I now have 30+ followers on twitter, well into "that's a good start" territory.
I suppose that is something to celebrate but the steady uptick in the number has got me thinking over the past few weeks. The first dozen or so followers I wasn't particularly excited about, grateful and fond and happy, but not excited. Those loyal first dozen were my friends and family. People who knew and loved me (so I assume :) ). So why was this causing me to think so deeply?
As much as I would like my career to be all about the writing there is also the marketing to be considered, and a huge part of modern marketing is managing (apparently) at least a dozen different social media accounts. Which has led me to some interesting thoughts.
A popular show that has a scientist who is an author on the side managing the (new to her) world of twitter at the insistence of her publisher...yeah I felt a connection with that episode. She goes to her significant other and proudly shows him her fist ten followers she gained the first week and asks him if that was good. His response?
"No, that is just the squints."
Which translated means that it was just her friends following her out of a sense of loyalty. They were not 'real' followers. Real followers follow an account out of curiosity about the subject. This issue gets further confused when you go to facebook and now they are all "friends".
Summary:
in real life real friends are people who stick with you because you are you.
In social media marketing real friends are people who didn't know you existed before they clicked follow and are only there as long as you continue to entertain them.
That seems so..."marketing" to me. The fact that this setup makes an author more excited over random strangers than people they have known and loved...
Ah well, I will go drown my confusion in writing #NaNoWriMo,
I suppose that is something to celebrate but the steady uptick in the number has got me thinking over the past few weeks. The first dozen or so followers I wasn't particularly excited about, grateful and fond and happy, but not excited. Those loyal first dozen were my friends and family. People who knew and loved me (so I assume :) ). So why was this causing me to think so deeply?
As much as I would like my career to be all about the writing there is also the marketing to be considered, and a huge part of modern marketing is managing (apparently) at least a dozen different social media accounts. Which has led me to some interesting thoughts.
A popular show that has a scientist who is an author on the side managing the (new to her) world of twitter at the insistence of her publisher...yeah I felt a connection with that episode. She goes to her significant other and proudly shows him her fist ten followers she gained the first week and asks him if that was good. His response?
"No, that is just the squints."
Which translated means that it was just her friends following her out of a sense of loyalty. They were not 'real' followers. Real followers follow an account out of curiosity about the subject. This issue gets further confused when you go to facebook and now they are all "friends".
Summary:
in real life real friends are people who stick with you because you are you.
In social media marketing real friends are people who didn't know you existed before they clicked follow and are only there as long as you continue to entertain them.
That seems so..."marketing" to me. The fact that this setup makes an author more excited over random strangers than people they have known and loved...
Ah well, I will go drown my confusion in writing #NaNoWriMo,
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