Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Faces of Facebook Fans of Band Pages



Have any of you liked a band's page on Facebook? Or fanned up a page in the old days? I have to in a way in order to sometimes get news articles without relying on Blabbermouth to copy and paste it before anyone else. And I know there are alot of people that don't know what Blabbermouth even is so getting these sources is crucial sometimes. Well, my question is this. If you do have a band as one of your 'likes' do you comment? Comment frequently or not at all? Awhile back I did an article on the good and bad of band pages. I was going to try and make it a regular feature but I really couldn't get the inspiration for many of the good sides of it. Well now we fast forward to today and a sequel of sorts. I want to focus on the people that comment on these pages. The everyday joes if you will. After the jump.

So typically what happens is a band will post about an upcoming album or tour or something to whore themselves out with. And that's perfectly acceptable behavior. They are in a business and are using Facebook to further promote themselves and their product. What inevitably happens with this though is the everyday person sees this as a social networking tool and they have the ability to interact with the band. While in theory this is true it doesn't happen often. Depending on the pecking order some bands hire an admin to moderate their page and they themselves never look at it while others strictly just use it as a marketing tool. No interaction, no chance. Some bands will in truth interact back when they get a chance and those are actually my favorites.

But back to the regular people. There are many different types of people that comment. Let's break it down shall we?

The Fanboy: This person no matter what the status is will suck the testicles out of the band if given half the chance.
Band: "Bus broke down today in the middle of the fucking desert and we're dying of heat exhaustion".
Commenter: "You guys fucking rock and the new album is the sickest fucking album ever!!"
This person when the band asks for an opinion on new material will not only praise it as the second coming of Jesus will also turn on a dime and viciously attack anyone who dares criticizes. Usually by telling them to go back and listen to Justin Bieber if they don't like it.

The Clueless Foreigner: This person has just enough grasp of the English language to loudly proclaim "Com 2 Algeria!" after every status update. No matter what it is.
Band: "Tour just wrapped up. Time for some well deserved rest for the next 6 months so we can bring you some more metal on the next album".
Commenter: "Cum 2 tiny village in Amazon, please!!!"

The Troll: Everyone should know this person. The one guy that gets 'lulz' from saying something just to piss off the next 20 commentators in line after him. This guy derails the fanboy and makes him become the defender as previously mentioned but goes unnoticed by the clueless foreigner. Usually this guy says something a logical critic would say but is more vicious about it in order to get max responses. Which segues into this.

The Logical Critic: This person is rare. He likes the band and in turn liked the band page. But has no qualms about voicing displeasure in the direction of the band. He is usually outnumbered and gets buried in the comments from the fanboys, clueless foreigners, and trolls.Therefore any good that could come from him/her is forever lost. Or otherwise attacked by the fanboy.

So which of these are you? Or do you just stay quiet and occasionally pipe in with whether or not you listened to a song or bought the album? Regardless I highly recommend if you're bored to read the comments on band pages. It can be quite entertaining at times. Oh and while you're at it. Like our Facebook page too. Then you to can be a fanboy, clueless foreigner, troll, or logical critic.

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