ARTSPAN BLOG

Blog Directories: the Only Time It's Okay to Be an Attention Hound

2012-01-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

While getting attention in public can be an easy feat (just a bit of song and dance is usually enough to do the trick), unfortunately, there's no easy online equivalent to get visitors looking your way. So unless you can figure out a way to program computers into hypnotizing their owners in classic supervillain fashion, you're going to have to learn to draw visitors to your site the old-fashioned way: hard work.

Don't get lost in the cyber-crowd. (Photo of Where's Waldo? from art-sci.blogspot.com.)

One method of doing so is by promoting your blog through directories. While it may take a while for your credit to build on these sites, try to get into the habit of regularly submitting links to your blog and to new posts. Here's a roundup of some of the best directories:

Reddit.com

Other than having the advantage of a really adorable robot as their logo, Reddit is also one of the most straightforward of user-directed news sources choices. Once you register, you simply click on the "Submit a Link" button, and then submit the title and URL of your latest post. In addition, you'll have to choose a "subreddit," or the category under which you want your blog title to appear.

Digg.com

Digg also has a very simple submission process. Just like with Reddit, you'll click the "Submit Link" button, but with a few more choices this time. In addition to adding a title and topic, you'll have the option to choose an image and provide a short description of your post.

Technorati.com

While Technorati's signup process can be a bit of a pain, in the end, the fact that it updates itself makes it all worthwhile. This directory bases blog popularity on an authority system, tabulating your blog's effectiveness through a number of factors, like outside links and relevant content.

Stumbleupon.com

Stumbleupon is probably the friendliest of the directories out there, thanks to it's 'share and share alike' policy. While you can recommend your own content to other users, you'll want to make sure to recommend other interesting sites as well. It's the best way to ensure that other Stumblers will be more inclined to recommend your sites in return. Unless you're Daniel Day Lewis, and can intimidate a vote out of anyone.

Blogcatalog.com

If you haven't really done much with your blog yet, you'll have to wait until you've reached at least ten posts to add your blog to Blogcatalog. It's relatively new, but has a promising community already built up around cutting-edge bloggers.

Do you use a directory that wasn't on this list? Then feel free to spread the word in the comments section below!

Slicing through the SOPA Fog

2012-01-17T15:52:00.000-05:00

by Sid Bailey

Chances are that by now, you've come across the names SOPA and PIPA quite a few times over the last few months. And while they may not be the next set of odd names chosen for this year's celebrity newborns, they've been the recipients of just as much, if not a lot more, flack from the online community.

Perhaps you've heard enough to know that these proposed bills have something to do with combating online piracy, but haven't yet bothered to delve into the details for fear of being confronted with a daunting (or just downright boring) list of technical codswollop. But with an internet blackout now scheduled to take place tomorrow, January 18, to protest what many believe to be an infringement on internet freedom, now's the time to bring yourself up to speed on why so many internet mavens find the bills controversial.

The best part of SOPA? There might no longer be any internet memes to distract us from real work. The worst part of SOPA? There might no longer be any internet memes to distract us from real work! (Image from crackbox.tumblr.com.)

Imagine you find yourself stranded in a dream-world cooked up by none other than Mel Brooks, in which you, the likable artist-cowboy a la Gene Wilder or Cleavon Little, find yourself in a town where the local sheriff (named SOPA or PIPA, take your pick) receives his orders from a movie mogul (representing the MPAA and other companies supporting the bills) intent on stopping the outlaws from riding into town and running off with his film reels. While well-intentioned, the sheriff immediately adopts a no-holds-barred policy to stop the outlaws at any cost, even potentially infringing on the freedoms of the new frontier. The very first method he adopts is to announce that any saloon (or other, less-important, place of business) caught serving drinks or other wares to a known outlaw, or even just a suspected one, will be immediately shut down in a new guilty-until-proven-innocent twist. As you frequently use the local businesses to help promote your work, their threatened shutdown also puts your livelihood in a precarious position.

In a similar vein, SOPA could allow for the censorship of an entire site based on one user's suspected copyright infringement. For any artist that uses Facebook, Twitter, or other sites to promote his/her work, this could include something as simple as sharing a link to an unlicensed Youtube clip. PIPA threatens the functionality of security measures many websites put in place to protect their visitors from malware, phishing attacks, and other threats.

For this reason, individuals who rely on internet-based jobs as their sources of income have been speaking out against the bills for months in an effort to protest what they see as a threat to their livelihoods. Major websites like Reddit, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, among others, are considering a partial or total shutdown on January 18 to demonstrate the sweeping damage such bills could have on the structure of the internet as we know it. So if you utilize any of these websites to promote your work, just keep in mind that you may run into a few snags this Wednesday.

Visit this link for a breakdown of the technical issues.

Artspan Design Contest: Only a Few Days Left

2011-12-22T17:57:00.003-05:00

by Sid Bailey

With the holidays over, there's always the frightening chance that you unwrapped all of your gifts, only to discover that you got everything except that ONE gift you actually wanted. Of course, the best way to fix this holiday dilemma is with the gift of money. So why not treat yourself to an extra $150 this January, by giving yourself a shot at 1st Prize in the Artspan Design Contest?

Does your house look like Chevy Chase got a little overzealous? Then apply that leftover creative energy to sprucing up your Artspan site.

If you're already an Artspan member, entering the contest is simple. Just send the URL of your Artspan site to DesignContest@artspan.com, along with your contact information. The only requirement is that your site be designed using the custom templates in the Design Themes section of your Control Panel, under the Custom Styles tab.

The Design Themes section will lead you to your customization tools.

If you're not an Artspan member, don't start pouting yet. Why not sign up for a free trial period? Just enter the words "design contest" in the "how did you hear of us" section of the application.

Prizes run as follows:

1st Prize: Six-month free membership and $150 cash.

2nd Prize: Three-month free membership and $100 cash.

Three Honorable Mentions: One-month free membership and $50 cash.

Judging criteria will include:

1) Excellence of design.

2) Originality.

3) How the design compliments the artist's work.

4) How the design maximizes the capabilities of the new tools.

Of course, whether you win the contest or not, the most important benefit to entrants will be the improved look of your Artspan site. The more attractive the design, the longer your visitors will want to stay.

Artspan members: it's also a great time to refer your friends! You'll get one-month free, as well as giving your loved ones a shot at the contest. There are plenty of prizes, so why not give someone else a chance?

Artist Member Interview: Erik Alos

2011-12-22T14:06:00.000-05:00

by Sid Bailey

Imagine if Warner Bros. decided to make a movie about Salvador Dali, hired Ed Wood to direct, and then stuffed the cast with maniacal cartoon villains and quirky femmes fatales, and you might begin to get an idea of the paintings of Erik Alos. The Los Angeles-based former graffiti artist agreed to answer a few questions about his life and work, featured below.

"Allegory of chaos" - 2009 - 18x24 - acrylic on board

Can you tell me a bit about your background? Do you have any specific anecdotes that led to your decision to become an artist?

Well, I'm from Los Angeles; it's where I've lived most of my life. Drawing is something I always remember doing as a kid. In my teens I started painting with spray paint and focused mainly on graffiti art for over ten years. It was two of my friends in my old graffiti crew, who had already been involved with galleries, who got me into my first exhibitions.

Can you give me some specific examples of cartoons or pop culture elements that have gone into your pieces?

The Blockheads are great,you know the villains from Gumby. That show was definitely surreal. I liked the Walter Lantz toons...Woody and Chilly Willy were awesome. I've painted some of the garbage pail kids too; those were so rad when I was a kid.

"Land of South" - 2011 - 18x24 - acrylic on board

Do you feel your work also provides a commentary on pop culture, at the same time that it is inspired by it?

I think my work provides my personal view of pop culture, if anything. It's like taking something that everyone is familiar with and reworking it with your own style. Besides, bringing a favorite cartoon character to life by rendering it in paint realistically is always fun. Pop culture definitely inspires some of my work, along with other inspirations, such as the human figure, plants, animals, and other natural and man made elements we interact [with] here on earth. References to Los Angeles are made in my work all the time, as well.

Can you take me through your artistic process for how you approach a new piece? What generally sparks your ideas for a new work?

Well, I have a model sit for me if there is a figure in the piece. I collect references on anything else I may want to paint. Then I do some study drawings on paper. After that, I prepare a wood panel with gesso and begin. Most of the time ideas will just pop into my head. Other times, an idea can be sparked by reading a book, other art, music, etc... It's hard to say exactly how I think of what to paint, I'm not completely sure myself.

How do people generally react to your pieces?

It depends on how fast I throw it at them.

What steps do you take to promote your work? Which do you find works best?

Right now I have the website, a Facebook page, and I'm a member of a great surreal artists collective called BeinArt Collective and I have a profile on their site. Sooner or later I will start up a blog too. I do find that gallery exhibitions promote my work the best.

"The sun of god" - 2011 - 11x14 - acrylic and gold leaf on board

Do you have any advice for other artists?

Eat organic whenever possible.

Do you have any upcoming exhibitions in the works?

In December, I am part of a group exhibition entitled "Black Christmas" at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, California. I have some other group shows planned for 2012 that I will be posting on my website.

Twitter Phase Four: A List Isn't just for Grocery Shopping anymore

2011-12-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

So maybe you got a little too enthusiastic when it came to following interesting users. Now, you visit your profile and find that, while you're following 1,000 accounts, you only have about 500 followers. Maybe you're afraid this makes you look like a Spammer, or maybe you just really like symmetry. But for whatever reason, if this unbalanced equation starts to bother you, there's an easy way to avoid looking like a compulsive Follower.

Unlike Adrian Monk, you don't have to make the numbers perfectly even, but it's always a good idea to try for as many followers as possible.

If you've explored your Twitter homepage, you might be wondering what the "Lists" tab is for. Let's say you have an interest in, for instance, art. Click on "Lists" and then click "Create a list." You'll have the option to choose whether you wish to make your list private (viewable only by you) or public (anyone can follow this list). You can also give your list a name and description in the fields provided. You'll have the option to edit or delete this list at any time. Best of all, you can add someone to your list without adding them to the people you officially follow.

As an example, I'll create a list for arts-related Tweeters. For list name, I've filled in "vanGoghsEar," and for description: "Keeping an ear out for everything arts-related." To start it off, I'll add @Guggenheim and @artinfodotcom, by clicking on the icon to the far right of the "Follow" button on their profile page, then selecting "Add to List" and the list name from the menu.

You can check for updates by the Tweeters you add to your lists at any time by visiting the "Lists" tab on your profile...without having your "Following" numbers climb exponentially. More importantly, it's a convenient way to keep track of the things that interest you most. No more tedious scrolling down that endless stream of updates.

Is Your Blog Leaving You Speechless?

2011-12-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

by Sid Bailey

I happened to come across an interesting blog post on Doodlers Anonymous the other day, recommending a clever way to utilize the free iPhone app, Instagram, which allows users to take pictures and share them instantly with followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The writer's been using the feature to snap photos of favorite art finds and share them in streams on the blog.

If only we had Q to explain what to do with all these gadgets. (Photo from: bondhaiku.tumblr.com.)

For anyone who's yet to tackle the blog feature on your Artspan site, this idea may very well offer the perfect loophole. Because in the eternal battle between left-brain and right-brain thinking, sometimes the ability to see the world in an artistic light leaves you unable to express those same impressions in writing.

So for the gadget-friendly artist, perhaps a few Instagram updates to the blog - of works in progress, studio visits, or just something that interests you or on your daily walk - will offer the perfect solution for those moments when you find yourself speechless...but not necessarily imageless.

Which leaves me with just one question: if artists have gadgets now, why not utility belts?

Artist Member Interview: Wendy Gill

2011-11-04T11:51:00.001-04:00

by Sid Bailey

Mountain views, abandoned mines, ghost stories – delve into artist Wendy Gill’s background and you’ll be confronted with a cross between the quiet captivation of a John Ford vista and the nostalgic humor of a Scooby Doo episode.

Wendy Gill hard at work pouring resin in preparation for the Demented show at The Raw Canvas.

Gill’s memories are firmly rooted in the enduring mountainside in North Park, CO, where she spent her childhood daring rooftop lunges into snow piles in the winter, and mostly falling in love with nature as the spring sun swept patches of greenery and small creeks back into existence.

“Living so isolated, my two sisters and I found some pretty creative ways to stay entertained,” Gill said. “My work reflects a lot of the memories and feelings I acquired in such a wild and free place.”

Gill’s mother, a seamstress and artist, supported her daughter’s artistic pursuits. Her father, the caretaker of an abandoned fluorspar mine, discouraged potentially dangerous youthful explorations into mine shafts by crafting the story of “Pegleg,” the one-legged miner who met with death but decided to stick around anyway.

“Early one evening, my dad rigged a stick with a wheel on the end to one of his legs,” Gill reminisced. Just as night set in, her father waited concealed in the doorway of a big shop near the house. “He watched for us to come outside and gave out a horrifying laugh as loud as he could…We looked toward the sound and there was Pegleg, his black silhouette eerily lit by the green night-lights inside the building! I have never been that scared again in my entire life!”

"Alexandra the Great," 2011 - Mixed media collage. 20" x 16".

Perhaps it is adventures such as these that are responsible for the effusion of daring and story that populates Gill’s collages. The female figures in her pieces exude an effusive power and sensuality that penetrate the viewer with as much ease as and fascination as Audrey Hepburn’s eyes.

“I think the women in my work represent just that – women…Their fears, strengths, weaknesses, desires, anger, love, their emotions. There is usually an element in the piece that represents opposition to women as well,” Gill explained.

Gill paints the background of her pieces using a mix of acrylic and spray paint, while texture is teased into the work through a variety of mediums. The central figures come from magazines, through which she browses incessantly, tearing through pages with the abandon of a member of the Dead Poets Society.

“I sneak pages out of doctor offices and waiting rooms, having perfected a loud cough so no one hears the ripping of the pages!” she adds.

She then coats her acquisitions with acrylic gel and fuses them to the canvas utilizing a tacking iron. The final step involves protecting her pieces with epoxy resin.

The animal-life that populated her childhood – elk, deer, eagles, hawks, coyotes, and more – now finds its way into her collages, often strengthening the primal ferocity of a central female character, or sometimes standing alone in homages that recognize nature for its contradictory aspects: devastating beauty and sometimes instinctive savagery.

"Shine," 2010 - Mixed media collage. 20" x 16".

Through the use of bright colors and opposing forces, Gill’s pieces not only attract the eye but engage the mind. Cut-out layers draw you into the illusion of three-dimensional worlds rife with symbolism and struggle.

Frequently, Gill can be found exhibiting her work at The Raw Canvas, a tattoo studio and working artist gallery in Grand Junction, CO owned by Justin Nordine.

“[Nordine] wanted to merge the two—tattooing and fine art,” Gill said. “It has been a huge success.” Thanks to the popularity of its shows every other month, the gallery/studio will be moving to a new, more visible location downtown.

Most recently, Gill was accepted as a new artist at the Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade. To keep up to date with Wendy Gill’s future projects, you can find her actively promoting her work on her Facebook page.

Using Facebook to Promote Your Art, Part 2

2011-10-31T09:49:00.002-04:00

by Joan K. Smith, ArtspanDirector of Marketing

OK you have friends who follow your statusposts and links, and you are following the Facebook “rules of engagement” bymaking your posts and comments open ended and/or intriguing to encouragedialogue with this group. So how do youboost your visibility even more in the Facebook world? Here we’ll address a fewtips and tricks for getting to the next level

Facebook has a number of features, such asPages and Events, that are invaluable to turning this social hub into apowerful professional branding tool, but before diving into those, let’sconcentrate on laying some essential groundwork: Strengthening and expanding your personalnetwork of friends. This is an essential step, for this friend network willform the backbone of your professional art promotions on Facebook.

Facebook, you may have noticed, is highly selective about what it shows on yournewsfeed, and it has an algorithm to weed out activity that Mr. Zuckerberg, inhis infinite wisdom, has decided is of little importance to you. So what you see – and most importantly forour purposes, who sees you – is based on a ranking systemthat factors in an “affinity score” between the person viewing and posting (ifyou’ve interacted a great deal with a particular individual or entity there’s agood chance this will be high), the quality of interactions (which takes intoaccount comments, likes, share… each of which carries a separate weight); your newsfeed is also capped numerically, andunless you’ve changed your settings (we’ll go through tweaking your settings ina separate article), generally you’ll only be shown your top 250 friendactivities – no matter how big your friend list is!

Before recent changes, you were shown what it called “top stories” as thedefault, but you also had the option toclick the “View Most Recent” tab, which displayed everything in the feed; if you wanted to go back furtherthan the page display allowed, you could simply click on a button to show moreat the bottom of the page. Now there isonly one full page view, the default view that displays the filtered “top”results, and the remaining comments and updates appear on a scrollingTwitter-like real time “feed” on the right hand column. This boils down to a situation where – if youwant to maximize your visibility and impact -- you need to work a little harder,and even occasionally game the system.

Style
Do you ‘engage’ back? If you see a status post or story that really speaks toyou, you should certainly leave a comment, but even if you aren’t inclined toleave a comment or simply don’t have time, you should certainly “like” it. The “like” button is Facebook’s gesture of goodwill, a way of showing a friendthat their posts are both seen and appreciated; as a side benefit, that singleclick enhances your visibility on the timeline, not only because it will showup on the news ticker and your profile page, but it’s factored into theafore-mentioned “affinity score.”

Likewise – no pun intended -- “shares”are good ways of adding to your base of followers and making people take noteof you in a good way. Even better is when your posts are shared,and keep in mind that the most likely items to be shared are interestingarticles or news items, and especially videos. Videos need not be topical, and in fact sometimes the most interestingshared videos are obscure archive items you come across on YouTube – a fascinatingartist lecture from the 80s, an archive performance film from someone who isrecently deceased – you get the idea.

Another consideration: When you receive an invitation to an event , make a habit of an RSVP (which on Facebookincludes not only Yes and No, but Maybe), and if it’s art related, make sureinclude a comment on the event wall; don’tworry, the comment is nothing to get writers-blockish about, this can be assimple as “This sounds great, wish I could attend!” Why is this important? Even if your schedule doesn’t permit you to attendevery art related event that comes up, you do want to establish a presence assomeone who is interested and engaged (yep, that word again!) Notice that the event page displays all theinvitees, sorted by their responses – or lack thereof. You don’t want to end up on that long list ofapathetic “Waiting for Response” people. Again,it’s a matter of both courtesy and visibility.

Last but not least, Facebook now allows youto accept “Subscribers” to your status updates. These are people who aren’t onyour friend list, but who have an interest in following you. This is particularly designed for people witha non-friend fan base – and if you are an artist, you definitely want a fanbase. So go ahead and activate the “Subscribe”button for your profile. A fullexplanation and instructions can be found here.

Timing
Timingyour activities on Facebook is critical, especially with the new Facebookconfiguration, which puts most updates on a that fast-moving, Twitter-like “feed.” Facebook lets you scroll down a little intothis list, but not very far, so these items are visible for a very short periodof time. So make sure you get the most visibility andinteraction by posting at peak times when more people are logged in toFacebook; generally mornings, weekend afternoons, and evenings between 8 and 10pm are considered good times, but you should try to come up with a customizedpeak time estimate for your particular group. Simply check out who is online in your Chat area at different times ofthe day for about a week, and this will provide a good sample of how many ofyour friends are online.

So what if your friends’ peak times happen tobe inconvenient for you? Try out free versions of one of the great social mediatools like HootSuite (my favorite), TweetDeck, or Ping.fm– all of these allow you to write posts in advance, and then schedule when they go live on Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.

Friend Invitations -- Don’t Be Bashful
Be proactive about building a broad, yet meaningful, friend list. Make a habit of scanning the other inviteeson event pages, or checking out Facebook’s “People You May Know” list (the “seeall” link appears on the upper right hand side of your home page) to see ifthere is somebody you can invite to be a friend. Remember, on Facebook “friends” have a muchwider definition than real life, and now that Facebook lets you organizefriends into lists (and restrict your status updates to certain lists, if youso choose), you can afford to be a little more liberal with the friendinvitations. It’s a great way to reach out to those you’vefallen out of touch with and are outside of your real world social circle. And faceit, most of us have a long list of people who fit this bill. Former professors, leaders of workshops you’vetaken, classmates – all of these are fair game for a friend request. Didyou just attend a party where you had a fascinatingconversation with a new acquaintance? Look them up on Facebook when you gethome, and by all means send a friend invitation.

A word of warning: There’s a fine linebetween legitimate Facebook networking and rackingup superficial connections for the sake of numbers. Sodon’t go hog wild with the “friending” – if you’ve never spoken to them or hadreason for an association (e.g. mutual friends), skip sending an invitation. Remember, you are building your image, andthe last thing you want is to be known as that pest who randomly sends out friendinvitations to three-degree “connections” who don’t know you from Adam. On theother hand, when you are the recipient of a friend invitation, you can affordto be a little generous – if you don’t recognize the name, check out theirprofile page to see if there is a valid common interest or connections.

Think of it this way: Good businesses understandthe basic customer relations practice of being welcoming and considerate toanyone who happens to visit or call. You, as an independent professional, need to weave those good practicesinto everything you do -- including your Facebook interactions -- as you build your personal “brand.”

Comingnext in the series: Creating Pages and Events

Phase Three: Interpreting the Twitter Code

2011-10-25T14:27:00.002-04:00

by Sid Bailey

Unless you've got the charisma of a hero from a cult film (or you're Charlie Sheen), attracting followers to your Twitter account is going to take some time and effort. The best way to do this is by joining the conversation: frequently and aggressively. Think of yourself as the awkward guy at the party who sporadically mingles from one group to the next. Except, on Twitter, it's not only acceptable to do this, it's almost like an unwritten Twitter law. Drop your two cents with as much abandon as a Vegas slot machine addict.

Think Mad Max. You'll want to show your followers who rules the Twitter highways.

It's a conversation best infiltrated through the use of symbols. But don't panic: you don't need to be Robert Langdon to interpret the symbols of Twitter. Unlike the Beale ciphers, for instance, it's an easy code to break (although it most likely won't lead to buried treasure).

One of the easiest ways to engage other Twitter users is through the use of hashtags (a word preceded by the # symbol). By tagging certain key words in your tweets, you may attract the notice of other users interested in that particular topic.

For example, do you have a favorite show that just happens to be premiering for the season? Log in to Twitter while the show is playing and type the title into Twitter's search bar. Don't forget to add the # symbol (e.g. #Psych). You'll find a stream of live commentary from other fans, sharing their thoughts as they watch. If the conversation gets popular enough, it may appear in the "Trends" menu to your right. It's a perfect example of how hashtags can serve as your ticket to the Twitter community. You can always click on any hashtag to be taken directly to the ongoing discussion of that topic.

Hashtags guarantee that your comment will be added to the discussion (or indicate that you might wish to start your own discussion on a certain subject), but don't start using them in every tweet. It's just bad form.

Comedian Demetri Martin utilizes hashtags to demonstrate another example of bad form above.

The second most important Twitter law: avoid direct messages. When striking up a conversation with fellow users, always use direct replies by typing the Twitter username, preceded by the @ symbol (such as @DemetriMartin). This means that everyone will be able to read your comment, and hence it's another way to strike up a public conversation. You can use the @ symbol to respond to someone else's tweets, to tag someone in your tweets, and in general to attract potential followers.

This doesn't mean to start sending mini love-poems to @ZooeyDeschanel. But it does mean that you shouldn't be afraid to challenge someone else's comments (even if it is a celebrity), or to call attention to your own thoughts. For instance, if you happen to catch an art show that you really enjoyed, find out if the gallery or artist has a Twitter username and mention them in a Tweet. Even if they don't follow you back, other Twitter users will make note of your reciprocity and be more inclined to follow you in future.

Phase Two: Avoiding Twitter Block

2011-09-30T12:35:00.001-04:00

by Sid Bailey

So you've created a Twitter account, but now you're stuck with the equivalent of a radio DJ's worst nightmare: dead air.

Introducing yourself to Twitter may feel strange at first - without many followers, it's not much different from being caught talking to yourself. But the more frequently you tweet, the more followers you're likely to attract to your thought stream.

The message you'll be confronted with until you make your first Tweet. Yes, now even computers exert peer pressure.

In the words of Lewis Carroll, let's "begin at the beginning" - with your first Tweet. Even before you start following other users, take a minute to introduce yourself to the Twitterverse. You can type anything you want into that tempting little white box: a joke, a link to your artist page, the day's agenda, even a simple hello. For anyone daunted by the endless possibilities, check out this roundup of celebrity first Tweets for inspiration.

Once you've made that first tweet, you'll want to keep the stream going. Twitter followers are demanding, so challenge yourself to tweet at least once a day. It's kind of like word-burlesque - keep your readers enticed and always wanting to see a little more of your clever wordplay.

Think of your Twitter audience as a cat that can't get enough treats. (Photo courtesy of basykes, Flickr.)

Use Twitter for more than just promoting new art. Try personalizing the experience for your followers by letting them get to know the artist, not just the work.

If life can inspire your art, it can inspire your tweeting. Did you listen to a particular album while working on your last piece? If so, tweet about it. Find an interesting article online? Share the URL. Eventually, you'll develop a Twitter-reflex: if you can think it, you can tweet it. But if you still find yourself stuck, here's a list of 30 prompts to help you out.

Overwhelmed by the thought of all this extra work? Keep in mind that a Tweet is only 140 characters long - at average typing speed, it should take only about 30 seconds of your time. Here's some handy advice from blogger Adam Pash at Lifehacker.com , who was in turn inspired by comedian Chris Hardwick:

"Last year at a Twitter conference here in Los Angeles, nerd, comedian, tech lover, frequent tweeter, and friend of Lifehacker Chris Hardwick addressed criticisms that using Twitter was a big, narcissistic waste of time. In making his point, Hardwick offered an analogy that stuck with me. He explained that it's not as though he's spending hour after hour devising and composing his next tweet, and Twitter's not taking time away from anything else he'd already be doing. Rather, he grouts his days with Twitter. He's got a free moment here and there, he's got a thought/idea/link/joke he wants to share, and he shares it."

Facebook Redefines Itself Once Again: New Subscribe Feature

2011-09-15T14:31:00.000-04:00

by Sid Bailey

Anyone familiar with Facebook knows that profiles are for friends, pages for the public. But every now and then, Facebook developers like to shake up the interverse with controversial changes. (Remember the Facebook "stalker feed" you used to complain about - before you became addicted to status updates?)

Now, Facebook users can avoid all the hassle of maintaining and updating a separate page by adding the new "Subscribe" feature to their profiles.

Simply log in to your Facebook account and go here. Once you allow subscribers, users who aren't your "friends" can choose to follow your public updates and keep track of what you've been up to. The upper right corner of your public profile will now look like this:

If privacy is a concern, there's no need to worry. Notifications will inform when you have new subscribers, and you can decide who you'll allow to comment on and "like" your posts. In addition, you have the ability to choose which updates are viewable to the public, and which stay in your circle of friends. Use the inline audience selector on your individual posts to determine who can see what you're adding to your wall. Facebook outlines this feature in more detail on their "Privacy Settings" page. Click on the photo below to learn more:

First Step in the Twitter Universe: Creating Your Account

2011-09-01T14:43:00.006-04:00

by Sid Bailey

The next time you have a few free minutes, go to www.webmii.com. Type your name in the boxes and click “Search.” You’ll be taken to a page with a number: your online visibility score, which indicates how strong your presence is in the cyber community on a scale of one to ten.

The world average is 2.8. If your score is anything below that, you have some real work ahead of you. But your ultimate goal (as with the oh-so-dreaded standardized testing of school days) is to reach the “above average” tip of the scale – by waging an active social media marketing campaign (a battle which can be fun once you get to know your way around the system – think Tron).

High achievers: you can aim to beat Oscar Wilde. Even from beyond the grave, he has the impressive score of 8.2.

The easiest way to begin establishing your online presence is via Twitter. Primarily text-based, you won’t have to worry yet about juggling the multiple options other platforms provide. Twitter allows you to post a constant commentary on your life and work, keeping your followers updated – it’s a stream of news and trivia that keeps even the fiercest gossip hounds satisfied (for a while). The catch? Each of your posts can only be 140 characters long. Think of it as promoting your work through haiku – elegant bursts of poetry that will add personality and interactivity to your online presence.

To get started, visit twitter.com. Click “Sign up” and enter your name, email, and password. Then, decide on your all-important Twitter username. You’ll want to keep it short and memorable. Try mixing syllables and letters from your first and last names: Twitter will even offer a few suggestions. (I created a new username, bailsey, which sounded a bit less uninspired than Twitter’s suggestion: BaileySid.) Then click “Create my account.”

The first page you’ll come to is the “Suggestions” page. Twitter will give you a list of popular accounts to follow – full of celebrities and humorous fakes. You can follow some of these for fun, but later you’ll want to focus most of your attention on following users who will want to follow back. (And Justin Bieber is not going to follow you.) I followed Lord_Voldemort7 just to get started. In the menu to your right, a few suggestions of users similar to the ones you pick will pop up. Twitter suggests beginning by following ten accounts, but we’ll skip forward for now. Click on the button at the bottom of the page that says “Next Step: Interests.”

Or you could try to be that one person Lord Voldemort privileges with a follow.

Choose a few interests, and Twitter will take you to another list of popular users, now separated by category. After choosing “Funny,” I opted to follow Simon Pegg. (Don’t forget that this account is for your enjoyment as much as a useful marketing tool. The more you invest your personal interests into the account, the more of a draw it will offer for you to keep coming back.)
After browsing the categories, click on the button that reads, “Next Step: Friends.” You can search for the Twitter names of your contacts in other services you may use, like Gmail and LinkedIn, by clicking “Search contacts” and entering your username and password.
Before you write your first Tweet (or Twitter post), the next step is to set up your profile. Try uploading your profile picture. Keep in mind that this will only be a thumbnail shot, so headshots generally work best. (Twitter’s default profile picture is an egg – which is okay to keep, if you spend your free time watching the king’s horses.) You can also enter your location, the URL for your website if you have one, and a 160 character bio.

Be sure to populate your bio with searchable keywords, but also try to keep it interesting so that browsing users will be intrigued enough to follow. For instance, Grant Imahara (of Mythbusters fame) opted for:

“Robot builder, modelmaker and television host on Mythbusters.”

Even for someone who’s not a fan of the show, “robot builder” is just quirky enough to catch the casual browser’s attention. Be sure to save before you leave the page.

Now it’s time to tap into your inner artist – by clicking on the “Design” page. You can choose from a few predesigned themes, or upload your own photo. (A sample image of your art in your profile background will introduce users to what you do, but be sure to keep it simple and elegant. You don’t want to draw attention away from your profile’s content.)

If you find you have followers even before you've written your first Tweet: be wary. They're most likely spam accounts. The fact that they're all young females with Playboy Bunny names should be your first clue.

Congratulations: you’ve now completed your profile and officially entered the Twitter universe. Just don’t forget to confirm your new Twitter account by logging into your email and following the link!

Introduction

2009-06-04T16:35:00.000-04:00

Artspan is home to 2,900 artist, artisan, photographer and other art websites. Use the search functions and directories to see thumbnail images and access the individual websites - to view or buy work.

Also visit the Portals, gateways to genres, media and regions. Participate in the Forum. Browse Articles and the Art Calendar. Artspan is a resource for anyone interested in contemporary art.

For artists, photographers, jewelers and others, we offer full-featured, elegant, low cost, easy-to-manage websites. With frequent upgrades: an integrated shopping cart option has just been added and a prints-on-demand feature is coming next.