Wednesday, December 18, 2013

SOCIAL MEDIA

I'm not a fan of those "social media" bandwagons everyone is jumping on. Their structures and functions confuse me and I find them intrusive. This blog is simple and as close as I get to participating in social media. The publisher of The Fly on the Wall asked me to get a Facebook account when the book was released. I thought it was for some kind of live internet interview with the publisher's customers (my internet savvy is showing). So I did. Someone I know "invited" me to "join" Linkedin. I didn't want to offend him, so I did. Those were the only social media wagons I've jumped on. I've finally cancelled my accounts at both of them.

Just before I cancelled Facebook, a notice arrived from Facebook, letting me know that someone had sent me a message (I can't remember the term Facebook uses for that; "poke" or "pinch" or "chat", or some silly term). I went to my Facebook page and found it. It was a message from a person who asked if I was the artist who had created a print he had. He included an image of the print. It shocked me because it was a multi-block colour relief print I had created in the late '60s or early '70s. I believe, from information on his Facebook page, this individual lives in the central US somewhere. I answered the message (to the whole world, of course, because I can't figure out how to send a direct e-mail in Facebook) and told him, yes, I was the person who created it. I mentioned that I was very curious as to how he had come in possession of the print. I mentioned my distaste for Facebook and asked him to go to my website and contact me via my e-mail address listed there. I cancelled my account the day after that.



A couple of weeks have passed and there has been no e-mail from this individual. This would be a good opportunity for one of the con-artists-conning-artists, like "Stan From California", "Jon From Norway" or "Debbie From New York". They could contact me, pretending to be that individual and use that as a means of trying another con. C'mon, "Wei From Shanghai" or "Victor From Nigeria", give it your best shot!