Monday 17 December 2012

Social media and writers


I’ve noticed lately that interaction via my blog seems less than it used to be. I get the nasty feeling that my posts are boring the pants off everyone. Feedback via Comments grows less and less, possibly because the word verification thingy is annoying and frustrating – I know I find it so on other blogs and often give up without getting my comment to “go” through. And I'm aware that going to Australia for six weeks meant my blog deviated from the usual writing based topics - perhaps that turned people away.

There’s another suspicion I have though; that other media are attracting people away from blogs in general. Not only Facebook and Twitter, but mysterious things called Pinterest and Tumblr. I have no idea what they are and I’m not about to find out. It is easy enough to waste time on FB and T without joining more things! If this is the reason, it is something I cannot change.

 Writing has always been my main interest blogwise, though sometimes I feel like blowing off steam about one thing or another. Or I’ll record something that I may want to come back to at a later date – blogs are handy vehicles for that. But there’s only so much you can say about writing without repeating yourself.
That’s when I go to Twitter in the hope of picking up some item of interest.
I can scroll through a lot of posts and pick out what I’m interested in and ignore the rest. That may sound rude, but as people follow me, I feel obliged to follow back – it seems only courteous – which means I get loads of tweets from people I don’t know about things I’m not interested in.
But turn it the other way about and it also means there are a lot of people seeing whatever I choose to put out. But there’s the difficulty - as far as Tweeting goes, I’ve never really got the hang of it. How to say something engaging and witty in 140 characters defeats me, but others seem to find it no problem at all. I sit and stare at the screen but nothing comes to mind. I'd never make an advertising person!

 Facebook seems easier. I actually have an occasional conversation there with people I know or have come to know. The only person I know who doesn’t have a FB page is my other half, but he may yet be persuaded. They say it is the most likely place readers will look for new reading material, so that seems a good enough reason to stay there. If forced to choose, I’d opt for my blog and Facebook.

 

7 comments:

Linda Banche said...

Well, Jen, I agree with you. I think blogging is more trouble than it's worth. I don't particularly like it and I think I'm better off writing a new story than blog posts.

As for social media, I don't like them. Too many posts about what people had for breakfast. There are some pretty pictures there, and I share some of them, but I can't see spending much time there.

The bottom line is, I don't see either blogs or social media helping my sales much. I think I'm better off spending my time writing stories.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your blog and I read all your posts but I don't always leave a comment - please just continue to do it, there's always something interesting and witty to read here, and your photos are always a great plus.
As a reader I've neither Facebook nor twitter, I don't want to waste my precious time with that (it's only my very personal opinion !), I prefer to live my life and read (life is already short enough like that !) , I have to add that I'm a very private person ... haha ... but of course as a writer it's obviously very different, I know a lot of authors who have both and I suppose you have to adapt if you want to survive and prosper as a writer nowadays. I communicate with writers by email (it's private) or PM on Goodreads. I think that you made a good choice with Facebook and your blog, twitter seems the craziest of media %) %)

Jen Black said...

Great to hear from you both - good to know there's life out there!
Jen

Jean Bull said...

'Don't give up on us, Baby,' as David Soul sang all those years ago. I think that at the moment, writers especially are re-evaluating how much time they spend on social networks and also everyone is busy because it's Christmas. However, I love your blog and would be sad to see it go. Personally, I can't get on with Facebook, I do Tweet a bit, but not enough to make a real difference. If only there was more time!!

Jean Bull said...

PS Comments left on your blog don't show up, only who they are from. I've never seen that before:)

Dean Crawford said...

Blogging is being gradually overwhelmed by quick-fix media such as Twitter and friend-based sites such as Facebook. Just the way of things I suppose. I maintain my site and post maybe once every couple of weeks, but I don't think it's something that I'll continue forever.

Regarding Twitter, I used to follow everyone back. I don't now, and have deleted many "Indie" authors who do nothing but self promote while supposedly "following" 50,000 + people. Rubbish. Better to just follow other like-minded authors and chat when you can.

Keep going though Jen - I only reply to your posts occasionally, but like most people I pretty much see them all :)

Jen Black said...

It's lovely to hear from people! Thank you for letting me know - and Jean I'm not sure what you mean about only seeing names rather than comments. I see all the comments but then that may be because it's me.

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