Wed 14 Oct 2009
FAQ
Posted by Fredric Koeppel under Meditation and Contemplation , What Were They Thinking , Wine blogs[15] Comments
Q. You are on record as despising Twitter, Facebook and other social-networking 
devices, yet you recently signed up for Twitter. Que pasa?
A. I signed on to Twitter because everyone said that I should use it as a marketing tool to bring traffic to this blog. More traffic may lead to more advertising. No, wait, make that some advertising, any advertising, at least something more than Google ads, which I assume that everyone regards as annoying to the point of invisibility. Those Google ads net me all of $100 annually. Whoa, bring up that Wells-Fargo armored truck now!
Q. And has Twitter brought you more traffic?
A. Not noticeably. Of course I only have 34 followers, so I guess it will take time, you know, slowly building the Irresistible Momentum of a Force of Nature.
Q. We notice that you aren’t following anyone on Twitter. Pour quoi?
A. I tried that for a few weeks, but found the suffocating inanity intolerable. It’s amazing what intelligent, college-educated people will reveal about themselves or the trivialities they so breathlessly report. It’s like reading a Freudian treatise on the madness of crowds via telegraph.
Q. On another subject, do you accept wine samples for review?
A. Let me say this about that. The whole reviewing apparatus — wine, books, music CDs (what’s left of them), household products — depends on review samples. Rare is the publication or writer who possesses the fiduciary prowess to afford paying for the items he or she reviews. Probably 80 percent of he wines I review come as samples from wineries, producers, importers and wholesalers; some of these are sent with prior notice, some I solicit, to fit into a particular theme or post, but most just arrive at the door. Another 10 percent I encounter at trade tastings or similar events, and the remaining five percent I buy.
Q. That being the case, would you state your policy about accepting samples and reviewing the wines for this blog?
A. Of course I will. Let’s practice full disclosure. As I said in the previous entry, yes, I accept wine samples for review, but I accept them on no assumption on the part of whoever sent the sample that I will give a positive review or even any review at all. While it gives me great joy to recommend wines to my readers and share my enthusiasm with them, I am obligated, both by conscience and professional considerations, to dole out negative notices when necessary. I also reserve the right to make fun of, parody or downright deride — without being a total asshole — press releases that are badly written, deficient, vain, pompous and utterly fantastical. You would be amazed how many press releases embody all of those fatal flaws.
Q. On another subject entirely, is it true that when you were a child in Rochester N.Y., you and your older brother were a Cossack-dancing team and you performed on local television?
A. Yes.
Cool question mark image from verticalmeasures.com. Cossack-dancing kid from Koeppel Family Archives.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Cossack dancing? The outfit explains your making the kids wear Edwardian garb a generation later.
October 14th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I concur. Twitter is a lame. I fail to see how it is really all that much different from email. I think that eventually, it will die.
So you’re from Rochester, huh? What would you pair with a garbage plate from Tahoes? Haha
October 14th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
twitter’s sort of hateful. but useful. it’s a pickle.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Speaking on behalf of my generation, I apologize for the short attention span, need for constant communication, and poor writing ability that characterize the average internet user.
I’ve explored Twitter but haven’t found much reason to read or contribute through that medium. Facebook has been a different story, and I’ll usually leave a note there with a link and thumbnail of the photo whenever I put up a new post. It has been effective in getting non-wine fans reading the site, though it’s limited to friends, family, former co-workers, etc.
Some wineries run Facebook fan pages, so I can crosspost there if applicable. For instance, I used a Toad Hollow wine in one of my hotel cooking posts and they got a big kick out of it.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I don’t know that Twitter is all that useful, except that it’s something that is a current fad. I mean really, how is it different than an email distribution list except that it’s limited to 140 characters? Maybe it’s a useful vehicle for writing haiku?
October 14th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
been useful to us in attracting potential distributors in various states. nc, tx, ca, ky, oh…
October 14th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Fredric,
Is that really you? Great photo. I’ll be sixty soon, would probably benefit business-wise from twittering, but can’t seem to justify the time and energy required when good ole email works so well. I’m still trying to locate the appropriately well-stored bottle of 75 PS. I’m also hoping that we’ll soon see the review of the 01 Cab Reserve.
John B
Renaissance
October 14th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Fredric,
Yeah, not following anyone is hindering your ability to use Twitter to drive traffic to your site. You’re also being hurt by not using any of appropriate tags that would get your tweets seen by people looking for good wine and food writing. Also, there are some free services you can use to, in addition to shortening your links, gain insight into how many people are clicking through on your tweets.
In sum, there are all kinds of neat tricks that can make Twitter a powerful tool for getting out the word about great content (and finding great content). It does take some getting to know its ins and outs, but once you’ve done so you might find, as I have, that in just a few minute a day you can accomplish a lot. Good luck with it.
Pete
October 14th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
i think the big message here is: Fredric, get off your allegedly luddite ass.
October 15th, 2009 at 6:36 am
You don’t follow anybody but then lament that you only have 34 followers? See the cause and effect relationship there?
October 15th, 2009 at 8:55 am
geeze, OK, enough already! I’ll try harder with twitter if i can figure out how to do it. and yes of course i need a tag that says “follow me on twitter” on the page. the rest (Pete) i need some guidance on. and, all right, I’ll go back to having followers, but truly, Dale, how do you wade through the flood of garbage?
Jeff, yep, I spent the first 10 years of my life in Rochester, but I haven’t laid eyes on the “Gateway to Lake Ontario” (or “We’re a Lot Better Than Buffalo”) since 1955.
and yes, that’s me, the little Cossack-Dancing Wonder.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:08 am
For starters, you don’t have to follow everyone. There are tools out there, I use Tweetdeck, that allow you to group people in categories using columns. This makes it a lot easier to wade.
Twitter’s strength is that it is an interactive social network. If you aren’t interacting with at least a few of your followers, then I believe you are missing the point.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Fredric,
That picture reminds me of the perfect dancer’s split I did when I was four–broke my left knee cap, as I was not and never became a dancer.
Re, Twitter, et al: my problem with it boils down to three things.
First, the inanity that takes up time.
Second, I value as much privacy as I can steal from this cyber world of ours–just heard from a bunch of writer friends how their Twitter accounts have been spammed this week with viral links that caused major problems for them.
Third, there’s something about spending the whole day “networking” to “friends” that makes me feel like the Tony Curtis character in “Sweet Smell of Success.”
October 15th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Sir, how dare you poo-poo my twitter updates about the status of my toddler daughter’s diaper changes! You cad!!!
October 16th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Dude, I have no doubt that yours is the most exemplary of toddlers and that her diaper changes are worthy of Homeric treatment.