I had a nice chat with Lisa Kotula the other day, talking about blogging, MySpace, online social networking, etc., as relates to Richmond theater. It was weird to be interviewed since I am used to being the one doing the interview. I hope I said some moderately relevant stuff.
After talking to Lisa, I started thinking that maybe journalists make good interview subjects because they anticipate questions or they understand how reporters have to build a story from an interview. But then later that day I interviewed a former editor from the New York Times and he was not a good interview at all. He spent a lot of time saying stuff that was neither very quotable nor frankly very interesting. So that blows that theory.
Another thing I thought about after talking to Lisa is the fact that I don't usually list the MySpace pages of theater folks, like in the "No People Like Show People" section over there on the left. I've come across a few of them -- just found the one Brett Ambler has in connection with his band Captain Slicktalk the other day, in fact. There are a couple reasons I don't list them: one is that the MySpace domain is blocked for access at my work which isn't a huge problem because I could surf MySpace at home, but it's just annoying enough to make me avoid it. The other reason is because I think of MySpace pages a little different (though I probably shouldn't). When it first came out, MySpace was really more for personal networking between friends and relatives. Now, of course, a MySpace page is part of some bands' business plans, etc., but I'm still stuck thinking that if people have their own space, maybe I should respect that and shouldn't reveal it to the whole world.
But I'm a flexible guy. What does anyone else think? Is my thinking about MySpace terribly outdated and reinforced by general fuddy-duddy-ness? Should I list the MySpaces for local theater folks that I know about? Do you care? Do you already have enough sites that you're surfing anyway and you don't need any more? Let me know.
4 comments:
I personally like knowing when my friends, or people I work with in the community have MySpace or Facebook pages. It often gives you a chance to get to know them better, and stay in touch. And MySpace pages are a great way of generating business and advertising yourself and/or your band, or music, etc. Just my two cents!
I've only recently learned of your blog from my URINETOWN castmates, but I'm enjoying it very much. I don't use MySpace, but I am on Facebook, and I enjoy catching up on my what my theatre friends are doing on a daily basis there. I starting a Facebook page when Time and Newsweek recently did articles on it, and both said that in the future, we will all be there - See you there!
As an actor by night working in technology by day, I think use of MySpace for either business OR personal use is perfectly acceptable - the price is right, eh? So seems okay by me for whatever purpose one might have (aside from anything illegal).
But I suppose my own internal fuddy-duddy has convinced me that I'm just a little older than the average MySpace demographic, so I've been very ambivalent about creating my own page (started one, took it down; repeated that again, haven't been back to make my own page). I've not explored Facebook but maybe that's the way to go.
I don't use myspace, but social networking does bring people together - makes it easier to oh, say, introduce yourself at Ukrops or something if you know they read your blog, for example. I've met and made real friends with plenty of people from inside the computer.
Post a Comment