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I know I haven't written anything on this blog in a long time... again. The truth is, I've moved more toward sharing my life's moments, and opinions, on Twitter and Facebook. The posts there are short and to the point, and not something I feel like I have to set aside time in my day for - I have a thought, I post it, and it only takes a few seconds. I also like that on Facebook I can control exactly who can and cannot read each individual post, so if I want to complain about work, or family, and not have people connected to them read it, I can. The majority of my messages are publicly viewable on Twitter, but occasionally I want to write something a little more private, and using the social networks instead of this blog allows me to do that.
But I have put a lot of work into this site - it's my baby - and I don't want to just let it die. So I'm at a loss as to what to do. Is there some way I can turn it into something other than a blog? Or do I keep it as a blog and just post a lot less frequently than I used to? Is there honestly anyone reading this that hasn't connected with me on Twitter or Facebook, or both? What are your thoughts?
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Today I made a couple of changes to what you see at the bottom of posts on confoozled.com. First, I removed the star rating widget. Hardly anyone was using it, and I realized that I need to write what I want to write, not what I think others want to read. Second, I added a few new sharing buttons for specific social bookmarking / sharing networks, in hopes that seeing these familiar icons will make people more likely to click them. I am aware that the counter above the generic "Share" button is missing right now... this seems to be a problem on ShareThis' end, not mine. And finally, the Facebook widget where you can "Like" any post and see which of your friends have liked it.
If you think there are other buttons I should add, let me know!
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This sponsored post has been removed due to the advertiser's refusal to uphold its end of the sponsorship agreement. Should the advertiser decide to pay what is owed to me, the post will be restored.
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When I was in high school I had an English teacher, Mr. Paige, who was probably my favorite teacher of all time. He was unconventional and made his classes fun and engaging, getting kids interested in literature who otherwise wouldn't have been... something for which he unfortunately had narrow-minded school administrators constantly breathing down his neck. True story: We often read on the floor, by the light of candles and flashlights, in forts built with overturned classroom tables - sometimes taking turns reading aloud from the assigned novel, and sometimes just listening to Mr. Paige read to us, voicing each character distinctly, with REM music playing in the background. On more than one occasion, he had to warn us that the next time our class met, we would have a member of the administration observing the class, so the lights would be on, music off, and forts temporarily dismantled.
Despite how much I loved Mr. Paige's class, I struggled. Try as I might, I could not grasp "proper" essay writing, and that was how one's comprehension and progress in a literature class were gauged. My grade in the class slipped to below passing in the second semester of my senior year - and if I did not pass that class, I would not graduate. Recognizing that the class was about the literature and not about the essay, and not wanting it to be the one and only thing to keep me from graduating, Mr. Paige agreed to raise my grade to passing if I would spend a couple of lunch periods a week with him, verbally discussing the material we were reading in class. I was able to show him that I was reading and comprehending the literature; I just was not effective at conveying that in written form. He gave me a B, if I remember correctly, and I graduated with the rest of my class because this teacher rejected the district curriculum's standard, inaccurate way of testing grasp of the subject he taught.
Oh, and how many times in the real world have I needed to know proper essay form and failed at something important because I was never able to learn it? A big fat zero.
Mr. Paige moved to another school district right after I graduated, and I lost all contact with him. I actually did find him online, after all these years, just a few months ago. But I thought I would use his name to test out MyLife, a web site which calls itself "America's #1 People Search". I'm sorry to have to say this, but I think they're going to have to drop the tagline.
He did turn up on my search on MyLife, but I was able to see absolutely nothing about him - because MyLife wanted money from me the minute I clicked on his name. Now, I already know quite a bit about how Mr. Paige's life turned out just from searching his name on Google. And I suspect that if I were to pay MyLife for access to the information they have on him, it would not be anything more than what I already found for free. After all, where do you think a site like that gets its information?
Especially in this day of social networking, 99% of which is free, I don't understand why paid people search sites like this keep popping up and thinking they can actually make money. Even though Mr. Paige would probably not call himself a heavy social media user, do you know where I was finally able to make contact with him? On Flickr, a photo sharing site. Nearly everyone who can be found via the internet has at least one social networking profile out there somewhere.
I'm sorry, MyLife, but as long as there is Google, Facebook, MySpace, and the thousands of other free search engines and social networking sites that are out there, you won't ever see me pay a dime to search for someone.
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Ever since I first noticed the option was available, I have had Twitter set to not show me replies (tweets beginning with @username) sent by my friends to other people I am not myself following. I was happy to see the option, as I found it confusing and distracting to watch one-sided conversations. I always found myself trying to find the other side of the conversation to understand what they were talking about, and it was taking up too much of my time.
This setting has also been the default for new Twitter accounts for quite some time. And recently, Twitter decided to make it the default and only option for all accounts. Well, that sparked a huge outcry of people demanding to have the option to see all replies put back, and tagging their protests with the hashtag "#fixreplies". And Twitter admitted that the change wasn't only to reduce confusion, as they originally claimed, but also because having to check every account's preference every time a reply was posted was causing a huge strain on their database, and to eliminate this strain they had to eliminate the variable. They chose to make the most popular option the standard behavior.
Yes, to hide replies to people one is not following was the most popular option. In fact, only 3% of users were using the alternative setting. That's quite the vocal minority! Those who complained said that seeing who else their friends were talking to helped them to find more people to follow. That's fine for some, I guess, but for me, my goal with Twitter has never been to follow a ridiculous number of people. I actually try to keep my list of friends trimmed down as much as possible so that I actually have time to read all of their tweets. I often unfollow people, even people I consider personal friends, if I find myself skipping more of their tweets than I read.
Now that Twitter has said they won't put things back the way they were because of the technical problems it presented, some people are using a workaround referred to as the "dot fix". By starting their reply with a period before the "@", the tweet is not designated a reply by the system and is therefore shown to all of the sender's followers. Personally I think that using this fix for every reply is highly disrespectful to the 97% of Twitter users who had already opted not to see those replies, and I will likely be unfollowing anyone on my friend list who does so. Of course, I have no problem with people using the "dot fix" sparingly for replies they think will interest their other followers, but on behalf of the "muted majority", please don't make it standard practice.
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It's no secret that I have become quite addicted to Twitter. I know not everyone reading confoozled.com knows or understands what Twitter is, so I'll try to explain. The original concept was that, as often as you wanted, you would answer the simple question, "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less. You can also "follow" friends, or complete strangers, if you prefer, to see what they are doing as well. Now, not everyone literally updates Twitter with exactly what they are doing every minute of the day. Some use it to share things they find on the web, some use it to tell jokes or just share those profound thoughts that pop into their heads at random. I started using it basically so I could create a group of people to make small talk with during the work day, as I don't really have that in the office. It's turned into so much more than that - I have even made real life friends with people I originally met on Twitter.
I hear there are people who are much more addicted than I am. People who waste hours and hours every day reading Twitter updates. I make a point of keeping my list of "followees" down to a manageable level where it only takes a few seconds to read the updates that have come in between my work tasks, or between watching shows on my TiVo at night. Which means that unlike many people, I don't automatically follow back everyone who follows me. Some people say it's the only polite thing to do; I say that's ridiculous.
Getting to the point of this post, it recently came to my attention that this imbecile thinks that "twittering is for twits with nothing better to do." Of course, I've heard similar things before from people who haven't used Twitter and couldn't possibly know what they are talking about. Even I was of a similar opinion before I tried it myself. But I didn't toss insults at those who were using and enjoying it - to each his own, right? Who am I to denounce something I've never tried? Apparently Mr. Gordon thinks he's qualified to do so.
Mr. Gordon repeatedly points out that while there are six million people using Twitter, they must all be self-absorbed morons to think that anyone else cares what they are doing or what they have to say, and he isn't about to join them. The obvious thing you fail to see, Mr. Gordon, is that those are six million people who do care what others are up to. You don't? Then who is really the self-absorbed one? Do you have any friends or loved ones living in a different geographical location from you ? (Do you have any at all?) Have you never once thought to yourself, "Hmm, I wonder what so-and-so is doing right now?" I do, and I have, and I know that there are people for whom I am that person as well. If you don't have that, I am tempted to feel sorry for you, but the reality is you probably created the situation yourself.
I know not everyone "gets" what Twitter is about. And that's fine if you don't; leave it for those of us who do get it. But to condemn something you don't understand, and insinuate that it is those who do get it who are stupid, well that's just... stupid.
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While creating a Facebook group to promote my new home business opportunity, I noticed a group titled "Petition Against Facebook Charging a $2.99 Monthly Fee". First of all, as this is the first I've heard about any kind of monthly fee for Facebook, I doubt this $2.99 fee is anything more than a silly rumor. But even if it were true I wouldn't join any kind of petition to stop it. They have to pay the bills somehow, and if paying the bills means they have to start charging members then a petition group isn't going to change that.
Here are just two of the stupid comments I read on the group wall.
"I would just stop using Facebook. It's just as easy to keep in touch over e-mail, just not as fancy."
Sure, you can keep in touch with people over e-mail, but what about the people you weren't in touch with before Facebook? What about all the people you've lost touch with over the years, and found again thanks to Facebook? At least half of my Facebook friends fall into that category. Is that not worth $3 a month to you?
"Just charge the advertisers more!"
It doesn't work that way. Advertising costs are driven by the market. Advertisers will only pay what they feel the audience is worth. How valuable is an audience that is too cheap to pay a measly $3 a month for all that Facebook has to offer? I'm sure a lot of you use ad blockers, too, and the advertisers know this; therefore, the value of the audience is adjusted accordingly.
Look, free is awesome. I love free stuff and use as much of it as I can get my hands on. But I think we're getting a little too used to getting everything for free. You have to realize that everything you get for free costs somebody money, somewhere. And sometimes it becomes too much expense to keep absorbing, and those of us who have been getting a free ride need to step up and do our part.
Speaking of which, have you tipped your favorite blogger recently? 
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There have been some changes to the sidebars and probably still more to come. One of these is the where am i? section near the top. As long as I remember to check in (which I can do via my iPhone), that will always tell you where I am in real time, and may even include a photo or note about my current location.
It's powered by Brightkite, a new location-based social network which I joined shortly after I heard about it from John, and was recently reminded to write about by Virtually Here's review. The basic concept is that you check in with Brightkite wherever you go, and you can see both who has been there in the past and who, if anyone, is there right now. Then you have the opportunity to post messages and photos and communicate with other Brightkite members near you. I signed up because it seemed like a good way for those of us who have trouble meeting people to break the ice in a less face-to-face medium.
It has definitely proven to be addictive, if not so useful for meeting people just due to lack of users in my area. It is still in beta testing, though, so I'm holding out hope that the number of local users will grow. I have found a few people nearby whom I've friended on both Brightkite and Twitter, but it hasn't led to anything offline yet.
If you're not on Brightkite yet but you use Twitter, you can follow CarlyBKite to see all of my Brightkite activity. I linked it to a separate Twitter account so as not to annoy my followers who aren't interested in where I am every minute, but still have a way to echo my activity onto the sidebar here. One note: if you are stalking me via the sidebar or via Twitter, then when I am at home or any other residence you will only see a city instead of an exact address. This is because I set these addresses to private. The only way to see them is to join Brightkite and become one of my "trusted friends". I have ten beta invites available, so if you'd like one you can e-mail me.
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I've just finished adding a sharing widget to allow confoozled.com readers to share posts they like on various link sharing and social networking sites, as well as e-mail them to a friend. Holy crap, was that ever the most time consuming piece of HTML code I have ever written. I tried a couple of Movable Type plugins, but I wasn't happy with any of them. I wanted it to be stupid easy, and require as little hoop jumping from the user as possible. I'm hoping I achieved that. I'm open to suggestions.
The reason I put myself through this hell? Because the first step in making money from this blog is getting more readers. The more my existing readers help to promote my articles, and the more places in which they do so, the more potential there is for more people to discover my blog and keep coming back. And the more traffic I get, the more likely I am to sell higher paying ads on the site.
So please try out the sharing tools. It's hidden, like the comment form; below the post where it says, "If you like this post, please share it!" is the magical link to reveal it. For now I've only included a few sites that I am familiar with. If there's one you think should be there and isn't, use the request form to let me know.
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How would you feel if you were sent an invitation to a party, but when you tried to attend you were turned away at the door, told you didn't meet the qualifications to be there? That's what happened to me a few weeks ago when I received an invitation to beta test SocialSpark, the latest project from IZEA, the company behind PayPerPost.
I never asked or applied for an invitation to SocialSpark. I'd heard it mentioned, but I didn't even know what it was until the day I got that e-mail. Someone at IZEA had sought me out and sent me an invitation, unsolicited. Yet, when I signed up, created my profile, and submitted my blog, I was told it could not be approved because I did not have twenty posts that were less than ninety days old. While I knew that PayPerPost had this requirement for approving new blogs, nowhere in the invitation that they sent me did it say that this same requirement also applied to SocialSpark. Nonetheless, I only had sixteen recent posts, and apparently that meant that I was a failure as a blogger. So, if you're wondering why I've been so talkative lately, it was because I was working to get that number of recent, original, non-sponsored posts up to twenty. Every time I added a few entries, a few more fell off the other end of that ninety-day mark.
I finally did qualify, though, and am now figuring out what it's all about. SocialSpark basically takes the paid blogging concept of PayPerPost, improves upon it, and adds in a dash of social networking. Unlike PayPerPost, advertisers offering sponsored post opportunities on SocialSpark may not require that the tone of the post be positive, and they may not prohibit in-post disclosure. All paid blog posts from the SocialSpark network are real, honest opinions, good or bad, and they are all identified as sponsored entries.
I love the new rules, but so far I'm less than impressed with the site. Most paid post opportunities have a long wait before they become available to you, and when you do receive an e-mail telling you that a slot has opened up and you have twelve hours to complete the opportunity, there is no link back to the opportunity page. I've applied for several opportunities, and so far have only had one open up - but I could not find the opportunity again in the system to see the requirements and submit my post. SocialSpark also has another type of opportunity known as a blog sponsorship. Instead of writing a paid post you accept a sponsorship for a given number of days. You are paid a certain amount for every day that the sponsorship remains on your blog. But, these are large, obnoxious ads that layer on top of your blog, forcing your visitor to either click the close button or wait for the ad to time out. Then, it places a big ugly frame at the bottom of the window. I would absolutely never allow this type of ad on confoozled.com.
So, it remains to be seen whether I will be able to make any money at all through SocialSpark. The beta testing is over now, and the site is open to the public, so if you haven't already, go sign up and let me know if you fare any better!
(This post sponsored by SocialSpark through PayPerPost.)
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Though high school wasn't the happiest time of my life, I always looked forward to our ten-year class reunion, when we would be all grown up and hopefully over our teen angst and immaturity (believe me, I know I had my share of both), and could come back together and see how each other's lives had developed, and possibly form new, adult friendships with people we might not have had much in common with as teenagers. Even though I wasn't very social back then, there were a lot of people I silently respected and I always hoped for the best for them. I looked forward to seeing how far they'd come, as well as sharing what I'd accomplished in my life. But as it turns out, two years ago when it was time for that reunion, I wasn't able to go. I was sad to have missed out on that opportunity to reconnect.
Well, I no longer feel like missing that reunion was such a bad thing. The reason? Social networking. A lot of my geeky, intellectual friends have expressed rather negative opinions about social networking in the past, and I do agree with their objections to the way many people use social networks. For some people, the object is to have as high a friend count as possible, and they will friend anyone they meet online, regardless of whether they ever intend to have a meaningful, real life relationship with that person. And that, to me, is stupid. But what I find sites like MySpace and Facebook useful for, is as a way to share, stay in touch, and reconnect with people I actually know. These sites have proven to be infinitely more useful in finding and reconnecting with old classmates than school reunion sites like Classmates and Reunion.com. In fact, I don't know how those sites stay in business, considering they charge for that which the social networks provide for free.
I do much prefer Facebook to MySpace. MySpace and I had kind of a falling out a few months ago, when they deleted my account and refused to tell me why. I hadn't violated any rules - in fact I hadn't even logged in recently - and if someone else had compromised my account and used it to violate their policies, the responsible thing would be to make me aware of this, so that I could make sure that other accounts which used the same password would not be compromised as well. But they refused to give me any explanation, only repeatedly telling me that account deletions are final and cannot be disputed. So that's when I went running to Facebook, and never once looked back. Sure, I recreated my MySpace account, and re-added as many of my friends as I could remember and find. But only for the purpose of letting them know what MySpace had done to me, and that they could find me on Facebook or here on confoozled.com if they still wanted to correspond. Facebook is so much more fun, and applications mean endless features. Best of all, Facebook doesn't allow people who should never be allowed to design anything, to make their profiles slow, illegible, and obnoxious (seriously, making someone's computer play music or video without their permission is never cool)... because they don't let you edit or embed any HTML.
But back to my original point... I've found a lot of my old high school classmates recently, thanks mostly to Facebook. And that makes getting to those reunions seem a lot less important. Plus, judging from how spread out across the country we are, I have a feeling a lot of these people didn't get to the ten-year reunion. In fact, there are so many of us on the east coast, I'm thinking an east coast reunion might be in order! It's a trip seeing what people have done for careers, too. We have nurses, doctors, lawyers, scientists, programmers, teachers... and me, the blogging secretary! 
(Just kidding, I am happy with my career choice. A curse on those who tell me I shouldn't be.)
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