Zynewave.
ZynewaveI created my Twitter and Facebook accounts a couple of years ago, but have never really used them. After having used a dumbphone for years, I recently got myself a Nokia Windows Phone, which has prompted me to have another look at the current state of social networking services.
I’m considering using a service to notify of new Podium releases, as well as responding to users that won’t bother registering on the zynewave.com forum. I could also use the service to post pictures, such as screenshots of new features I’m working on. Previously I have uploaded screenshots via FTP to my server, which is a bit cumbersome. Besides using the service as a tool, it would also hopefully expose Podium to a wider audience. I would still use the zynewave.com forum as my primary communication channel, so users that don’t want to use social networking services would not miss out on anything.
Here are links to the pages I’ve created to represent Zynewave (I created the Google+ page yesterday):
http://www.twitter.com/Zynewave
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zynewave/107504479212
https://plus.google.com/107917428419532510798?prsrc=3
http://www.youtube.com/ZynewaveDotCom
Google+ does not yet support shortened username links, like the Twitter link. Facebook does support this, but when I tried to set that up yesterday, I found that someone in the Philippines has registered his personal page as “Zyne.Wave”. I doubt that’s his real name. I reported this as a trademark infringement via a Facebook form, so I hope I can claim that username.
I had the same problem a few years ago when I set up my YouTube account. Someone had registered “Zynewave”, but the account was inactive. I failed to get Google to “fix” that, so I had to register the ZynewaveDotCom username. I don’t use GMail, but for fun I tried checking yesterday, and sure enough, someone had registered zynewave at gmail.com. You have to be quick if you want to secure your username! When I came up with the name Zynewave for my company in 2004, one of the reasons I chose it was because it had 0 results when searched on Google.
Personally, I like the simplicity of Twitter. I can set up Twitter so that my tweets automatically gets posted to my Facebook page. Between Facebook and Google+, I thought Google+ was easier to set up, had a nicer layout and was less confusing to me than Facebook. I realize that Google+ is slow at gaining momentum, and is far less popular than Facebook.
I’d welcome your input on this matter.
Oh, and if you’re visiting the pages, give them a “Like” or “+1” 🙂
ZynewaveWow, Facebook actually responded to my request. After a couple of emails back and forth, they removed the username from the previous owner. I was quick to lay my paws on it, so this link is now directing to my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/Zynewave
My apologies to the previous Zyne.Wave username owner, if he happens to be a Podium user.
The TelenatorIt was probably some well-meaning user from long ago who would like to see the page do well anyway. Good you fixed the name proper, because you can only change it that once, then you must stick with it forever or else kill that page and then open an entirely new page under another name.Facebook is, believe it or not, cash-starved right now. What’s worse, some big advertisers have pulled out and others are questioning latest stats on advertising results. Studies are showing bang for the buck on Fb is nowhere near as much as all used to think. This has all been on the news several times lately.
This other thing, the poll, was a hard call. The new ‘Timeline’ setup on Facebook makes it rather hard to read and respond well to posts. Many, including me, find the Timeline nearly impossible to navigate. I have been allowed to keep my old page format, but they will not let you on your official “Page’ under any circumstances. For the size and heavy traffic of Reaper’s forum, just for example, the traffic at their company ‘Page’ on Fb is only a trickle.
Personally, and I can really only speak for myself, I try to keep my Facebook non-music-business-related. Everybody knows each is a musician, but we have that one place left that I know I can just be myself and post stupid jokes, unusual Net pictures, dumb bumper stickers and silly things. That’s 90% of all we do there, in the short time we have to ‘visit’ or ‘chat’ on any day — and it may all happen at 3 in the morning for performing musicians. I hope this sheds some light. I’m a rather different person on forums and professional websites.
ZynewaveThanks for the feedback. I’m not entirely thrilled with Facebook either, but at the moment it’s hard to see what service has the potential to better it. There have been reports that Twitter is also about to expand on advertising and restrict API access for third party developers. Google+ also relies on ads. Personally I wouldn’t mind paying a monthly subscription fee for a service that was completely ad-free, but I fear there are not enough people willing to do that.