Posts Tagged ‘internet’

After much thinking and consulting with friends and associates on the subject, I finally went and created a public “fan” page for myself on Facebook.

I already manage about a half-dozen Facebook pages for my company, band and other entities, so I wasn’t looking forward to adding another. But with Facebook becoming so ubiquitous and more and more people I don’t actually know wanting to be my “friend,” I had to come up with a solution to both connect with new fans and still keep my personal profile private. So here we are. And the shocking thing? I’m kind of enjoying it.

For the first time, I’m embracing Facebook instead of begrudgingly accepting it. I’ve never been all that active with updating my personal profile. Sure, I’ll occasionally dump a batch of photos or share links, but Twitter has always been my primary tool for spontaneous communication. However, armed with the assumption that people who actively “like” my public page on Facebook are basically saying, “Yes, we want to hear about your stuff,” I feel more freedom — and a responsibility — to post more content than I do on my personal profile.

Self-promotional post? Sure! Photos of works in progress? Yep! Mass invites to events? Let’s do it! I feel like I’m using the page more like I was using Live Journal back in its heyday, balancing the public blogging aspects with the community-building ones.

So, my real friends who aren’t fans of the page will be seeing less self-promotional junk from me. And this blog might get less updating in between major events in lieu of easy-to-create Facebook posts (already used the hell out of the e-mail-to-wall feature). But fear not. If you’re not a Facebook junkie, I’ll still be dishing the goods here. You’ll just be missing out on the fun stuff.

Social media isn’t going away, kids. At least, that’s what the organizers, presenters and attendees of yesterday’s Social Media Marketing 2011 conference at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino strongly believe. The one-day series of seminars, presented by U.K.-based Influence People, featured presentations covering everything under the spectrum of using the social web to connect with and sell to consumers and businesses alike. One presenter, Richard Weston-Smith, of SocialGO, went so far as to advance the notion that businesses — small ones especially — need to move their web presences to fully-social websites, with their own micro-communities.

Most of us live under the notion that the social media sites and tools we use are free, but the truth is, we’re exchanging our personal information, consumption trends and hundreds of other data points — valuable stuff to marketers and the investors in these “free” social media companies — for the privilege of using services such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare to share the social experience of life via the internet.

The rooms inside Flamingo’s underground conference center were filled with a cross-section of Las Vegas’ internet marketing community, from resort social media specialists and independent consultants to bloggers and Twitter superstars. People came to network and, of course, learn new tips and tricks to maximize their businesses’ respective ability to use your social media data to sell you stuff.

Ironically, this internet marketing seminar was being held in a space without internet access. Oh, sure, you could lease access from the Flamingo for $20 a day, but even the presenters (mostly) refused to be fleeced thusly, eschewing parts of their presentations requiring live connection to the web.

It’s just as well: The most engaging presenters didn’t need to rely on their PowerPoint presentations or  YouTube videos to get across their messages. Although one, 352 Media Group’s Peter C. VanRysdam, hilariously demonstrated how not to make messaging viral with a slick, semi-animated show and comedic timing.

Most of the speakers and panelists seemed like trusted, relative “experts” in their particular facet of the social media jewel. Some didn’t. Laughably, we discovered one social media executive for a major resort has a personal Twitter account with about 20 followers and very few tweets. Meanwhile, the CEO of a marketing company allegedly specializing in social media ran through a bare-bones list of tools for Twitter automation, while himself being unable to answer basic questions that an “expert” should know.

All in all, though, it was a mostly fun, educational event that left me with a lot of thoughts, and isn’t provoking thought the goal of such things? I’d definitely be interested in seeing Influence People grow this in coming years. Because, well, social media’s not going away.

Yes, kids it’s Choose Your Own Adventure Week, where I blog about the topics YOU choose. Today’s topic, net neutrality, comes from pal and avid Pj supporter Robert Ludwick, who suggested a number of themes on Twitter (you should do the same).

For those who don’t know, net neutrality is basically a principle advocating unrestricted access to the World Wide Web by network access providers. (Yes, I’ve boiled it down very simply. The complicated version is one Google search away.) It’s basically the very opposite of what goes on in places like China, for example, where access to content the government there doesn’t want you to see is blocked left and right.

In the United States, the issue tends to be less an issue of government censorship than it is of commercial interests (though the former isn’t unthinkable). Say you get your broadband connection through Time Warner Cable, and say TWC doesn’t want you to be able to view the website or ads for its competitor, Comcast. Well, maybe while accessing the internet using TWC’s connection, access to Comcast’s website is blocked. (Again, oversimplified, but you get the idea.)

Another recent issue pertains to mobile device access to the internet, and mobile providers considering tiered access plans where you’d have to pay more for less restricted access (and those paying less may get “choked off” when trying to stream audio, video and other bandwidth-intensive content).

While Congress has unsuccessfully passed any sort of comprehensive net neutrality legislation, the FCC recently did pass rules that prevent (for the time being) cable and telephone service providers from preventing access to specific websites or competitors, but do allow for tiered internet access plans.

But what you really want to know is, “Pj, where do you stand? You’re a big ol’ bleeding heart liberal socialist, everything should be free and equal, right?”

Yes and no.

We’ve become very accustomed to the internet being “free,” whether in accessing content, or sharing content. Even though most people pay a price to access the internet, they still expect that access to be free and unhindered, except by their own desire (by using a content filter or other self-policing). But the fact is, you are almost always viewing the web through a window opened by one third-party entity or another, whether it’s your ISP, your employer or a public wi-fi connection. Accessing the internet isn’t like taking a leisurely swim into an endless stream. It’s more like paying a boat captain to take you on a cruise down the river. He controls the speed of the boat, and if someone else on the boat is blocking your view of the river, oh well, they paid too. Heck, maybe they paid more to get a better view. Either way, you can’t get on the river without paying the captain — and then it’s the captain’s rules when you’re on his boat.

Now, yes, this is why we have government regulation. This is why the FCC has rules. And as a good little socialist, I believe these rules (just like laws and taxes and other government-y stuff) help serve the common good, representing the will of the little man where he might otherwise be powerless to do so.

But as a free-market capitalist (oh, I am a man of contradictions), I’m on the fence. I honestly think it’s fine for companies to charge different rates for different levels of speed/access — so long as that tiered system is based on general usage and not specific content types. After all, if the captain has to buy a bigger, newer boat to accommodate the increased demand for river access, he’s gotta pay for it somehow, right? I left AT&T’s mobile service for Verizon right before they announced their move to tiered data access plans, but Verizon’s own similar approach is imminent, and honestly, I’m sure I’ll still shell out whatever amount of cash for a top-tier, unlimited data package. That’s my CHOICE as a consumer.

Now, on the flip side, if Verizon wanted to block my access to Pandora, for example, over some other streaming radio service it might be partnering with, well, yeah, I’d be a bit teed-off about that. But, again, as a consumer, I can make the choice not to use Verizon, and move to another provider that won’t restrict my access as such.

“But, Pj, what if ALL providers restricted your access to the web in some way or another?”

Well, then, that’s where I’d depend on the legislators I elected and the agencies under their purview (such as the FCC) to fight, as some of them have (Al Gore, where are you?), to uphold network neutrality. But it’s a sticky subject. We say we don’t want the government dictating what individuals or businesses can and can’t do, and yet, we want them there when we’re feeling cheated or abused. We want clean drinking water. We want green forests, white beaches and bald eagles flying free. And the more libertarian-minded friends of mine believe left to their own devices, for-profit corporations will self-police and do the right thing, eventually. But I’m pretty sure left without regulation, you’d quickly be seeing unencumbered access to your favorite website, messaging service or streaming media disappear.

So where do I stand on net neutrality?

Hate the player, not the game.

Nope, I have no idea what that means either. I have no answers — I’m just adding my few kilobytes to the noise.

OK, folks! Remember to leave your Choose Your Own Adventure Week topic suggestions in the comments below, e-mail me, or hit me on the Twitterz!

I’ve been using Twitter for about a year now. When I was first turned on to it, likely by Jason Feinberg, who runs a successful music marketing company (so he should know what’s useful) I didn’t really “get it.” Much like other new users, the novelty of posting and following short non sequitur bursts didn’t make much sense to me. I’m someone who has trouble editing articles to less than 500 words, let alone encapsulating thoughts in 140-character bubbles.

Of course, here we are, 14,000+ tweets and 1000+ followers later, so I guess I figured it out. The thing with Twitter is that it can be whatever you want it to be. Unlike Facebook or blogs or YouTube, Twitter is less a social media service than it is a communications tool, much like phones, fax machines and e-mail. If you want to broadcast one-way messages, you can do it. If you want to engage in conversations, you can do it. If you want to build a community, you can. If you want to link the heck out of the interwebs — well, you get the picture.

I take a multi-part approach to Twitter. I use it to stay in touch with friends, keep up with industries I follow, distract myself when needed, and most importantly, build a community with which I can share my various creative projects without feeling like I’m spamming anyone. It’s for this reason I haven’t followed a million people nor do I try to force myself on new followers.

I’ve run into a wall, recently, however. It feels like, as Twitter grows and so do all of our follower/following counts, there’s becoming too much static in the signal. For most of the people I follow, this doesn’t seem to affect the effectiveness of their communications, for one key reason that I can never duplicate: They are singularly focused Twitter personalities.

Let me explain: Chris Sims, one of the web’s most popular comic bloggers and geek comedy writers, has a very strong following on Twitter as he does everywhere else. But that’s because, even though he dips into comic writing and satirical blogging, everything he does is focused on geek culture. So most of his followers are likely part of that geek culture and therefore dig everything he tweets.

I, on the other hand, depending on which hour of the day you catch me at, play drums in a rock band, write/draw comics, report on music for multiple magazines, cover art for a website, develop web content and social media for companies and am generally regarded as a Las Vegas cultural historian and dude-about-town. And about all of these things I blog, tweet, etc. That means the people who follow me as a cartoonist don’t likely give a damn about the closing of an art gallery in downtown Las Vegas, and concurrently, the Las Vegans who follow me for links, news and commentary on issues related to Sin City may not be into the latest comic from Pop! Goes the Icon. And on it goes.

So even though 1,000+ people follow me on Twitter, I can feel the disconnect between their disparate groups. Now, I have experimented with running multiple Twitter accounts in the past. I set one up for Pop! Goes the Icon early on in my Twitter use. But I found that I was merely duplicating (though not exactly) not only the content of tweets on both accounts, but also the follower base as well. Plus, this was just after I collapsed all of my divergent blogs into one (this one!), and splitting identities on Twitter is hard, especially back then when it was so personality-driven.

So sure, I could set up an account for my band, an account for PGTI, an account for my writing (@BleedingNeon, anyone?) and a personal one for randomness, but I’ve found in best practices, people want to connect with people. They want to identify with someone. They want to connect with someone. And I really can’t imagine maintaining multiple accounts again. It’s hard enough just to manage all of the social media initiatives tied into the music and comics and journalism and external clients and OMG I KNOW RIGHT?

I’m not certain I have a solution — this was really just a mind-dump here, after having a revelation about the interest split amongst my followers. But I do feel that between the changes made to Facebook’s UI (user interface for you non-techies) and the increasing dissonance on Twitter, the whole reason for me being on either in the first place (purely out of networking necessity) is being diminished daily. As communications tools, they still work (I’ve gotten at least five or six gigs I would have otherwise missed through Twitter and Facebook the last year or so), but I wonder for how long.

As I may have mentioned recently on this blog thing, I recently moved into a new house. New to Sara and I, not new to the world. But it may have well been. It was completely remodeled by the previous-previous owner, and never occupied by the guy from whom we bought it.

Anyway, we’re not here to talk Better Homes & Gardens stuff. And I’m sure I’ll bitch later about pests, plumbing, pools and other homeowner annoyances starting with the letter “P.” We’re here to talk about something much more pertinent, something that’s close to my heart, something upon which I rely for my very subsistence:

The internet. Specifically, my lack of connection to it.

The last two weeks have tested my patience. I mean, really tested it. Like a giant final exam for which I didn’t have any time to study. Because I know this will turn into a disorganized ramble, allow me to jump to bullet points here:

Twitter: OK, if you’re a Twitter user, a Facebook user who reads Twitter-fed status updates or someone who reads tech news on a regular basis, then you probably know Twitter has been having some serious issues the last week. The site suffered what’s known as a denial-of-service attack last week, which basically means hackers flooded the site with so many requests it overloaded the servers, shutting Twitter down for about two hours. That’s fine. It happens. But after the site came back up, and I saw everyone else’s tweets streaming through the public timeline, I could not update my feed. Not from the web. Not via text. Not through my Twitter app on my Blackjack II. Nothing. It was a very strange feeling, akin to digital paralysis, where I could see and hear everything going on but not speak, move or otherwise respond or take action. Twitter is a free service, though, so I cannot fully complain, but my frustration was compounded by …

Cox Communications: Honestly, even Cox I can only be superficially mad at. We had high-speed internet via Cox at our previous house, so logically, we decided to transfer the account over to the new house. Easy, right? Sure … except that I spent half the day two Saturdays ago waiting for the installation guy to come out, he went and ran coaxial cable across a room to get everything in the right place, went to test the signal and … then realized our house was not connected to Cox’s lines. At all. And never had been. Oh, sure, the house itself was wired for four cable outlets. But they were connected to nothing. And neither have been the five surrounding houses on our street, which is a grouping of custom lots outside of any development or homeowners association. Cox was supposed to send out a team to survey the area and see what they could do, but after a week I said “f*ck it,” told Sara to cancel that nonsense, and I called up the local telecom company, through which I’d enjoyed high-speed internet access for a few years prior …

Embarq: Man. I thought this would solve at least one of my problems. I called Embarq last Thursday, my fifth day with no web access at home and the same day Twitter went kablooey. I called hoping for a quick solution, but the fastest they could activate our service was Monday. Monday. Mind you, I had two article deadlines that weekend plus Friday’s Utopian comic to post. But I was fine with waiting, as I figured I could just do the free WiFi thing at a coffee shop to get done what needed to be done, and turn in my stories on Monday when everything was back up and running. In the interim, I had wireless internet access on my smartphone, right? Um …

AT&T: I have a web-enabled, fancy-ass smartphone for specific reasons: Mobile access to the internet. To my e-mails. To Twitter. I pay a good chunk of change each month for unlimited data. I’ve been with AT&T for years, mainly because I was with Cingular for years when AT&T took over the company. I’ve had no problems whatsoever in the interim. Until last week. Until I couldn’t get network access, not even 50 percent of the time, maybe more like 25 percent. That’s unacceptable. At one point on Friday, I was ready to pull my hair out (chest hair, I guess): I couldn’t update Twitter. I couldn’t access the internet via my phone or at home. And then I went to ReJAVAnate, a groovy little indie coffee shop around the corner from my new house with free WiFi, and … my laptop would not connect to their network. It took me about an hour (and an iced decaf mocha) to figure out what the hell was wrong with my connection settings. But I finally did get online, updated the webcomic, did what research needed to be done, and went home, satisfied that something was happening. All I had to do was wait until Monday, and everything would be all right …

Except that Embarq blew it. On Monday, I plugged in my DSL modem, plugged in my wireless router, and … got reintroduced to internet speeds I haven’t experienced since I was on Netcom dial-up back in 1998. I am (allegedly) paying for the 3.0 Mbps DSL plan. I can’t get downloads faster than about .5 Mbps. Uploads, about a quarter of that. Youtube videos won’t load; Hulu just laughs at me. Even loading ONE basic jpg image either takes 10 minutes or doesn’t open at all. What. The. Hell.

That is where I’m at.  This morning, AT&T — after one customer service call and a long chat session yesterday explaining that at least 10 of my friends on Twitter were complaining about outages in the Vegas area all week as well — allegedly pinpointed and resolved what they finally found was a network issue on their end. Twitter has been — despite the usual burps — back up and allowing me to tweet to my heart’s content. Cox has been given its marching papers. Dish is coming out to install its equipment on Friday instead, and let’s pray that doesn’t get borked as well. And I have an e-mail into Embarq, which will be followed by a phone call here pretty soon. After I finish typing this rant.

Seriously. I can’t win.

In honor of this post, Evil Pj (you can tell I'm evil because I have a goatee) came back for just one day ...

I will freely admit that for most of my late teens/early 20s, I was an asshole. While it’s not something I’m proud of, not only am I self-aware of this major, yet temporary, character flaw, but I am reminded of it every so often, as if the universe is constantly reminding me, “Hey, Peej, you’re pretty awesome now, but remember, you’re only one step away from being a total douchebag, so WATCH IT.”

I was reminded of this again this morning when, doing my routinely obsessive detailed assessment of web stats for this site, I tracked back a search result for “pj perez + vegas” through Google and found a Yahoo message board thread from 2000 with the title (and I wish I was kidding here) “PJ Perez sucks.” Apparently, I’d incited the Las Vegas goth community — a lot known for their self-confidence, sociability and amazing lack of drama — after writing something about the ever-struggling goth scene in an issue of the CityLife. I must have written something honest, because it really pissed off these kids.

If you do a little hunting, you can find a few of these from that era, a number of which also claim that I was singlehandedly responsible for the downfall of favored Vegas goth band Morgana Athena, just because I happened to be in the band when lead singer/songwriter/co-founder Chris Naser decided to break up the band and pursue a career DJing. But the combination of my role as the band’s producer/publicist/manager and my legendary (NEW WORD ALERT) assholism somehow attracted the blame to me.

It’s funny to me, because I think most people consider me a pretty nice guy at this point. I mean, sure, I’m sarcastic and sometimes brash, but generally I’m awesome, right? Right? Even to the point I’ve been accused of being too positive? But to this day, I’ll run into people who I haven’t talked to in like a decade, and their first response is “Oh no, not this self-centered prick.” Seriously.

But really: I was a poor, struggling adolescent male trying to be a rock star in a scene full of faux-vampires, alcoholics, junkies, manic-depressives and social misfits. Come on, being a dick was practically required.

I guess my point is: I am genuinely sorry to those of you who may have found yourselves in the path of Evil Pj, and I promise, if you’ve been avoiding talking to me for years because of that, I am now as cuddly as Barney the Big Purple Dinosaurus Lovemachnius. Really.

And if you’re still of the mind that I’m a “failed musician” or anything of the sort, might I remind you: I made a career out of the thing I took on (journalism) after allegedly “failing” as a musician, and, OH YEAH, still play music in a band that has thus far done financially and critically better than any before. I hope everything is working out for you, assuming you didn’t die of a crystal meth overdose, finally kill yourself as promised or cannot access the internet because your parents finally threw you out of the basement in which you hid from the sun and society for all those years.

(OK, so maybe I’m still a dick. A little bit.)

The bug giving some Bleeding Neon followers using Internet Explorer problems the last few days (as mentioned in detail yesterday) has been isolated: It was, indeed, the RSS feed of Examiner.com stories I added to the right sidebar last week.

Problem is, it only appears to affect certain people, and not all users of IE 6 or 7. (Warning: Mild geek speak ahead.) When I tried the site on IE 6 running on Windows XP Pro yesterday, I got the error message. But when my friend Mike tried on IE 6 on XP, he had no problems. And when I tried it in IE 7 on the same build of XP in Parallels on my iMac, it was fine as well.

So I removed the widget and tested the site on IE 6 on XP Pro again, and sure enough, it’s working fine now. My dilemma now is this: Do I cater to the maybe five percent of users out there who may experience issues accessing Bleeding Neon, or do I re-add the widget displaying my latest Examiner.com stories to drive traffic to that site from the other 95 percent of visitors?

Or do I just say “F it” and put up an animated gif of a dancing baby? DECISIONS.