I built this website. From scratch. Including the servers.
I'm curious about the fakes. I did an experiment when the promoted post pay thing just became available, and used some ten dollar voucher Facebook gave me to try it out. The posts seen by numbers were higher, but I also got a few comments in Spanish and Thai. These people commenting were not fans of adland, nor working in related businesses.... And I wasn't targeting Thailand or south America (a bunch of Indians also commented, but in Indian mixed English). To top it off, the campaign ran past my ten dollars in an hour, and by the next day I suddenly owed Facebook money.
Organically shared posts have always pulled traffic, but as the log reader it's frustrating that I can't tell who is talking about us, so I can't learn which audience likes what. Similarly when I paid for a promotion, it was a black box who saw it.... And seemed to be mainly fake accounts, just to boost the numbers.
I'll pass.
Thought.
People are tumbling (is that the word? They're not blogging on tumblr are they?) and facebooking and tweeting a lot about this, and often declaring that it's "just fun" , and touting the charity angle and how it brings strangers together and what a great experience it is etc, all missing the point that people who aren't participating aren't amused by the constant barrage of tweets, emails, and facebook-snark basically calling us spoilsports for not laughing along in the fun. Demanding apologies for this post above, and still harassing Lauren DeStefano over on facebook and in emails. Get a grip, people!
Buying a book is not buying an author.
If you're all such good loving fun big hearted charity people, you wouldn't be harassing people, s'all I'm saying. You'd be out having fun and working for charities. Do'h.
Oh and PS DDos:ing a website, Like the William Shatner thing, is an actual felony. You paid actual real money to join an online swarm committing a felony? And you'll screendump the proof? Which you'll then email from your account so that you may take credit for it? That's a special kind of stupid.
(I don't even care if Shatner and Misha have an agreement, it's not listed as if they have so you don't know if you're committing a crime or if there's an agreement between the two.)
These guys are not doing it for free:
Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction took a page from Science Fiction Writer Michael A. Burstein's playbook, and are writing stories based on the GISHWHES teams purchache of a book OR adding to a kickstarter. From Michael A. Burstein's blog:
I, on the other hand, will be happy to write a story for you if I don't know you, on one condition. I'd like you to do a random act of kindness for my publisher, Apex Publications.
(--- edit for space--- )
Then click on this link: "I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein" and have one member of your team purchase a copy of my 2008 collection I Remember the Future directly from the publisher (NOT from Amazon; use the "Add to Cart" button). It can be the trade paperback or the ebook, but I'm guessing most of you will opt for the ebook, as it's only $4.99.
And these writers are not keen on doing it at all. Bic N. Moleskine shows us an impressive collection of glorious Beyoncé "fuck you pay me!" gifs and adds "Enjoy your fandom. But think for yourselves, fer crying out loud. ". Ya Interrobang headlines it gishwhes hunt turns into harassment when authors refuse to participate. The Mary Sue advises:
The authors who are now facing inboxes full of requests for GISHWHES, on the other hand, are innocent bystanders. Enjoy your hunt, GISHERs, but maybe try to find an author who’s indicated they’re willing to help before shooting off any emails about sci-fi stories.
Meanwhile, on Livejournal someone declares: "That article is a thing of beauty. I wonder how it will take before the minions swarm and thus prove once again what entitled assholes they are." I dunno, does this weird twitter-thread directed at Adland count?
Twitter has forever killed comments I suppose, so here's what we got on twitter:
.@adland @FinchFactor @Greenpeace Except... this is not for profit awareness, features internet power cats *and* donations are coming in :)
— Mr. President (@MrPresident_sir) July 31, 2014
.@adland: but not featuring #LilBub! @MrPresident_sir @Greenpeace
— FinchFactor (@FinchFactor) July 31, 2014
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