Social Media: Am I Deluding - or Diluting Myself?

Aloha,

 Away for a two-week, unscheduled “blog post sabbatical,” I'm happy to report my non-attendance was an absence that made my WIP grow fonder J

It was also a stress-releaser discovering the Blogisfear didn’t implode because I hadn’t posted for a dozen days.

 Anyhow, I was thinking about Social Media, and how we can use many varied websites to promote ourselves and our work, aka The Brand.

No One Wants To Follow Me...

That begged the questions: Am I on too many sites, or not enough? Am I deluding or diluting myself?

Leaving out Blogger, ‘cos you’re here, I will gently review some of the many ways to brand yourself, and share my unscientific, non-technical knowledge of each.

 (I will, however, exclude the obvious way of branding that necessitates the involvement of an authentic cowboy, a blowtorch, hot irons and a set of tongs.)

In less than 140 words, what is Twitter?

Imagine joining a happy party, filled with different people. Everyone is atwitter and the conversations are fast, flowing – perhaps even somewhat hard to follow.

Then, you spot a friend and follow her to a group you both know. Heading there, you both share a highlight of each other’s day – that’s tweeting.

Later, you hear a snatch of interesting conversation and decide to share it with other friends – that’s a Retweet or “RT” if you’re running short of your 140 character max.

Say another friend invites you to tag along during an ongoing conversation in the kitchen – that’s the hash tag (#) in action.

What is Facebook?

Seriously?

I’m not even linking this. I know it’s on your favorites list J

What is LinkedIn?

“OK, OK, OK,” he said, arms in the air – in a voice reminiscent of Leo Getz.

This was the first Social Media site I joined – even before Blogger.

When I signed up, I was excited! LinkedIn was the bee’s knees – and it probably still is, for many.

It’s a fantastic way to network, but LinkedIn has lost much of its initial buzz as I’ve embraced Blogger and Twitter.

Perhaps I will use/need it in the future, but for now, I’ve found I can do all my networking via my blog (comments and follows) and Twitter (via Tweets and follows.)

What is Pinterest?

Honestly, I didn’t know much about this platform – but I do now!!! Read this post (and others) from August McLaughlin, who is my now my official Pinterest Heroine.

What is Google+? (And am I even calling it by its right name?)

I had no idea, but several people had invited me to join, so for the sake of taking one for the team, I signed up while writing this… hang on for a moment…

(Thanks to the Power of The Internets, we iZoom you ten minutes into the future…)

Google+ looks like a mix between FB, Twitter and Blogger (all the peeps I was recommended to connect with are folks I follow in Blogger…)

Therefore, it seems a little redundant to me… but we’ll see if there’s room for Like-able friends and followers in my circle…
Will the circle expand if more +’ers join?
What if it doesn’t?
How are we going to move about…?
Although, if the size of the profile pic on the homepage is anything to go by…we should be OK.

One final thought…

A Letter Written by the Former Private Ryan

Another reason for this topic is because I received a typewritten letter the other day.

Written by U.S. Army CSM (ret.) William “Bill” Ryan, a WWII Veteran of D-Day I once featured in a Florida newspaper, Bill’s letter made my week for many reasons, including the fact that the last typewritten letter I received was about thirty-five years ago from my Dutch Oma.

And think about it... Using an old typewriter to write a letter to a friend or colleague…  now that’s social media!

To answer the begged questions: I’m not deluding myself by being out there in the Blogisfear, but I’ll concentrate (and not dilute myself) with Blogger and Twitter - for now :)

What say you? Are you Tweeting? I’m @markjkoopmans

Hey, when I'm 86, I hope I have half of Bill's Joie de Vivre :)