tagged 
marketing, lesbians, social media, writing
marketing, lesbians, social media, writing Sunday, September 28, 2008
9:05PM
9:05 PM Everything I need to know about social media I learned from lesbians.
No, really. I went out this Friday night with my beloved friend and sister-in-arms Megan, and I discovered, yet again, that there opportunities for learning about this stuff in unexpected places. We went to Women and Children First up in Andersonville (Chicago) for a book reading of a writer I’d never heard of before. But I trust Megan’s taste, and all she told me was that Michelle Tea was a lesbian, former sex worker, and talented. So I assumed angry lesbian poetry.
A) I was wrong. And B) there was a cool display of social media that took me by surprise. First of all, both of the writers who read that night were talented, gregarious women with a very loyal following, not only in Chicago. The second writer, Christy C. Road, was also immensely funny and talented. But again, I had heard of neither of them, despite being fully invested in the indy writing scene, particularly where it overlaps the GLBTQ community (excluding the jerks I met in Sautgatuck, Michigan last weekend on the boat with my cousin, her fiance, and the boyfriend of awesomeness) but I didn't even know that the event was happening. So, without Megan, I would not have known about it at all.
So now, how did Megan find out about Tea and Road (that needs to be a band name, methinks)? She heard of Tea from a former-ish friend of hers (oh complicated social lives of girls) years ago, when been going to Women and Children First with her mother, as she has been since she was a wee little lassie. (Sorry Megan for the inaccuracy...thanks for the heads up!) And clearly, given the responses and familiarity with both writers and their work that the rest of the crowd had, Megan wasn't the only one that had heard of them. They had gathered around for the Decibelle-sponsored event, a group that appears to have a pre-existing relationship with WaCF, and with a non-for-profit group that was allowed to make an announcement at the beginning of the show about meetings they were having and a petition they wanted us to sign. That stuff doesn't matter.
What does is that I had never heard of any of these groups, or even this store before, regardless of the fact that I've spent entire weekends at the Swedish-American Museum and Center just down Clark Street. It boggled my mind a little, and while I am aware of the fact that I cannot possibly know about everything going on everywhere, in Chicago and out, it bugs me that I didn't know about this sooner. So I figured I'd try to figure out why. Of all of the social spaces I occupy, both virtually and literally, there are several where I should have found out about this show and didn't. No Twitter, no Facebook, no Blogger/spot, Google, or event emails (I get several). Nothing in the Tribune, Red Eye, or either of their respective websites, even their gay and lesbian writers/"bloggers" (they don't seem to recognize the distinction, and I'm too tired to type it out right now). Nothing from friends that live in Andersonville, gay or straight, nothing from local writers. It was a complete dearth of information.
So, what could Decibelle, WaCF, Tea, or Road have done to make sure that I, the non-lesbian, potential reader and consumer knew about this event? Well, everything that I listed above would work. And potentially work very well. Especially Facebook, with announcing new events and being able to send out invitations. Upon investigation, neither the bookstore nor Decibelle have an organized Facebook group...free solution. And it wouldn't need to be overly complicated. Just updated as often as their website could be. Simple.
Next question: why haven't they done it? I know that some people are genuinely lo-tech, even against social media. But when the purpose of your organization is to unite a community that is at least partially online with ANY of these outlets, there is a responsibility to serve them there...and to thus expand your organization in the process. And if you are a business providing a physical community with a service that helps to bind it and make it more cohesive, inclusive, and more relevant to that community's needs.
My brain, and my ego, are tired of arguing with people about this stuff. At least for the moment. But it would be a weekend's work for anyone on any one of their staffs to sort all this out. And while I love Road's website, I'm not really sure it's publicizing her book the way it could...even though it is pretty and engaging. Michelle Tea, who has published several books, needs more than a MySpace page, with or without her publisher's help.
My brain has given up officially, and I'm going to bed. Hopefully I will dream of social media and pretty lesbians.
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Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
Thank you for reading YouRuinedMyChildhood.com. It really means a lot to us here at YRMC that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to think about the fact that somewhere on the internet, your favorite childhood memory is being violated by fanfiction.
Reader Comments (2)
YRMC -
Hey dude, not to be nitpicky, but I actually found out about Michelle Tea at WaCF, not my dearly complicated friend. I was shopping there with my Mom many years ago and I was so intrigued by Rent Girl that I just had to buy it.
But you're right, they could use some basic social media. But it looks like they are trying to catch up with the email lists, something I didn't realize they had until just now.
---Megan
Email lists are certainly a step in the right direction. But I was talking to Kristin tonight to see if she could get her new work with Open Studio (www.openstudioproject.org) to overlap...I feel like they have a lot of similar audiences and could grow together online.