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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Welcome to Oz:The land of Social Media

Thinking about Thursday

OH, MY!
 
     I am a social person by nature. Call it an "only-child-who-moved-alot-" thing. I enjoy public speaking, love meeting new people and rarely find myself in a situation where I have nothing to say.  So, it baffles me to hear authors who feel like the Cowardly Lion when using social media. 

To help that, here is my overly-themed explanation of
"The Big Three."



Twitter is my favorite. The yellow brick road so to speak...'cause, you know, you "follow" it. Um, anyway. I love twitter. Why? Because I love eavesdropping. And eavesdropping when you can jump in the conversation whenever you want is even better.

I strongly suggest checking out Tweetdeck. If you follow more than a few people, traditional twitter can get overwhelming. Tweetdeck puts everyone in nice, organized columns for you.

If you are worried about proper etiquette, there are multiple post to guide you, like this one by Jody Hedlund or this list of what not to do by Roni Loren.

Let's move on to:
Facebook is like the Wicked Witch's crystal ball. I mean that in the best possible way. It provides a glimpse into your world. The great part is, unlike Dorothy running from flying monkeys, you get to chose what glimpse you offer. You can set up a Page (which is different from a Profile) to limit what personal information you share. This is a great post about using Facebook as an author by Aaron Patterson.

I will admit to not using Facebook as much as Twitter. I got spoiled to the immediate interaction of twitter, but I do like Facebook for personal use and posting blog links.





and that brings us to Blogger (or your platform of choice). Blogger is the end of the movie, when Dorothy wakes up at home and tells her incredible story. "and you were there... and you.."
I love blogging. It reminds me of passing notes in class, back when students actually had to write on paper instead of texting under the desk. First, I would write a paragraph about whatever drama was weighing on me (and, clearly, more important than whatever was being taught). Then, I passed it to a friend. That person would comment on it, I'd respond. Lather, rinse, repeat. We have a conversation going!


 Of course the heart of all this is YOU. You are the great and powerful Oz. Hopefully, a little less green, but if you are... that's cool. I don't judge.  The key to social media is that you are in control of how much you share. There is nothing to fear because, as we all know:
No one gets into see the Wizard. No way! No how!

So, what is your experience with social media? What do you love? What do you hate? Any rules of the road you want to share?

2 comments:

Loree Huebner said...

I'm shuffling my way through each of these...learning as I go. It can be overwhelming at times but in general, I think the more you do it the easier it becomes. Seems I learn something new everyday.
Great post.

Dawn Alexander said...

Thanks, Loree! There is so much to learn. But, you are right. It does get easier!