Comments on Some Fantastic: Social Media is Not Free: The Broke Blogger Blues

You are completely right. Not only is social media...

2009-12-16T05:36:09.958-08:00

You are completely right. Not only is social media, for the most part, pretty expensive to keep up with (so it is not free as in "free beer"), but the communications going on through most of the networks aren't free either (not free as in "free speech"). On both Facebook and MySpace we are served targeted ads and "suggestions" as to which friends we should communicate with.

E-mail, phone and IRC are for the most part free mediums of communication whereas social media is not.

I hope somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I not...

2009-03-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I hope somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I notice that many of these well-knowns in social media fall into one of two places. Some have well-paying jobs and yet have the time and energy to do social media. Others got a lucky break in the beginning and now have sponsors that give them discounts or freebies/review models. Also, there are some that make their living off doing the social media route, but they're probably an offshoot of the second example.

You're definitely right in your observation, though. Even having the second latest and greatest for your system is still a tall order when you have other needs and bills and such. I have a iMac G5 that's still doing great, but now that the Intel Macs have been in full swing, I'm almost hesitant on getting the new iLife suite because of the system requirements! And the computer's not really that old! (I love making vids, and I want the new iMovie:( )

Yes, it would be great if everyone and their mother had a written blog or a video blog or even their own domain and server space. Inaequitas is right; it's coming soon where everyone will be able to do the stuff that's being shown today. Maybe a few years from now. But by then, social media 3.0 will be the elitist benchmark. :/

I whole-heartily agree with you! It's very hard to...

2009-02-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

I whole-heartily agree with you! It's very hard to be apart of social media when you can't afford a lot of things.

The more and more I'm on twitter the more I want to take pictures and publish videos but I don't have cash for many of the things I need. It's upsetting because I'm in such a terrible bind right now but eventually I'm hoping that I can break through!

Good Luck on your quest, love! :)

I agree with you. We all know that blogging isn't ...

2009-02-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

I agree with you. We all know that blogging isn't free, but when we attend these conferences and so forth, that whole idea tends to be forgotten.

It's not so much that I'd like to see even MY social class better represented at these events, I guess I'd just like a little more acknowledgment that bloggers like me are out there, and even that there are plenty of individuals with stories and ideas that simply don't have the means to blog.

We all tend to have this sort of attitude that social media is so great because everyone can share and participate. Well, not really. I think it's important to think about that.

Er, this was an un-conference after all. Maybe I should have scheduled my own talk. Perhaps next year. :)

Thanks for the comment!

I think many of these conferences have a tendency ...

2009-02-21T03:18:00.000-08:00

I think many of these conferences have a tendency to focus on the needs of commercial entities that are looking to establish/expand their presence online, or individuals for whom blogging and 'social media' are a tool for establishing some kind of personal brand (and, let's be honest, making money in the process)

Which is far from what we're praising blogging for. You are right, it's definitely not free by any stretch of the imagination, but stories are told about people blogging from homeless shelters, public libraries or school computers. But the exceptions, the saying goes, only serve to strengthen the rule (or something).

Compared to some years back, blogging and online presence is far cheaper, though, both financially and in terms of the knowledge you need to posses to get something going. Not free, yet, but getting there.

And then we can go and think about this at a global level. We, the ones with a computer, a cellphone, health insurance and time to attend conferences, part of the privileged 10% (probably less) of the world—we get it. But the rest? Some of those people are probably more deserving of a voice than some of us, yet for them this whole thing is far, far away.