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Social Media Reflections

Apr 04 2014

With the forthcoming release of my second book, Necropolis (a humorous work of dark fiction ~~– Release Date: April 24th~~), I have found myself reflecting on my place in the ever-growing medium that is social media. This week’s blog post is dedicated to social media.

Anyone familiar with my Twitter Species blog posts will be aware that my interest in Twitter is now an obsession. I like to consider myself a member of the Amica Garrulus (Convivial Communicator) species. We are social Tweeters, who like to engage with all other Twitter species (with the exception of members of the Vexo Tertius & Molestus Confuse species), who we avoid like the plague.

Here are a few of my Twitter observations.

Engagement – This is crucial (if your Tweets are never part of a conversation you are merely talking to yourself – and we all know what the first sign of madness is don’t we).
Endorsement – It is imperative that other Twitter specimens (regardless of species, well, almost) endorse us. This validates our efforts.
Discernible Tweeting Call – To be heard above the relentless clamour of the Twittersphere, a distinctive/unique Tweeting call is a necessity.
Pictures – The good news is users can finally effectively upload pictures. The bad news is Twitter is seeing an influx of pictures of kitties (c.f. @EmrgencyKittens – for when you need a kitten to cheer you up).

With over 1.23 billion monthly active users, Facebook remains the behemoth of social media platforms. However all is not well in the home of countless millions of cute kitties. Facebook has started to resemble a police state in recent times, with the major change to its timeline update a little over a year ago, which resulted in less of one’s Likers getting to see one’s posts. Under the current draconian measures, Facebook seemingly arbitrarily decides what percentage of your Likers/Endorsers get to view your posts

Not all Likes are equal – Seeking random Likes is counter productive, unless your sole objective is to make your page appear popular. But as we all know appearances can be deceptive.
>200 Likes – If you have a page with >200 Likes it is not currently possible to change the name of that page. Instead you have to start a new page. This is something to consider when starting a page.

I had the >200 Like issue yesterday with my Charles Middleworth (my first book) page, and was forced to start a new page for my forthcoming book, Necropolis. My Necropolis page currently has no Likes, and is feeling lonely and isolated. Feel free to Like it and I might Like yours back, unless your page is full of pictures of kitties, in which case I won’t.

We are currently witnessing something akin to the mass migration from the countryside to the cities of yesteryear, as Facebook users increasingly disillusioned with the draconian measures, and/or influx of kitties on Facebook, seek a new home on Google+. Google+ is supposedly geared towards businesses and professionals, but as a cursory glance at my homepage reveals, there is a disturbing influx of kitties, in addition to pictures of home baked cookies; which leaves me wondering whether this is still the case.

Google Rank – There is considerable evidence to suggest that effective use of Google+ (SEO optimisation, +1s etc.) leads to preferential treatment on the Google search engine.
Innovation – As one can expect from the creators of the Google search engine, Google+ is constantly innovating and is quite complex. New users need to be prepared to spend considerable time becoming familiar with it.

goodreads is a haven for readers and writers alike to liaise in a kitty free environment (earlier this week I did receive a message from an author who has just written a book about his relationship with his three kitties, but that is the exception rather than the rule).

Giveaways – Are an effective way for authors in a congested marketplace to gain some exposure for their book/s. In January I had a giveaway for my first book Charles Middleworth, a humorous tale of the unexpected (entries: 800, added to to-read list: 294). I will be having another for Necropolis (starting soon).
Groups – Some of the groups provide a great way to meet readers and authors, as well as to share our universal love for books (not Romance & Christian Fiction in my case).

My second book, Necropolis ~~(April 24th)~~, is a humorous work of dark Fiction about a sociopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council.

‘A black comedy of true distinction’

Next week I will be sharing the blurb.

Earlier this week author and Hollywood actor, Eric Barry, interviewed me for his new website, CHUNKBOOK. Click here to see the interview.

Social Media Reflections

Sep 06 2013

Prior to the publication last year of my novel, Charles Middleworth, an insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected, my social media presence consisted of merely a Facebook profile with a couple of pictures (not of cats). Shortly before the book’s release I made a foray into Twitter and have since embraced a range of social media platforms. In this post I reflect on my social media observations to date:

Twitter – A little over seven years ago a Tweet was the sound emitted by a variety of small birds. Today Tweets are synonymous with only one bird, the blue Twitter bird; a bird that tweets incessantly 24/7. To date approximately 170 billion Tweets have been sent by 500 million Twitter users.

As my blog followers know I have become somewhat obsessed with Twitter and have devoted numerous posts to Twitter related subjects, ranging from studying the species that inhabit Twitter, to Twitter grievances including Justin Bieber and the ways in which authors sell books on Twitter.

Observation: The value of Twitter lies in the personal connections one makes, not in intrusive and counterproductive blanket promotional Tweeting.

Facebook – Facebook remains the behemoth of social media with over a billion users each month. Much of the promotional efforts on Facebook revolve around getting Likes for your given page/s. However the value of these Likes is more often than not derisory. Research suggests 99% of Facebook fans are worthless.

It is worth noting that Facebook only displays your posts to a small percentage of the people that have Liked your page. Facebook also charges users to promote their posts after reaching the 500+ Like threshold.

Observation: Not all Likes are equal. The value of a given Like is derived from its origin (i.e. authors require Likes from their target-readership not other authors).

Linked-in – The site’s 238m users take their jobs seriously and turn up smartly dressed and ready to network. They do not appreciate the ruckus of some other social media sites (i.e. Twitter) and expect decorum at all times. Self-promotion needs to be conducted with restraint. Some have argued that the platform’s obsession with stamping down on self-promotion has become overly aggressive of late (see this Forbes article). Personally I do not use the site a great deal but can occasionally be found at one its numerous groups dedicated to writers.

Observation: A great place to get advice and network with others, but remember that the party hat people might find amusing on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest will probably not go down well here. Oh and there is no need for those pictures of your cat – I don’t care if it is cute.

Goodreads – With 20 million members and 2.5 million reviews, goodreads is the place to be to network with readers. I find myself relishing this Bieberless enclave every time I visit. Goodreads is a place where one is able to concentrate on book related matters without being interrupted by scantily clad South-East Asian jail-bait promising to love you long time whilst trying to sell you thousands of Followers for $10.

Goodreads is an ideal place for authors to meet readers; readers being the key word. If one only socialises with one’s author friends on the site, then the whole dog chasing its own tail scenario starts all over again.

Observation: Etiquette is the key word with goodreads. Its users are fastidious in embracing social norms and will more often than not meet unsolicited friend requests and self-promotion with contempt.

Google+ – There is much evidence to suggest that the Google search engine matches search results with Google+. This is reason enough to join the 500m users in calling the place home. It was only recently that I turned up at Google+, bunch of flowers in hand. However I received no love, so I came back with a box of chocolates, but my efforts still went ignored. I am determined that one day in the not too distant future I will be viewed as a valued member of this increasingly influential community.

Observation: Backed by its big brother Google, Google+ is set to grow exponentially over the forthcoming years and may well be where the party will be at.

What happens when Adrian, an actuary, has his banal and predictable existence turned upside down by sinister forces that he can neither understand nor control? How will he react to a revelation that leaves his life in turmoil? Will he surrender or strive for redemption in an altered world, where rationality, scientific logic and algorithms no longer provide the answers?

‘An insightful and humorous tale of the unexpected’ – Reader

‘A sardonic delight. If Thackeray had lived in the 21st century, then he might have written Charles Middleworth.’ – Reader

Charles Middleworth is available through most regional Amazons on Kindle (£1.96/$3.17) and in paperback.

United Kingdom – www.amazon.co.uk

USA – www.amazon.com

Social Media Addiction

May 17 2013

Social media addiction is an official condition. In London alone clinics reportedly treat hundreds of patients a year suffering from various forms of social media addiction. It is expected that in the forthcoming years social media addiction will become a pandemic. These addicts include Facebook fiends, Twitter takers, prodigious Pinteresters’, Google+ guzzlers and LinkedIn lavishers. Social media addicts are notorious mixers, rarely satisfied with merely one product, they frequently combine the aforementioned and other products in conjunction, in hazardous cocktails similar to ‘speedballs’.

(courtesy of SocialMediaGroup.com)

Researchers have found that social media features such as Likes and RTs’ result in the release of the potentially addictive brain chemical, the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the same manner as hard drugs. This is certainly one explanation for why I’ve been feeling so high this last week, having got over a hundred new Likes for my Facebook Fan page, Charles Middleworth. I can only hope this won’t be followed by a come down.

We’ve probably all heard of social media addiction by now and if you haven’t I can guarantee you will be hearing lots about it over the forthcoming years. Personally I hadn’t given it much thought until by chance I found myself in a discussion with an individual, who informed me that he had been diagnosed as a social media addict. Keen to find out more about this affliction, I immediately began to quiz him about it. The following is an extract from the conversation:

Me: What forms of social media were you addicted to?

Addict: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, with occasional LinkedIn benders.

Me: What’s the most addictive form of social media.

Addict: Facebook has the worst withdrawal.

Me: Your saying Facebook is the heroin of social media. How is it so dangerous?

Addict: Excessive Facebook is to the detriment of real meaningful relationships and connections.

Me: Like.

(The addict seemingly does not find my witty Facebook joke amusing).

Me: How are you recovering?

Addict: Abstinence is the key.

(Did I mention we are having this conversation on a social media platform).

The addict is getting restless now, his words are harried and there’s an absence of punctuation. He’s soon making excuses about having to go. But I want to find out more about his addiction and I know enough about addiction to know how to keep him there. I’m telling him I’ll Like his Facebook page and RT his Tweets. This promise of a dopamine fix has him communicating enthusiastically again. In no time at all he’s telling me all about the dangers of Pinterest.

(Pinterest for those that don’t know is a social media platform for sharing pictures).

‘Don’t be so melodramatic’, says I, ‘you make sharing pictures sound as dangerous as sharing needles.’

The addict is soon restless again and having made an excuse about having to check Google+, he’s off, but not before securing the promise from me of a ‘speedball’, consisting of a couple of Facebook Likes in conjunction with a Twitter RT.

(courtesy of VisibleBanking.com)

After the conversation I did some research about social media addiction and discovered that to qualify as a social media addict you have to use the medium for more than five hours per day, which brings tangible relief for me as well as a release of dopamine. However it’s bad news for all those social media professionals out there.

Do you think you might be a social media addict? Take the blueglass.com quiz and find out for yourself.

To be continued next week.

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