So listen…
I have been making a conscious effort lately to do a bit more than usual with Bleep Radio. I’ve been live-streaming the dual audio/video more often and even creating Facebook event listings for them so they are known of in advance. In general I’ve just been more attentive than my –recent– past practice.
It’s because…
One aspect, if not the largest, of any endeavour such as Bleep Radio is the Social Networking side of things. Social Networking these days involves what some call “life-streams”, a term I tend to enjoy myself. These days people have the ability to connect accounts and use a site like Facebook as an aggregator of multiple streams of interest. For instance, on my own Facebook account, I have several other accounts linked: Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Twitter, Youtube to name the main ones, and likely a half dozen others than are less frequently used (ranging from Amazon to Playstation Network). The information from these form a stream of information that is displayed to me whenever I visit my Facebook account. Facebook is now my life-stream. Aside from that last sentence making me cringe a bit, it is essentially true and I may as well run with it. Cringing be damned.
Now for Bleep Radio to enter other people’s life-streams it needs to have a home on Facebook. Up until this point in time that home was the Bleep Radio Facebook Group. At one point in time Groups on Facebook were pretty damn hip. Or at least useful. Facebook has however decided to focus their efforts on Pages. Features and abilities that I once had with the Bleep Radio Group I now no longer enjoy. Those features and abilities have been migrated to Pages. Pages are the new black. I really did not want to create a Page and disband the Group, but to keep abreast of things and provide for you all the best I can, I needed to. And yes I am making the assumption that there are people out there who not only invite Bleep Radio into their life-stream, but want it there.
But then there is this…
Now there is a point I feel I should mention. Pages work via “Likes”. I hate Likes when it comes to anything more than finding a status amusing or a comment snarky and stabby (which is just another definition of amusing in my world). I would enjoy Pages that were not my own more if they ran on more of a subscription/notification model. Forget the fact that is essentially what you are doing when Liking them. My –what is likely mental– road-block is probably formed by people and companies asking for those Likes. Partly for status, partly for the broader exposure it gives them. Boiled down I guess it’s a semantic disagreement I have with Facebook (and Youtube for that matter).
So, that said, I have sent out a “notification” on Facebook to all people who have added me based on music tastes and/or their status as a current Bleep Radio Group member. That notification is to “Like” Bleep Radio’s new Page. It is the only time anyone will ever see one of these requests in their notifications or inboxes from me. It was something I was forced to do because of a lack of Group to Page conversion functionality on Facebook’s behalf. By all means if you do not wish to Like Bleep Radio’s new page then don’t. I will not be offended. I quite often ignore friend’s requests for Likes on their pages (sorry guys and gals) so I completely understand. I actually now know what a “pang of pain” is because I’m certain I felt it as I hit submit.
Looking up…
However, if you do choose to Like the page and allow Bleep Radio to enter your life-stream I am very glad! Not because I got an extra Like, but because someone else has entered my own world. I enjoy people as much as I enjoy music. I especially enjoy talking with people who share my interests. Don’t we all? If you do Like Bleep Radio’s Page I ask you to not just Like it and forget it. I’d rather you not Like it in the first place if that is what you’re going to do. I ask that you interact with myself, the shows, and the other members (sorry… Likers?). You may learn a little, laugh a little, and most importantly connect with a global bunch of people who truly enjoy the same thing you do. There may or may not be chair dancing involved too, which benefits those who can see you doing it.
Bleep Radio in it’s most basic form is the music I enjoy, as played by myself, or by people who I believe align with my tastes. When I ask someone to put together a guest mix I quite often am asked what they should play. I have never told them to play anything other than what they feel is good music. Has that ever bit me in the ass? Not that I can recall. I want you all to be apart of this.
Wrap it up…
I’ve been involved in Bleep for almost a decade now and I’ve met a great group of people, people from all walks of life who share an interest with me, and I with them. Sometimes that interest in music is all we share and the contact is limited to that one topic. Sometimes you meet someone with whom a long-lasting friendship is formed. From one interaction to many, let’s do it. Which ever form it takes I appreciate it fully.
I want Bleep Radio to be successful. Success to me isn’t a number of Likes, downloads, or high fives. Success to me is bumping into someone five years down the road and having them say that Bleep Radio opened up their ears or minds to something that they then went on to really make a part of their life. My definition of success as you can see isn’t something that I can appreciate in an instant. It’s something that gradually trickles in in spurts, if at all. But those moments of awesome that may be few and far between out-weigh any instant gratification that I could receive by re-defining success.
Let’s talk, listen, learn, laugh, and share. Speak up on Bleep Radio’s Page. Share music you truly believe to be good, suggest guests for mixes, suggest ideas and themes for future shows. Crack a joke or poke fun. Ask me questions, ask others questions, answer questions posed. It’s the interactions that increase the odds of something good happening. Those interactions will help Bleep Radio be a hub and not just a node. I believe that’s a good thing.
http://www.facebook.com/FitMBleepRadio
The current group will slowly, but surely be weaned away from over the next two to three weeks. The link above to the new Bleep Radio Page is where it’s at.
Trevor Wilkes
