Are all your eggs in the Facebook basket?

So it turns out that there's a storm brewing around Facebook's new policy decisions. This would primarily concern those who've used FB on a very regular basis and are trying to use it for professional or business or direct/indirect personal/business reasons or whatever. Before you read on, check out this article 'Facebook, I want my friends back' linked to the Dangerous Minds website. To be honest, we aren't really invested that much in Facebook even though we(AccessibleHorizon FilmCollective) started our FB account primarily for our artistic projects(I don't have a personal account for myself). We try and post regularly about our projects and 'hope' to get some traffic out of it. Our 'fan-base' isn't that much in the sense that we'd lose out on too many promotional opportunities, because we haven't gone full-out on Facebook.
But obviously, there are millions of people, who are FB users, that have been relying on it so much that virtually their 'online' existence depends on it. So, the 'bait-and-switch' model that it has implemented now, is inevitably creating a bit of a furor among users. I personally am trying to figure out whether this is a good thing or a bad thing; that is whether FB was right in their part to charge their users for their posts, or if they are wrong, like many users feel. As the post and the subsequent comments point out, it affects a lot of the smaller companies and people who are grappling with this change and trying to figure out how to go forward.
I ain't going into too much detail, coz we already know the pros and cons. And I don't want to take a cynic's stance and say 'it is what it is, so deal with it'. Of course, I imagine that's what it eventually would boil down to. But I figure just one underlying thing in all this free-market, business model approach or whatever - that as users, we have to ask ourselves the question of 'Are all our eggs in the Facebook basket?'. Meaning, whatever happens, are we going to or rather, should we keep and/or safeguard our eggs(our promotional, marketing or business out-reach) strictly and only within our FB basket? Time and again, the 'free-market' economy has taught us to be wary of things like this. So why fall for the same again? If we were to operate our ventures online, it would be smart to spread out on several platforms and keep Facebook as 'one' of the baskets. Kinda like spreading your 'investment' across several platforms. Just something to ponder about.

500 & 5's 5K Run/Marathon

How ‘bout another 5? Yeah folks, this time the ‘5’ is a 5Km(& 500 meters) ‘Run’ or Marathon.

You ask, “Marathon? You mean like running? Like exercise?”. And we say, “Well, not really, but if you wanna put it that way, you can.” See, let’s get this straight ok? You can run, walk, slow-jog, fast-walk, cycle or even crawl but you gotta reach the finish-line. No auto! So anyways, this is gonna be a 5K run with the Cast, Crew and Friends of ‘500 & 5’ and Accessible Horizon Films. Everyone’s gonna be there and we want YOU all to join in on the fun and a cause.

Why are we doing this and why do we want you with us? Really…well, there’re 2 reasons.

1. As many of you now know, ‘500 & 5’ is a feature-length ensemble of 5 short films with stories containing Gangsters, Romance, Reality, Dark fantasy, Social rebellion, etc. Despite all the ‘Cinematic’ elements that it contains, the underlying theme of ‘500 & 5’ deals with Money (as the omnipresent yet futile concept that rules us all) through the 5 main characters (and eventually envisions a world without money). Like many seemingly impossible things, this too starts with an idea. In a world where there’s a price tag to anything and everything including basic human-ness, we thought it necessary to shake things up a little. You know, break down the existing concept of Money and bring it down to its knees, at first theoretically, then through the film and eventually, maybe…maybe initiate a dialogue in that direction. We’ve tried to stick to this philosophy even for the ‘Making’ of ‘500 & 5’, which is why we’ve been able to do it independently and without major financial resources. And things like ‘Human-ness’ and the L-word (that ‘blasphemous’ L-word, Love, that we, as a society are embarrassed to use anymore) seem to have lost their meaning and have been replaced by the M-word. So we wanna give a shout-out against that change. How ‘bout that?

2. Now, now, since this is also a promotional campaign for the film ‘500 & 5’, we just wanna have some plain, unadulterated fun with the people who worked with us and made this project into what it is now. There have been tons of people, I mean, real people involved in this project with whom we’ve had too much fun during the making and we want to unwind a little after all that hard work we put in. We want you in on this because this film project is a labor of love made outside the confines of the studio system and we wanna share the euphoria associated with it at a ground level(literally) not at some big, staged, ticketed event.

So…if you’re even a wee bit interested or just wanna get off your uhh…we mean, couch, do join us. Since we'll have some special giveaways for you, we'll need a headcount, so please DO register (it's FREE)with your email at our website http://500n5themovie.com/5KRunRegistration.php. (And hey, if you can’t make it and wanna show your support, you can Like our ‘500 & 5’ Page. It’ll be a booster for our run.)

Event: 500 & 5’s 5K Run

Venue: Marina Beach, Chennai (Start point: Subramania Bharathiar statue)

Date: Sunday, July 22^nd , 2012

Time: 6:30 a.m

For more information & updates, check out:

www.500n5themovie.com

‘AccessibleHorizon FilmCollective’ on Facebook

‘500 & 5’ film's Page on Facebook

www.AccessibleHorizonFilms.com