Facebook, Twitter, RSS, LinkedIn, etc. Oh my! The internet is a hub for creating your online presence, which is crucial to any business -- including writing -- yet at times it can be a bit daunting. I’ve spent a couple of days trying to sync my social media sites so that I don’t have to repost, retweet and rewrite every tidbit of information I want to share with my friends and readers. Unfortunately, this can be a challenge at times.
I’ve learned if you’re not careful, some of the apps for these sites will take over your media presence -- even without your knowledge -- and have a field day informing your friends about your every move. For example, some will post things on your behalf even if you don’t expect them to. Articles you read may magically appear on your Facebook wall for others to see where you’ve been. Yikes! That feels a bit invasive to me. My least favorite little app demon is the one that checks your e-mail contact list to invite EVERYONE from your personal attorney to your contact at your online bank to join you on the social media site. Double yikes! That feels a bit like spam to me. I would prefer the app to access my list and let me choose who I’d like to invite to my social circle and not just send out a blanket invite to the entire list.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not against anyone wanting to join my social circles (the more the merrier), but let’s face it, my attorney might not be interested in my tweets about my latest romance book and there’s a good chance that the lady I send my online bills to doesn’t really care if Steel Magnolia Press is running a $.99 promotion on our books. Unfortunately, they both may now get to see and hear every “share” I send forth into the internet world, which could become annoying if they really didn’t want to hear it in the first place. So the bottom line is one must be careful about which apps they allow to access their information. I’ve learned this the hard way.
However, I still think syncing your sites is a good idea, and after working with the social sites I’m a member of I’ve hopefully -- with fingers crossed -- now synced them so when I post on one, it will post to the rest as well. I’m hoping this will cut down on the double and triple postings about the same topic too. Seriously, who wants to see the same information posted three different times on your Facebook wall from several different venues?
So, my question for our readers is: What social media sites do you frequent and are you “in sync” as well? I’d love to hear your solutions to some of these issues and maybe even learn about a new media circle or two to get in “sync” with too.
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| Tamelia Tumlin has worked with several online publishers, but is now writing exclusively for Steel Magnolia Press. Juggling motherhood, teaching and writing is a challenge, but one she welcomes to pursue her passion. Her romance novels range from sweet and sassy to dark and dangerous. |
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