todays bird
titsay
NASA
almost home
izzy's playlists!
wallacepolsom
Xuebing Du
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Discoholic 🪩
EXPECTATIONS
No title available
Janaina Medeiros
YOU ARE THE REASON
Cosmic Funnies
𓃗
cherry valley forever
Monterey Bay Aquarium
sheepfilms
Peter Solarz
Today's Document
seen from Russia
seen from Australia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Türkiye
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from France
seen from Australia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Russia
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
@walkingeave-blog
At what point should a business get a website? What is the best time to start using social media?
I suppose if you’re selling digital goods the answer is obvious, but what if you’re based in the physical world. At what point should a retailer create and on-line presence?
You probably expect...
Yeah.
I don’t wanna say anything nasty, but imo (Euro/semi-Anglosaxon/German/open) this is so typically USA style :(
Why? Why make stuff go either black or white? The black/white thing doesn’t help you, doesn’t help the world, and only rarely sits near the truth, let alone practical use and true daily life. Why make it us-them so heavily? Why, why after 100’s of reasons for feeling and knowing Christine is a ‘us’ make Christine a ‘them’ and block this person? That is too dumb of a reasoning, dude… Nic, in this case.
I don’t really blame you - and I shouldn’t, hey I’m propagating for less black-n-white!!!- but I do ‘blame’ your country. The USA is weird. Sad. In quite some respects. Mainly, for me, in the black-n-white thing:
* Let’s throw the 18 yo dude who had sex with a 15 yo (okay, not too cool perhaps, but having NOTHING to do with pedophilia… heck I dated a girl 2.5 years younger than me at that age) in jail for six years, and have him, even 10 years later, live in a street where only offenders live, and keep an eye on him forever.
* Let’s order the LARGEST pizza with the LARGEST Coke and MOST greasy shit on top of it and then complain about the world being such a bitch when looking at the scale saying 360.
* Let’s forbid euthanasia as a whole, just like abortion. So for the so many people for whom the situation is real, honest and terrible, for the people surrounding them, for the possible child being born 7 months later having hardly a chance for a decent future, let’s just judge them and not respect them.
* Let’s … be super-Christian and forbid tv, yet put it upstairs to go watch it real sneaky.
* Let’s say nothing out loud about sex, keep it taboo’d, so that our kids think oral sex is JUST ANOTHER HOBBY when they’re 13 yo, and so that we allow or even force a humongous world of porn vids and stuff be built.
* Let’s forbid drugs as a whole, so that there will be 10+ million heavily addicted in the USA.
* Let’s drooool over Oprah, dr Oz and dr Phil, yet kill 10 burgers and 20 hotdogs a day and kill each other or make life miserable.
* Or let’s go totally nuts and go vegan, anti-carbohydrates and anti-fat and go eat like a sick chicken.
And so on, and so on… Makes me sad. And I seriously can’t believe this is ‘the promised land’. -rofl-
Dear USA peeps, all 310M of you, please, I beg you: won’t you just go try live with grey scales more often, on more topics and more levels. Merely either black or white might be morally easier for you -awww, that’s cute- to handle, but practically stupid and counterproductive as hell.
SO, WAKE UP, drop the stupids among the extremes in thinking (like: ALL OF ‘EM!!!), and go utilize and practice respect, space, normality, empathy and logic!!!!!! And yes, next time I will go shout at my fellow-Dutch. We have our own, more nasty, tendencies over here. Calling ourselves tolerant and social…
Some thoughts about Missions
I've been doing some experimenting with offering Missions. While the next version of my book is already set and will include a fairly basic explanation of why and how to use missions, this post is more on the order of food for thought for that inevitable next release.
I have seen a lot of people do missions that offer only 500 eaves. When the 500 eaves are offered for a fairly basic action, I believe that most users will get at least 50% completion by those who click the link and take the 500 eaves. I have heard more than a few savvy players complain stridently about folks who ask for multiple actions or major actions for just 500 eaves. I believe that on 500 eave missions that instruct or worse command folks to do more than is reasonable risk having a much higher percentage of folks taking the eaves and not completing the task. I have found that on 500 eaves missions in particular if I politely ask for things like Shares, Comments and Likes I often get near 100% completion with one of these three extras or another (ie give away 50 sets eaves and have a total of more than 50 Likes and Shares and Comments).
I found that offering 1000eaves rewards in Missions also seem to pay off at least 50% of the time and often considerably more when I demand little but ask nicely for lots. I have also done one small mission where in I offered 2000 eaves but rather than stating that I was happy to give the eaves to anyone who stopped by, I asked the folks contemplating the mission to please only do it if they were genuine fans of literary fiction. I got about either likes, shares or comments at the rate of about 70% though again, some folks liked And shared And commented. I believe that about 50% of those who took the eaves did one or more of the things I asked, but enough of the did all three that it shows a 70% success rate.
People who have good people skills (as opposed to Social Media Rock Stars) already know that you get MUCH farther with almost anyone by asking nicely rather than demanding service for payment. And that certainly seems true in the case of Empire Avenue missions.
No One Path. I'm OK, You're OK, We're All OK
It was a thread in Team Zen, but it felt as though it really could have used a bit of self help from the 1970's. Empire Avenue is a very intriguing and complex web site. It is in one sense an equivalent or perhaps competitor to sites like Klout and Peer Index. But at the same time it is most definitely a social networking stock market trading game. And I honestly don't think it is in the least bit fair to criticize one's friends because they are "playing to win" in what is most definitely a game, that has been specifically offered as such by the gentlemen (Are there any ladies on the EAv Team?) who put the site up on the web every day. Some people are on Empire Avenue because they are trying to be or consider themselves or are paid to be social media rockstars err managers or managers in training. Some people are just using EAv as a tool to see how they're doing elsewhere. Some folks are playing the game, and some of those folks are playing to win. Some folks care mostly about the play money and the score. Some folks care mostly about the people. And everyone really IS trying to promote not only their stock but also in many cases also their ideas. Some folks are using Empire Avenue primarily as a social network on which to meet people with whom they are in fact trying to change the world. And you know what? They are all friends of mine. Empire Avenue is a tool as well aa a game as well as a social network. And like a good party, it's also whatever you decide to make it. So if you're old enough, do a little mental time travel and remember when I'm OK, You're OK was a best seller. Try at least for a little while to remember the days of TM and est. Recite your mantra if you remember it. And repeat after me. There is NO Right or Wrong way to play Empire Avenue. Brad and the EAv team have made clear that they are strongly committed to enforcing the rules and there is no reason that any of us should ever turn away in friend ship from one another who do follow the rules. In my considered opinion Brad and Dups and all of the rest of their great team are more than quite capable of enforcing the rules. And if you see anything that you think is wrong, but all means press the report button and talk to them about your concerns. But I respectfully state that criticizing erstwhile friends for choosing a different style of game play which is in fact perfectly within the rules and is not in fact per se harmful to the game or to any of the other participants in the game or in the communities. It seems to me there was very wide criticism of some very over the top blog spamming. (eg publishing Project Gutenberg is perfectly legal, even in 300 word bites with dozens and dozens of posts per day, but is so obviously cheating that it was intolerable--- they got rid of that) although as a person who is very serious about blogging I was disappointed that part of the fix was that they greatly devalued even the five blog post per day that they count. But I can live with that. I'm doing what I'm doing on my blogs and social networks because it is Exactly what I want to do. For me that is HUGE. So please, no matter how passionately you feel about newbies needing a better welcome experience than getting bid up and churned down (In my case only if they DON't connect) all in their first week, don't blame folks who try to buy and connect with new folks most every day and hold them for a while, and then sell them if they don't connects. That's just the game and if you're really saying that folks who take it first as a game shouldn't be welcome on the Avenue? Well then I can only say how presumptuous of you.
Brilliant 3D Perspective Paintings by Patrick Hughes
Patrick Hughes - Fifty years in Show Business - Cork street from Patrick Hughes on Vimeo.
Patrick Hughes - Corner Stores from Patrick Hughes on Vimeo.
Quick Tip
If you blog on Wordpress.com and have more than one WP.com blog AND have connected WP.com to Empire Avenue, this is a tip for you. You want to be sure that your most active blog (the on which you post most frequently an/or get the most comments/visitors) is listed in WP.com as your Primary blog. By default WP.com considers the first blog you set up on that site as your primary blog. Luckily, it's very easy to check and change. While logged in to your WP.com account and on any WP.com page look at your toolbar and to the very upper right of the screen. Click on your name and a pop up menu will appear. On the menu select Manage My Blogs. You will see a list of all of the blogs you have on WP.com and notice that on only one of them there is a check mark in the little white box next to the word Primary. If the check mark is not where it should be, just check next to Primary on the listing for the blog you use most.
Justin Bieber and Social Media
I am shamelessly piggy backing on a gentleman whom my friend Shirley Williams points out is a very #socialmedia savvy guy, and it's just to make a point really. Being a successful blogger requires understanding and using a whole bunch of different sites, and using them in a way that is appropriate not only for each site and the prevailing ethics of its user community but also within your own personal ethics as a blogger. Because I am posting this Tumblr specifically in response to something Shirley wrote on her blog, I feel it is perfectly reasonable to title the post Justin Bieber and Social Media. That is (sort of) the subject of Shirley's post. (And to give Shirley her full due, she expended a great deal more effort to tie in her post to the celebrity she piggy-backed on than I did.) And a short one paragraph post that illustrates a #socialmedia concept fits in pefectly on Tumblr, so there is definitely no problem there. While I do think it would be a bit tacky to try to exploit a celebrity for any major #socialmedia campaign or even for a much-promoted pillar post, I think it's fine for an ordinary post or a quick Tumble.
I really want to match everyone who buys in me, but I just don’t get enough eaves to do it. So I am doing a new policy: I will match eventually. Don’t expect it to be fast, it will be over time. Know that every time I have extra eaves I am out there trying to catch up.
I am also altering the way...
I would just say that I think that Matt's ideas are good. I am honestly to a point where I don't actively prune my portfolio with any great regularity. I try hard to match all of my share holders up to 600 hundred and I'm always happy to buy as many shares as I can in friends who pay great dividends, it is a mathematical fact of life on the Avenue, that one will struggle to match all of one's 600 investors for a very long time.
Consider a long time Empire Avenue who bought 600 of your shares early in your participation and paid an average price of 33eaves per share. You are now trading in the 90's perhaps and the person who bought you for 33 costs almost 200 eaves/share. As Matt says below, it will take time.
Don't Unfriend! Just UnSubscribe!!
It seems to me that if you have an account on Empire Avenue and list a Facebook account on your Empire Avenue profile, it really is not okay to report someone to Facebook for sending you a friend request after buying your shares. If you don't want to be friends on Facebook even though I am a shareholder, that's fine. Just click the Ignore button and I will go away. That we are not connected on Facebook may make me re-evaluate the relationship. I may sell off your stock. When and if I feel like it.
If I've done something that pisses you off, please block me. If you don't like me and don't want to see me or hear what I have to say, just click the block button. It will completely and permanently remove me from your Facebook existence. I personally think that simply blocking people you don't care to hear from is the smartest way to manage your social networks. And in Facebook's new Timeline incarnation, you don't even have to unFriend someone who has become obnoxious and tiresome. You can simply unsubscribe from them and leave them as friends. They'll never notice you did and you remain free to enjoy using your network to talk to people you truly value and remain full control over the signal to noise ratio.
After a shareholder email I sent out several weeks ago, I’ve had a lot of questions on different subjects.
One of them has been regarding the issues of WordPress.com hosted blogs.
I have a pretty high WP.com score (56) and will share some behind the scenes data:
First off, here are actual...
This fireworks video is courtesy my good buddy, Gaye Crispin. Here's wishing you a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year.
I'm Recovering
You may have noticed that I haven't posted to this blog in quite some time. I had a heart attack last month and have been recovering and limiting my social media participation. I am making an effort to get back to blogging this week. My book is available, and is up to date with all of the current changes on Empire Avenue. All of the changes that Empire Avenue has made actually make my advice more spot on than ever. So if you are new to the game and find it confusing, check out Walking Down The Avenue, only 99 cents at Smashwords.
What's The New Percentage For Dividends?
With the changes to Empire Avenue last week it is apparent that many long time players are no longer producing dividends of 1.0% of their share price each day. I'm not sure that we have in fact settled yet into a "new normal" after the "deflationary adjustments" but I am very curious to know if anyone has settled on a new working percentage for what constitutes "Good Dividends". Do you have a working percentage? What is it? Please share.
Pro-Tip: If you Like bombs, make your FB wall Likable
It can be a little frustrating. You visit someone's Facebook wall because they signed up for a Like-Bombing event. But they've been so busy leaving comments and Like-Bombs themselves that their wall is mostly all notifications and there is almost nothing to Like. Don't let this be your wall-- think of all the Likes and comments you could miss.
To clean up your wall simply place your mouse cursor in the text area of any FB notification on your wall that does not include a button. An X will appear in the upper right corner of the item area. Click on the X and then choose "Block all notices of this type". Repeat again and again until your wall has nothing but Likable items. Once cleaned, your wall will mostly stay clean so that whenever you attract a visitor who's of a mind to Like your postings, your wall will have nothing but postings that are Likable.
Yes, You DO Have To Register To Buy My Book
OR...is my eBook worth 99 cents?
First, I want to thank all of the more than 350 people who have downloaded Walking Down The Avenue to date. I have gotten some feedback from a handful of folks who did not want to register at Smashwords in order to "buy" a free copy of the book using a 100% off coupon they received in a shareholder mail. I do understand that having to register with yet another site is something of a pain in the neck. Most of us already belong to so many different sites. There is an alternative. Walking Down The Avenue v 1.0 is also available from iWriteReadRate. For the low, low price of only 99 cents. Adam Charles (e)AdamCharles the founder of iWriteReadRate assures me that you need only provide your name and e-mail address for their site records before being whisked off to PayPal to purchase the book.
Folks who do not read very much, or who are totally committed to all things Amazon may not think about it that much, but sites like Smashwords and iWriteReadRate are critical infrastructure for the growing independent publishing movement. Having independent sites that make it possible for good writers to publish books simply by uploading a word processor file and without ever spending a penny publish a real eBook complete with ISBN that is offered for sale at Amazon and several other major retailers is a huge game changer. Having an independent site that will allow independent authors to network and collaborate may play a huge role in furthering the success of independent authors cum publishers.
The evolution of sites like Smashwords and iWriteReadRate are turning publishing on it's head and bringing us a huge new wave of unique and worthy voices who are harnessing the power of new automated publishing web sites and bringing books (like mine) which have the potential to be game changers. It is important not only for writers, but also for readers who care about having a wide range of works available to actively support Smashwords and iWriteReadRate that provide the infrastructure for the indie publishing revolution. To tell you the truth, if you're not willing to give me your name and e-mail address as well as your dollar, I don't want you to buy my book.
(If you are one of those folks who does buy everything from Amazon, be assured the Smashwords version will be for sale on Amazon within a month or two :)
Would You Like To Review Walking Down The Avenue?
I'm so pleased to announce that Walking Down The Avenue v 1.0 is now available on Smashwords. If you have a blog about Empire Avenue, I invite you to review the book. Just send me a private message with your blog URL and I will send you a 100% off coupon so that you can download a free copy and take a look at it.
If you like it, you can recommend it to your blog readers and earn an 11% commission on any and all sales resulting from clicks on your affiliate link. To recommend Walking Down The Avenue, first sign up for Smashwords and then register for their affiliate marketing program. Then visit the book's page and you will find your own custom URL at the very bottom.
If you have any questions or need help, just give me a holler on Facebook, on Empire Avenue or via e-mail to [email protected].
Perhaps someone on the Empire Avenue team reads this blog. Miraculously, I can update my EAv avatar image again. I have reverted my avatar to my Libdrone Books logo and completed a move to the Games, Social index where I am the President-- front and center screen on the index page.
I am busy finalizing plans for next week's release of Walking Down The Avenue version 1.0 A friend who is a retired graphic designer made me a great book cover image, and I am doing the final updates of the manuscript to reflect the addition of FourSquare and Instagram into the game. I am also arranging a sort of promotional book tour-- in a very EAv kind of way.
