As most of you know I’m not a fan of social media. More specifically I’m not a fan of social media companies tracking my every online move and selling my details to the highest bidder to boost their profit margins. I think I’m one of the last nine people on the planet under eighty years old that don’t have a facebook account with the other eight living in a Mongolian yurt – which would be very cool to do come to think about it – and I have no plans to change that anytime soon. Other platforms are just as bad I hear with twitter being a particular offender. Never mind the fact that me and a few hundred character limit would obviously never work.
I can’t blame the commerce engine. Something has to pay for all that “free” access to services. Google being a prime example across its many services. But that doesn’t mean I have to participate. I use all manner of tricks and dodges to circumvent being tagged and numbered on servers in a country known for its brazen profiteering. It does irk me that those corporations simply choose to ignore Canadian privacy laws many times. That they feel that can do so with impunity behind a moat full of lawyers makes it even more irritating.
But sadly this is the brave new world of information sharing. And countless publishers have told me that no one gets a book deal these days without an existing rack full of ‘followers’. In other words they want to hedge their bets and spend as little money on promotion as possible. I don’t like it but I accept begrudgingly that I have to play the game to some extent. My recent foray into YouTube videos was the first toe in those waters and now I’m going to try a whole foot.
Not with facebook or twitter mind you. Those juggernauts can’t be stopped. But after exploring some of the other options I’m going to try Pinterest. It’s less “social” and more “sharing” as I read it and the general concept revolves around posting ideas rather than egocentric personalities. I don’t want to show you who I know but what I know. Or like. Or am at least interested in for the time being. And I don’t mind telling you that even that level of sharing outside this private little corner of web space I’ve created for my writings gives me the willies so the experiment might not last long.
Of course if you’re reading this page you probably already know most of the thoughts I’d share elsewhere. You will be able to pick up more on what I’m reading or researching around the information superhighway but rest assured I don’t plan on turning my usual long form posts into snippets meant for social media observers with gnat-like attention spans. What this might do is bring more fresh faces into the fold and with a tiny bit of luck, appease my publisher’s demand for followers. That sounds so awful when I type it out. I think of you as people that happen to know my pages. Not zombie followers. Still, I could use the numbers.
You can find my ‘pins’ behind the Pinterest logo at the bottom of any of my pages, this link, or by searching their site for “Mr. Spork’s Hands”. Give me a week or two to figure out how it all works* and populate it with interesting tidbits before you pass judgment. Follow me if you wish. I won’t be grooming that list for ulterior purposes.
* This test drive will last at least until I get frustrated enough with it all and delete the whole mess. Sooner if I start getting directed spam from their mystery servers.
