It goes without saying that one of my goals behind the Big Journey is to connect with as many people from around the world as possible who may be interested in my DJ performances, my round-the-word road trip, the cause that the adventure is dedicated too and in the music that my new record label will be releasing.

Thank goodness I am setting for the trip in 2010 and not in 1990 or even 2000 because my options of staying in touch and keeping people up to date about the Big Journey would be limited and certainly expensive.

Of course in 1990, I would have been 10 years old so technically, it would have been impossible to travel the world solo. In 2000, my only Internet options would have been message boards, a personal website and email.

I believe that email is the number one medium to keep in constant contact with friends and supporters of a performer/world traveler. Everyone has email and everyone checks it at least daily.

The only problem is that people along the years have become more reluctant to give out their addies because of the rise of SPAM. To make the mission more impossible, SPAM filters tend to delete even legitimate mass mailings.

In 2010, life is full of options which is a very good thing and a very bad thing.

To begin with, there are social networks, email is still in use, message boards have become more niched, blogs are the rage and micro-blogging is hot.

The more ways to connect with people there are, the better. But also, the more ways to connect with people there, the more difficult staying in touch becomes.

For instance, most of my potential audience primarily uses email, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter to communicate and RSS feeds to stay interested. I am not going to mess with mobile phones because that’s an expensive and impossible-to-handle field.

The best way to confuse people and make them less prone to following the Big Journey is to bombard them with gazillions of ways to stay in touch. I like to brag about the many social networks I am a member of. But to better connect with my audience, I will have to stick to as few as possible.

With crazy statistics like these it's no wonder getting people's attention is fast becoming an art/science by itself*

My strategy is not to ask for email details right away. Nowadays people are as protective of their email addies as they are of their credit card details. That’s why, when only will I have won their confidence will I offer them to stay in touch via a monthly email newsletter.
The reason behind monthly mailings is that given that my Big Journey will take many years, weekly mailings will drive people crazy and make them lose interest thus unsubscribing in droves (daily, would just be plain suicide. Even I don’t plan on sending emails everyday to anyone including my parents!).

Less frequent than monthly and you have people forgetting about the world tour and wondering what is going on (although, I suspect that every two or three months would also work – I will have to test that and see).

The tools that I will use to connect with my new audience are Twitter and Facebook.

Why?

1) They’re a “risk” free way to follow one’s journey. If people are not interested they can unfollow @JaBig or remove themselves from my Facebook page.

2) It takes less time. It’s faster and easier to get people to follow on Twitter and join a Facebook Page than asking them to fill in a form with their names and email.

3) The “street cred” effect. People can see right away how many others are following you on Twitter and Facebook Page. That’s powerful. Just like in nightlife, people go where people are. It’s reassuring and therefore are more likely to connect.

4) I don’t have to ever worry about being accused of SPAM. With email you can send a legitimate message to a double opt-in subscriber and he or she could get your domain and mailing list cancelled from a single SPAM complaint!

5) It’s easier for people to spread the word to their friends: “RT” on Twitter and “Share to Profile” or “Suggest to Friends” on Facebook. Email forwards have also become synonymous with SPAM even if it’s among messages to known recipients.

A while ago, I tweeted that someone with time and energy should compare the list of fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter of celebrities (they seldom have to market their Twitter or Facebook pages because the media does that for them).
There were no takers so I did some basic research on my own and found that the numbers did not follow a pattern. Some celebs had more followers on Twitters than fans on Facebook and vice versa.

At first I thought that pop stars for instance because of their young following would have more fans on Facebook than Twitter and technology entrepreneurs would have more followers on Twitter than Facebook because of their tech savvy  audience. There were no indication of a similar pattern too.

That’s why I have decided to focus on Twitter and Facebook Pages as initial points of contact then move onto email and RSS subscription once I have earned the credibility of my new audience.

A few notes:

- MySpace: although it has more users than Facebook in the US, worldwide Facebook trumps it. And, MySpace was never my social network of choice to begin with because it was too spammy for my taste and those annoying themes and automatic audio playlists.

- RSS feeds: yes, they are the best ways to get people to come back to a website pretty often. Only problem, my audience is not into RSS and I even suspect that they would have no idea what the heck I am talking about. But since YOU know, please feel free to subscribe to my Big Journey Blog by RSS

- I have profiles on other well-trafficked social networks such as YouTube, Flickr, FriendFeed, Last.fm and more. There are about 400 social networks in the world. I cannot join them all. The major ones and the niche ones that appeal to my audience such as UnderOneHouse, of course. But I won’t be promoting them as the initial point of contact.

- I should also say that my official website plays a great role in my communication and marketing plan. But its’ purpose is different. That topic will be discussed in another post.

I like what the Vancouver 2010 Olympic committee has done with their torch relay itinerary presentation. Everything from the way they used Google Maps to the way, they blend photos and videos is very exemplary and that is something far fancier than what I had in my mind for my Big Journey hence it’s a great source of inspiration that I will refer to as I schedule my own itinerary.

The other aspect I like about this map is the itinerary itself. I suspect that the Olympic Committee tried to have the torch visit as many Canadian cities as possible. After all, the point of the torch is to light up the Olympic spirit and the organizers want it to be seen by as many people as possible. That’s why I will also carefully study that itinerary and see how I can adapt it to the big journey.

The one thing I would do though is make the map viral by allowing people to share it with other Google Maps users to to be able to embed it on their own blogs or websites. I understand that they may be reluctant to allow this as they like to keep their message on a short leash. They also don’t need the exposure I guess because they already have more than enough to go around.

The Olympic Torch relay map is like winning the lottery for me!

I better study it fully because my bet is that after the relay is done or the Olympics games are over, the site will definitely go offline and that cool resource will plunge into oblivion.