Carol: Week 3--Social Networking & Fundraising

(The following post first appeared in my column at technorati.com as Week 3: Failing at Social Networking. Yes, I am walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure walk. If you can find it in your heart to help sponsor me, please click on the 3-day for the Cure logo.)  

Week 3 of my training for the 3-day for the Cure ended without much fanfare and with just a sliver of disappointment. OK, make that more of a pie sized wedge of disappointment.

Disappointment--not with my training (although my job this week interfered with that. I only logged 5.5 miles and one yoga class)--but rather disappointment in the marvels of technology. Or, specifically in my case, the lack of marvels for me.

I'm three weeks into this fundraising/trolling for $2,300 so I can participate in the 60 mile walk to help fight breast cancer, and I have yet to receive even a one dollar donation from a stranger in cyberspace. I have raised 37 percent of the required amount.

I'm not sure why I'm such a failure at this. Apparently, I don't know what I'm doing. I came to that little epiphany  after the world went all atwitter about twitter erasing followers to cure a program bug. I think I have like nine followers.

My luck with Facebook is equally abysmal. I was certain my funny chicken photograph on my "Get Richie On Oprah & Save the Chicken!" fan page would generate thousands of fans for my book. Instead, the chicken page hasn't even hit a hundred. So much for counting one's chickens before they hatch.

Others don't seem to have that difficulty.  Even four self-described nerds living off pizza raised $10,000 in donations in 12 days to launch their business endeavor. The Internet is filled with such success stories.  Just not me.

Apparently though, I'm not the only one disappointed with the Internet.

My Sunday newspaper — yep, I still love the printed version of my news--carried a big opinion piece with a screaming headline, "The Internet's False Promises." (And they weren't talkin' about Al Gore either.) I'd include the link here, but my newspaper, like me, apparently isn't technologically savvy enough to get all its posts online.

I guess I'll have to keep at it the old fashioned way.