Cthulhu Fhtagn Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 OK, Geeks, freaks and O9, your moment to shine. I'm not much of an internet guy, I go to my same 8 or 9 sites and used to mess around with the IPS "hosted" web space using the provided page builders. As it turns out, I am related (by marraige) to people who run an IPS service out of their homes. I've bought a name and space and taught myself enough HTML to be hazardous to those around me. I see a lot of sigs on the forum with links to CraigsList and MySpace. What makes this so attractive to you guys that are using it? Why use this instead of spending $30 a year to buy and set up a domain? What else is out there that a lot of people are using and for what? Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnb Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 Because it's so easy to use that even I can figure it out. Chances are if anyone has knowledge of my website, they probably already have my cell number and would not hesitate to call me to find out what i am doing. On myspace, people just kind of wonder by, sometimes it's friends you haven't heard from in years. You just have to be careful not to post too much information there. You don't want lunatics calling and emailing you or an old girlfriend knocking on your door. I have spent the money for my domain and I will probably keep it for at least a few more years, but it's not nearly as easy to use or to update. Then there's that whole "free" thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pernax Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 Our band has its own website/domain (and we'll be launching a renewed site soon), as well as a myspace page. I consider the website (www.helionprog.com) to be the main marketing tool, and the myspace page to be just for added exposure. (up to 200 characters) You may use UBBCode in your signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butcherNburn Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I created my (free)Geocities page for a few reasons. First off, I was bored one day. It has evolved into a place for me to place some often used links in one place that I can get to from any PC. Then, at my old job, I had to stop emailing my horrible and offensive jokes to my friends. Part of my job was enforcing this rule on upon others so I couldn't be breaking the rule myself. Years later, old friends and new still check my site to find some laughs. I posted my avatar there for convienence. If you think my playing is bad, you should hear me sing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyD Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I've had my own site for almost 5 years now, which started life as a free hosted site then I graduated to registering my own domain and hosting through Hostbaby (same folks as CD Baby). Last year I got onto MySpace, just to see what all the hoopla was about. The cool thing about it, to me, is that it's a place to host a few tunes for free and if you make good use of the "add friends" thing, you can get folks to check you out. It's not just a page to direct people to on the web, it's a "community" where people are already hanging out. It's pretty easy to use, you can post pictures, a blog, calendar, send bulletins to your entire friends list at once (though some people/bands overuse this little feature to the point of annoyance), and because the whole thing is so interactive and constantly evolving, it gives people a reason to hang around and keep coming back to see what's new on your page. If you keep a blog, your friends can subscribe so they get a notice whenever you've added an entry. By looking at other people's "friends" I've hooked up with a bunch of my old musician friends I'd lost touch with years ago, and can now keep up with their activites (and vice versa). I check out a lot of other musicians and bands, hear a tune or two, and make comments. You do have to work at it a bit, it doesn't just happen. But the more friends you add, and the more comments you make at others' profiles, you are giving yourself visibility to who knows how many people, then if you seem interesting they start adding you. When I get friend requests I make it a point to check out that person's or band's profile and listen and comment. This can be time consuming but...sort of addictive. That's a whole bunch of stuff that a plain old website just doesn't do without a whole lot of effort. In other words, advertisting that only costs you some time - but it also means you are being advertised to as well which makes it pretty phony in many cases where people are just trying to pump up their number of "friends". At first I thought the whole thing was just silly and juvenile, and I still think so to some degree! But it has turned out to be a lot of fun to poke around looking at profiles and in the end I'm generating traffic back to my site when people check my stuff out. If a few of those people like my band enough to buy a CD or come see a show, then mission accomplished. What's going on at Craigslist? That's an area I've yet to explore, other than the regular classifieds. My site | Facebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MvW Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 What Lizzy said! My band started to use myspace simply because it was free, but it's a good place to start generating a buzz because of the built in community and networking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 As most people above have said, the advantage of MySpace (or Friendster or Orkut)over an independently hosted website is the viral networking that occurs. It's really just a glorified webring: you look at someone's site, and you like it or some of the content in it, and you are compelled to check the links at the bottom, since it would be logical to presume that those sites (people or other bands, etc) would at least share some remote connection to your interests. You go to Kelly Clarkson's MySpace page, you see a link to someone with a handle "ILUVAvril" and his site has a link to Avril Lavigne's MySpace page...ad nauseum. It's a great idea, and I think it's been realized fairly well in terms of execution, especially considering the number of boneheads out there on the InterWeb. Craigslist, as far as the part that I've had experience with, is just a huge classified ad site. The vibe is similar to urban alternative newspapers - Chicago Reader, Recycler, etc. I'm not sure if that's what you meant. I don't think Craigslist offers hosting, but i may be way wrong here. I have a few domains, a few that I associate with my "09" identity, many more that I do not. Once you hit about 10 domains, you may want to consider self-hosting or colocation, but that's a whole new can of worms, probably outside the scope of this thread. I currently host 150 sites with absolutely no advertising and no contracts. On my side, it's simple: no payment and the site and email account go down. My suggestion to anyone who even remotely has anything to market or sell (a band, a song, actors, web designers, whatever) is to create your own site with your own domain name, and then create a Myspace page that is like a "Best Of" of that site. Hell, even BassPlayer does that. "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu Fhtagn Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 09, I knew you'd reply! I didn't mean to infer that Craig's List did hosting, just why it seemed to be the see-all, end-all, do-all for gunslingers, especially when sites like www.uglybassplayer.com are available. The PM's with you in the past have motivated me into buying a domain and creating a web space of my own because what I want to do is a little larger than what can be done with a grainy pic, smarmy remarks about myself, and links to a lot of people I wouldn't invite to my house on a bet. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David King Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I'm curious how people feel about myspace/ Intermix Media, Inc having been bought by Fox/ News Corp/ Rupert Murdoch? That's my only reason for resisting this particular viral network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnb Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I'm curious how people feel about myspace/ Intermix Media, Inc having been bought by Fox/ News Corp/ Rupert Murdoch? That's my only reason for resisting this particular viral network. I'm horrified, that's how I feel. When did this happen??? Nevermind, I'll find out myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnb Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Thanks, David. For all that are interested, here's a link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4697671.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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