A few weeks ago, I wrote a post wondering how authors from the past might've got on with social media, If you want a read of that, you can find it here:
However let's zoom back into the present. Like it or not, these days social media, whether it be Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, is important for most of us whether it's for making pals or for flogging stuff.
But as my cartoony friend above shows, it can be a wee bit of a daunting place to be. As in ye olde offline world, you have to have your wits about you because in a world full of avatars and handles, not everyone is as they seem to be.
There are the bots, who aren't necessarily a negative thing, but you won't get a connection there, old bean!
The pick up artists using sites as a dating app (my twitter profile says that I'm living with my boyfriend and no direct messages please. Does it stop people from trying to send pick up DM's? Nope.). Don't get me wrong, if you're looking for a partner or even just a roll in the hay, OK, but I'm not the lass for that so no DM's PLS! Especially aubergine pics! Take note Casanova!
There are also people who may try to catfish you (pose as someone they're not) for all sorts of unsavoury reasons.
But that's all the potentially unsavoury stuff. There's lots of good things too, especially for creative people. Now there is a received wisdom that publishing houses, agents etc think it's important to have loads of followers. I see the logic of this thinking, more followers and you're more likely to flog more books. Small disclaimer here, I've got nearly 3,000 followers on the the old tweet machine and I think I've sold 3 books directly from there. Call yourself a saleswoman Clarkson?
But as much as I'd love to flog a few more (who wouldn't?) that's not been the joy of twitter for me, it's been meeting some great people. Writers, bloggers, readers, all of the above and none of the above. There are some fantastic authors who I'm learning a great deal from, a lot of the how to stuff, that you don't necessarily know beforehand. But just the kinship of other people who write too and recognise your successes and failures because they're going through it too.
So just like in the more negative ways, the old tweet machine is just like off line life. It's not about how many followers you have, you just need to learn how to get on with other people and block any one who sends you unsolicited aubergine pics, they're best in moussaka not in your inbox!
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