In Support Of Local Bands On Facebook

I tend to not blog very often, but there are times when something crosses my feed and good or bad, I am motivated to write. Tonight was one of those times, thanks to a post from the Phoenix New Times' music blog, Up On The Sun. What caught my eye was the very well-worded link bait about why the author will not like band Pages on Facebook.

What? How can this be? It's a music blog, supporting the amazing musicians and bands we have in the Phoenix area. Why wouldn't this writer want to continue that support in one of the simplest ways possible? When I read his 6 reasons, it was understood. It was more of an "I hate Facebook" post than anything else.

Local Phoenix band Kongos, taking a break from their
world tour to do an acoustic set for a small group of fans.

I happen to have some knowledge of Facebook, and also support the local music scene with my work at KWSS 93.9FM. I felt compelled to respond. Here are his six reasons, and what I think.

6. Extorting money from bands.

Wow, that's quite the accusation. Should we call the po-po? Basically the reasoning is because of the algorithm, reach isn't quite as good unless you boost posts or create ads, which cost money. While yes it is correct that paying for advertising will get more engagement, it is certainly not necessary. If you like a band's page, and they have a good amount of activity (many local bands do, fans love to interact with them on Facebook, and vice-versa, here's an example), you will see it in your feed. If not, you can choose to get notifications of posts, or even add the Page to a "Pages" list so you can see it in your news feed. If you know how to use Facebook properly, you won't have to spend any money at all.

At times yes, spending a few dollars a day to promote an upcoming show or album can help, but Facebook is by far one of the least expensive ways to do so. 

5. Doesn't know what a band sounds like

I'll give him this one. A semi-decent music player on Facebook pages would be a nice addition. However, if you click their About section, you will probably find a link to their website. I bet there's a music player there.

4. Buying Facebook "likes"

I will give part of this to him. What it comes down to is again a lack of understanding of Facebook and what organic vs. paid likes are. Likes are definitely not the important part of a Facebook Page. Bands as well as anyone who runs a Page needs to have basic understanding of how likes work, and buying them doesn't do anything. It's how you engage with the audience you have, whether it is 50 or 5,000. 

3 & 2. Liking a band name makes him look dumb, and everyone look dumb (I combined two here)

No, liking bands on Facebook doesn't make you look dumb, but not supporting bands simply because you hate Facebook does. The idea is that he doesn't want to like a band page because it looks like he supports a band that isn't very good. Simple solution, don't like their page! Of course you don't have to like every band that asks. If you listen to them and like their sound, by all means like the page. It's ok to be picky. Don't be unsupportive of local music trying to get the word out for this reason. That would be dumb. 

1. He doesn't care. 

If you don't care, you shouldn't be writing for a music blog. As much as Facebook is a place for mindless drivel, it is also a place of great information. More people get their news from Facebook than from other major news sources. You can get all kinds of deals and information about your favorite businesses from Facebook. When I want to know more about a place or find a location, I go to Facebook before Google. This is also true of band pages. It's not only support, it's finding out more about them, where shows are going to be, ticket offers, etc. 

Facebook is still the top social networking site, and if you are a band, it's a smart move to have a Facebook Page. Making some grand statement about how having that Page doesn't matter is a disservice to the local bands that are out there working their tails off for a craft they can only hope to make into something lucrative. Not everyone can be the next Gin Blossoms or Kongos, but exposure and support everywhere you can doesn't hurt. 

Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!

The Crazy World Of A Teen Fan Girl On Twitter

Of course you bring cake to a tweet up!

We all know the basic rules for Twitter. Even if you are new to the social media site, there is still a basic etiquette. Don't post 100 times a day, post meaningful content, engage and interact with other users. Don't spam, don't beg for follows, etc. etc. 

Unless you are a teen girl obsessed with her favorite band on Twitter. Then all of the "normal" rules go right out the window. 

My daughter is your typical teen girl, and obsessed with the band you see in the photo, 5 Seconds of Summer. I mean, obsessed. Magazines, posters on her wall, videos on You Tube. Reads almost every bit of fan fiction written. Photos on her phone are nothing but screen shots of them. Then there is Twitter, and that's a popular place for bands. It is also where all the fans go to connect with this band, its members and other fans. I was looking at my daughter's Twitter account, which is just a fan account. She connects with other fans, tweets at the band members, and yes, begs for follows. By beg I mean, spams this account over and over.

At first this freaked me out. Why is my daughter being such a spazz online? Doesn't she know this is going to follow her around forever?? Then I started clicking on the accounts of those she follows and re-tweets. They are all exactly the same, and do the exact same things. No one uses their own names (including my daughter), accounts are just some morphed band name or band member name. Profile photos are pictures of their favorite band members. My rule is no last name, address or phone numbers. No personal identifying information. I also check to make sure location tagging is off. It's such a cesspool of crazy teen hormones, as I read through tweets I can hear squealing in my head. I don't know how the band can stand it. It makes my head hurt describing it to you.

The crazy part is, the band members encourage it. They will tweet teasers letting everyone know they are going to start adding followers. Then this part of the Twitter universe explodes with the clicky sounds of millions of teens spamming the band account asking them to follow. Then when someone gets a follow by a band member, they tweet about it and that takes on a new surge of tweets begging for a follow. It's brilliant if you think about it. I imagine they have lists set up (or probably pay someone else to manage it) so who cares if they follow thousands of fans? It drums up excitement and gets everyone talking about the band. 

The most interesting part of this for me is the way engagement works. My daughter has 8,000 followers, including one of her favorite band members and the official band account. Her Klout score? 59. That's higher than mine, and I have a pretty respectable score. It is one big group chat about the bands, music, which one is the hottest, why don't the other members follow, and on and on. They interact. Continuously. ALL THE TIME.

When she told me there was a tweet up (I'm not supposed to call it that, that's the 'old people' term) for fans of 5sos at a local mall I raised an eyebrow. I mean, I don't know who any of these people are! Visions of middle-aged sex offenders stalking girls online flew into my head. I asked my daughter to show me who the organizer is. I received a photo with a girl my daughter's age holding a sign saying "I'm not a serial killer." 

So I took her. Of course I stayed at the mall, but my other daughter and I went shopping and avoided the group. It was quite a group too! About 20-25 girls gathered, and someone even brought a cake (the photo above). My daughter made new friends and met some of her online friends in person. They took a big group photo and tweeted it to the band. They ate cake. It was a good afternoon. 

I don't interact with my daughter online, but I watch. I will talk to her offline about things she posts (mostly good, there have been a couple of tweets I told her were a bit over the top). I stay indirectly involved in her online activity, because not only can I step in if something is amiss, but hopefully when the fan girl stage ends and she wants a more permanent Twitter account she will have learned one or two things about how to use it.

It is such a different world now from when I was my daughter's age. Some would argue it is more dangerous. I look at it as not so much more dangerous but simply... different. The online world is here to stay, social media is here to stay, and it's up to us to be aware of the younger generation and what they are doing with it. Embrace it, learn it, and always pay attention to what your kids are doing online. 

Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!