Lyndahere, Lynda Elstad And Facebook...

Since I wrote this post LyndaHere has changed her name on her Facebook page from Elstad to Here to match her Twitter account. The copy of her photo on this page from her Twitter page has been blocked. (29 December 2013). 

On the 28 October 2012 I posted a post titled “@lyndahere and social networking (Facebook)”. A copy of the post is below and contained some comments from her Twitter page, her use of social media (Youtube and Facebook) and her reviews of concerts she did not attend. I personally don’t use Facebook and very rarely visit Great Big Sea or Alan Doyle’s official pages so I don’t know anything about their use. It is something about people knowing too much information about someone. I often hear about fights on the public transport where I live about things people have written on Facebook, people writing inappropriate things about what happens at their work and getting caught out skipping work. More stories about people spending more time on social media and Facebook than with their real friends in real life. So I don’t use it.

I had been researching on the Internet when I found another blog by a Great Big Sea fan who provided links to videos by a ‘superfan’ who goes by the name Lynda Elstad and is also known as @Lyndahere on Twitter. There is no reference to her Facebook page and no mention of the name Lynda Elstad on Twitter. @lyndahere established a Facebook page under the name of Lynda Elstad in 2007 and posts on a regular basis but not in same amount as on Twitter. It wasn’t difficult to locate her page on Facebook under that name. Her Facebook page has a different photo and a different name than Twitter and a whole different feel and approach than either her Twitter page, blog or Youtube pages. There is still interaction and posts to Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea. They seem to respond more using Twitter.

I was disturbed by two things. First how many photos and videos of Alan Doyle there were and the number of people who found it acceptable for someone to follow another person around from place to place. I understand how people watching a link on Youtube might not know just how many videos are up there and many Tweets she sends him and Great Big Sea on Twitter, but on Facebook the photos and videos of Alan Doyle and some of Great Big Sea are all laid out there. I am not a psychologist or expert on fandom but it just doesn’t seem normal to spend so much time in the company of someone whose interest isn’t returned. If someone had that number of pictures up on their boyfriend or children people would unfriend/unlike someone.

There are bootlegged videos, photos at concerts and even photographs taken of the official Testify video made with Russell Crowe. There is a clear copyright sign on that video. Then there is the trade in tickets. She seems to have bought an awful lot of tickets to concerts in the presales of Great Big Sea XX that she isn’t using and then reselling them via Twitter and Facebook. While she states they are sold at face value they might be sold at a profit. She would only need one or two tickets per show to be sold at $200 profit to make enough money to cover the majority of expenses of her tour. Then there is the fact that she buys tickets in pre sales at the expense of someone who would like to be seated in a good position.

The other interesting thing is here is a person who has no issues with sharing and stealing the work and images of Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle.

@lyndahere and social media (facebook) 28 October 2012

@lyndahere “The Tweetstream swiftly sweeps away both faery sandcastles & reeking shite pile. This is good – the shit piles far outnumber the sandcastles” 11October 2012 after another person disapproving of her activities on social media.

I have written a lot about her use of Youtube and Twitter but not of Facebook. On a recent blog post “Shines Like Diamonds” on her webpage Between the Rock and a Hardplace @lyndahere wrote “I have also been sharing them on Facebook and Twitter a few each day”. I do not read her posts very often due to their extensive nature, their personal nature and well to be honest I am not really that interested in knowing that “her arms were just too weary to hold up the cameras when it was time for them to take their turns” or if she is stuck in a hotel somewhere in America or Canada with a poor internet connection .

I don’t like reading large chunks of Alan Doyle’s blog posts cut and pasted from his site. I will read them directly from his site like most fans do. Better not to write anything than show no respect for the reader or the person whose words they are. “I will write my own words (lesser) about this Perfect Concert soon enough”. She is a bootlegger illegally filming without the permission of those involved. If the musicians wanted their event recorded they would have paid a professional or found a professional willing to volunteer.

On the same post @lyndahere wrote “those who are too impatient to wait can see each video appear (at a snails pace) on my Youtube page”. It is truly unfortunate she believes her videos (and her words and experiences) are an essential part of our lives like breathing if we are to live happy and successful lives. Most adults are disappointed yet able to cope on missing out on an experience or event in life they wanted to attend yet couldn’t make. It makes the next opportunity as @lyndahere would say “sweeter”. A successful life is of course one of balance between self, family, community, work and fun.

Her social media use is full of contractions. For example, on her Between the Rock and a Hardplace blog site @lyndahere reviewed Alan Doyle’s performance at a launch of the Bluenose 2 in September. She missed the connections for her flight and as result did not attend the event. @lyndahere was almost dismissive of the performance in her review on her blog because she wasn’t there. As she watched the show on the Internet in a hotel room somewhere in Canada she wrote tweets on Twitter criticising Air Canada, Alan Doyle and the crowd some of which were later deleted. There was also a sense of desperation in missing out on a performance of Alan Doyle.

@lyndahere “Watching the feed. I think you need to wake them up & warm them up. How about Testify? I’ve Seen A Little. C’mon Alan” 29 September 2012

But amongst all those words from @lyndahere there will be actions that promote further investigation like how does this social media giant work with the music industry to promote music. How does @lyndahere and other fans use Facebook as distinct from Twitter and other social media to interact with celebrities and musicians? And how do celebrities and musicians use it to promote themselves? The obvious place to start is the book Accidental Billionaires and the film Social Network. Of course I will have to set up an account under a fake name because I have been threatened and my Internet Service Providers contacted.

After this blog post was published @lyndahere wrote “Not impressed with the implications of that “Create No Expectations, Risk No Disappointment Approach Yeah & “Forgo Rewards of Love” too. 29 October 2012. Putting your ideas or creativity out for the public to critically evaluate is hard to do and one I have experience at. When my ideas and creativity are acknowledged and rewarded with high praise by my peers and others it is very rewarding indeed. When they are not then of course I am disappointed yet learn from that to make my work better. But no proper acknowledgement and no acknowledgement from respected peers is not just disappointing but devastating indeed after years of trying. The healthy thing to do is to give up, move on and do something else. Changing goals and being able to adapt is part of growing whether it is within your chosen activity or moving on to a completely different one.

To be continued…