Thursday, August 8, 2013

They Say Authors Shouldn't Spam, But What is Everyone Else Doing?

Okay, I don't know what's going on, but lately I've seen ads popping up EVERYWHERE.

Take Twitter for instance. I haven't been on the site in a while now. A couple of months anyway and when I finally did get on to share my news that I published WHEN WE WERE IN HEAVEN (my one and only promotional Tweet) I was hit with advertisements to get rid of unwanted belly fat and how I could get my bachelor's degree in less than two years. (Sorry, already have mine and it took 6 through no fault of my own.)

Then, I was doing some stuff to my other blog, through Google Chrome because that's the only way I can get my pictures uploaded, when BAM, a bunch of pop ups started happening and I couldn't get rid of them. I finally had to shut down my computer to close all the pages.

What the *&$#& is going on?

When I first started blogging, I saw blogs that had ads on them. It's called AdSense, and I guess how it works is for every time a person clicks through to the ad, the blog makes money. Yeah, okay. I guess if that's how you want to blog, fine. It's just not my thing. I blog because I have something to say. I don't blog with the hope I'm going to make money.

They say we need to build an online relationship with readers and not to spam them every five seconds with unwanted crap. I used to Tweet all the time about my books, but then THEY said it was a no-no. That wasn't the way to sell books. But I see it all the time on Twitter. Every other Tweet that hits the roll is a link to buy a book. Or a review with a link. Or a ReTweet with a link.

And now, they have these big glaring ads coming in as well. Do I really want to see spam about how to enlarge my penis, (sorry no penis here) or any other crap they're trying to sell? Do the marketing directors of these huge conglomerates think that we will click on these links? Are they really so stupid that they think we'll trust them not to infect our PC's?

It's bad enough I get emails all the time from crazy people in other countries telling me I've won 8 million dollars in a foreign lottery and for only a small fee (thousands of dollars) I can be the recipient of the cash.

Yeah. Right. Like I'm going to fall for that.

So why would anyone in their right mind click on any of the links on Twitter or through Google?

I have all my stuff on my computer. Thousands of hours of writing material, not to mention pictures. Would I really want that to be corrupted? I don't think so.

I mean, it's bad enough we only get to watch tv for 8 minutes and then are bombarded with commercials. (Thank God for PBS!) It takes an hour to watch a whole program that's only 42 minutes long.

Yeah, sure I get it. That's how they sell. We're not living in the same world we used to. When newspaper ads were all they had. But jeez criminy, is this what it's all coming down to now? Ads, ads and more ads.

Pretty soon, we'll all just be walking billboards. Buy This, Buy That, Buy ME!

Makes me just want to get off ALL social media.

But then again, I live a solitary enough life as it is. Social media IS really the only way I get to be sociable.

Tell me -- Do you click through on anything you see that may interest you? Or are you still old school and Google the brand you want to buy and click on the trusted link?

Robynne Rand (c) 2013

2 comments:

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Like you, I never click on those ads -- as you say: a good way to get a virus. I look at the AdSense ads on others' blogs and feel a bit put-off. Same way with the Donate button on some blogs.

Now, I may lose my job and have to put up one of those Donate buttons out of sheer desperation -- but I will apologize if ever that dire necessity arises.

I have a hard time self-promoting my books. You're right: every twitter some hours seems to be BUY MY BOOK!

In irritation I put up a tweet: "MY BOOK WAS ON TOP OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER LIST! Then, my girl friend took it off so she could read the paper."

Another exasperated tweet from me:
"Stephen King: I COULD NOT PUT DOWN YEOMANS' BOOK. Joe put super glue on the covers."

I run my contests, hoping that people will buy my audiobooks and put up an honest review. But the odds are low; the prizes high. So I do not feel too bad about them.

Excellent post as always.

Robynne Rand said...

Those Tweets are hysterical. Thanks.

You know, somedays I'm tempted to just spam/tweet every ten minutes just to see what happens. But then I just can't be bothered.

Thanks for stopping by.