When beyond promotion

A lot of the web to me is clearly promotional, like if I talk about my open source project here, even though it's free, people could assume am promoting it. And now it's clear that promotion is extremely valuable, as for instance on YouTube artists can go from millions or views at a billion or more, to huge actual sales.

However, often I think can hear a tone that seems to think any view or listen or consuming of information should be a purchase of some kind, which is contrary to basic human behavior. Like, can you imagine if the radio forced you to pay for each song you heard?

The problem I think can be about greed and distrust. There ARE apparently artists for instance who were looking to get paid for every single listen, even where people are just checking out their music. And I'm sure there are executives willing to try and force people to pay for anything and everything as well, even if something were just being promoted. And such people have generated a LOT of hostility.

The problem though is, when should you go from promotion to purchase? And thousands of years of human commerce tells us--when the potential buyer decides.

People typically will try to determine quality and buy something. Like you test drive a car. Or try on clothes.

Trying to force the buy, by the seller tends to make people angry, or generate other hostile emotions or maybe at best, simply run away behavior.

On the web, some have pushed against normal human buying behavior, in my opinion, from simple greed and distrust. They either don't want people checking for quality first, or they don't trust people to buy quality after. And they try to make it seem like any human interest should give them the option to force a buy. Or they talk as if just checking something out, is stealing from them. Such behavior is clearly stalling things, as actually limits business opportunity, generates distrust and anger, and in my opinion is just wrong.

MOST people I suggest to you are NOT thieves. While the modern web, and much of the early rhetoric that came out when people had limited options to buy, where things still are way too limited, were lots about various executives whining about what they saw as relentless thievery by people it sounded to me like they clearly hated.

I will admit I want ALL of those executives out of business. In my opinion they don't belong in business as they hate humanity.

There is a better way. Trust people to buy quality. Then you have to show them quality first, then give them the option to buy. Not complicated.


James Harris

Tweet about scintillating web reality

Was on Twitter and had been tweeting away. And for some reason was thinking to myself I just want to get creative and tweet something just to write something and see what happens.

And I got this tweet:

Our scintillating web reality reflects endless truths in flashes of brilliance to the educated mind seeking, seeking what is purity present.

— James Harris (@jstevh) May 11, 2016

Which seemed to fit the bill. So I tweeted it and then started staring at it a bit.

And what I think it means is that flashes of truth are part of like a kaleidoscope kind of thing? And easier to get with a mind educated, to find? But coming back to edit, wonder why I wrote kaleidoscope and think more likely was thinking of a mirrored ball.

So then if it's true, then it's purity present, right? So truth is, purity. Yeah. And to me, yes, truth and purity go together. So probably simply turning around a bit the purity of truth.

Which is what I get after I reread it several times. And I think that's about right.

As the writer should I just leave it subject to interpretation though? Well still is. Just giving my interpretation, where I happened to write it, so guess I should know.

Creativity is something else. Really get a kick out of those things where I write something and then have to puzzle over it a bit, and then say, yeah, it DOES make sense.


James Harris

Web audience is real

Sometimes really am talking things out a lot for myself, which helps to build context. For me posting public knowing other people will read helps reinforce, and yes, make it real. And with the web, including social media, did find myself at times concentrating on numbers as abstractions, but remember, I'm not one.

And plenty of times have been on the web looking at something, from someone, and finally would think to myself, to this person I would just be maybe a statistic, as one of, a relatively few people checking something out! But of course to me doesn't feel that way. And has helped me to realize for people who do come across my content, they are NOT just numbers.

If one person is there that matters.

Needing to emphasize that message to myself is ALL about immediate feedback in my opinion and we may be the first humans to have the ability to talk to so many people with so little feedback. And it's just radically different than say, standing in front of an audience of people where you can GET a reaction from them of some kind so easily. Sure maybe you'll get that on web, but lots of times just will not.

But for EACH person coming across what you have public regardless, person's time and attention is important to that person, maybe can be even more than if sitting in an audience.

I want that sentence for me to ponder. And why? Well you're more free, say at home, reading something. As have been in audiences where am like, huh? And look around, to see how others are reacting. But with web things it's just me often. And my opinion can run from amazement and awe, to far, far less, and there's less likelihood there will be other feedback, except yes, some of those web metrics.

Like on YouTube will admit there are times I'm like, huh? And see, oh, millions of views, and tens of thousands of likes, so let me think harder on this thing. But without that? It's just my opinion on what am seeing, and to me? My opinion is very important to me, which is yes, meta.

But maybe that's the thing! The meta me reality of the web for the people coming across what you have is what's missing if you just see numbers and think about how YOU feel if a few hundred or less. But for EACH of those people?

Their attention is a really big deal.

And I think it is a transitory thing, as web is so new really even if it doesn't still seem it, where you can have people who may be calm about a few hundred with some social media metric, but imagine instead standing front of a few hundred people. If still calm then fine. If terrified, then guess what?

You were all along, whether you knew it or not, or accepted it or not.


James Harris

Hypothetical as speculate social media impact

Going to speculate wildly this morning because I see a use of social media I suspect can have the opposite impact intended, so want to talk it out. And I think it's where old ideas from television advertising run into the impact reality of the modern web, as will imagine a company with a product with one million followers on some social media, where to me that is an audience number.

But for this hypothetical scenario imagine that company posts several things to try and galvanize that follower group to buy something, and one percent or ten thousand interact, and one thousand purchase, which company sees as a good result.

However, I'm like--what about that other ninety-nine percent?

And the company finds it had a one time bump, but a yearly sales decline and found also that its favorability rating had dropped by fifty percent.

Just to put numbers on it, which I'll yank out of the air, say it had a sales decline of one hundred thousand units year over year across all product lines.

Now in this imaginary scenario where I made up lots of abstract figures, we see a company getting one time sales of one thousand units on posts to one million followers, which leads to a sales loss of one hundred thousand units.

Executives have a meeting where they are completely puzzled. They don't understand the power of social media! Maybe they think, they just need to invest in the one area where things seemed to work! So they pressure their social media person to do more of those posts!

Next burst of posts? They get one thousand positive interactions. Now there is a howl of negative feedback. And as company plummets, it dawns on the executives, social media killed their entire company. Company files for bankruptcy as its sales collapse.

And the world barely notices.

Ah, I like that as a fun social media horror story which is just my wild imagination. Is that scenario possible? 


James Harris

Writing is something I just enjoy doing

Been writing since I was a kid. Had some short story or something that got my teachers excited and remembering that was enough to trigger me writing this post! As thanks to social media know it is teacher appreciation day.

And yeah, having your teachers get excited about some kid story can juice up parents, and others, as well as be something you think about decades later as you watch those words march across the screen with the same joy and satisfaction once had scribbling them out. Or printing as think was young enough yeah, still hadn't learned cursive.

Which means have got quite a bit more experience maybe with writing than those who hadn't thought it might one day be THE job, someway, some how. (Still working on that by the way.)

But can be why I have that creativity with grammar and punctuation, like, I comma how I wanna comma, thank you very much. I know the rules. The ones I think are real? I do follow.

So yes, with decades of writing under my belt, it does make it easier to do things like just sit down and type out a post, if I feel like it. Which this one is just one of those writing to write posts. I have at least one other I'm sure. Maybe I should link some way with a label.

Am pondering a good one. Writing to write? Ok.

Now will have to go find the other one I think there is, and slap that on.

Will do it eventually am sure.

Oh, and yeah, teachers have a HUGE potential role to play in giving that little push that can echo forward for years to come. I very much appreciate it. Not that I might not have written anyway, but is nice to have that early start and that sense of it being recognized early on as something that caught the attention of others.

That was a good way to spend five minutes. Now editing will take much longer.

Editing is where a LOT of the work is, in my opinion.


James Harris