You have to get yourself out there, if you want your stuff to be seen. Writers with published novels have to maintain blogs and tweet and so forth. It’s how people know you’re there, how you raise your profile and get people interested in what you have to share. When I decided I wanted to get serious and put my writing out there on My Very Own Website, this was stuff I had to factor in. What would be a good tool for me?
I’ve never been on Facebook. Didn’t like their privacy policies, back in the day. After I’d set up my website, I went back to Facebook and had another look. I wanted to know, is this the sort of tool that will help me? Help me get my work noticed, help me connect with other artists? I discovered that one’s followers won’t necessarily see your posts, and not just because they have too much on their social media plates… Facebook won’t even let all your followers know you’ve posted something unless you pay them for it.
Gross. OK, no Facebook.
I’ve been on Twitter forever. I love Twitter. I’ve made some of my best friends, local and international, on Twitter. It’s a fantastic tool for meeting people, for sharing ideas, for popping in and out of conversations. It’s the perfect place to chat with artists and say hey, look, I Made a Thing, come and see it. Twitter was an easy choice.
I’ve been on Tumblr for a while too. It was no problem to make another account. The issue was more… what would I post on it? I decided to blog and reblog art that moved me, to make my tumblr an art-centric, writing-centric place. I reblog paintings, photography, quotes, writing advice. I’m pleased with it, though I don’t have many followers yet.
Instagram took me a while to return to. I’d been on it before the Facebook purchase, and left. I was posting pics on Twitter, and friends were linking to their Instagrams, and it just seemed an easier way to view all their photos in one place. It’s still, for the most part, mostly personal stuff I share with friends, although nearly everything gets posted to Twitter as well.
I joined Ello back when it was still in closed beta. I nabbed a code, and shared a few of my own. It’s a nice platform, and had great potential. Like other people, I was excited about it – and like other people, I expected it to crash into the ground once the initial momentum had dropped. The trouble is no one on it ever really says anything. You’re left shouting into the ether… so you leave. The real shame is that a lot of people left before most of the site’s functionalities were even in place. I still look in there on occasion, to see if things have picked up. One can hope.
And then today I found out about Medium.
Well, not really “found out”. It’s been around for a couple of years. I’ve read some good, interesting articles on there, usually things I’d been linked to on Twitter, but it’s not a place I had ever gone otherwise. I didn’t even know it was an open platform; I thought it was more of a journalism and editorial space. Turns out anyone can join, and can write whatever they want. I went to have a look around the place today, and I must say I’m a bit intimidated. There seems to be a focus on quality – but that might be the discerning user base combined with the promoting system, getting good stuff seen and letting bad stuff sink to the bottom. I joined, because I have a Twitter and they made it easy for me. But now I’m here… what do I say? What do I use it for? And will it help?