Media

Geek As Citizen: Boost The Signal – Advanced

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Fractal

Last column I discussed the basic ways we could Boost The Signal on good works – reviewing, telling people, gifting/donating, and talking to the creator(s) of the works. Those are basics most anyone can do.

But if you’ve designated yourself a kind of amateur Ambassador for the work or works in questions, there are ways to take it even farther if you’re so inclined.

These ideas require more commitment, and may not be for the casual fan. These are for the dedicated person who wants to take time and make serious effort – something we aren’t always able to do

Team Up: The creator(s) of the work (who, I mentioned you should contact) may be glad to have someone help them out with promotions. Help update a web page, work a table at a convention, whatever. If you believe (and have the time), lend a hand – you’ll probably make new friends too.

Do A Panel: Conventions need panels and events and you and your fellow fans can band together to talk to folks about whatever it is you’re trying to Boost The Signal for. Run a fan panel and let people know why you fan over what you do. By the way, make sure you have a good handout and list of resources.

Run An Event: Maybe what you like is more an event thing, like an RPG. So, run the game or demonstrate the technology at a convention.

Team Up With Others: Perhaps a local convention, a blog, or what have you is willing to do panels or roundups on obscure or notable work. Take advantage of this to team up with others and promote Ten Comics You Should Read, or Five Great Card Games No One Knows About.

(By the way, based on what I learned from the rest of Crossroads Alpha, lists like that get attention, sometimes for years.)

Review: Do you review and critique work? Do you post at websites on such things? Well, go write a (realistic) review of why you like something at the appropriate website. I can point you to a few if you like – and even if you don’t write critique, why not give it a shot and try?

Advise: Sure you talked to the creator or creators of what you’re trying to promote, but what else can you do to help? Maybe your art skills can help with a website redesign. Your knowledge of marketing may let you give tips. Team up and help out!

Network: Hook a creator up with people – always a favorite past time of myself. Help them out by introducing them to appropriate people. Bring them into your LinkedIn Network. Find some way to connect them with others.

Drop The Hint: If there’s a book, comic, game etc. that you like, suggest your local store carry it. It can’t hurt to suggest it after all – and you might be able to provide more advice on things to carry. If you’ve contacted the creator(s) of the work you’re boosting, you could even arrange appearances.

If you really want to take Ambassadorship all the way, get really active, dig in, and share the wonders you found – and help out. Sure, it may seem like you’re just one person, but you never know what difference you can make until you try.

Who knows, you might have a future in PR . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Geek As Citizen: Boost The Signal – The Basics

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Paper And Stars

So as noted, if you want to Boost The Signal on good works (as opposed to complaining about the bad), you need to take an Ambassador mindset. You have to choose to represent good works or a good work in a human, connecting, conscious way – as opposed to evangelizing or being annoying.

But, what do you do as this newly self-designated ambassador? I’m glad you asked because I’m happy to order people around. Here’s the basics.

Leave A Review. Seriously, we’re often bad at this. Leave a review on a website about the work in question so people can see it. It takes a few minutes and its worth it. I know I could do this more myself.

Leave A Review II. There are sites like Goodreads or Yelp or LinkedIn that let you review, comment, or recommend books, things, and people. Leave a review there. That artist you met who did some work for you could use a LinkedIn reference, that great indie bookstore needs a Yelp review. Also keep in mind there are multiple review sources.

Tell People. Don’t be annoying (remember: Ambassador) but take a moment to tell people about the work when appropriate. You might be worried about overdoing it, so use your common sense. An example for me is that when a co-worker decried bad science fiction, I told him about Flight of the Vajra (and now that you’re reading this, I told you).

Tell People 2. Just found a great anime, bookstore, comic, etc.? Take time to tell people on social media. Again, don’t spam, but go out of the way to mention it and tag things properly. You never know how far a message can spread.

Gift Time. If something is good, and you want to share it, share it with others. That great manga series is a perfect birthday present. That fantastic movie in the Criterion collection is something you can toss to a friend who wants something to read.

(also notice I just plugged the Criterion collection)

Donate. Donate some of the media you want to promote if possible. Give it to libraries, schools, bookshops, use as prizes, etc. Some people promote themselves this way; you can promote others as well – again, just don’t overdo it.

Tell the Author. Liked a book or series? Tell the author. Write them. Let them know you care. They probably need the feedback and would like the boost, especially if they’re a bit obscure. Always offer to help give them a nudge or a boost.

These are basic things you can do now that you decided to be an Ambassador. But there’s more you can do if you really want take it far, and I’ll cover that next . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Geek As Citizen: Boost The Signal

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Direction Sign

“Ho ho ho. Isn’t it nice we hate the same things?”

Principal Skinner, “Principal Charming” Simpsons episode 7-15

Complaining about things is a popular past-time for people. We complain about movies, about music, about comics, about television, about politics. Complaining is practically a cause for some people – in fact, a few of them made it into a career, disguising it as punditry or critique.

We geeks do like to complain. We’re passionate about what we love, do, read, speak on, and so on. That, in turn, means we may be critical of things for the very reasons of that passion. The problem is complaining doesn’t address what we’re critical of.

Complaining doesn’t solve things. Saying how bad a cold is doesn’t make it go away, expressing annoyance about a tacky shirt doesn’t make it change its color, and complaining about a bad movie means it’s still a pile of dreck. Complaining at its best warns people off of something – and possibly warns them off of you as you’re a jerk because you won’t shut up.

Too much complaining, even for legitimate reasons can backfire. This is what I’ve head referred to as the “bigger a-hole” theory – talking all the time how bad something makes you look bad. If you look bad, even your legitimate complaints are disregarded because you’re the bigger a-hole and people assume your legitimate concerns originate from your own being a jerk.

Sometimes the messenger is the message, like it or not.

Now I’m all for complaining, or at least tolerant of it (I do it myself), but when it comes down to it, if we want better movies, technology, comics, and anything else, we’ve got to do something else. Complaining solves little.

So when I asked some of the Crossroads Alpha gang what we could do different, the best action became obvious.

Want something good? Boost The Signal.

Boost The Signal (Insert “Can’t Stop The Signal Joke” Yourself)

Complaining as noted does little – at best it warns and at worse it annoys. Complaining rarely results in better works, better tech, and better ideas.

But what we can do is boost people’s awareness of the good things out there, of the wonderful things we find, of the things people should say attention to.

People have a choice in how they spend their time, their money, and so on. When we make them aware of good things, from a friend’s recommendation to writing a review of something great for a major website, we’re making people aware.  When they’re aware, they are more likely to focus on the things we’re promoting.

In short, let’s spend less time complaining and more time making people aware of the good things so they choose them, or helping out those promoting the good things. Those good things are out there, but often obscure, unknown, disregarded, not understood. We can make people aware, we can do our part to get them out there – we Boost The Signal

Its also better than criticism. Criticism as noted can backfire, and I’d also say criticism is something we’re awful numb too. It pours out of TV and talk radio and the like all the time, and most people aren’t good at it.

But how do we Boost the Signal? I’m glad you asked, because over the days to come I’m going to be summing up ideas I found – and wanting to hear about your own.

 

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.