Good Morning Clash Fans….glad it’s the weekend though no idea why I’m awake at this hour. I was looking at doing some lofty writing but it’ll have to wait. Though I do need to get the blog on track this week as there are a series of interviews to orchestrate and announce I’ve found myself a bit buried with other stuff so bear with me. I’ll get through a few batches of The Clash Cup this weekend, I’ve updated the Cut The Crap page and I need to update Global a Go Go as the US/UK battle remains tense! (see above links)

For now though I wanted to write a bit about Facebook and The Clash. Facebook as you surely know is the social media site that allows you to build a profile, add friends, vent about the weather or the government and essentially create an online micro world that for some people can replace their own lives. You have to limit your time on there as it can create a time vacuum that eats an entire evening. That said it’s a good place for music in general and to shout from the treetops that you love The Clash, or Goodfellas, or even Ribena. All options are covered. It’s (naturally) a really good source for current bands and issues etc and I have found it useful for networking for the Clash Blog. I also like it as a ‘free’ way to keep in contact with friends across the world without the formality of email.

I thought I’d quickly focus on some Clash related ‘pages’ and point you toward them if you are a facebooker.

1. TheClashBlog page - coming soon…I’ve delayed this and for the time being you can add me here (as some of you have) but I’ll have the FB profile for the blog up soon.

2. The Clash page – 316,026 Fans.

Overview: Very global is the best thing I can say about it. It’s obviously run by Sony as the profile image (from the thousands available) is the cover of “Live at Shea” - I mean come on, if you have to revert to an album cover at least make it a classic. The page is not well maintained and lacks much useful source information. For example it lists 5 albums, all released this decade so the aim is simply payola. The Clash lists its members as including Rob Harper, Pete Howard, Nick Sheppard, Vince White so while accurate it a bit of a stretch.

Video – nothing special, 5 tracks you’ve all seen before.

Audio - see video. no effort made.

Photos - (usually a strength on facebook) this page offers 4 (four!) photos of the band. I find that appalling

Activity - Naturally enough with 300k plus ‘fans’ the comments section is pretty active but not terribly so considering the population. A very weak FB page especially when you realise what it could/should be.

3. The Clash (unofficial) page – 6,371 fans

This is far more like it, a page that would actually make you think that Facebook has some merit. This is a page run by fans and with fans in mind, the complete opposite of the effort by Sony. Lots of time and effort has been made getting the page up and running and (unlike the former) it’s one I check every now and then. Topics, videos and ideas are all there to be explored; nice job.

Video – 4 videos, one of which is kind of cool a short audio snippet with Joe Strummer sounds like it was taken in a pub and Joe sounds like its getting near closing time.

Stuff - 17 discussion topics ranging from ‘best live show’ to ‘best bass lines’ – worth some time. Wall posts are fairly active – again shows the global appeal of the band.

Audio -nothing found

Photos - 160+ and a fair few worth looking at, some pretty decent stuff.

Activity - Not great but more interesting than the ‘official’ effort and some potential.

4. THE CLASH (French) – 400 fans

I see a good bit of traffic to the blog from France and The Clash enjoyed significant support from across the channel. The facebook page is nice to see and has a few videos and photos. Worth a trip I’d say, nes’t pas.

5. London Calling – 132 fans

This also appears to be French. Nothing more than a track listing, a few (8) videos from the album and not much more. Maybe it’s a new one?

6. Paul Simonon – 2,199 fans

Nice to see a Paul page, and not a bad one at that. A few good photos, a nice bio and an active wall makes it worth a visit.

7. What about Paul Simonon!? – 408 fans

For a small fan base this is a great page. Good bio info, even a bit of Havana 3am and TGTBaTQ for extra depth. Lots of recent activity, discussion topics and a general good level of interactivity. 125 photos including the well dodgy speedo image. (go and see)

Right…there lots more of this to come and needless to say not all of it good! Stay tuned.