Lil Wayne used social media from behind bars to keep in touch with fans

Social media is helping most music artists, but one particular genre appears to be using it better than the rest—and has the sales to back it up.

In 2010, Rolling Stone’s “Year in Review” reported that hip-hop sales increased 3 percent while most other genres experienced double-digit losses. According to Billboard, Nielsen SoundScan’s year-end numbers reflected a 13 percent decline for Christian/Gospel, a 16 percent decline for rock, a 17 percent decline for R&B and a 5 percent decline for country.

So what are hip-hop artists doing so differently to explain their sales increase? The answer may lie in how hip-hop artists are using social media.

Hip-hop artists seem to find a way to do it bigger, better and to engage more with their audience in a way that many pop, country or rock stars do not.

Karen Civil, who establishes a social media presence for artists through Always Civil Enterprise and promotes entertainment and hip-hop news on karencivil.com, was hired to keep up Lil Wayne’s presence on the web while he was imprisoned.

Media Maven & Blogger Karen Civil

“When he was incarcerated for the few months, he didn’t want people to forget about him and he wanted to be more in touch with his fans and kind of thank them ‘cause they were sending him so much mail and he couldn’t literally write back to everyone,” says Civil. “Now that he’s out, he’ll put songs [out] or do videos and he’ll just give you behind the scenes stuff about video shoots and things like that.”

Civil explains further that when she started working with him, Weezy was not exactly an Internet expert.

“Lil’ Wayne is not a Twitter, or an online, or a computer-type person. And so when he wanted to start Weezy Thanx You (Lil’ Wayne’s blog), I was like, ‘okay cool, we’ll put the letters [from jail] up and do certain things,’ and now Weezy Thanx You gets—last month it was like 16 million hits,” Civil said. This is a feat for any artist, let alone one who began a site while in jail.

But Lil’ Wayne is not the only one.

Justin Tinsley, a contributor to Civil’s website, explains that what Lil’ Wayne and many other artists do through social media is just part of the hip-hop culture.

“Hip-Hop is an ‘in your face’ type of music and now social media is just another way [for artists] to accomplish that. Hip-Hop artists use it as a means to connect with their fans more effectively than I think other artists from other genres,” says Tinsley, “Hip-Hop artists release so much music for free [and] if you build a strong enough fan base, when it is time to actually put a retail project out most of them will support you.”

And it’s not just the innovative social media tactics that hip-hop artists are employing—it’s also the level of engagement that they take part in with their fans.

The ‘in your face’ culture of hip-hop translates into social media so well that having a conversation with an artist online is just like having a real life conversation—unlike with artists of other genres, who tend to be less responsive and less sensitive to online feedback.

Though it’s easier to criticize online because of the ‘anonymous’ factor, it is also easier than ever for artists to respond to criticism—and hip-hop artists definitely do.

“Hip-hop artists, they come off hardcore, but they’re very sensitive individuals. So if you say something, they will respond ASAP. [Once] I said something to a particular rapper and I don’t even think I hit refresh and [there] was already a response to me,” Civil says.

Civil continued to say that pop and country artists, for example, don’t have as much dialogue with their fans and that they tend to be less responsive online.

“[Hip-hop artists are more] engaging on the Internet, than someone like a Taylor Swift who’s not going to, you know, hold a conversation with people via Twitter.”

Taylor's license plate reads "2Cool2Tweet"

Even a quick glance at Taylor Swift’s Twitter account, compared to say Jim Jones’ Twitter account, reveals that Jones is much more responsive to fans—retweeting and at replying to many more fan tweets than Swift or similar pop or rock artists.

Antoine King, CEO of Spate Media and hip-hop enthusiast, says that the bonding between fans and hip-hop artists is also different because of the amount of content that is released.

Reach out & touch Jim Jones--on Twitter

“Hip-hop artists tend to bond better because hip-hop artists usually create more content,” King explains. “It is not uncommon for a hip-hop artist to release ten mixtapes and an album in one year. Most other genres usually release one title at best [per year]. So when they release these titles, of course they use social media to get this content to the masses.”

And many hip-hop artists are able to create such loyal followings because of the shifting relationship specifically between hip-hop artists and fans.

Saigon, Brooklyn rapper and actor, explained at a panel discussion in New York City how social media has changed the dynamic between fans and artists in general, but even more so within the hip-hop community.

“It’s helping in a lot of ways because, you know, it gives you direct access to talk to your fans. First of all, back when I was coming up, if I wanted to say ‘LL Cool J, I love you,’ I had to write a letter, mail it, wait every day and hope he wrote back,” says Saigon, to laughter. “Nowadays, you can just, you know, follow him on Twitter or go to his Facebook, you know, put something on his wall or something like that.”

Saigon loves LL Cool J. And wants him to know it.

And like Saigon, many others believe that it is much easier to get a response from hip-hop artists versus other genres, and that the engagement is what keeps fans coming back for more.

“It goes back to consumer confidence,” said Tinsley, “You’re going to buy something from someone you feel like you know.”

The main point that hip-hop sales seem to be making to many other genres is that above all else, whether it be with social media or otherwise, creativity cannot be forgotten.

“It’s always great for artists to find something creative that works for them that may have not been done, and really to me that’s just really it,” said Civil, “Just try not to go with the normal pattern of just ‘let me just keep at replying people, let me do this, let me do that.’ Just find a creative, different way to have your music reach the masses and it’ll work for you. With time, it will work and as long as it’s good, it will work.”

Why?

Was it for spamming my Facebook friends with ads for some widget I’m selling? Nope!

Was I blocked for using software to add extra friends illegally? Not even close.

I was blocked by Facebook for participating in the core concept of social networking — being social.

It started like this:

Two weeks ago I received a friend invite from a woman I haven’t seen in 20 years. She’s an old friend from the small town I grew up in and attended a school we’ll call High School No. 1.

I attended two high schools, one in my hometown and another in Durham, NC well call High School No. 2.

I go to her profile to accept her invitation. As I peruse her friends, a trip down memory lane packed high with nostalgia begins because her friends for the most part, are also my old friends from our hometown.

Massive clickity-clicky-ness ensues.

Among her friends, I see Rita, the fifth grade classmate I used to battle in Frogger after school. Click!

I see Angela, the light-skinned cutie who used to do all the new dances in the 6th grade cafeteria while Kelvin with the Gumby hair cut beat-boxed. Click!

Oh…wait…! Is that my cousin Fee amongst her friends? Click.

And among Fee’s friends is…wait…another cousin? Yes! Click.

I like the way this cousin’s eyes look here so I didn’t block them out!

And among her friends is yet another cousin? Yay! Click.

Sidenote: I’m showing her photo because she’s an actress, so she’s used to being seen.

She’s my third cousin – we’ll call her Leslie — and some of her acting credits include recurring roles on soaps like Days of Our Lives and several feature performances in off-Broadway productions. You go, cuz!

Anyway, as I searched through each of my friend’s lists of friends, the number of mutual acquaintances, family and friends seemed endless.

Since I hadn’t spoken with most of these people in twenty years, I wanted to play virtual catch-up on their careers, marital statuses, and any children they might have, so I looked through each friend’s photos to see how each had changed over the years.

Almost every album contained at least one photo that was like a time warp into my past.

Through these photos, people, places and things I’d tucked away in the corners of my mind for decades sprung from shadow to life.

I sent the people I’m either related to or have the most special memories with notes, individually, and friended them.

Five minutes into this virtual journey, I had opened about thirty pages of friends’ profiles when suddenly my brief escape into the past was over. Not that I was ready to stop, but Facebook insisted.

After sending friend requests to about ten of my old friends, I get this pop-up from Facebook.

Warning! You are engaging in behavior that may be considered annoying or abusive by others. Facebook’s systems determined that you were going too fast when adding friends. You must significantly slow down. Further misuse of site features may result in a temporary block or your account being permanently deleted. For further information, please visit our FAQ page.

Ok, I thought. I was going through several profiles at a good clip, even though I had only friended around ten people.

I immediately thought it best to check out the FAQ, because surely that would let me know how to prevent this pop-up, and most importantly, prevent my entire account from being disabled!

I get to the FAQ. Which says this about the pop-up:

Hmmmmm….well that didn’t tell me a damn thing!

And it doesn’t apply to me, or tell me in any solid terms how to avoid being blocked!

I’m pretty new to Facebook and just set up my account a few months ago, so most of my 600 or so friends, friended me.

There’s just no way I could have a high volume of ignored friend requests, because the ratio of people I send friend request to, versus the people who send them to me is about 30% to 70%.

Also, I don’t think I’ve ever used any of the other features on Facebook that involve other people, like that dastardly “poke” thing or any of that nonsense. And I don’t invite people to play stupid farm games or engage in dumb ass virtual mafia wars.

If you play those games, sorry. I don’t.  I have a life.

Also, all ten of the people I friended that day, accepted my friend request and many even wrote me notes back saying how great it was to see me again, albeit virtually, after twenty years! Cool!

So how am I violating any rules or engaging in behavior that people find annoying or abusive?

After I got this pop-up, I tried to friend a couple more people, and promptly got shut the down. With this:

You have been blocked from adding friends because you repeatedly misused this feature. This block will last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. When you are allowed to reuse this feature, please proceed with caution. Further misuse may result in your account being permanently disabled. For further information, please visit out FAQ page.

Which I did. And again, as with the first warning, Facebook is crystal clear about what rules I’ve violated. Not.

Two days later, Facebook graciously allowed this humble social networking noob to friend a whole two more friends, yay! Then they blocked me – again.

Three days after that, the mighty Facebook overlords allowed me to friend a whole three people! Before they blocked me—again.

At this rate I may have a whopping 620 friends by…August?

So basically, Facebook has just crippled my ability to friend people, for reasons only known to them, while my husband, a firebrand, anti-establishment activist and poet who wants to burn the whole world down and start over again has friended like 50 people A DAY –- many of whom he doesn’t know — every day for the past YEAR!

But yet, I rarely get on Facebook – I do most of my posting on the site through Twitter – and have sent a small percentage of friend requests compared to the ones I receive, and have never poked, prodded, etc. anyone on Facebook or invited them to trade corn for my farm or guns or ammo for my Mafia crew or whatever, yet, I am the one who’s been blocked three times?

What gives Facebook? Is it really that I am using these features “too fast”? Or is it that your servers are buckling under the weight of your four hundred million or so users?

Are my actions really annoying or abusive? Or is Facebook just growing faster than they can sell our information to advertisers and Lord knows who else?

Whatever is happening, I’m not the only one it’s happening to. Search for the terms “Facebook”, “annoying” and “abusive” in whatever search engine tickles your fancy and you’ll see many, many convos going on about this.

What you won’t see however, is anything definitive from Facebook about their seemingly random blocking process, or any specific information on how to prevent or lift the blocks!

I probably wouldn’t mind being blocked if I knew how long the block would last and was given a half-decent explanation for the block, because a lot of people do use Facebook and I understand that sites will get overwhelmed by traffic.

But it’s like Facebook has become some sort of overseer to my social activities — none of which have been abusive as they claim — doling out punishment to random users as they see fit.

And now I’m the one who feels annoyed and abused!

On a larger scale, this might not be as important as most of the things I write about, but there’s a deeper, personal meaning in all this for me.

When we die, which all of us will, it is the people who knew us in life who become keepers of our legacy.

For me, due to a degenerative and progressive brain disease I have, death may very well visit me sooner than most of my peers. So when I friend people on Facebook or in real life, I’m making purposeful connections with the people I want to, in the short time that I do have, not just randomly friending for the sake of business.

The people I friend, as morbid as it sounds, are the people I’d want to attend my funeral. Or at least send cards and flowers to my family. Or at the very least tweet RIP Cherryl Aldave, or acknowledge my passing in some sort of way. I hope, lol.

So for that purpose, Facebook is more to me than a place for business networking. It’s another way or me to create interpersonal connections with people in this short and craggy earthly existence we call life.

If Facebook doesn’t stop this crap or at least provide better explanations and time-frames for these blocks, they may find me saying Sayonara, Facebook! and moving back to MySpace and disabling or even deleting my own Facebook account, on purpose.

Because I, like most people, just don’t have time or the patience for all the blocks and privacy issues and pop-ups and warnings which have now become part and parcel of the Facebook experience, when I’m just trying to use the site for what it was originally intended for — making, and keeping up with, friends.

Have you been blocked by Facebook for the crime of “friending too fast”?

Or for any other reason?

Have you ever received warnings that you felt were unjustified?

Does anything else about Facebook bother you?

Please feel free to vent in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

Obviously it’s still not well known in the Twitterverse that if you want the best chance of having your tweet retweeted, you should follow this formula to make sure that it can be:

RT @yourusername + tweet = 140 or less.

Just for an example, I might send this tweet with a fake twitter account – CherrylsHeavyTwitter:

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – Dwight Eisenhower

That tweet contains 123 characters. If someone were to retweet it, it would look like this:

RT @cherrylsheavytwitter What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – Dwight Eisenhower

Which comes to 148 characters because “RT @cherrylsheavytwitter” = 25 characters.

Phew. Math.

Virgin Tweeters should be required to pass a test before taking the first tweet plunge. Or at least given a link to a page with Twitter commands. But that would detract from the user friendly aspect of Twitter. Or something like that.

As for how to retweet a tweet with too many characters, Technically Personal has a great roundup of five ways to rt a too many word tweet. The comments list even more.

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