Friday, September 9, 2011

so much social media

this post is a call for opinions!

i've seen a lot of chatter lately about the eventual demise of facebook and the apparent slow-down in blogging and blog commenting. i've also noticed some of that chatter includes guesses about what will be the next "big thing."

it's not really a secret that i am a reluctant participant in social media.
it all started for me a few years ago, when i got a call from my good friend Julia telling me to get on MySpace. i had heard of it, but i wasn't interested.
No, she insisted. You don't have to make a page. You can just sign up and SPY ON PEOPLE!
well hello! that sounded like fun!

and it was. MySpace was the beginning of social spying - looking up people you hadn't seen in forever. online voyeurism wasn't new, but keeping tabs on people you actually knew? - that was still a pretty fresh idea.
of course, the spying got old fast, and i ended up making a page.
that was my gateway to social media.

these days, i am far from a social media expert, but sure, i play.
and now, as an author looking to connect with readers and other writers, i'm conscious of what is the hot spot of the moment. so i'm looking for opinions.
where are you all gathering online these days?

i'm here:
blog
twitter
personal facebook (mostly private and non-writing-related stuff)

should i also be here?:
tumblr
google+
formspring
linked in (i quit this, losing all of my links in the process. maybe that was a bad idea?)
professional facebook (separate author page - something more public?)

if you could only pick 3 social media to participate in, which 3 would you choose and why?
in your opinion - What's Next?

8 comments:

Roni Loren said...

If I had to choose, I'd pick blogging, twitter, and tumblr. Not because they're the most effective necessarily but they're the most fun for me. :)

Facebook makes me twitchy and I'm still not sold on Google+

Phoebe North said...

I just blogged about this recently. I've pretty much replaced twitter, facebook, AND tumblr with google+. The community there feels more accessible, filter . . . able, and it just suits my needs better than any of the other three.

Brianne Carter said...

I'm on facebook, twitter, blogger, tumblr, and goodreads if that's considered social media. If I had to choose three, I'd definitely get rid of tumblr, as that's only a time-waster for me and not a way to communicate with people. I love goodreads because it's where I get all my book recommendations. and keep track of what I'm reading, but I'd get rid of that because I'm sure I could do the same over Twitter/personal files.

Caroline Starr Rose said...

I'm not on Twitter and have no plans to be, but I do love blogging and FB.

Kathy Ann Coleman said...

My blog is the center of my socializing. But it's other things, like GoodReads, Absolute Write, and Twitter that let me get people to go there and read and comment. A blog without visitors is one very sick animal, let me tell you.

I've heard people saying "This is dying" or "That is dying"... But the truth is, people wanting to communicate is not going to die. How we do it may change, and for those who've made a name in the current methods staying on top of that might seem important. But the need to share and discuss things we love isn't going anywhere.

erinjade said...

Roni - the ones you enjoy the most probably ARE the most effective for you. that's a good point to take away, i think. i have to remember that.

Phoebe - i've heard a lot of people saying that about google+, and i liked your blog post on it! :) i've been waiting to see how many people flock to g+ to see if it has staying power.

Bri - goodreads probably DOES count as social media, depending how you use it. i should consider being more active there.

Caroline - i bow to your resolve. i used to say the same about twitter, but i caved, and now i use it more than fb.

Kathy - i think you nailed it! the how may change, but the what will remain. people want to communicate. so true.

whew. really wishing blogger had threaded comments right about now!

Heather Anastasiu said...

Great question, I wonder too, what's the next big thing. I think, maybe, vlogging? that people like to just easily watch what they may not have the patience to read on blogs? I don't know. My old stand-by is the blog though. I've been blogging for six years now, and it's quite comfortable. At the same time, I'm pushing myself to start vlogging, which is awkward and embarassing! Facebook is still where I go to just hang out and catch up with people, not much of a professional platform there yet. Sometimes all the social networking makes me tired thinking about it. Then I pause for awhile, and just try to do those things that I'm passionate about :)

erinjade said...

really interesting point about vlogging, Heather. in my mind, i still lump vlogging with blogging, but really, people are using youtube in ways that don't resemble blogging at all - and they're still connecting with other people. i think you may be on to something there.

also, for anyone who is curious, Nielsen research released a study yesterday that found: facebook is still king, with the most users and most time spent online. however, tumblr is the fastest-growing social network, tripling its membership in the past year. ...interesting.