Elvis Presely ruled in my Flickr account yesterday

Statue outside the building where Elvis first performed in public
Shreveport, Louisiana; Photo Credit: Mark Baratelli
This is yesterday's most viewed photo in Mark Baratelli's flickr account. The people who viewed this photo came from a chat forum and a flickr search for "elvis presly". 59 photos were viewed in Mark Baratelli's flickr account yesterday.

Captain Canada on Flickr

This photo of a plaque in Wickenburg, Arizona, about a cartoon character from the 1980s called "Capatain Canada" is now my most popular photo. Since posting on March 28, 2008, it's gotten over 100 views and 10 people added it as a "favorite."

If you're curious about the character, read the comments the flickr viewers left on the photo link. They get fairly detailed.

The Banksy Flickr Group

Banksy artist - 100_7603b
Originally uploaded by normko
I am joining the Banksy Flickr group today. Join me!

Photowalking in Orlando

Red table and blue chair in front of shop in Winter Park, Florida
Taken January 5, 2008

I did my very first official Photowalk January 5th with two other people and created a Flickr group to show off our work.

Creativitity Episode 3: Flickr and Podcasting

Episode 3: Flickr and Podcasting
(26:12) Flickr: Every one of your photos is a mini website for yourself if you use the description box properly; create your own stock photography supply. Podcasting: I quit and now I'm back. The show is finally on itunes!

Can I sell my photos using Flickr with Paypal?

A Street in Soho, December 2007
Taken by ME!
I have a TON of photos on flickr. I want to learn about how to sell them. I found two good posts on the subject here and here. I just wanna put a Paypal button below each photo and call it a day. But there seems to be more to learn. I'll continue reading. For now, view are my Flickr sets.

Jib Hunt follows my tweets, I learn about Jib Hunt

I now know who Jib Hunt is and what he does, have his site bookmarked, friended him on myspace and subscribed to his myspace blog. Why? He wanted to follow my tweets on twitter.

When someone clicks the "follow" button on my twitter profile, whether on twitterific, snitter, their cell, or the old standard website, I get emailed to me a notice about it.

Lately, as in the past three months, I've been getting "followers" I've never met. Jib Hunt is one of those followers. As a nobody who would find it neat to be somebody on the web someday, I first found this once-a-week validation of my online humanity thrilling. I jumped to the conclusion that they must want to follow me because they read one of my three blogs, found a comment I left on another's blog insightful, liked my flickr photos, enjoyed the videos on youtube or ustream or blip.tv...and then found my twitter feed and liked what they saw there, as well.

But now that people keep coming (and they do) I question my assumption. I do this not because of anything they do, but something I am doing. Now when I receive a notice that a person wants to follow my tweets, I take steps to learn about them. Here's the typical scenario:

1. View their Twitter homepage. This involves checking their latest tweets to see what they care about and if i'd want to follow them myself.

2. Visit their website or blog.

3. Subscribe to their podcast or blog.

So I ask you. That seemingly innocent interest in following me...is that a backdoor way to get me to explore and learn about these people and their media? I think it is. And if so, kudos. They've found a new way to self-market. But beware. These people might just be out for self-promotion and nothing else.

My first cell-photo-flickr-blog upload

Rehearsal 8-31-07.
I took this during rehearsal for the tour of "I Love a Piano" and uploaded it to flickr with my Sidekick 3, then went home and logged into flickr and published it to this blog.

Originally uploaded by markbaratelli