So, Social Media....

[alfreda89]

It's a time sink.

If I didn't have to do it in the modern economy, would I? Yes, but I'd probably use it differently. I'd hit it fast early, or late at night, see what friends and family were up to, and then flit away. But for various reasons my friends and family are entwined with writers I know by reputation, fans, old school acquaintances, former coworkers, and friends of friends.

Some of that is good--I've gotten to know a lot of people a little better, met some of my great fans, and through their interests learned a lot of fascinating things. I am an absolute magpie for new information. I consider that a blessing--if I live to be 105, I will be taking harp lessons and learning a foreign language while reading more nonfiction on odd new genetic stuff. And writing fiction to support myself.

A few idiots and trolls have crossed my path. (There are one or two people on my list that I have not blocked for various reasons, but if that was all Facebook content was for me, I'd be long gone.) If there were more of them, I'd abandon Facebook and look for another medium. I am building a new blog now. Eventually it will feed into all my other paths.

I need to set up the group filters that crashed in one of Facebook's updates. But when you lost filters for 800 people, fixing that is rather mind-boggling.

The things I use the most are Twitter for news and interesting articles, Goodreads for posting book reviews and reading other peoples' reviews, and LinkedIn for networking for potential work. Live Journal is for deeper writing and conversation (but they are getting flaky, cutting the link to Twitter all the time, etc.) The people whom I followed on Live Journal I've tried to connect with on Facebook. I don't like to post heavily about book stuff at LinkedIn--someone else does that, and I'm about ready to strike her from my networking. It's all she does. I am blessed to have a couple of writer groups I interact with.

My biggest problem right now is figuring out what to do about Linkedin. LinkedIn in one important way is like Facebook was supposed to be--it's supposed to be people you really know. But LinkedIn has a very good reason for that. What if someone wants an introduction to someone else? What if someone asked you about XX--their personality, their way of working, their skills?

If they are someone you met through Facebook, how do you know that they are real, much less that they are who they say they are?

I connected with one fan who has been a follower for quite a while. I think she's real, and although I don't know that our being networked will benefit us, that's fine. But other people are starting to ask...and I realized, how do I do this? Can I do this, and still be able to say, Yes, their work is XXX? I've had fans I met fifteen years ago at a convention ask for a connection. But I don't know their current work. I know one isolated instance of their work, which due to unavoidable circumstances, I may not remember in detail. I can attest to the work ethic of someone I went to high school with when he was in high school.

But today?

So, I'm curious as to how other people are dealing with this. And warning you that I might decide to accept connections to all these people.

But then if someone asks, if all I can say is "They have an interesting Facebook page, and are always courteous in political discussions" then that's probably what I'll say.

Comments

[originalkitsune.livejournal.com]

i don't add people to my linkedin that i do not personally know and have not met in person. ok i have one exception but that person is so notable in arts circles that it would be hard for them to lie. That eliminates the whole...i guess they still have good work ethic. also if people press, just be honest. hey i knew dude from 20 yrs ago and he was a great worker then but we haven't connected much lately. Don't add people from FB unless you have met them and know them.

[sheilagh.livejournal.com]

for the linkedinners that I don't know that well, when making connections, I'll email the target connection via the linkedin "inmail" form, letting them know a fair estimate of how solid the connection is. then I'll use the linkedin introduction feature to connect the two people.

I don't have terribly many that I've never met, on my contact list. but there are some I now barely remember having met....

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

I have two LinkedIn accounts, because I may want to use it for mundane job hunting in the course of which I won't particularly want to advertise that my writing includes erotica. I have different takes on the two accounts.

The personal one, under my real name, primarily has connections to people I've worked with, plus a few close friends/relatives. Some of the work connections are very tenuous, and if asked all I could really say about them is that we were co-workers in the same field at a largish company, and never shared a project. Others I've worked closely with and would endorse heartily. That said, I *hate* the new thing where they urge your connections to endorse you for skills you've listed. I've got relatives who've endorsed me for things that they have no knowledge of my skills in - I wouldn't bet that some of them even know what GIS is. So that feature is pretty useless, and probably assumed to be by anyone who has used LinkedIn for more than a week.

The page for my writing persona I'm less selective about. I'll accept connections from pretty much anyone in the writing/editing/publishing field because I'm seeing it as more like a specialized rolodex.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

That's a very reasonable division of labor. Did you use separate email addresses to get the boxes? I need to set up a second page for someone else, and I'm guessing they may require two emails.

I decided to combine my writing and editing Linked-In since I write under my own name, which is not common. Down here I might get fired if someone found out the subject matter of my fantasies, so I figured that at this point, I needed to let people know about me up front so if that was their criteria, they would not even hire me. I hope I don't have to try dumping Facebook, etc. later on.

Since it was fantasy and not sexual, I never dreamed anyone would take it seriously. Then they started burning Harry Potter books.

Yeah, the endorsement stuff is silly. If people can't write a paragraph endorsement, their attention span is too short. But most people know what I do. I take that seriously and don't endorse for what I don't know. I have the trouble of a few fans clicking things they don't know about, but otherwise, mine is still fairly accurate.

Pseudonyms will happen on the urban fantasy, I think. Not sure my name can handle a third genre split.

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

I do have separate emails for the two linkedin accounts. I believe you are correct about needing the person you're helping needing a second email address. I have a gmail account for my pen name which I used as the primary for that account, and list as a contact when the publisher wants an email to put out in the bio for readers who might want to contact me.

I haven't made a great secret about my writing, but NH is a lot more open than TX (although my primary publisher at the moment, Torquere, is actually based in Texas). My decision to use a pseudonym was driven primarily by the fact that there's already a Kathryn Smith who's a successful paranomal romance author, and I didn't want to either confuse readers, or look like I was riding her coat tales. It would also have made me much harder to find with a google search. Kathryn Scannell is rare enough that I get 8 of the first 10 hits on Google.

As for the Harry Potter books, from their perspective I don't actually think the fundies are wrong. In some of the esoteric circles I also move in, I hear a lot of teachers grumbling about how many Harry Potter style ideas they have to uproot in new students before they can go anywhere, so it *is* encouraging interest.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that more fundies don't use Harry Potter as an example of a selfless boy working for the greater good of people. They tend to get Tolkien and Lewis now, but they focus on Rowling's dark characters and ignore the lighter ones.

But you're right--they believe in Evil, personified, in the reality of witchcraft. They can take no chances with their children.

Even my Little House on the Prairie/Anne of Green Gables with werewolves and vampires may be too much for them.

Thanks for your LinkedIn experiences!