As some of you may know, I have been working on the curriculum development for a new workshop on artists’ using the internet to build community, create work and promote themselves. My own personal interest has really been in the social networking realm - I found the potential of the exponential audience presented by Facebook (here’s me) pretty astounding. This interest led to me wanting to know more about other services and I leapt into Twitter (me again) and soon thereafter Plurk (and, me again).

I will be honest, it can all be pretty overwhelming, but here’s what I am *just beginning* to figure out.

First, that idea of the exponential audience. What’s really cool about facebook (other than the ability to post blog posts, events, images etc of your work) is that if you post something like an event, and a friend of mine decides to attend - that attendance and the information about the event, is posted to all of her friends. Here’s a non-art example. I  posted to my “wall” (a place to leave notes) a note about a fundraiser for the rescue where we got our dog. I included a really cute picture of my dog. All of my 100+ friends on Facebook saw that posting. One of my friends was interested in the post and posted it on her own wall. Now all of her 100+ friends (of which we only share about 10) saw the posting too. So over 200 people now have access to the information and can act on it.

A similar thing occurs when I make “pages” for my different art projects. When I make the page, my friends see that I have done so, then they can become a “fan” of the page/project. When they become a fan they will recieve updates/events/images that I post which are specific to that project. Also, when they become a fan, their friends will see that and can become fans as well. And, should you chose, the page can be made available to the public. So I have 3 different project pages (HighWaterLine, Insert ____ Here and Seeding the City) on which there are a number of “fans” who are not necessarily “friends” of mine.

Is this making sense? I hope so. Its a little like free word of mouth advertising. There is a certain advanced level of trust that occurs on Facebook, as you chose who your friends are, and therefore anything they are attending is probably of more interest to you - sort of pre-screened in a way.

Starting to sound pretty good? Let’s jump into the idea of these strangely titled things like Twitter & Plurk. These two sites are what are called “microblogs” or sometimes “lifeblogs.” They limit each posting to only 140 characters.  My last 24 hours on Twitter look something like this…

The difference between Twitter & Plurk (other than the interface - Twitters is simpler) is that Plurk allows for more conversation between users, as opposed to the sort of shouts or blips of information on Twitter. What I have figured out to do is to set Ping.fm which provides a way to post to both of them simultaneously (thanks again maplemama!). I already have Facebook set up to update my “updates” via Twitter.

So why bother? Well, Facebook’s exponential power makes it quite obvious, but the micro-blogs are more complicated to understand, and that’s what I am working out right now. I know a couple of my friends primarily use the services to keep in touch with close friends and family - its a pretty nice way to update people on what you are up to moment by moment. (I joke with my friends and family that they really need to join one of the services so they can know what I am actually doing - but that would in fact be the best way to keep up).

They are definitely useful for promoting your blog or site (I announce every new post) and have gotten a couple of referrals to the sites from Twitter (twice as many from Facebook), and I just started Plurk yesterday, so I will let you know after I post this blog. They are also useful for learning things, I just read a great blog post, Social Media - Should You Use it Or Focus Upon Building Your Own Properties? by ProBlogger, who I follow. The best method of using these types of services is to take the time to find your community in the masses and really try to grow and nurture that community. As with any friendship, you can’t just blast in there, announce your blog and expect everyone to come running, there has to be more give and take (just like in real life!) and more engagement with other people. Which can be quite fascinating, I have, over the years met many wonderful people via the web (many of which I do end up meeting in person and many of whom I have been able to maintain a long term friendship). Once you build up that community, you will reap the rewards.

So the difficulty becomes finding a balance between your studio practice, your blogging or website maintenance, participating in social networks and participating in in person networking. There is no doubt that as an artist networking is extremely important. As is paying attention to the business side of your art (including promoting, finances and planning). With all these demands, is there balance? I think there can be, I think focus and time management - both offline and online is really important. I don’t let myself just go wandering around the social networks. I follow the conversations and posts which are of most interest to me, and leaving the rest by the wayside. I also take the time to comment on a worthwhile post (or as you may have noticed lately - bookmarking it to share [trying to figure out the best method for making these weekly posts instead of daily]). That commenting is all part of the social give and take.

There are a lot of posts out there about why and how to act online, why blogging is worthwhile etc., so I don’t need to restate a lot of it:

A post on “catchers” and “throwers” on the web, and how to be courteous as either

1,000 True Fans

The importance of social media marketing

Cory Doctorow on why an artist’s biggest enemy is obscurity, not piracy

The amazing compilation of “Blogging for Artists” put together by Katherine Tyrell

That should keep you busy for a little while, but remember Stay Focused!

I have been working with a couple of friends on updating/creating their websites. At the same time I have been working on creating curriculum around artists using the web (I am most interested in social media, my facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Eve_S_Mosher/812474238 and my twitter: http://twitter.com/e_mo) and sitting on a panel for a CUE/NYFA workshop for artist’s websites. Lots and lots of internet-y stuff.

So to get my friends started on their sites, I asked them a set of questions to consider:

Some to-do’s (if you haven’t already done them):
1. Write down your 1-2 year goals for your artistic practice career. Be very specific about what you plan to accomplish.
2. Think about how your website can help you achieve those goals (keeping in mind the highly interactive nature of the web these days).
3. Write the “mission” of your website. What do you want your website to do to advance your career and meet your goals. (We may not be able to achieve it right away, but we can get the structure in place for further growth).
4. Determine if you are interested in having a site that is more than a “portfolio” site - do you want some interactivity with a larger community/audience, do you want a form of e-commerce, do you want a blog that allows you to show your personality?
5. Given that maintaining a website should be a regular part of your practice, how often do you perceive updating or adding content to the site?
6. What kind of content do you want on the site (photos, videos, hi-res images [for press], downloadable docs, text pages, etc.) - start to think about the hierarchy.

I also sent another friend a list of resources:

• http://www.osalt.com/ -open source (FREE!) application clones (photoshop, dreamweaver, etc.)
• http://gallery.menalto.com/ - I think, simply the best open source application for managing a portfolio. It is what I used to build my site. Thousands of themes available, some of which can be viewed here: http://themes.gallery2.hu/
• http://themes.wordpress.net/ - I love wordpress (you can tell) and there are some great themes out there that you can build upon (more here: http://www.wpthemesfree.com/)

Most of all, have fun with it all!