How to become rich and famous - June 5, 2008

I've done something that I promised myself I wouldn't do. I signed up and paid for a flickr account. There's a lot I like about flickr but until now my two big stumbling blocks were that they're owned by Yahoo (and maybe by Microsoft) and they're essentially a pay service if you want to do anything cool.

But if you're going to do photos on the internet and you want to be part of a community, then flickr is the only game in town. I had been posting all my photos to picasaweb but there's no community there, no groups, nothing to get excited about.

That's a pretty important lesson that a lot of people overlook. We're past the time on the internet where if you simply build it, they will come. If you want people to check out what you're doing, you need to go where the people are.

I get email all the time from people who want to know where to start. They want to be a writer / make movies / work for Rudius / work in entertainment / start a business / you get the idea.

There's only one answer. You have to get involved. Whether it's artistic, business or criminal you have to find a community and become a valuable part of it. There aren't any tricks or shortcuts.

And this isn't new. Timothy Leary hung out with the beat generation. Earnest Hemingway was in Paris in the 1920s. Andy Warhol had NYC. If you're really into technology there are 2600 meetings, if you want to go to law school, every school has a pre-law society, or a pre-med society or an engineering fraternity.

The internet has changed the way in which we interact but not the reasons why. The internet has made finding people with similar interests easier but it hasn't done away with the need for social communities.

So get involved in meaningful and valuable ways. Find a community of people that you enjoy and become a part of that community. This isn't about spamming your work on them, or using them in an underhanded fashion. Leave comments on other people's work. Find people you respect and start a conversation with them. Be the kind of person that you'd want to interact with.

And this should be enjoyable. Getting involved in a community isn't about becoming rich and famous, it's about connecting with people who are going to help you get better at whatever you're doing.

I didn't join flickr because I want to be a photographer. My skill at taking pictures is average at best. Photography for me is a hobby but I still want to connect with other people who are excited about photography and I want to find people who's work I really enjoy.

In the same fashion, I didn't join the messageboard because I wanted to be a writer or because I could fool people into reading my work. I posted short stories to the messageboard because I enjoyed hanging out there. And I took the time to comment on other people's work as well. Everything that came afterwards flowed out of me just trying to be a better writer and connect with writers that I liked.

Once you're part of a community, the opportunities will come.

Posted by Ben Corman at 1:45 PM

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Comments

"Be the kind of person that you'd want to interact with."

Excellent.

Posted by: Laura at June 5, 2008 05:31 PM

You know, this post is the basis for everything we're going to do to popularize your sites when the time comes.

Posted by: Ben Corman at June 5, 2008 05:39 PM

For some reason I hate e-fellating someone with a generic compliment but...excellent post.

Posted by: Jim Johnson at June 5, 2008 09:10 PM

I agree that you have to join the existing communities. It definitely shows when you're actually committed to a community though than when you're just joining for self promotion purposes.

I'm willing to self-criticize, so take me for instance. I'm on Flickr too (thanks for the contact add, btw.) But I'm also on deviantART and put way more effort into it. It's a smaller community, a lot more scattered in focus. It's weirder, the interface is clunkier, and the site often has odd problems.

But I feel a closer sense of community on deviantART. People randomly find my photos more there. They favorite them more, they comment more, and post on my page more. In return, I often find myself commenting there more, and include my devART page in most URL fields rather than my Flickr. "Visit my Deviant Art page" is a good way to get an odd look and the wrong impression from someone in a conversation, but I just feel like the community there is a lot more genuine than Flickr.

I guess my point is, there's a difference between joining the "right" community and the right community for you.

But if you've joined Flickr, I guess I could take a closer look at it and all its slick "features."

Posted by: Sean at June 5, 2008 11:29 PM

Hey Sean --

You're right. Finding the right community is critical. It's almost always better to give up the wider exposure that a huge community can give you if you can become an integral part of a smaller community. I'll have to give Deviant Art a look.

Posted by: Ben Corman at June 6, 2008 12:09 PM