I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, described succintly by the New York Times, "9 counties, 8 bridges, 7 million people." With San Francisco as an international city and cultural hub, it's no surprise that the region has a large population of performing artists, and that includes storytellers. There are some amazing storytellers in the Bay Area, many of whom I've had the privilege to hear, to learn from, to be coached and mentored by, and to work alongside.
But recently I got a call from a potential client in a town nearby, just 12 miles away from me. She told me that although she found my contact information, she had a very difficult time finding any other Bay Area storytellers online. The other performer she contacted lived in Santa Cruz county, a hundred miles away. This surprised me, as I can think of at least 6 world class storytellers who live within a 15 minute drive of my house. 5 of those 6 have a website. But to a potential client, who didn't know their names, she couldn't find them.
I didn't ask how she phrased her query, but I did my own search, seeking "storyteller" and adding modifiers like "Berkeley" or "San Francisco."
Sure enough, my name came up. Of those other 6 talents... none. (Actually, just did the search again, 2 of them appeared under results for the query "San Francisco storyteller". Either they've finally updated their web site or Google once again adjusted their search algorithm or else Google is adjusting its search results based on my past search history or all of the above)
Other folks have written about this phenomenon before. And I've know about this issue for years. Back in the 1990s, I was an editor for the Open Directory Project--a massively collaborative online attempt to catalog the Web using human editorial judgement-- and I volunteered to catalog every storytelling website I could find. And I noticed that a significant portion, maybe 30-40% of websites for a single individual-- neglected to put any geographical reference point in their website's copy. So it might have several pages about programs offered, rave reviews, and even copy so compelling that were I in the market to hire a storyteller I'd definitely want this person-- but it had no information about where in the world this person worked. Sometimes, I could deduce the region based on the area code of the contact number, but other times there was no clue.
But the era of AOL and Yahoo! is ten years behind us. We've all learned to live with the Web. Not everyone jumps on the latest thing, like Twitter, but I thought that Google has become indispensable. (Ten years ago I was working for a competing search engine, and the writing was on the wall then: we knew (months before we went bankrupt) that the big G was a game-changer). I recognize that living so close to Silicon Valley, my social milieu is (supposedly) more tech savvy then the average person. (And my experience working in the industry, however briefly, makes me more attuned to the ins and outs of online marketing w/r/t search engine optimization.
But this recent reminder of how invisible storytellers are online, even now, surprised me.
If you're a storyteller-- can you find yourself on Google?
Tougher question: can you find yourself without typing in your name?
If you're someone looking for a storyteller, let me know how you search-- do you search by geography? Or do you search by content (e.g. "ghost stories," "Irish stories," etc.)
Showing posts with label publicity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publicity. Show all posts
October 22, 2009
September 05, 2009
Tweets (and TV) from Timp Fest
Who was tweeting from this week's Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Orem, Utah?
Nice to see a storytelling festival get some buzz on Twitter. I know of two key Festival supporters who are also on Twitter regularly that surprisingly did not tweet from the ground (I suppose they were too busy).
Now if the Festival can just figure out to do with their blog ;-)
====
Oh, and I found this TV coverage from KTVX 4 in Salt Lake City, featuring storyteller Donald Davis-- which smartly aired a few days before the Festival:
- @OremLibrary
- @froztfreez
- @ChamberEast
- @Buzzbooster
- @jdwhiting
- @petit_elefant
- @chericem
- @EvonneSell
- @squirrelyTONKS
- @justinhackworth
- @BryanMangum
- @docguy
- @jmaxwilson
- @danothemanov
- @MindyGledhill
- @oldgoatwasatch
- @kruckenb
- @jdub79
- @storytellerbug
- @entropal
Nice to see a storytelling festival get some buzz on Twitter. I know of two key Festival supporters who are also on Twitter regularly that surprisingly did not tweet from the ground (I suppose they were too busy).
Now if the Festival can just figure out to do with their blog ;-)
====
Oh, and I found this TV coverage from KTVX 4 in Salt Lake City, featuring storyteller Donald Davis-- which smartly aired a few days before the Festival:
July 01, 2009
Storytelling Fans and Facebook Statistics
With the recent buzz last week in social media circles about the new ease in getting vanity URLS on Facebook for Fan pages, I wondered to myself: how many storytellers are using Fan pages?
And since each of these pages publicly lists how many fans each storyteller has, I then wondered, who, in the eyes of Facebook, has the most fans?
Here's a sample of storytellers and their total numbers of fans as of July 1, 2009 (It's by no means complete. I'm purposely leaving out some storytellers who have not yet broken double digits):
I note with some alarm that Trixie, a puppet that appears in storyteller's Priscilla Howe's performances (photo at right) has garnered more fans (42 at last count) in a single week, than several of the tellers on the list, myself included.
In the storytelling podcast realm, Eric Wolf's The Art of Storytelling with Children has 162 fans, and Djeliba Baba's Timeless Tales has 112.
I'm well aware that on the Venn diagram showing the set of all storytelling fans in the real world and the set of Facebook users who like to keep track of their fandom on Facebook there is a very small intersection. That being said, take a look at storytelling events that use the fan pages on Facebook for their relative popularity:
That last number gave me pause. Because it tells me that there are nearly six thousand people who, as part of their public identity on an online social network, self-identify with an organization devoted to storytelling. (Albeit one with a very specific focus on a very specific style of storytelling). This number of Facebook fans is more people than the entire actual membership of the National Storytelling Network (approximately 1900–2000 persons, although only 262 fans on Facebook.)
Oh, and in case you didn't get the message, and I think only Baba the Storyteller did, once you hit 100 fans, you can get a vanity URL, i.e., www.facebook.com/yournamehere. You could already do this (starting about two weeks ago) with personal pages-- the ability to do this for a fan page (for pages with under 1000 fans) is new.
Not surprisingly, many of the big names in storytelling have neither a personal nor a professional Facebook presence. (It's a generational thing).
A couple more comments on Facebook's fan pages:
Facebook was late to the game on this one. So for a storyteller (or anyone, from a musician to a master yo-yo twirler) to set up a Fan page:
a) it's very difficult to do;
b) all the good models on how to use a fan page aren't on Facebook, they're on Myspace, and the lessons don't crossover
If you want to find the Fan Pages above, enter the name in the Facebook search box, and then when the results come up, click on the "Pages" tab to find the Fan page. You can "Become a Fan" from the search results, or click through to the Fan page and "Become a Fan" from there.
And since each of these pages publicly lists how many fans each storyteller has, I then wondered, who, in the eyes of Facebook, has the most fans?
Here's a sample of storytellers and their total numbers of fans as of July 1, 2009 (It's by no means complete. I'm purposely leaving out some storytellers who have not yet broken double digits):
| Storyteller | Number of Fans |
| Kim Weitkamp | 16 |
| David Joe Miller | 23 |
| Olive Hackett Shaughnessy | 25 |
| Tim Ereneta | 29 |
| Big Joe the Storyteller | 30 |
| Jay O'Callahan | 33 |
| Eric Wolf | 37 |
| Eth-Noh-Tec | 38 |
| Ruth Halpern | 41 |
| Dianne de las Casas | 63 |
| Jordan Hill | 75 |
| Tim Lowry | 116 |
| Bill Lepp | 158 |
| Andy Offut Irwin | 236 |
| Djeliba Baba the Storyteller | 303 |
| Bill Harley | 451 |
I note with some alarm that Trixie, a puppet that appears in storyteller's Priscilla Howe's performances (photo at right) has garnered more fans (42 at last count) in a single week, than several of the tellers on the list, myself included.In the storytelling podcast realm, Eric Wolf's The Art of Storytelling with Children has 162 fans, and Djeliba Baba's Timeless Tales has 112.
I'm well aware that on the Venn diagram showing the set of all storytelling fans in the real world and the set of Facebook users who like to keep track of their fandom on Facebook there is a very small intersection. That being said, take a look at storytelling events that use the fan pages on Facebook for their relative popularity:
| Michigan Storytellers Festival | 14 |
| Mesa Storytelling Festival | 27 |
| Timpanogos Storytelling Festival | 43 |
| Storytelling Arts of Indiana | 117 |
| The Stoop Storytelling Series | 196 |
| The Moth | 5896 |
That last number gave me pause. Because it tells me that there are nearly six thousand people who, as part of their public identity on an online social network, self-identify with an organization devoted to storytelling. (Albeit one with a very specific focus on a very specific style of storytelling). This number of Facebook fans is more people than the entire actual membership of the National Storytelling Network (approximately 1900–2000 persons, although only 262 fans on Facebook.)
Oh, and in case you didn't get the message, and I think only Baba the Storyteller did, once you hit 100 fans, you can get a vanity URL, i.e., www.facebook.com/yournamehere. You could already do this (starting about two weeks ago) with personal pages-- the ability to do this for a fan page (for pages with under 1000 fans) is new.
Not surprisingly, many of the big names in storytelling have neither a personal nor a professional Facebook presence. (It's a generational thing).
A couple more comments on Facebook's fan pages:
Facebook was late to the game on this one. So for a storyteller (or anyone, from a musician to a master yo-yo twirler) to set up a Fan page:
a) it's very difficult to do;
b) all the good models on how to use a fan page aren't on Facebook, they're on Myspace, and the lessons don't crossover
If you want to find the Fan Pages above, enter the name in the Facebook search box, and then when the results come up, click on the "Pages" tab to find the Fan page. You can "Become a Fan" from the search results, or click through to the Fan page and "Become a Fan" from there.
April 16, 2009
Tales from the Body 2009: Online Post-Mortem
And welcome to the second installment of my reviews of 2009 storytelling events I didn't attend.
I feel like I should have a name for this. Like the "2009 Carnival of Crankiness."
As I wrote in my post ranting about how storytelling conferences are like shouting down a hole, I'm going to be reviewing storytelling conferences based on their online presence during but especially after the event.
I'm focusing on conferences because they are focused on "getting the word out." To allow practicioners to come together to experience professional development, share best practices, and, to some extent, allow networking to feed future collaborations and innovations. And it drives me nuts that in this day and age... when the marginal cost of disseminating discussions from an event like this is so low... that so little thought seems to be given to sharing out.
I may toss in a performance-centric event (e.g. Going Deep), mainly because the National Storytelling Network is co-sponsoring seven regional events this year in lieu of a national conference, and a couple of those events are more festival than conference.
----
Chronologically, the first NSN Year of the Regions Event was: TALES FROM THE BODY: Storytelling About Illness and Disability, produced by the Storytelling Center of New York.
Date: January 25th, 2009
Location: New York Society for Ethical Culture, New York City
Format: Storytelling Concert, Panel Discussion, Story Swap
Kudos to the Storytelling Center for posting a post-event writeup with photos on their site: link.
NSN has posted a report from organizer Donna Minkowitz on its website. link.
Seems like it was a small event, so just by attendance numbers alone I didn't expect any blog posts or tweets. But documentation on two web sites? I can't get cranky about that.
Philip David Morgan, who handles the web site for the Storytelling Center, let me know that he did record most of the event, but getting the video files edited and online will take some time... and the Center isn't clamoring for its own regular Twitter feed or Facebook presence. Oh, but Philip... I look forward to seeing the highlight reel.
I feel like I should have a name for this. Like the "2009 Carnival of Crankiness."
As I wrote in my post ranting about how storytelling conferences are like shouting down a hole, I'm going to be reviewing storytelling conferences based on their online presence during but especially after the event.
I'm focusing on conferences because they are focused on "getting the word out." To allow practicioners to come together to experience professional development, share best practices, and, to some extent, allow networking to feed future collaborations and innovations. And it drives me nuts that in this day and age... when the marginal cost of disseminating discussions from an event like this is so low... that so little thought seems to be given to sharing out.
I may toss in a performance-centric event (e.g. Going Deep), mainly because the National Storytelling Network is co-sponsoring seven regional events this year in lieu of a national conference, and a couple of those events are more festival than conference.
----
Chronologically, the first NSN Year of the Regions Event was: TALES FROM THE BODY: Storytelling About Illness and Disability, produced by the Storytelling Center of New York.
Date: January 25th, 2009
Location: New York Society for Ethical Culture, New York City
Format: Storytelling Concert, Panel Discussion, Story Swap
Kudos to the Storytelling Center for posting a post-event writeup with photos on their site: link.
NSN has posted a report from organizer Donna Minkowitz on its website. link.
Seems like it was a small event, so just by attendance numbers alone I didn't expect any blog posts or tweets. But documentation on two web sites? I can't get cranky about that.
Philip David Morgan, who handles the web site for the Storytelling Center, let me know that he did record most of the event, but getting the video files edited and online will take some time... and the Center isn't clamoring for its own regular Twitter feed or Facebook presence. Oh, but Philip... I look forward to seeing the highlight reel.
February 04, 2009
Now that's "Uncalled For": the Tour
Three storytellers (Kim Weitcamp, Bil Lepp, and Andy Irwin) with a common comic sensibility have put together their own concert and organized their own tour. Six cities in two months.
Such promotions are not uncommon in music, or in standup comedy. But in storytelling? I've never heard of such an enterprise.
I'd love to see this succeed as a new model of producing. Whether they succeed or fail, I suspect this is the only self-organized tour we'll see in the next three years, simply from inertia (doing the same old thing, producing wise, that's been done the past 30 years).
Tour opens in Idaho next week. Keep up with the tour on its blog.
Is it too much to hope for YouTube videos from the side of the road as the tour van breaks down?
January 31, 2009
Press Coverage of a Storytelling Festival: Troy, Alabama
Storytelling festivals often complain about how difficult it is to get press coverage. For one thing, they are competing with other events, from music to theatre to art to sports. I've also heard complaints from organizers that the press that do cover the event don't know the art form. (Note to organizers: hard to build recognition of your art form if you only hold an event (and invite the press) once a year)
This year, the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival (January 30-31, held in Bundridge and Troy, Alabama, (pop. 2,341 and 13,935, respectively) and sponsored annually by the Brundidge Historical Society with support from Troy University, the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts) can't complain.
The festival had not one, but five stories in the local news. And that doesn't include the December 29 article essentially publishing the Festival's press release.
Four featured tellers. Four feature articles the week leading up to the Festival, plus a local angle feature:
Last Saturday: Windham returns to storytelling festival
Monday: ‘The Donald’ is back by popular demand
Check out the lede for this article:
Think reporter Jaine Treadwell is a storytelling fan?
Tuesday: Lepp brings tall tales to stage
Wednesday: Deedy: Ball of storytelling energy
Thursday: Unfamiliar storyteller to become familiar after weekend
Although the lede for this article focuses on the regional teller appearing at the festival, the article manages to really emphasize the role of the 18 local musicians who will be playing at the event. Not unexpected for a small town paper to recognize its citizens in such a way.
Oh, and in a column for the paper (published last Saturday), Ms. Treadwell admits it: she's hooked on storytelling.
Small town. Southern state (with a strong history of oral culture). Reporter who's an aficionado.
You could say there's a perfect storm of contributing factors to make this festival appear to be the prime cultural event in the local news.
What can you take away from the Pike Piddlers' example for your storytelling event?
This year, the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival (January 30-31, held in Bundridge and Troy, Alabama, (pop. 2,341 and 13,935, respectively) and sponsored annually by the Brundidge Historical Society with support from Troy University, the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts) can't complain.
The festival had not one, but five stories in the local news. And that doesn't include the December 29 article essentially publishing the Festival's press release.
Four featured tellers. Four feature articles the week leading up to the Festival, plus a local angle feature:
Last Saturday: Windham returns to storytelling festival
Monday: ‘The Donald’ is back by popular demand
Check out the lede for this article:
Donald Davis.
Enough said.
Think reporter Jaine Treadwell is a storytelling fan?
Tuesday: Lepp brings tall tales to stage
Wednesday: Deedy: Ball of storytelling energy
Thursday: Unfamiliar storyteller to become familiar after weekend
Although the lede for this article focuses on the regional teller appearing at the festival, the article manages to really emphasize the role of the 18 local musicians who will be playing at the event. Not unexpected for a small town paper to recognize its citizens in such a way.
Oh, and in a column for the paper (published last Saturday), Ms. Treadwell admits it: she's hooked on storytelling.
Small town. Southern state (with a strong history of oral culture). Reporter who's an aficionado.
You could say there's a perfect storm of contributing factors to make this festival appear to be the prime cultural event in the local news.
What can you take away from the Pike Piddlers' example for your storytelling event?
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