Damsel in comfort
Not content being a damsel in distress, Leia has decided to sit the rest of Shadows of the Empire out and smoke out on the balcony. Chewbacca, as he implied in their last appearance, has decided to start smoking too.
I posted a few months back about my frustration with trying to spread messages of support for fan driven fundraisers for cancer research. We are in a position, with BMS to assist people that actually need help. In the past Blue Milk Special has lent support to 11 year old (at the time) Star Wars fan, Emily, who has Moyamoya disease and received brain surgery treatment a year ago. I was recently contacted by Jessica, mother of 5 year old Jonnelle. Like Emily before her, Jonnelle also requires brain surgery for a debilitating condition.
For the last few months I’ve been noticing how USELESS Facebook is. When it comes to a serious matter, like raising awareness for a child’s health or fundraiser, it seems rather than at the very least SHARING the post, people instead share internet memes. Memes (joke pictures with silly captions), are SOMETIMES worthy for a laugh perhaps, but often little more than newsfeed spam. People have no problem cluttering their newsfeed with memes, but when someone like myself asks them to share a message to help a child and a family needing financial support, it’s almost like talking to a brick wall. Is there some problem with squeezing in a single charity message into your newsfeed once in a while?
Blue Milk Special is supporting the GoFundMe campaign for Jonnelle’s Brain Surgery. Leanne and I made a donation to the family to lead the way. But if you can’t afford to join us in contributing to help the family, then please at least SHARE this call for support with your online friends and colleagues. Jonnelle’s two older brothers are big Star Wars fans and a little goes a long way even if it’s just to share this message via Facebook. This is the link. http://www.gofundme.com/3n8nfg Let’s make as many people aware of Jonnelle’s campaign as possible.
I tried twice on our Blue Milk Special Facebook page to enlist, at the very least, a SHARE of the post. That way, if someone wasn’t able to donate, they could at least spread the word virally to others who might be better positioned to contribute. Despite having 5,800 LIKES on Facebook (something I had thought was an achievement), the best I was able to get on my second attempt, were 13 shares. 13 of you who saw the post actually understood how SHARING the post might help and took 3 seconds of your time to do so. To those 13, you have my respect as compassionate human beings. But 13 out of 5,800 BMS fans on Facebook is less than 0.25%. Is the problem the apathy of human beings? Or is it that Facebook’s algorithms prevent more than a small portion of our fans actually seeing our posts? Perhaps a combination? Whatever the reason, it’s sickeningly disappointing that we built such a large audience and have it ultimately mean next to nothing.
So I truly appreciate the 13 of you that shared the following story below. However, Jonnelle’s family still need our support. Here’s the campaign’s message from Jonnelle’s mother.
Jonnelle is a 5 year old little girl that will undergo Brain Surgery on August 23rd at CHKD in Norfolk va !!! Drs found out that she has chiari malformation of the brain. This has to be taken care of asap. She will be down for 6 weeks after the surgery. Also she will remain in the hospital up to 2 weeks after the surgery …. so this means we will not leave her side !!!!! So I’ll be out of work trying to care for our baby girl. The reason I’ve posted this link is to see if we can get a little help. The money will help with some co-pays as well as food and a few things she has asked for!!!! She will miss out on the 1st couple of weeks of school so friends and family I thank you for all the help and support. Thanks so so very much for you time and help. Jonnelle’s Brain Surgery GoFundMe Campaign.
Needless to say, I’m very disillusioned by Facebook. I have worked for 4.5 years on building that audience, only to find that Facebook constrains the number of our fans who actually get to see our posts. However, I know from the admin section that at least a couple thousand people do get to see those posts. The ratio of support should be much higher.
I know, personally, that the feeling I have helped others in incredibly trying times, with enormous and daunting health challenges, makes ME feel good. I have a constant day long battle with pain, each day of the week. I can’t do much to alleviate that and psychologically it can wear me down. I’ve found that by using BMS as a method to help others much worse off, has helped add a sense of purpose in my life and a reason to not give in to negative thinking.
So, while I am not begging readers to DONATE to Jonnelle, I am asking, at least, for us to SHARE the message across the internet so that those who are in a financial position to make a donation learn of Jonnelle’s need and can do so.
I know, I know… not a Star Wars blog today, but it’s something that we feel Blue Milk Special can assist others with. We CAN make a difference. I already know this for a fact. BMS readers were a large part of the contributions for Emily’s brain surgery last year, bringing many hundreds of dollars to that campaign. I know what the BMS community can do if they step up. It doesn’t require much from readers. At the most minimal, a simple SHARE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCamiWs-KMs, try to get the whole documentary, it says that 85 % of peoples would kill someguy for a tv game, and only 10% to 15% are real rebels and could resist peer pressure and some silly manipulation tactics… its not that 85% dont have a heart, they just dont care and follow the rest of the flock…
There are three different problems here. One, I suspect people are very wary of charity messages after the storm of fakes a few years ago. Remember when your IM accounts were flooded? I fell prey to one or two myself (as in, I passed them along), and I’d rather not do it again.
Second, you expect your average Facebook user to be anything but utterly superficial? The kind of people who fall for Farmville and share every detail of their private life with every stranger who comes along? Who can’t be bothered to learn what the Web is, let alone black magic such as RSS and e-mail? You expect *them* to care?
Third, even those few people who shared your message would be infinitely more effective if their reposts could be read by the Web at large, indexed by search engines and so on. But Facebook is a walled garden. You can’t possibly reach more than a tiny fraction of those one billion users… the vast majority of which are probably inactive, and most of the rest are dumb as rocks (see above).
So you probably did a lot more good by posting your message here. Good luck to Jonnelle.
Calling that internet memes memes is technically correct, but there’s more to memes than that.
Memes are a theorie in social studies, also used in other fields like archaeology.
It’s more or less a theorie about the way ideas travel through society.
Facebook eh? Never trusted them, never will. From the beginning I only heard negative thinks about they handle data. I have nothing against new media but to me this one is about as trustworthy as a 2 meter muscular hulk with necklace of human infant skulls covered in blood.
Chewbacca and Leia are having a cigarette together? Side romance going on here???
Ew, no! Just a reference to their last appearance in this strip… http://www.bluemilkspecial.com/?p=8268
Jjajajajajajaja Im dying just to think about it… I told you in a previous post… that wookle have his criminal record.
I wrote a long rant, but decided to cut it down to this:
Focus on the good you have done, are doing, and will continue to do.
Don’t let the negatives (that will always be there) discourage you.
Also I assume you have it on good authority when you ask for something for charity and put the “BMS Stamp of Approval” on it, but on Facebook there is just so much information overload, the perception is that nobody knows where a request starts from.
I’ve spoken to Jessica privately and I’m putting our support behind the fundraising effort.
Shared! and I will share again tomorrow and we all should at least share the story it’s the least we can do!
I deactivated my facebook account on friday and its only been days and i feel that much better off. IMO facebook is whats wrong with society these days. sure here are some redeeming qualities and good people out there but the absolutely majority is mindless bullshit and ignorance.
sometimes i wish i could take myself back in time (being the same age i am, 23) to when social media didn’t exist. life would be so much simpler.
a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Okay, I donated. It’s a good idea.
But seriously – what do you expect?
I would not respond to a fundraiser that would come round Facebook. It’s all fakes and advertising and whatever. I even unfriended some relatives who were forwarding it all even when it was clearly fake.
If you advertise it on your website, it is going to reach some people. On FB you will have no effect. You did what you could. If I hadn’t read it here, I would not have believed it – I need somebody who seems to be able to vouch for such a thing to be real. Two FB shares onwards it comes from a total stranger and it starts to look like a fake.
Don’t worry about the memes. It’s like ads on TV. It would just be fighting windmills.
Leia smoking two cigarettes in panel two? (one in her mouth and the other in her right hand)
Fixed. Thanks.
I may be in the minority here, but so be it.
I use Facebook wholly to keep in touch with people in my life who are nigh-impossible to be in touch with otherwise. It is an alternate form of texting for me, and the daily dross that comes across it (in the form of political links or memetic pictures) runs in the background noise. I do not get into Facebook groups, nor do I follow people or sites on it. As such, I did not see your post on it there.
So, to read this emotional and deeply accusatory blog post, about how much your fans have failed you by not doing what you felt they should, is actually quite frustrating. I was going to explain to you that a “meme” is any self-replicating idea or thing, and give examples, but I’m trying not to ramble.
I’ve enjoyed your comic for some time, and it’s one of the ones I regularly check. I understand you want to help someone, and that it is disheartening when the means you feel best to do so seems to fail, or at least falter. This does not mean that your readers, your fans, are all insensitive, apathetic, superficial scum, who can’t spend “3 seconds” of their time to share your message of another person in need. As has been said before me, there must be a thousand of those “like this to save a life” posts hitting people every week, and so it becomes background noise when people see it.
You want to raise awareness? Use your blog to do it, because I’d assume most of your fans read it, or at least visit the site, and that will reach them faster, easier, and let them tell their family or friends over Facebook in their own words, if they choose. If they don’t, don’t act like they failed you.
Your fans didn’t fail you. Because you aren’t their leader. You are a person on the internet that produces something they enjoy, and whom many of them respect. The day you go to your keyboard and expect people to jump lock-step to your desires is the day you should stop doing this.
As to my part, I’m still not sharing this on Facebook. I will however be seeing what I can do to help, and talking to my friends in person about if they can help.
Sorry for the length, brevity isn’t my strength, and sorry as well if it seems rude or cold-hearted. I really do enjoy what you do here, and hope for the best for you and yours.
Thanks for your thoughts. However, I never said our “fans failed us”. I get the feeling you are taking my comments personally but not aware of how Facebook works. As an admin of a fan page of Facebook I see a lot of the background operations of Facebook that regular users might not be aware of. For example, every post has a statistic attached to it which shows how many readers have seen it and begs you to pay Facebook money to “boost” the post’s visibility. BMS has 5,800+ LIKES on Facebook, or “fans” given the page is dubbed by Facebook as a fan page. Most posts get seen by around 1,000 Facebook users, but that includes non-Fans, who are friends of friends when the posts are shared. So, the reason I am angry is as much at Facebook as it is a general statement of disappointment that people feel a message like this one is part of an inundation of dross and charitable appeals that clutter their FB experience.
I only occasionally see charity appeals in my newsfeed on Facebook. You obviously get exposed to them a lot more than myself. Perhaps you are a member of the 501st Legion, in which case I’m sure you see these messages all the time. I see about 1 every couple of weeks, perhaps less than that in my regular newsfeed. The reason I found this one was that I was directly contacted about it. But I would have hoped that as a webcomic YOU enjoyed, that would give any charity effort that we are standing behind a simple SHARE in support.
I know I can’t expect everyone to SHARE this stuff. Some people will object for whatever reason. But I think I’m justified in my rant considering only 13 people out of 1,600 who saw it actually SHARED it like I asked. Numerically that is a very poor showing for a 5 year old girl who is going to have brain surgery.
I like to think that, although we do not sell anything or profit from Star Wars, we can at least do something worthwhile in helping people who are in need. I don’t jump on every appeal that is out there. In our time making the comic we have supported Emily’s brain surgery, goodwill for Morgan, and now Jonnelle’s brain surgery. It’s not like I pester you guys often. And as an admin of a Fan Page on Facebook with 5,800 likes and the creator of a webcomic that has a reasonable level of support around the world, I think I do have a form of leadership role. We managed to raise $800 for Emily. That is not my goal for Jonnelle as the situation isn’t quite as desperate, but I just wanted a share.
Facebook is largely guilty for the way it has changed what fans see in their newsfeeds. Now, many fans who liked us years ago don’t see our posts unless they go to our page, and click on the settings cog icon below our cover photo and select the option to see our posts in their newsfeeds.
Looking for help cancer charities in a webcomic where you’re actively increasing the number of smoking characters? 😉
Yeah. haha. But this is chiari malformation of the brain in a 5 year old, not cancer. 😉 Not going to stop campaigning. I know we have made a difference in the past. We will again.
I’d say most of it is the perception and expectations of the platform. I wasn’t expecting today to find a charity appeal in my typical webcomic perusal and I imagine most people don’t expect to see it even more so on Facebook. In addition, it does come across as a solicitation so while I’m happy to contribute, being told it’s expected makes me want to quietly sneak away. Bear in mind that we’re already advertised to everyday on Facebook and charity should never be a moral imperative.
On the note of sharing a link on facebook, it is also really a form of that – when we share something, we’re effectively telling our friends that we put our weight behind it. I’ve unfriended people in the past for deluging the news feed or wall with constant shares of promotions, ads, etc.
That said, I’m very glad you raised a good bit so far!
Yeah, well I don’t do this often, and as we all know this is for a good cause I sure wish people weren’t taking my comments so personally. I just don’t think sharing a positive message like this is such a big deal, considering how much junk gets shared that helps no one other than perhaps a laugh. BMS already tries to deliver on the laughs with our webcomic. Occasionally trying to help a family or a person’s life seems like the least we can do. Like I said, I’m not asking anyone to open their wallet, I’m asking people for a simple clikc of the share button. I know not everyone will do it, but I do expect more than 13 out of 1600. But I’m now repeating myself. I’m done trying to validate helping Jonnelle. Either people care or they don’t.
I’m sorry you’re feeling frustrated at the turnout. I can say that as a result of your post under the comic, I’m planning to donate and I’ll be mentioning it to a bunch of friends.
One thing I can definitely recommend is looking into a kickstarter/online fundraiser site for her – you could probably make a lot of money for her if signed prints of the comic were offered, and I know many other webcomic artists are amenable to the idea or have done it in the past.
I wasn’t planning on a coordinated campaign, just promoting and spreading the word. When we fundraised for Emily we created an exclusive strip that was sent as a thank you to everyone who contributed, but the nature of this campaign is different and we’re just trying to do our best to spread the word for Jonnelle’s family.
I have been lurking for awhile and appreciate the charity request. I have re-posted to facebook and Google+.
What’s going wrong on Facebook is marketing going all wrong. They don’t care what they ruin in the long run, they make some quick hype about some shit and if they get enough people at first, they are happy and “successful” plus don’t care for what they ruined in the trip. All in a way that makes me want to twist their heads several times around the vertical axis. It was marketing before everything else what drove me away from faecesbook.
Good luck with the campaign. You will succeed. You know it to be true.
Very true. They take something you built, then change the rules behind your back and invalidate it. Only reason I’m still on FB is what we’ve built and not wanting to walk away from it. But FB is already undermining our ability to reach the audience. They want us to pay to reach our fans now. Fans who already LIKED us.
I just looked at the BMS facebook page and about 95% of everything posted did not show up in any of my feeds despite having the floodgates open.
I think also beyond what Vosla said, facebook and google have a problem with too much data. They have so much now that they can’t provide relevant results, but they’re doing so well that they are blinded to the fact they could do 20 times better with a good overhaul. They have become so greedy and lost that they actually are making less money than they could be overall in favor of squeezing out the most per unit.
That’s the internet for you. Sad, but true. If you want something important done, don’t use stuff like facebook. I don’t use that, twitter, or anything similiar. Tried once, didn’t like it. Facebook? More like Fecebook. I’m happy with Steam. Valve is probably the most user/community-friendly gaming company on the market. If you give me the correct links etc, I could make a post on my profile or on groups I’m in, if you want.
Sorry i have been absent from the web for almost two weeks, avoiding facebook and other things. I failed to see your post but i shared the direct link for the donation page with a small message to my friends. I support your efforts to help out when you can. I also spread the word through other avenues to try to helpout.
On other fronts love the last few strips including the short interruption for the jedipedia.com ones.
So glad you liked them, Tribalwolfe! Trying to keep the strip fun. 🙂