Joe Hickman

Why #FollowFriday or #FF is wearing itself out... Please RT!

When I first joined Twitter, and I got my first #FF or #FollowFriday, I was excited! I was new to Twitter and it was cool to have new followers for no reason other than for some reason, someone else thinks their followers should follow me. I didn't know why and I didn't really care to be honest. I started to get into it though, and I noticed what sparks attention. Twitter is a powerful tool and when you first start using it you don't realize just how powerful it is or can be.

But The Follow Firday Fad? Come On....

It's wearing itself out. On Friday, under my @dreamslikefire account, I will get like 10-15 #FF or #FollowFriday mentions on Twitter, and I normally get about 2 or 3 new followers. I want people to follow me because they're interested in what I'm talking about, they want to discuss different views on different topics, and communicate, that's what Twitter is all about, right? If you're going to pimp me out on Fridays... I would like you to include some reasoning. Why do you think that your followers should follow me? I don't really want a group of people following me just to have as many followers as possible like some sort of competition. It just seems so much like a myspace prog, adding as many friends as possible, to get high play counts and profile views. If your music sucks though, does it really matter how MUCH you market it?

I see the networking and social media marketing side of things too, don't get me wrong, you never know who you're going to run into. I could post something right now, tomorrow or next week that strikes a chord in someone and there is a new relationship. Something new, awesome and amazing.

I want people that follow me, to know why they should follow me, and that's for the substance of the my tweets, interest in me, or building a relationship. I have a business Twitter (@atomicjoe), and I have my personal / freelance twitter. I tend to spew my thoughts into twitter, and here. It helps me a lot mentally to stay focused on all the stuff I have going on in my life and I get a ton of respect and props for me just telling it like it is and keeping it real. I'm not fake and my tweets aren't fake. It wouldn't make any sense to me to follow me unless you are honestly interested in something I have said in the past, present, or just want to connect on the Web Design / Web Development networking side of it, and don't be a stranger...

All I am saying is that if you're going to #FF or #FollowFriday me, do something similar to this...

"I'm only pimping @dreamslikefire @krysvs and @combustionglass today. Ppl who inspire without even knowing it."

http://twitter.com/bullybully32/status/2571565770

I think maybe the new fad should be #CoolFollow or #InspireFollow or something neat like that, I'd pay WAY more attention to something like that.

In The Spirit Of Follow Friday Here Are Some Cool People

@jameyjasta - Vocalist for Hatebreed, Kingdom Of Sorrow, Icepick. Previously hosted MTV2's Headbanger's Ball. THE hardest working man in metal. He's a pure inspiration. His words are uplifting and that's hard to find in someone who's been through a lot and who has SO much going on. He will inspire you too, so go follow!

@mikejarrell - Simply a connection through Twitter, and a great person of advice, and always around when I have a question, or need help with something. I've recently hired him to help me with a bunch of the Stillborn Records / Hatebreed stuff. So far he's been a pleasure to work with and is always busting his ass.

@destrovox - One of the greatest people in my life recently. We've both been through some times, and it's brought us closer as friends. He is in one HELL OF GREAT band, The Destro. He hired me to complete the CD Packaging for their new record with release details and cover artwork leak coming in the next few weeks, hopefully!

@dino2gnt - What a great guy. If I ever have any server / coding / web related issues this guy is always the first to respond and give his helping hand. It's all about helping out other people and putting smiles on everyone's faces. I can always count on this guy to offer his expertise when needed. Had dinner with him this week while he was here for some Traninng classes, and he's a VERY intelligent person, follow him and learn something.

@bullie666 - A very uplifting person to follow and have following you. He's way into music, and design. He's not afraid to voice his opinion either, which is always appreciated and respected. Follow this guy and share opinions and a laugh. It's awesome that he's in a totally different time zone than me and I'm a night owl. So when I'm just getting in the zone, so is he.

Comment, ReTweet, Go! I want to hear your opinion, no matter who you are!

My Twitter Don't Tweet

I got this email forwarded from my mom and I got a kick out of it. Not sure who wrote it but take a quick read...

Things are spiraling out of control. I think I have become lost in a world of electronic madness.

One of my sons informed me this week that my cell phone has become obsolete and I must head down to the Cell Phone store and get a phone that is contemporary with the time.

I pointed out that the fancy Razor/Slim line phone with camera built in that he made me trade my perfectly good flip-top Motorola cell phone for two years ago still works perfectly fine. Well, except for the camera thing. Never could figure that out... Even the few times I actually did take pictures I couldnt figure what to do with them and gave up.

That is except when I would push the wrong button and take a video of the ceiling or my feet.

Seems the issue is that I am unable to text with the tiny little 3 character buttons. "Hi, son," would come out looking like, "Gh Qmo." My grandkids have even spoken to me about my crazy text messages. Give me a break. What ever happened to actually talking on a phone? Isnt that what they were invented for?

They want me to get one of those phones that you can turn upside down and sideways and has a typewriter keyboard with keys about one-eighth the size of my pinky finger.

One of my four sons is a realtor whose real occupation is fly fishing.. "Way to go, son." Or in my text language, "Xbz um Io, rmo."

We were floating the Yakima River in his guide quality drift boat south of Ellensburg , Washington . We were miles from anything remotely resembling civilization. Rock canyon walls were on either side of us. Bear with me as I try to explain this strange thing.

His "Blackberry" rang. It was blue and I asked him why it wasnt called a Blueberry. He shook his head with that dealing with an elder despair look I get a lot these days. It was another realtor who called to say that the sellers he represented had agreed to my sons clients changes and he had the signed documents in hand.

My son told him to FAX the papers to his office and he would get them signed and Faxed back, to close the deal that morning. A minute later the phone rang and he hit a few buttons and looked over the FAX, now on the Yakima River with us.

He then called his clients and told them he was Faxing the papers to them to sign and asked them to FAX them back to his office.. While he was waiting, he hooked into a fat rainbow and was just releasing this 22 inch beauty as his phone rang again with the signed FAX from his clients.

He called the other realtor and told him he was sending the signed papers back by FAX. The deal was closed. He smiled and just said, "You are a little behind the times, Dad." I guess I am.

I thought about the sixty million dollar a year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a Blackberry that played music, took videos, pictures and communicated with Facebook and Twitter.

I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [its red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Nobles talking to my wife as every one in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. Seems I have to take my hearing aid out to use it and got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-ul-ating" You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then when I would make a right turn instead, it was not good.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still havent figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop.

I bought some of those cloth re-usable bags to avoid looking confused but never remember to take them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesnt matter to me. I am bi-sacksual."

Then its their turn to stare at me with a blank look.

Designing the new Hatebreed Website....

The past two weeks have been pretty much pure hell for me since E1 Music (formerly KOCH) has started releasing the tracks (week by week) from the new Hatebreed covers album, "For The Lions". Let me just explain a little more... First of all Roadrunner still had ownership of the domain, then E1 got it. But here's the problem, nobody knows what the FTP information for the website is on RR's server. Why is that a problem you ask? We can't download the site, or backup any databases but it's sort of okay with me for one reason... We get to build a better website! The current website is great and all but it's not very user friendly. Expecially since social media has pretty much taken over since Hatebreed released their album, "Supremacy" in 2006. Now Jamey Jasta uses twitter daily, and we depend highly on social media to spread the word of news and tour information. We HAVE to have this stuff.

The current Hatebreed website doesn't have dedicated pages for each post and everything is generated in one iFrame (I don't know who's genius idea this was, even in 2006? WTF? You can't bookmark any posts on digg or facebook, or even twitter. The biggest problem for me is there's no way for the fans to respond to the news we post on the site and you can't bookmark a damn thing on there. Not to mention we can't advertise anything on there.

Check out the newest band website that I built for Walls Of Jericho (http://www.wallsofjericho.net). When I set out to redesign and rebuild that site, I wanted a way for fans to respond to the band and post comments but I really didn't want to use WordPress... The website turned out great, it's easy for me to update and there is a banner manager for the site so I can design several banners showcasing several tours, items for sale in the store or contests, I mean there is a impossible amount of options there and it's a great tool that every band should use.

What of some of the features you like about your favorite band's websites? Do you even visit your favorite band's websites anymore? Comment!

By the way... I'm not knocking what the guys over @ Sons Of Nero did with the website at all, they do great work!