For What It's Worth


Thursday, March 7, 2013

Let’s Talk! Social Media


Let’s Talk is a fun new meme to discuss an little bit of this & a little bit of that (not always bookish) hosted by Smash Attack Reads and A Book Obsession.
This weeks question: What social media sites/tools do you frequently use? Which ones do you avoid and why?

Twitter, Twitter and Twitter. I love Twitter! It feels spontaneous and fun. For the most part personal stuff and rants are kept to a minimum. I can talk to several people at once about different things. Twitter makes me happy.

I’m also finding myself using Twitter more than Google reader to follow blogs. I get a wider sampling of posts that way without necessarily following each blog.


The downside – that is really an upside if you’re an author – is that I succumb to impulse buying with book deals that people tweet way more than I do when visiting a post. *shakes fist* at the .99 book deal.

Sure there are a few negative twitter frenzies but I just scroll right on past them. I admit, I used to get involved but nothing good can come of that so I move on now.

I avoid Facebook. I just don’t get it. And I think people are way more personal and hostile on there than Twitter. In my experience anyway. It also feels like a giant chain letter sometimes rather than a conversation. But hey! I know a lot of people who hate Twitter – so to each his own!

I have Google+ but I don’t see very many people using it other than to post links. I visit on occasion but not very regularly.

20 comments:

  1. I completely agree! Twitter is so fun, and I love chatting w/tons of people. Facebook is okay, but I only talk to my closest friends there.

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    1. Twitter feels more immediate to me. I just can't get into Facebook and I'm not sure why. You can actually put more on their and have conversations but I don't like it.

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  2. I love twitter too. I get so many book recommendations and made some awesome friends there to. Facebook is okay for family news..and yes totally agree about google +

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    1. It's very bad for my bank account but I get more book rec's from twitter than by reading reviews. I tend to be more cautious with reviews but get sucked in with the twitter frenzies lol

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  3. I love Facebook and Twitter the same, but for very different reasons.

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    1. I've tried to get into FB but maybe I have the wrong friends on there. Twitter seems to have more people who think like me lol

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  4. Seriously twitter is awesome. And I am the same way at using it to find posts that I'm interested in! My feedreader is always so clogged that I usually avoid it unless I want to search for something specific. Terrible I know, but I just can't deal with it all. I use Tweetdeck with several Lists to manage me feed, and it makes it so much easier to break everything down without it becoming overwhelming.

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    1. I think I find about 80% of the posts I read via Twitter now. I'm already there and a link will pop up so I click on it. I'm less inclined to go to my feedreader.

      I also find more varied posts that way. It may not be a blog I follow regularly but for reading one review I'll go visit.

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  5. Hm... it goes in spurts. I like some social media at times, but nothing seems to capture me at this time. I do like finding things on the social networks, but don't find myself socializing at the moment.

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    1. That's probably a good thing. Sometimes the social media sites just suck your whole day away!

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  6. I've never thought about using Twitter to follow people for blog posts. I used to use Twitter so much more than I do now. Now, I only go on when I'm at an event or if I have time. Curse my responsibilities!!!

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    1. I haven't been able to go on Twitter much recently either. Why is real life aways intruding??!!

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  7. Twitter is by far my favorite social media site. I definitely use Google reader to mainly follow blogs, but I use twitter as well. For me, there are some bloggers who have really awesome blogs and are great writers, but I don't normally like the type of books they read, etc, and tend to scroll past those reviews. I like following those particular bloggers on twitter because I can still click through when they write their awesome discussion posts, but my reader isn't overwhelmed with well-written, but not interesting to me, reviews. Plus, I've had a few great conversations on twitter.

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    1. That is exactly how I have been using Twitter. It's very spontaneous. I see a link for a review and I'll give it a shot - it probably isn't a blog I will follow long term but I do find a lot of great reviews this way.

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  8. I do not like google+ at all. I just do not get it. Facebook, well yes I am there,m but mostly to see what old friends do. It was more fun before. But twitter sure is cool

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  9. Well, you know I am a Twitter addict. I love finding you on there! I agree -- Facebook is not that interesting to me. I "like" blog pages and publisher and author FB pages, but I'm not on there much. I have a lot of fun with Pinterest. I'm on Google + and I think that may get more interesting but right now I'm not sure how to use it.
    Does Goodreads count? I love Goodreads.

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    1. I had totally forgot about Goodreads until I saw other people mentioning it in their posts. I don't really use it to chat but it totally counts!

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  10. I suck at all social networking sites. I just can't get into them for some reason, no matter how hard I try. With twitter, I always feel like I either have nothing important to say or I'm intruding on other people's conversations if I speak up. It's kind of silly. I really do feel like I'm missing out on something great though - I want to be a part of the fun, too! I should really just get over myself and my fear.

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    1. Maybe it's just not for you. You're probably better off - more time for reading!

      It took me a while to feel comfortable on twitter. Now I can't stop lol

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  11. I'm terrible about social media. I use facebook to keep in touch with friends and family, but I don't use it to advertise my blog. I...like Twitter, but I don't really use it to my advantage. There are soooooo many new tweets that I can't even keep up! I definitely wouldn't be able to use it as a replacement for Google Read like you do. I wish I could figure out how to use Twitter more effectively though. So many people rave about it as a way to solidify relationships with other bloggers, but I'm a #twitterfailure ;p

    - Jackie

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