I picked up a book this past weekend on astrology: “The Guide to Astrology”by Lori Read and found it to be quite amazing. As a Gemini, it has me described very accurately as a born communicator. Good for me that I am working in a field that is listed as being one of the best for a Gemini — a freelance writer. At least I’m doing something right. I do love to talk and communicate with people at every opportunity. And I do love being my own boss. So its’ a great fit.
However, all this new social media has me wondering if it’s just TOO much? I joined Twitter a couple of weeks ago @wizardofwords and am finding it quite overwhelming, although admittedly … fun. Some of the individuals I am following seem to feel they need to “tweet” 10 and more times a day. Why is that??? Cant’ they just pick a few important or interesting things to say each day and leave it at that?
I joined Twitter and started this blog to build my author’s platform, as evidently that is critical to the success of any author these days. So I am committed to sticking with it. But the number of tweets coming in seems to be daunting — to even the fastest of readers, and I am not one of them.
What has me concerned with social media is the time it takes. When I started the blog back in February, my social media mentor told me she gets up an hour earlier daily to do her Twitter and blog entries. At first I scoffed at the thought of getting up earlier to do this, but I am doing it and find I have to — if I want to keep up with the game.
And the time I am spending on social media has taken away the available time and energy I have to speak on the phone to close friends and family who are not online. Isn’t that the kicker? We get onto all this social media to raise our profile and communicate with more people, only to leave the loved ones who are not “plugged in” behind? That doesn’t sit well with me, but it is the conundrum I find myself in.
How are you managing it all? Do you have time to keep up with the time demands of being effectively plugged in? Do you find that the “unplugged” are falling off your radar because of that? I would love to hear your thoughts — and learn how you are coping (or not.)
About Doreen PendgracsKnown throughout the Web as the "Wizard of Words", I've been a freelance writer since 1993. I'm currently researching and writing "Chocolatour: A Quest for the World's Best Chocolate". You can follow my travels on "Travel Diversions with Doreen".
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Timely? Hot topic? ESP? Today I posted the same question on a writers' listerve. Responses show there are definitely mixed feeling out there about the Social Media revolution/evolution. I also posted something on my blog "To Twitter or Not To Twitter" a while back http://suzanneboles.wordpress.com. Turned out to be more of a humour piece about how Tweeting and technology was driving me crazy, and asking others what they think (like you have here).
You really express the conundrum (a very good blended white from California, BTW)eloquently. I'll blog and twitter for clients because they pay me, but tangible time for friends, family and personal interests is too important to spend any more time on social media.
Your case is a bit different because of the book sales connection, but will any of us say on our death beds that we wished we'd spent more time tweeting? I suspect there will be a backlash eventually. Otherwise, we might as well give in to the little chip in our brain that records our thoughts and sends them out to whomever is interested. Resist the brave new world.
Very thought provoking comment, Virginia.
Yes, admittedly, I am blogging and tweeting to build my author's platform – a necessity for book authors in today's marketplace. Twitter has also been an excellent research tool and amazing for establishing interesting and useful contacts.
I have to admit I'm enjoying it. But regrettably, it does indeed take time that I never had to being with. So it's definitely a challenge.
Resist if you can, but my bet is that you'll soon be joining the dark side.
I have the problem where I don't actually have the time over everything else (the "essentials") to do as much Tweeting and blogging. And the fast paced world of it makes me feel like I'm missing out on a lot… as much as there are those friends (actual ones, not Facebook "friend" equivalents) who tweet on every little whim, you get those deep down Twitter users who pass out one or two gems a day. I'm bound to miss them, especially since they wake up when I'm fast asleep from time zone differences.
I guess we can only give as much as we can afford without compromising more important things. That said, what you put in, you will usually get out of it, so we just have to find a good balance.