I’ve wanted to write this letter for a long time, some of this stuff for months, but I’ve always held back. I figure now is as good a time as any. You told me that you’ve read this blog in the past and I really hope you get a chance to read this one.

I guess I’ll start with Twitter and what some of your fans have termed “cluttergate.” I knew it was a bad idea, you following fans, and I posted it at JGG the day you did. I saw right away that it was going to be a mess. The followed vs. the unfollowed. Now, I really believe you did it for the right reason but you didn’t think it through. Hey, we’re all human.

But, yep, you were right, it totally screwed up your timeline. The problem is, you should have seen that right away but instead you kept adding more people. The longer it went on, the harder it was on your fans to end up being unfollowed. Your wording… not so good. No one wants to feel like what they say is clutter. It makes them feel unimportant. And your timing was also bad. Right now, not a whole lot is going on, at least not what we can see. So it seems to me a poor time to unfollow fans.

Next, the Street Team. I resigned from your street team. There were a lot of reasons that led me to that decision but none of them had anything to do with me no longer wanting to support your career. I was the Southern California leader and I had more team members than anyone outside of Texas. But there were/are problems. I couldn’t get any responses to emails I sent out. I did get a few at the beginning but by the time I left I was getting nothing. I was a one-woman team. I realized that the hours I had spent emailing, compiling mailing lists, responding to directives, were really doing nothing to help you. I figured I could do as much on my own--- and I feel I have. I also left because I was incredibly disappointed in the leadership of your street team. By the time I resigned, many of the members of headquarters were simply disinterested in you. Yes, they did what was asked of them but they did it without the passion I felt. It seemed to become a job to them, not a labor of love. In truth, they seemed more interested in making rules and behavior guidelines for the state leaders to follow than they were in you. In fact, almost all of the regional and HQ leaders have gone on to be more interested in other artists or are simply absent. If you don’t believe me, check their tweets.

And I have to add that another reason for my leaving was YOUR lack of interest in the street team, your lack of interest in promoting yourself. In my opinion, you should have been announcing where your tour was going at least a couple of days ahead. Over and over I read people saying that they were sorry they had missed your show because they didn’t know about it ahead of time or didn’t have enough notice. Many fans are casual and they simply don’t go to your website. Also, you should have been thanking the cities and the people who came to your show--- every time. People like to be thanked. It’s just human nature. And… you should have been publicly thanking your street team. They don’t do it for the thanks. At least, I know I never did but it’s just the right thing to do when people are working their asses off for you, continually and for free.


Finally, this is the hard part. While you are still gaining followers on twitter and people are still talking about you on Facebook, (mostly from the Philippines) I guess you can see that many of your most ardent supporters seemed to have moved on. They either don’t tweet at all or they are tweeting someone new. Maybe that doesn’t mean anything. You need new fans. Every artist does. But losing fans that have hung with you for over two years can’t be good. I suppose part of that is that you aren’t currently on tour and I know that’s a complicated issue. I realize that this is not your doing and it would be a shame if people held you responsible for that. But… there are things you could be doing. Tweeting is one. Fans who have come to know you really enjoy reading your tweets. It makes them feel connected and that translates into album sales and concert tickets. It also keeps their attention on you. When other artists tweet and you don’t it’s just natural for people to go elsewhere and sadly I have seen a lot of that lately. You see, when there isn’t much happening, that is the time when you need to tweet more, not less. Random stuff is fine. Little updates on your music are always appreciated but one caveat. If you don’t want people to comment on your personal life, don’t tweet about it. You know?

Now, even though this letter is to you, I’m no fool. It’s a blog. I know other people are going to be reading it and I’ll probably catch shit for this. I might even get “fired” from my “job” as a moderator on your web site. I have learned that being a fan is a little like being back in junior high. If people don’t like what you have to say, they either talk behind your back or tell you personally what you shouldn’t have said what you did. They aren’t going to like this because I'm saying what I think right to you. I am treating you like a man, like a (gasp) real person. I happen to believe that you are both and you’d rather hear the truth than have your ass kissed. (Lord knows you get plenty of that.) You know me well enough by now to know that it’s not my style. I’m bossy, smart and I pay attention. You can listen to what I’ve said or ignore it. It’s up to you but you can believe it’s all true. I have no hidden agendas and I’m still crazy about you.

Love,

Colleen

P.S. No one lets anyone know when you've written a blog and that you are posting fan club videos. Repeated questions and emails concerning fan club pre-sale tickets and meet and greets have been ignored.