Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Do you Tweet?

Social networking is now a necessity for writers, but for readers it seems to be more about community, and meeting in cyberspace people who like the same things you do, and want to talk about them. Every interest, no matter how esoteric, has a community, it seems, from hot-air ballooning to origami to sinus-sufferers.

But how is it working for you? Do you blog, do you twitter? Do you stumble, stagger or shelfari? Ten years ago I wouldn't know what the heck I was talking about if I said 'blog' and 'twitter', but now, along with Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Technorati, StumbleUpon and a million other social networking tools and sites, the internet is a bewildering forest of social networking trees... so how do you tell a spruce from a fir? How do you know which will work for you?

No... I don't have any advice, I'm asking!

Do you - any of you in the murder mystery reading and writing community - have tips on what works for you? Do you have a community to which you belong? Do certain social networking sites or methods find pages for you that you have stayed with?

I'm wondering in part because as a reader, I visit several sites and blogs daily or every few days, and as a writer I blog, comment, read and follow many other blogs.
I'm curious about ones other find compelling or informative.

I'm also curious about how your choices in reading matter are informed or changed by social networking. Do you read author posts? Does an author's online presence change how you view him or her? Do you just look for books on amazon.com, or use publishing house newsletters? SYKM? The 'Cozy Mystery List' blog?

What works for you? Inquiring minds want to know.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, there is so much social networking out there! It can really make your head spin.

    I like Twitter and use it primarily to find and read articles on writing and the industry.

    I use Facebook to interact with other writers.

    Through blogging connections, I read other author blogs (particularly ones that focus on the writing craft.)

    I'm on GoodReads, but I really don't know what I'm doing there! Cool community, but I haven't utilized it to the best of my ability.

    I enjoy blogging and blog daily (I'm about to rerun a few posts, though, for the Thanksgiving holiday).

    I use reader and Amazon-generated suggestions when looking for material for my almost-teenage son to read. I use blogging recommendations for my own books.

    Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  2. Donna, I have found Book Blogs to be an incredibly valuable tool - - I have gotten a lot of traffic to my blog from that site. I also have found many interesting blogs from posts there.

    I had said I wouldn't Twitter but I gave in and created a Twitter page because it seems that so many bloggers are doing it.

    I get the SYKM newsletter and I also belong to the Crime Blog but I think most of my mystery reads come from reviews and recommendations I have read from other bloggers. :)

    BTW, I love your new blog design. Very sharp.

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  3. I tweet but not as often as everyone says I should - maybe log on once or twice a day, check who's mentioned my name and catch up on friends. I blog once a day too and go through anything that looks interesting in my reading list. I log onto gather once or twice a week. And I wander round various nings if I'm getting messages from them. Then at weekends I take a break.

    Interesting blog articles - it's kind of like being at a party and listening in on conversations, except you can always join in and don't have to stand on the side feeling shy.

    Goodreads - several times a week. Shelfari, Librarything, whenever I've got book reviews that I want to add.

    Sometimes I write too.

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  4. I don't Twitter... just the idea of another responsibility, and one that comes in 140 character bites, makes my head spin.

    But I do blog, FaceBook, MySpace, BookBlogs (I used to keep up everyday, but I've fallen behind) and I also have Shelfari, GoodReads, Published Authors and some others I think I've forgotten.

    This blog has consumed more of my time lately, and in a good way! I love doing this... got an exciting Q&A with Sue Ann Jaffarian (a Midnight Ink author) coming up next week. Can't wait!!

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