Tag Archives: myspace

When we became official

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Last night was softball. We played the East Enders. Half of their team was made up of people over forty years old. There was one guy who I swear was about seventy — Popi’s age — and although he couldn’t run very fast, he still hit and ran. I really admired him, actually; while watching him, I saw that I could still play softball for many years to come. Watching him kind of made me sad, though, because Popi can’t even go play pool with his buddies, never mind play softball.

As usual, we lost. Fun fact: the team we played was also 0-4 when the game started (we haven’t won a game yet). I think it was Smoodin who said that if we couldn’t beat them, we really suck. I guess we really suck! Still, it was fun. I got my first in-game hit, on the first pitch, and was so surprised that, at first, I forgot to run. The shortstop caught the ball and tagged the base before I did. If I’d started running right away, I might have made it. Yeah, that’s me!

After the game, Mike and I snuggled up with my laptop and I read aloud some of my old LiveJournal posts from when we first started seeing each other. While reading, I discovered our actual anniversary date: August 31st, 2006! Previously, neither of us could remember the exact date but knew it was a couple days after my birthday.

That particular LiveJournal account is private*, but I downloaded the mp3 of the LJ VoicePost I made to announce the news:

It starts off with me pissed off about my work schedule, but then I get to the happy news. Listening to it made me laugh. It’s also pretty funny that a Shinedown concert was that important to me; that particular show was the first and only time time I’ve ever seen them and they SUCKED. After that, I stopped giving a shit about them.

Anyway, I’m really excited to actually have a date for us. I think Mike was happy, too; he was smiling when I announced it. He did call me gay for tweeting it, though. Actually, he smiled at a lot of the stuff I’d written about him. (Even the stuff I wrote about him giving me a hard time about being official made him laugh. It made me laugh, too; I’m so glad I didn’t give up. And yes, one of these days I will post our story.)

August 31st, 2006: One of my favorite dates of the year!

*Eventually, I’m going to be moving all of my old LiveJournal, WordPress, and MySpace journal archives here, giving each their own special section. All of my previously private entries will be public. I have LiveJournal entries starting in 2004. Unfortunately, I can’t find the DiaryLand account I had when I was younger, but I’m okay with that.

Where was your first blog hosted?

How to Boost Your Advertising Sales

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1280x600 Numbers ad, MySpace.com, 03/18/2009 Not too long ago, I noticed that MySpace was using a new ad banner size. Their entire background was devoted to the costumer’s product, for an entire day. There was also usually some kind of accompanying 960×250 banner underneath the header. I loved this form of advertising from the start. I thought it was really creative and interesting. So naturally, I forgot about it.

1280x800 Resistance: Retribution ad, IGN.com, 03/18/2009 Then, I was at Mike’s one day and he was showing me something or other at IGN.com. IGN started off as a little website that people uploaded video game walkthroughs to in .txt files, and now they write review and walkthroughs of all the hottest new games. I was surprised and excited to see that IGN too was using a similar advertising format.

Both sites are now sought-after ad spots. Let’s face it: whether you love or hate them, each site has a very large user base.

While MySpace uses only their home login page for these background ads, IGN uses the ads on every page. If there is no advertiser for that size on a given day, MySpace will use the 960×250 banner spot beneath the header on their login page, while IGN just reverts to their red logo background and regular ad spots.

A recent ad featured on MySpace was for the new Nicholas Cage movie, Numbers. At the bottom of the home login page, on the left hand side, was a smaller 620×50 banner.

620x50 Numbers ad, MySpace.com, 03/18/2009 MySpace and IGN aren’t the only websites using this new ad size. I have seen a handful of other sites using their backgrounds as ad space, and I think that more sites should snag this new idea while they can.

Why? Let’s face it, ads are tough. Users hate them and customers want the best ad spot possible. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t about Customer X or Y complaining that they aren’t the only one, or that their ad isn’t in the current hot spot. Companies have a hard time pleasing everyone and making money at the same time. I’ve seen all sorts of different methods that work, but get old very quickly: the page curl, the 1025×230 dropdown, the 300×250, and many others. Customers want ad space that gets in users’ faces, and users want ads that are helpful but also easily averted.

The full background, 1280×600, ad size solves all of these problems. It gets your attention, but it’s also part of the normal site; there’s nothing popping up, down, left, or right at you. If you’re interested in the product, you can click on one of the nearby banners (which are usually part of the entire ad in general). If you’re not interested, you can just move on.

Customers can purchase a whole day of being the best ad on the site, and online companies can make a nice profit because these ads are so great.

Of course, just like anything else on the web, this solution isn’t going to last forever. So get your background ad on and make some money!

Social media is about caring, not popularity

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It’s starting to aggravate me that I’m getting irrelevant messages and friend requests on a particular MySpace account that I run. Mainly, these requests are coming from bands. Now, I’m all for checking out new music, but the account is very obviously not a personal account. A message or friend request saying, “I’m really interested in what you’re doing,” or something to that effect would be much more welcome than, “Listen to our music! We didn’t even read your profile so we obviously don’t care about who you are or what you do, but you should support us anyway!”

In this day and age, social media is about branding and caring. If you’re going to use social media as a marketing tool, you should use it the correct way. Look at the profiles of your potential clients, consumers, or fans. Decide what they need and how you should approach them. If you send me messages trying to get me to comment on your page without even checking out mine to see if I’m going to like what you’re trying to sell me, I’m going to see right through what you’re doing and I’m not even going to bother. Even worse, if my account is for a jewelry business and you’re telling me to check out your oh-so-awesome hardware site, kthxbai, I’m not even going to bother with you.

We have to learn how to use the tools we have in front of us to target our audience, our niche. Stop sending automated messages and comments telling me — and others — how cool you are or that we should check you out. Pay attention to your audience first. Find out what they need, and if they will be interested in whatever you have to offer. Do not send messages that look as if you just cut and paste from a saved document without even bothering to see if the recipient is going to be interested.

Learn how to care, or get out of the sandbox.

To Write Love On Her Arms

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Since my life pretty much revolves around To Write Love On Her Arms and you’ll be hearing a lot about it, I guess I should write about it! It’s kind of a long story, so kick back, pop open a beer (or soda) and relax.

I guess you can call me a veteran of depression. I still have scars from my self-injury habits. I still have days where I feel like I’m going to break into a billion pieces. I’ve come so far in the last five years that I don’t recognize the girl I used to be, but I’m not sad about it. Without that girl, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Several suicide attempts and failed relationships later, I think I’m a mostly strong and independent young woman who can now lead a successful and healthy life. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t have the support system that I have and if I hadn’t made up my mind to get better. Some people don’t have that will or that support system.

Anyway, not too long ago I heard this song called “Misery Business” by a band called Paramore. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. At first the song annoyed the hell out of me, but as it usually goes I fell in love with it and had to have the album. I went to their website because I wanted to know a little more about them. On Paramore’s website, they have a section where they talk about their favorite charities. To Write Love On Her Arms–or TWLOHA–caught my eye. I guess it’s because I subconsciously knew what it was all about, or at least hoped so.

It’s hard to put into words exactly how I felt after reading through TWLOHA’s site and looking at the TWLOHA MySpace. Mostly I felt really good, because someone was doing something to help people suffering with depression, addiction and self-injury. I wished that TWLOHA had been around when I needed it, but was really glad that they are around to help people who need it now. I also felt like I needed to do something.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a TWLOHA Streetteam like there is now. The awesome people of TWLOHA were working on it but hadn’t quite gotten it up and running yet. I really wanted to be a part of what was going on, but I didn’t know how. I wrote about it in my personal journal (you know, the kind you actually write in) and told everyone I knew about it: my sister, my mom, my best friend, my grandmother, my boyfriend. I racked my brain for several days trying to come up with something. I was just beginning to feel frustrated when I stumbled upon a blog community online that is in support of TWLOHA.

Basically the community was for anyone who supported TWLOHA and wanted to talk about their experiences. Someone had mentioned that maybe the members of the community should write letters–and BAM! Letters of Love was born.

Letters of Love is my response to TWLOHA. I thought that if we all had something to look forward to, like a good old-fashioned letter in the mail, maybe we wouldn’t be so sad. We could talk about what we were going through, talk about music and movies, talk about our days in general. I started the Letters of Love MySpace around Valentine’s Day 2008 and received an enormous response. It was almost overwhelming; the MySpace page got friend requests almost every five or ten minutes. Several people wanted letters.

Some of those friend requests were from other groups who, like me and my Letters of Love, had been inspired by TWLOHA and wanted to do something. I made a lot of friends, many of whom I talk to on a daily basis. I write letters to several pen pals whose letters always make me smile. I get emails and comments all the time about how much people love writing Letters of Love and how I’ve inspired them. Every time someone tells me how much they love the project, I smile.

Letters of Love has gotten so big now that we have our own website. We have a blog–entitled Scars Can Speak–written by everyday people who have experienced depression, self-injury and addiction or who have friends or family members who have experienced these things. I started the Letters of Love Community so that we could all talk to each other, rather than only connecting on MySpace.

Because of TWLOHA, I’ve been given a purpose beyond going to work and class every day. I’ve made many wonderful friends who always make me smile. I’ve gotten back to using snail mail, rather than the internet that we all take for granted. I’ve also been a lot happier, helping others, than I’ve been in a long time.