Saturday 1 November 2014

Degrees of Separation

As regular readers will know, I have recently taken early retirement, paradoxically, in order to spend more time with my work.  Time is precious, and I need to use my remaining stock wisely.  My long-postponed break-in at the House of Fame -- prise open the window of opportunity, sneak along the corridors of power, look for the room where they keep the glittering prizes -- will require careful planning, ruthless determination, a packed lunch, and quite possibly a fast getaway car and a good lawyer.  These I can provide.  But I need to get a move on, and there's one area where I could use your help.

I have noticed that hardly any new visitors come here via the "social media" route, i.e. following Facebook or Twitter referrals.  That suggests that my posts are rarely, if ever, getting "liked" or linked out there, even by regular visitors.  Fair enough: you may feel that's more than I deserve.  Or you may think I have no interest in attracting more attention to my efforts, but you would be wrong; I would very much like my work to be seen by more of the movers and shakers of the photographic world  -- I'm convinced there are some who will like what they see -- and one indirect route to this end may be via the friends of the friends of the movers and shakers. Sure, you may not count Alec Soth or Martin Parr among your followers, but maybe someone you know knows someone who does; the effectiveness of just a few "degrees of separation" cannot be underestimated.

So: below each post there is a little row of social media icons, unhelpfully grey, including ones for Facebook and Twitter.  If you are a social media user, I'd be very grateful if, once in a while, you'd use them: any time you find yourself particularly liking it here, why not invite all your friends?  Don't be ashamed!  We only swear a little, and there is hardly ever any nudity.  And I promise I won't let success change me one bit.


12 comments:

John Krill said...

You have a Twitter account? You need to put a link to Twitter so people can automatically add you to their twitter list.

And don't stop writing. So few photo sites have any good writers. The Online Photographer site being one and of course yourself.

And as a Southern Californian who grew up in the 50s and 60s with the attitude of 'Who Me Write?' I now appreciate those that can.

And you being a Brit is a big plus. Completely different point of view.

Mike C. said...

John,

No, I don't use Twitter myself -- I had supposed people who did could use the button to link to a post they had enjoyed. Is that not the case, then?

No, I won't -- can't! -- stop writing, it's become as big a compulsion as the photography.

Thanks,

Mike

Dave Leeke said...

As a Twitter user - but definitely NOT a Facebook user - I'd happily recommend some posts.

I'm not a brilliantly adept member of the digital world, as you know, but I would tend to copy the link address,shorten it on bitly then post it as worth reading. I've put a "Follow me" icon on my blog and sometimes post a link to the blog on Twitter. The Twitter updates say that that works but it's usually on the back on some other site (like Charisma Records).

Anyway, I'll do my bit to help. All in a day's work.

Mike C. said...

Thanks, Dave -- whenever you feel so moved! I'm really just curious to see what effect (if any) casting the net a little wider and more randomly might have.

Mike

Kent Wiley said...

Hmmm, so there are (buttons to share, that is.) Coincidentally a fb friend recently mentioned something about "silly hats". So I corrected him and pointed out The Hat's address. Somewhat foolishly I think he was expecting actual headwear.

Mike C. said...

Kent,

I think Google deliberately downplays them, to favour Google Plus...

Yes, ironically enough, hats are something rarely, if ever, addressed on this blog. I rarely wear one, myself, except in extremes of sunshine or cold weather. And in bed, of course...

Mike

Gavin McL said...

I'm a useful person to know if you ever get asked about that 6 degrees of separation thing, my best friend from school shared a student house with a girl who ended up working in Mongolia where she met and married a Yak Herder. So there you are; 5 degrees away from a Yak Herder (They live in Maidenhead and have a Yurt in the garden)
I have enjoyed the increase in your output since retirement and I must admit didn't think about sharing your work - and to be honest I can't think why. Maybe the Yak herder will chip in.

Mike C. said...

Thanks, Gavin.

I think I may already have blogged about Abdi, a guy I knew when I was a p/g at UEA, who had been a nomadic goatherder in the Ogaden desert until the age of about 10. When asked where his home was, he would reply that he'd have to give a set of map co-ordinates... He was doing a PhD in Oceanography!

Mike

Martin said...

Anything to oblige, Mike. I've just shared 'Making Waves', on Facebook. A particular favourite, among your recent efforts.

You know, you really should persevere with FB. Why not just create a page that people can like/follow. That way, you won't be overwhelmed with the conversations and 'doings' of chatterboxes like myself.

Mike C. said...

Thanks, Martin, that's what I'm after -- if you genuinely like it, then "like" it!

I dunno about Facebook... I suppose I could give it another look. At the moment, I'm working on a traditional webpage, which I'll launch shortly -- somewhere to go to see a controlled selection of work,rather than the randomness of the blog.

Mike

John Krill said...

OK yes someone visiting your blog can click the Twitter icon that's at the bottom of every post along with several other social sites if you enabled them and you have.

Now if you also had a Twitter account then you too could click the Twitter icon and tweet yourself. This I personally do for one of my blogs.

Also if you had a Twitter account you could add a Twitter icon on your sidebar to invite visitors to 'subscribe' your your Twitter tweets.

It all sounds kinda' weird but you can see all this on my LagunaBeat.com blog.

Mike C. said...

Thanks, John, I'll check it all out.

Laguna Beach! To think people actually live in such places...

Mike