone else wonder why he had hands, but no feet. Just me? Alright then.

Anyways, I won't get into an indepth recap. There are plenty of other much-better blogs than this one that could give you the run-down. I want to talk about someting else that I noticed. 

Looking around the room, I noticed something interesting. Who was there? Tech enthusiasts, communications people, and coders. There was business owners, and mac users galore. People with expensive cameras, and iphones. What I didn't see alot of, was me.

What I mean is, I don't have a macbook, or an iPhone. I don't know anything about computers, and if you're a regular reader, it's obvious I don't know much about blogging either. Sheesh, back in September/October I didn't even have a computer to blog off of. I had to walk up to a local internet cafe to use the internet. This whole idea of Social Media is really truly a hobby for me. I'm not looking to expand my business, I'm not looking to make anything other than new friends. As cheesy as that may sound.

So I got to thinking about how Social Media isn't free.Think about it,  what do you need to blog? Well, a computer for starters. An internet connection. Time. Money, depending how serious you are about it. More time. Dedication.

What do you need if you want to take yourself further into the space? If you want to podcast, you'll need a cam-corder, proper audio recorders, lights, space, editing software, time and patience. If you want to stay up to date with your tweet stream, your going to need a wifi enabled mobile device. Not cheap, my friends.

There's only so far FREE will take you on the web. That's the difference to between simply participating and being an active member of the community. At this point, I don't sit behind a desk all day, I don't have the internet in my pocket and I can't afford too. 

So this is my argument. If you want to be active in social media, to the point where you are doing MORE than simply participating, it's not accessible to everyone. I'm offended whenthese socialmedia/tech enthusiasts think that this is free, easy and accessible for everyone. You know what? It's not. This is something I have always secretly believed, but haven't really discussed until now.

I mean, if it was truly free and accessible to all, why aren't we seeing more blogs written by joe-blows like me. People that don't have computer access at all times. Waiters, bus drivers, mail carriers, massage-therapy receptionists! I know I'd like to read those. 

This is all exclusively based on personal experience, having not done any research at all. Who knows, I could be the only one who is noticing the hypocrisy, as it were. But I'd like to hear thoughts. Has a lack of time/money ever prevented you from being as engaged as you would've liked? What did you do about it?

Authenticity FLOOD

I've been, like many people I am sure, told countless times that the internet is a dangerous place. Apparently the only people that are online, are killers that want to strangle you in your sleep. Therefore, the worst thing you could possibly do is put out any of your personal information publicly on the web.

Hiding it in facebook where only your friends can see it is one thing, but actually making your address or your phone number public for all to see is a hideously bad idea. End of story.

Or so I was told.

Anyways, so I was sitting around on twitter, thinking about how many cool people I've met thanks to social media, when an idea hit me. I decided to post my personal phone number online. 

What possessed me to do that? Well, I really just wanted to see two things. How many people would call me, and WHO would call me.

At the time I had 416 followers. Let's say only 40 of them actually read that post. Based on those numbers, I expected a few random texts, mostly from local people.

The results?

I recieved text messages from five people, and one very lovely phone call from Puerto Rico. That's about it.

No messages from crazy people. No phonecalls from anyone I didn't know, or wouldn't have loved to hear from.

I think this represents the changing nature of the web. In the past, doing this may have illicited an un-desirable response. But now that literally everyone is online, we've in a sense, drowned out the wierdos. 

In a sense we've flooded the internet with authenticity, so that doing things like posting your phone number online, is now kinda sorta safe.

Safe, isn't the best word. But I think you catch my drift. Anyways, something to think on for now.

So...What do you think? Would you ever consider doing something like this? Why/Why not?

I Can Haz iPhone?

So let's be honest. It's been a while. 

Now, I won't get into the reasons for why I haven't been updating. I think I read somewhere that people hate those posts. You know, the ones that go all like:

I've just been to busy. Everyone hates me. My dog died. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

So I won't do that. But what I will say, is this. I've been thinking about this blog since I've stopped updating. trying to think of possible new directions to go with it, and ways to just make it something that is worth my time and your time. Anyways, enough chit chat. Let's just get on with the content, shall we? 

If you logged on to this website this past Monday, you might have noticed something has changed. I recently opened a PayPal donation account where you can donate to the very-worthy cause of me buying an iPhone.

I know what you may be thinking. And no, I don't NEED an iPhone. But I would surely like one. So a friend of mine suggested I set this up. I didn't expect any donations... I didnt even expect any traffic to be generated by this rather shameless "charity". Little did I know, that would not be the case.

So now, only two days later, I have raised over $50 towards my buying an iPhone. This is great. I mean, I really really appreciate that so many people were actually willing to support this. Thank you to everyone who donated.

But that's also my problem. There are so many other great causes that deserve your money way more than I do. I'm not saying don't donate! Because I'd love an iPhone, I'm just saying maybe check out something worth while as well.

Like this fine fellow, trying to raise money for global solutions for poverty and the like by BIKING ACROSS EUROPE. I mean this guy is doing something pretty incredible, that is deserving of your support. 

So yeah, Me having an iPhone would be amazing, and it would be awesome if you helped me get one. But think about where else your finances may be appreciated before doing so. 

On the other hand, I am offering cupcakes** for every donation. No matter how big or small. Is that an incentive or what? ^_^

**Cupcakes only valid for citizens of Vancouver proper. Residents outside of vancouver may receive a picture of a cupcake upon special request. Contact the writer for more information.