Social media – friend or foe?

Is Facebook the biggest murderer of your time? Can you escape watching the latest cat video, friends’ holiday photos, or political scandal? The technology and the threat seems new, but “social” is hard wired into us as social animals. Only the media has changed a bit over the last 5,500 years since the Sumerians started writing cuneiform onto stone slabs as their social media.

Today, social media offers many fast and enjoyable ways to for writers seeking internet skills to communicate with readers. Instead of spending a few days chiselling a stone for the enlightenment of your fellow Sumerians in Uruk, today with a few keystrokes before your first coffee, you can reach billions of people via their phones and desktops in every corner of the world – all for free.

There are 2.2 billion people on Facebook, and millions on other media, and somewhere you will find a few fans and readers. Maybe you thought big technology change means moving from camel trains to Boeing Dreamliner jets? Communication is a far bigger transformation, and anyone can learn to embrace what it offers.

 

Why social media for writers?

A writer who is also a self-publisher needs to market to as many targeted readers or potential readers as possible. These may even become your customers if your they buy your book or pay in other ways to support your writing, for instance through a subscription to a news site you work with.

Social media offers the best free or very cheap way to build that community with your readers. One of the key targets is to gather details for an email list, as email still remains the best tool for sending out messages about your next book or other promotions that you are trying to put forward.