Comments on: perception trumps design – why Myspace still works… http://www.stevelawson.net/2008/03/perception_trum/ the soundtrack to the day you wish you'd had Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:39:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Steve http://www.stevelawson.net/2008/03/perception_trum/comment-page-1/#comment-421 Steve Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:41:04 +0000 http://www.stevelawson.net/wordpress/2008/03/perception-trumps-design-why-myspace-still-works/#comment-421 That desire to engage with the actual music of the people who add you is a really admirable one, Andrew - I think that's great. I try to do that more now, but I filter the adders by looking first at their number of friends (I tend not to accept friend requests from people with more than about 15K friends) and then at the nature of the comments on their page - if their comments are almost all just 'thanks for the add' then it seems like they are just adding randomly and I'm just one of the faceless millions to be spammed... if there's some interaction going on on the comments, THEN I listen... So I do like to listen, but I tend to work out why I should listen first... a personal message with the add request ALWAYS gets me to listen, and I now always send a message with an add request, just to get out of that spam group in someone else's mind... It's all about juggling information streams and managing screen-time to make your computer interaction more effective... going to blog about that soon... :o) That desire to engage with the actual music of the people who add you is a really admirable one, Andrew – I think that’s great. I try to do that more now, but I filter the adders by looking first at their number of friends (I tend not to accept friend requests from people with more than about 15K friends) and then at the nature of the comments on their page – if their comments are almost all just ‘thanks for the add’ then it seems like they are just adding randomly and I’m just one of the faceless millions to be spammed… if there’s some interaction going on on the comments, THEN I listen… So I do like to listen, but I tend to work out why I should listen first… a personal message with the add request ALWAYS gets me to listen, and I now always send a message with an add request, just to get out of that spam group in someone else’s mind…

It’s all about juggling information streams and managing screen-time to make your computer interaction more effective… going to blog about that soon… :o )

]]> By: Andrew Durkin http://www.stevelawson.net/2008/03/perception_trum/comment-page-1/#comment-422 Andrew Durkin Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:17:21 +0000 http://www.stevelawson.net/wordpress/2008/03/perception-trumps-design-why-myspace-still-works/#comment-422 Yes, all good points. I personally don't begrudge anyone their affection for MySpace (or any other outdated or inefficient technology) -- you're right that for some people that's what's comfortable, and that's totally fine with me. To each their own, and you're right too that as artists we have to be aware (and respectful) of the avenues fans take to find us. But when it comes to my own experience, it's really just a matter of impracticality, both as an artist and a fan. Personally, I *want* to listen to all the bands / artists who request my friendship. But to do that nowadays (i.e., the problem seems to have gotten worse as the site grows) -- given the number of requests I get, and given the bugginess of the site -- I would probably have to set aside an entire "MySpace day," once a week. And I wouldn't even mind doing that, except that half of that day would be spent waiting for the music to start. I still do my best to check in on MySpace regularly -- but nowadays it's usually while I'm in "multitasking" mode. Yes, all good points.

I personally don’t begrudge anyone their affection for MySpace (or any other outdated or inefficient technology) — you’re right that for some people that’s what’s comfortable, and that’s totally fine with me. To each their own, and you’re right too that as artists we have to be aware (and respectful) of the avenues fans take to find us.

But when it comes to my own experience, it’s really just a matter of impracticality, both as an artist and a fan. Personally, I *want* to listen to all the bands / artists who request my friendship. But to do that nowadays (i.e., the problem seems to have gotten worse as the site grows) — given the number of requests I get, and given the bugginess of the site — I would probably have to set aside an entire “MySpace day,” once a week. And I wouldn’t even mind doing that, except that half of that day would be spent waiting for the music to start.

I still do my best to check in on MySpace regularly — but nowadays it’s usually while I’m in “multitasking” mode.

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