Well it can happen to any one of us, but I think I made a stupid mistake.

I may have mentioned that I run the UK's #1 Wifi site, called myHotspots. It's a bold claim I know, but in Google's UK results, I'm tops for that term (although I'm sure bragging about it only increases the chances that I'll lose it) so I'll use that as my justification.

Well, last week there was an interesting case of a man being arrested for "stealing" someone else's wifi. On Friday evening, about half five, I got an email from someone at the BBC World Service. They were arranging a discussion on the subject and wondered if I would take part. This was an intriguing offer to me and I was really torn. On the one hand, this was a great publicity opportunity for me and my site. I got some lovely traffic after another site was featured on the BBC's world service output. But on the other hand, I was just about to go out so could make a convincing argument to myself (and them) that this was too short notice. The honest truth is it out of my comfort zone and I was scared to do it, and could have changed my schedule if I was brave enough to go ahead with it.

Rationally, I don't think a brief mention to a global audience about a UK wifi hotspot listings site was going to have too much impact, but on the basis that it's not an offer I get every day of the week, I really regret turning it down and missing out on the experience. So a lesson learned perhaps about reaching outside of my comfort zone and challenging myself. There's a TV advert that says "life get's better when you say yes". Should have listened.

Whilst I'm talking about myhotspots, I noticed that another wifi directory site which should so unnamed and certainly unlinked to, has created a section titled called "my hotspots". Well, they do say immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so they must really love my site.

Labels: mistakes, publicity