If you are a writer/blogger you probably want to make your voice heard – or rather have your words read… which is basically a no-brainer. The internet can be a great way to work on that (well, at least for the bloggers among us that venue is rather self-explanatory). Chances are we all want to enhance our reputation, get more traffic on our websites and occasionally even become rich and/or famous (cue for songs somewhere in the range of “All I have to do is dream”, “If I was a rich man”, “Nice work if you can get it” or “You can get it if you really want” and “Work B*tch”).
In other words: Self-marketing and Public Relations are important tools if we want to get readers, sell our books, find new clients, get our names out there.
So, how DOES one get ahead in the virtual world? Successful blogging is certainly at least a part of the answer… which is one of the reasons why I keep posting my findings regarding this particular topic. There is more to keep in mind, though, so I went to one of my favorite go-to places on the www. (GIVE ME A T… GIVE ME AN E… GIVE ME A D!!!!) and found a bit of inspiration. It has something to do with the concerted efforts of reddit users to name a certain humpback whale “Mister Splashy Pants”… well, sort of:
In this particular TED talk, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit explains his version of “how to make a splash in social media”.
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susa(nne) wagner 
An interesting talk and story, but one that shows both the power and the problems with the internet. Ohanian makes it sound as though,through this meme campaign, the battle against Japanese whaling was won, but that doesn’t seem to be the real (or whole) story. The Japanese stopped in response to losing a ruling in the International Court of Justice. And despite the ban that arose from that ruling, they’ve announced plans to continue whaling–though at a much lower level–in 2015. This makes me concerned about 1. the parts of the story that Ohanian left out inorder to make a catchy TEDTalk and 2. the staying power of using the internet in this way. Will all those people who voted not because they care about whatles but because they were looking for “something cool” be there next year, and the next, when Greenpeace is fighting this battle again? Or will Japan go back to business as usual once the internet public loses interest? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but they concern me when I hear claims like those Ohanian seems to be making. Great topic for discussion. 🙂
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Thank you once more for a very thoughtful as well as thought-provoking comment.
I totally agree with you regarding “both the power and the problems with the internet”. The way I see it, the internet is like a very crowded city interspersed with patches of jungle. One has to navigate and look around carefully. It is lively and dangerous and funny and adventurous and useful and powerful and problematic and great. And full of manipulation, and if you want to make proper use of information you always need to consider the source and their potential agenda. But – I digress.
No, I don’t suppose this particular talk should be considered a how-to regarding eco-politics. I would like to believe that politics can or COULD be swayed by a certain amount of public outcries – but no, I don’t think reddit can particularly claim they have saved the whales or something. To me, the talk is interesting in so far as to give an idea how social media can be utilized in order to enhance one’s visibility.
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I agree with you. It’s important to understand what the possibilities could be as well as what the limitation are.
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