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Identity And Voice On The Web [Part I]
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I believe that the following note to Clif regarding his innovative blog experiments on the fuzz platform will also be topical at the Nightschool For Entrepreneurs as we all search for ways to establish Identity and Voice on the Web. I, thus, repost it here and will link/tag it at the Nightschool.
Cllf, I see that you have concluded, as I have, that for now the best place to place digital content [other than the "first landing" content described at 1. below] is in the blog-space. Since all websites are in essence filing systems, I think the major points for site development at fuzz are as follows [but help me out here]:
1. Home Base For Your Core Identity. First, one must find the "best place" to file your "baseline" content from which everything else flows to "radiate" with linkages to (a) other personal pages, (b) other pages on the site, and importantly, (c) other sites. Thus, obviously and foremost on fuzz, (i) artists need a place to upload their music - and the "music" home page is set up to accomplish this; (2) fans need a "home base" - and the "people" page to establish a bio/profile is set up for this. To paraphrase Tolkein: everyone should have "one ring to rule them all."
2.) A Place For Other Stuff That Defines You. Beyond the "baseline" content [landing page, starting point, digital table of content, whatever/however you want to think of it], the site is still in process of evolution to fix the "optimal" place to file retrievable content. Thus, the site has filing places such as "blogs", "reviews", PMs [private messages], playlists, mixtapes, and "comment boxes". For now, the intra-site architecture seems to link best to the blog-space [with the archiving function, the "poking" function, the "recent activity" function, and so on]. I am sure that the fuzz folks will improve on the way the over-all filing system works to house content [over and above the main artist and fan functions described at 1 above]. [In fact, I have seen the next major roll-out of the "skin of the site" that should take place this week - watch this space.]
3. External Links. What is most fascinating for me now in its possiblilites are how the links work to external sites and how they can/will be improved upon. Just a few examples are: A. widgets to facebook, myspace, etc.; B. different star's initiatives to interconnect with last.fm; C. development of identifiable web-monikers like "webofdistress", "thecapitalclinic" for the powerful search bots to find, centralize, and prioritize your web identity; D. auto-links to "Official homepage" for independent artists; E. Etc. in endless innovation and variation.
4. Iterative Content. The final phase of personal web empowerment [value-added development] will be to make it "iterative", that is, virtual [real time development of content] and instantly accessible and interactive. Thus, for example,as your story about Stone [who is one tough hombre] evolves, we will watch with interest how it extends beyond familiar genre and perhaps even becomes "multi-media" [with images, videos, and of course and importantly sound (both music and dialogue] based on your own initiatives and web-manipulation and on the interaction of others. All of this will happen, but chance favors the prepared.
[Note: due to the unexpected length of this blog comment, I will also repost it as a first installment of my own [iterative!] series at the Nightschool For Entrepreneurs that I had been intending to address on How To Develop Identity and Voice on the Web - which, for some, will be a key success variable to establish presence and footing in the brave new world.]
Cllf, I see that you have concluded, as I have, that for now the best place to place digital content [other than the "first landing" content described at 1. below] is in the blog-space. Since all websites are in essence filing systems, I think the major points for site development at fuzz are as follows [but help me out here]:
1. Home Base For Your Core Identity. First, one must find the "best place" to file your "baseline" content from which everything else flows to "radiate" with linkages to (a) other personal pages, (b) other pages on the site, and importantly, (c) other sites. Thus, obviously and foremost on fuzz, (i) artists need a place to upload their music - and the "music" home page is set up to accomplish this; (2) fans need a "home base" - and the "people" page to establish a bio/profile is set up for this. To paraphrase Tolkein: everyone should have "one ring to rule them all."
2.) A Place For Other Stuff That Defines You. Beyond the "baseline" content [landing page, starting point, digital table of content, whatever/however you want to think of it], the site is still in process of evolution to fix the "optimal" place to file retrievable content. Thus, the site has filing places such as "blogs", "reviews", PMs [private messages], playlists, mixtapes, and "comment boxes". For now, the intra-site architecture seems to link best to the blog-space [with the archiving function, the "poking" function, the "recent activity" function, and so on]. I am sure that the fuzz folks will improve on the way the over-all filing system works to house content [over and above the main artist and fan functions described at 1 above]. [In fact, I have seen the next major roll-out of the "skin of the site" that should take place this week - watch this space.]
3. External Links. What is most fascinating for me now in its possiblilites are how the links work to external sites and how they can/will be improved upon. Just a few examples are: A. widgets to facebook, myspace, etc.; B. different star's initiatives to interconnect with last.fm; C. development of identifiable web-monikers like "webofdistress", "thecapitalclinic" for the powerful search bots to find, centralize, and prioritize your web identity; D. auto-links to "Official homepage" for independent artists; E. Etc. in endless innovation and variation.
4. Iterative Content. The final phase of personal web empowerment [value-added development] will be to make it "iterative", that is, virtual [real time development of content] and instantly accessible and interactive. Thus, for example,as your story about Stone [who is one tough hombre] evolves, we will watch with interest how it extends beyond familiar genre and perhaps even becomes "multi-media" [with images, videos, and of course and importantly sound (both music and dialogue] based on your own initiatives and web-manipulation and on the interaction of others. All of this will happen, but chance favors the prepared.
[Note: due to the unexpected length of this blog comment, I will also repost it as a first installment of my own [iterative!] series at the Nightschool For Entrepreneurs that I had been intending to address on How To Develop Identity and Voice on the Web - which, for some, will be a key success variable to establish presence and footing in the brave new world.]
Comments
I think it is critical for folks to have a "central ubernetwork hub" as I have developed here, especially since there are now so many web places to be. The MySpace phenomenon has been an interesting one to watch, not only because it gave the non-web-savvy individual a place to express themselves, but more importantly because many individuals and even businesses (like me) gave up their custom built web sites for a nice cozy little "apartment" in that happening social network.
As more and more social networks pop up, we can now find a home on the web that is more suited to our particular interests, with the amenities that we desire or require to express ourselves to the fullest. I think the ability to find your social "niche" while also having reach to other parts of the web community is the key.
I think my residential history is representative of a very common pattern of web identity evolution:
1. I started out on Geocities about a decade ago. That was kind of like a college dorm, a place to hang your hat, but more often than not just a stop on the way to somewhere else.
2. I "graduated" to my own custom built website, becoming a first-time web "home-owner." Here I could do whatever I wanted with colors and architecture and decorations. The problem was that it was a long drive to anywhere cool and it was hard to get folks to come out for a visit.
3. I heard stories of a hip, happening place where you could hang your hat and folks would just swarm to meet you. To quote Willie Nelson, it seemed that "everybody's gone away, they said they're moving"... to MySpace. The very utilitarian apartments in this new village could be made to look ok if you worked at it, but at some point I think you realize that it's a big non-stop party and no one really wants to have a serious conversation.
4. Then I stumbled upon this cool little artist's community called Fuzz. Here I could easily display and sell my art, while at the same time presenting myself more holistically as a "fan." And the people here are cool, sharing my desire for interaction on a deeper, less superficial level. So I packed up the truck and moved to Fuzz, having found my niche community, my new home.
I guess it is a good way to promote yourself as a lot of bloggers read this magazine and blog about their "findings"/ "spread the word".