I am being talked into getting a Facebook page to promote my books, and to start linking it to my Twat, or something like that. I have to start Twatting, too, it seems. There is a nice techie at work who can help me, and I have a friend with a teenage daughter.
But both of them tell me, “Oh, everyone is over Facebook, it’s on its way out!” Hmmmm? So, what is next? Is there some hot trendy new social media I should get in on the ground floor of?
http://www.reddit.com/ is supposed to be popular. It’s like a combination SDMB and Twitter where articles and whatnot are displayed in order of user voted popularity.
But to answer your question, I don’t know. Hence, I am not a billionare startup CEO.
Facebook is hardly “on it’s way out”. It’s not “new” and “sexy” in that as featured in Wired and Fast Company startup way that techie types get a hardon over. And it’s moved beyond the OMG Ashton Kutcher says it’s cool all the kids have it phase. It is now in the well established your Mom uses it kind of way.
The question is if it is moving into that introduce that new character “Roy”, jumped the shark, drop a billion on some bullshit aquisition lets do a bazillion dollar IPO right after switching to a new timeline format no one likes phase.
As Google+ prooved, it’s not that easy to start a new social networking site, even if you already have a bunch of users. People don’t like to switch or maintain multiple networks.
If I were to hazard a guess? I would say something that transitions between the virtual world of Facebook and the real world. Maybe using augmented reality like Layar or Mixare or location based services like Google Latitude.
Well, given your content, I suggest you get a Tumblr. It’s a blogging platform and social network all mashed together, ideal for featuring your trove of source images, anecdotes and so forth. It has the ease and speed of Twitter but handles images and slightly longer text posts better.
You can set up an account in a few minutes which allows you to post stuff and follow the postings of others. Here are a few examples:
-mostly small clips of classic films
-a collection of charts, diagrams and infographics from all over the damn place
-a mishmash of vintage and historical photographs. Not much of a theme beyond ‘look at the pretty’ but fun nonetheless.
-just plain fun
There are also about two million idiot high school kids from across the globe, it’s a versatile platform. I found the whole ‘reblogging’ thing completely incomprehensible until I got an account, at which point it became intuitive. Basically there are three sides to each Tumblr - the public face that you see when you click one of those links above, the way posts appear to followers (which you can see if you get an account and follow somebody else) and the back end that you control yourself. This can be good for promo purposes, as you can get viral attention from other Tumblr users but also promote the ‘front end’ for outsiders just as well. This is a weakness of Facebook in my opinion, that you can’t really get into a page unless you are signed in. Same with Twitter - they are great for getting in touch with people in those networks but there’s not much there for others.
Be aware that I’m saying all this for entirely selfish reasons - I think you’d run a truly kick-ass Tumblr and I want to follow it!
Oh, Jesus! So which would be the best way to promote my books and my freelance writing: Facebook, Tumblr, or Tweeting?
Keeping in mind that I don’t have all that much time (says the girl who is wasting time right now on the SDMB) and I am *really *inept at techie stuff.
Depends. If you’re only going to post things like New Book coming out in July, just make a facebook page and link it to twitter so you only need to update one to update the other, no muss, no fuss. If however you’d like to share facts about various celebrities or your research or the general time period, twitter would be useful. It would also be useful if you are interested in connecting with fans as it’s an easy barrier-free zone for people to ask questions or express their interest. Tumblr would be a good choice if you want to post images from the time period.
All three, honestly.
Why artificially limit the reach of your word to you’re audience?
There are ways of linking your Facebook and twitter so you post once, and I bet there are products our sites that would let you link all three plus more.
Pinterest, so that you can share images of those nice people you write about? (It’s probably not the best medium for what you’re doing, but I had to add another platform…)
Anyhoo… I agree that a combination of Twitter, Facebook and tumblr could be effective.
I think you could build quite a following on Twitter with pithy remarks about people you’ve written about. Or about people that maybe only have an anecdote or two that needs to be shared. You could link from your profile on Twitter to your FB page and publish longer notes on both FB and tumblr.
I don’t Tweet and Tumble or … Face? … but from what I understand Twitter would probably be the most time consuming. You’re expected to send out a stream of little messages on a regular basis to your followers.
We are here to help! And yes, it’s fairly easy to link all three things so that you type something once and it appears on all three at once.
Since you aren’t putting out a new book daily, and we aren’t, alas, inundated with variety in your field you don’t need to provide fresh content each day.
You’ve got a fan base here. I’d “like” and “retweet” ( I don’t know from tumblr but I’d follow you) your posts. Only about two dozen of my facebook friends are on the boards so your name would end up in front of (based on my belief that only half of my facebook friends have ever logged in again after signing up and friending a bunch of people) two hundred new folks.
Also, much of what I like to read from you is your reactions to things. You don’t have to spontaneously generate all of your content.
Omigosh, this sounds exhausting, but thanks, all, for the input. I think I will start with Facebook and see if I am up to Twatting.
Question: is one compelled by etiquette to constantly reply to Facebook messages, and to keep up to date on friends’ (and “friend’s”) own pages? That really could get time-consuming and annoying, but one does want to be polite and not off-piss the very people one is trying to attract.
I will “like” comments made on my pages and will comment if a question needs to answered. What I find happening most often is followers "like"ing my posts. That can lead to others coming around from their friends who see that action on their newsfeed or timeline.
Well, a facebook message is basically like an email, so if you treat them as you would an email then I don’t think they’d have any room to complain.
You shouldn’t be setting up a regular person account on Facebook and if someone told you to, they’re a dipshit. What you’ll need is essentially a fanpage. You can update it and there will be a wall that people can leave comments on but you won’t be friends with them. They Like the page, they don’t friend you. Liking the page means that they’ll be able to comment on the wall, have discussion and receive messages from the page. You won’t have access to their profiles and won’t be expected to post on their walls or know anything about them.