EVERYONE deserves a Brinda Berry in their lives. Especially for those enviable times when one wants to go missing yet have something post on their blog.
Plus, Brinda rocks the “Fun and Informative” rule for effective blogging. Yes. She’s here. You have to either (1) scroll through the purple text, or (2) read my blather before you get to her Words of Wisdom.
I’m beginning to feel a bit like Where’s Ralph Waldo Emerson.
On my way home from The Land of the U Hogs (Canada), I made what was supposed to be a quick stop in Pennsylvania. So! I came back to Farm Country, USA, the Tap Root of my Wonky Tree.
And, it’s taking me a while to leave. Things are so slow and calm and fun around here. Did I mention cool?
Did I mention twenty degrees cooler than Texas?
And, the speed limit! Geesh! It may take a while to travel those umpty-ump miles home.
.
I am so using that speed limit as my excuse.
So, until I get my proverbial act together for a Glob Post, please enjoy and learn from THE Brinda Berry.
Look! I even brought a cheerleader from the Blair County 4H and FFA (Future Farmers of America) Livestock Show.
Give me a B! Give me an R! Give me an I! Give me an N! Take it away, Brin.
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Social Networking Overload? – by Brinda Berry
social network list
Where do you stop when you are making your list for social networking? It depends on the amount of time you have to invest in this activity and your purpose. I have talked a lot about social media on Gloria’s blog. Most of my advice, observations, and instruction has been clearly geared to the writer. I will restate my opinion from the first time that Gloria asked me to her blog. First, have a website or blog. Then worry about the rest.
The problem is “the rest” is a very long list of choices. Sometimes, I’ll think I’m on top of my game and then a statement will hit me like a train. For instance, I attended a workshop for my day job in higher education. The presenter stated that a certain well-respected and sizable university did a survey of students to find out about their social media usage. I’m interested in this information because I would assume that this group includes readers. Remember when MySpace was the new hot thing? I don’t want to be left behind thinking that Facebook is THE place to be. A majority of the students answered that they use Bebo. I thought, “Huh? What the heck is Bebo?” Just because this university loves Bebo, does that mean I should be on it as well? I checked it out and saw that it looked a lot like Facebook.
Ultimately, I decided that I won’t join Bebo for now. I do think it’s important to know about the choices and to keep it on your radar. The presenter mentioning Bebo really impacted me because of the age group using it. All I’m saying is keep your eyes and ears open for tools that will work best for you. Just the other day, Jessica Aspen (who blogs at http://jessicaaspen.com/blog-2/ ) checked on me because she sent me a Triberr invitation months ago. She wanted to make sure I had my blog feed settings in correctly because she had nothing to promote for me. Confession: I had resisted Triberr. I assumed that it functioned like Hootsuite. I like Hootsuite. I whined to Jessica via email. Will it do this and that? I was too stubborn to read instructions. Then Jessica took a couple of minutes to explain the function of Triberr. “It’s not for retweeting,” she said. She explained it simply. Then *bliiiiinnng*. The light switched on, and I was in awe of her wisdom. Yeah. Shield your eyes. It was a pretty bright light.
Hey, I think I might like Triberr after all. I’m the newbie there, so we’ll see. I’ll let you know.
Here’s the bottom line. Look at the audience you are trying to engage. Choose the most popular tool and don’t overload yourself. Also pick something that fits your personality. Stay open to new tools. Take advice from others. Jessica Aspen knew I’d like Triberr. She’s such a smart cookie. I’m a regular blogger at my place, www.brindaberry.com/blog.html . I have posts that can be shared on social media.
Like posting photos that you take while maneuvering through life? Tumblr and Instagram work well for that. Already know how Facebook works because you’ve had a personal profile for years? Create an author page. Maybe you’d rather have conversations in quick, short bursts. Twitter is your answer. Want to do more networking with professionals in the business? Linked In can serve that purpose. Only care about networking with readers? Goodreads or Shelfari may be the best place for that.
I usually hate stereotypes, but I thought the following infographic says a lot about the audiences on social media. What if social media were a high school? Flowtown.com posts a lot of great information about social media and they kindly give bloggers the code to embed their graphics.
Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application
BIO: Brinda lives in the southern US with her family and two spunky cairn terriers. She’s terribly fond of chocolate, coffee, and books that take her away from reality.
Gloria Richard 
Haven’t checked out Bebo. Think I’m stretched rather thin right now though. And I’m a member of Triberr as well!
I haven’t checked out most of these, Brinda. The SM Class of 2012 appears quite daunting. But, I know you have my back.
I’ll send my to-do list for Social Media later today.
Waddya’ mean you didn’t sign up for that?
Brinda, after following your blog, I am more social media savvy, but that’s not saying much. I’ve never heard of Bebo, but as can appreciate that as a YA author, it may be where you’ll want to be at some point. You have convinced me to spend a little time figuring out what Tiberr does. I opened an account when Jessica first mentioned it, but I’ve not used it since.
Thanks for the poke, Brinda!
If Jessica hadn’t “poked” me, I’d still not know what Triberr does.
Oh Brinda, you are making me blush! You are so much more tech-savvy them me. 🙂
I have to give all the credit to Jenny Hansen for introducing me to Triberr. She said it would make my life easier. I whined and complained and totally missed the boat. (see, you are not alone) Then I finally got on board, and you know what? She’s right. Here is Jenny’s post on Triberr http://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/my-social-media-bff-triberr/
For anybody interested. And if you are an author and need a tribe, drop me a comment on my blog at jessicaaspen.com and I’ll send you an invite. Hurry up! I may run out of bones!
Jenny Hansen is terrific and SO funny. I hope a lot of folks join your tribe where I can practice my Triberr skills.
I am using Triberr and the only thing I have to be careful of is looking like a spambot in the Twitter feed. I used to approve every blog post which could be over 20 posts. One of my tweeps told me that I better go on Twitter more often to break up the blast. Since I don’t want to spend my day conversing, I cut back on how many posts I approve a day.
Great post!
Gloria – enjoy your break!
You can also go into the Triberr tweets before you approve them and make them sound more chatty, less spammy. I’m just trying to chat more!
I think it is the amount of them that puts off non-writers who may follow 200 or less. I end up spamming up their Twitter feed! Oooops!
I can see if that it would be overwhelming if a person only has a small number of people populating their Newsfeed.
More chatty, less spammy…I love the sound of that.
Hi Susie,
I think that sentiment can be applied to any social media. If you are bombarded with posts by a person, you tend to start ignoring them. Kristen Lamb has a terrific post today on this very topic: http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/an-author-platform-built-on-spam-is-doomed-to-fall/
I love the Class 2011 breakdown of social media. Made me laugh. I had never heard of Bebo before and now I feel I must at least check it out, though I am at my social media limit right now. I can barely keep up with what I’ve got going on and some days, I’m not doing a very good job of it. And, like you Brinda, being a YA author, I want to know where my potential readers are hanging out. *sigh* Could someone please invent a time stretching machine to give me more hours in a day?
Safe travels to you, Gloria, on your trip home. You said you were walking the whole thing, right? 12mph is a pretty fast clip. All of your training must be paying off. 😉
When you find that time stretching machine, could I please borrow it?
Absolutely. 🙂
If social media were a high school, I’d be the nerd with a pencil and paper. Overwhelmed and without a clue, I didn’t fit in then, I don’t fit in now.
The good news? I am, at last, at peace with not having a clue, and embrace my inner nerd. I am in awe of those who manage all this ‘stuff’, but I admire from afar. My twice-a-week blog is my happy place. Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads make up my happy neighbourhood.
Brinda, thank you for addressing in your post what I hold dear but others may not realize: “Look at the audience you are trying to engage. Choose the most popular tool and don’t overload yourself.”
You are the hottest nerd I’ve ever seen! That sounds like I’m hitting on you. And I’m not- lol. Just one nerd complimenting another.
Your happy place sounds good. BTW- I think you are really good at Twitter.
I like Triberr. The lovely Damyanti invited me about a year ago. I like Twitter. Don’t know about Bebo, but will check it out.
I think I’m going to like Triberr. Like I said, I’m the newbie there. 🙂
Brinda: I suddenly feel like a high school drop out. I recognized some of the classmates … maybe I was a science and math geek once, then I became a lit major … then I totally got lost. Great stuff as always. Glad to be back in Glo-World with you and Richard … thanks for another informative look at social networking in the modern cyber world 🙂
Dear Florence, You crack me up. I’m the science and math geek now…was a lit geek back then. Wait, I may still be that, too. Hey. May all geeks unite.
That Flowtown infographic is neat.
I’m not going to join Bebo right now. I already feel like I’m everywhere.
I love Brinda’s social media posts.
Thx Medeia. You are my personal guide to good YA lit. as well a model for accomplishing writing goals!
I haven’t heard of Bebo either. I’ve been on Triberr for a while. This is where you really notice blog titles! I edit titles where I can because it makes the tweets seem less spam like.
I need to get better at that. Meanwhile, I count on it being spaced out to help the spam effort.
Yes, I’ll try to do that. Thank you for that tip!
I had no idea there were soooo many SM networks. I know my limit; two plus a blog and I’m done. Thanks, as always, Brinda for the tech world insight.
Yes, sometimes I have to remind myself of my goals and limits. You’re a smart girl!
Hi Brinda
Yes, Twitter, FB and blogging take all the time I can afford – and more. It’s fun, but it is distracting me from writing. I’m certainly not signing up for anything else. Besides, I can never remember all the passwords!
Cheers!
The writing is in the #1 spot for time allocation. I agree that some of the SM can be distracting. Some people even set clock timers to limit themselves. 🙂 And don’t get me started on the topic of all my passwords.
I’m on Triberr and Pinterest. I hung for a few days, but keping up with all of the different social sites is just too much. I can either do a few things really well, or a fail at doing a lot. Either that or give up writing all together, adn just social network.
Wait… that wouldn’t work, would it?
You are absolutely right. It’s better to do couple well than try to juggle too many.
If anything, it at least lets me get a few hours of rest. 🙂