Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bank robbers and Facebook users

"Could you take off your hat, or turn it around?"

I looked up from my deposit slip. "Huh?"

"It's to prevent robberies," the teller said apologetically. "I know you've been coming in here for years, but it's the policy; we have to apply it to everyone. No hats, no dark glasses."

I pondered the implications as I stuffed my hat into my purse. Bank robbers concealed their identities with baseball caps and sunglasses? Really? I'd always assumed they wore a mask that covered their entire face. Granted, they'd probably attract a bit of attention while standing in line ...

According to the teller, a lot of people have recently robbed banks using the less stereotypical mode of disguise. "It's impossible to tell what a person looks like with a hat and dark glasses," she explained. "The cameras don't pick up anything. You can't see their eyes."

* * *

After declaring Myspace obsolete, People Who Think About Such Things are speculating that Facebook has become a victim of its own success. Now that everyone knows about it -- now that your grandmother can friend you, and probably will -- Facebook isn't cool anymore.

Under normal circumstances I'd find this bit of cultural news only mildly interesting. Unfortunately, it may be relevant to my life. I was finally getting around to constructing a band page for Facebook. (Actually started it a few weeks ago, but everything I did vanished, and the feature currently appears to be fried.) If our target audience stops using the site, we'll have to think of some other way to promote our gigs and sell our CD.

We're already on Twitter, but I don't use it very often. It's hard to engage in meaningful dialogue 140 characters at a time. While I don't feel all self-conscious about it like Norah Jones does, my tweets are nothing to write home about. They haven't resulted in any CD sales.

Neither, come to think of it, has this blog.

* * *

Because my brain is weird, the bank robbery thing got me thinking about the social media thing. I knew all along that getting the band noticed through social media would be difficult. How could it not? My friend DeppityBob describes it as being like "screaming 'I'M IMPORTANT!' in a sea of ADD people yelling the same thing."

Standing out from the crowd is nearly impossible. To achieve anonymity, all you need is a cap with a visor and a pair of cheap sunglasses.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Cinder Bridge,

I have to tell you I just listened to Everybody Knows About ME and I'm listening to it over and over. I think this is my new theme song. Thank you so much for writing it. It's exactly how we feel. I love the part about the confused doctor saying we could just shake this YUPPIE Flu.

You are a voice for us! Thank you.

tracey (ME Sufferer for 25 years)

cinderkeys said...

Wow. Thank you. As the post implied, sometimes I get frustrated by how hard it is to get anyone to notice our songs, much less care. Sometimes it feels like no one is listening at all. It means a lot to me that you are.

One of these days we'll get "Everybody Knows About Me" on iTunes and other places that sell music. For now, we're giving it away, just trying to get it out there. Feel free to share it with as many people as you like. (If you've been listening to the streaming Myspace version, shoot me your e-mail address at susan@cinderbridge.com and I'll give you the file.)

Thanks again.

Laurel said...

Hey Cinderkeys... that bank story cracked me up. The funny thing is, if you WERE a robber, do you think you'd have politely done what the teller asked and removed your hat and glasses so you could be identified? ;)

Was going to tell you I had someone comment on your song Everybody Knows About Me on a message board the other day. But looks like they may have found you and commented directly. :)

Best wishes!

cinderkeys said...

Hee. I wondered about that. My guess is they'd walk out in search of easier prey. It's got to be easier to rob a bank when you can shoot the teller point blank. Far away, and you have to worry about whether anyone else will pull out a gun. (This is Arizona, after all.)

Thanks for posting about the song. :) I need to find another place for it now that the site it was on disappeared.