Guest Blog Post by @markdavidgerson
I didn’t want to do it. I never want to do it. Every time someone says, “You’ve got to join X, Y or Z ,†I try to ignore it if it has anything to do with social media.
I try to resist, but…
I didn’t want to blog. I knew nothing about blogs and tried to keep it that way. But a little voice kept nudging and nudging and nudging me. So 30 months ago I broke down and created a blog. Now, I have two…and a newsletter.
I didn’t want to do social networks. I didn’t get them, and I didn’t want to take the time to learn. Now, I’m on so many I’ve lost count.
It began with MySpace, and when it expanded tentatively to include FaceBook and a few writing sites, I thought I was done.
Then I discovered Ning. Rather, Ning discovered me.
Given the number of Ning-network invitations that hit my inbox every day, I’m starting to believe that there’s a Ning site for every computer-enabled adult on the planet. If there isn’t, there soon will be. And they’ll all be looking for me to join.
At last count, I’m still (mercifully) under two dozen Nings. But there could be an equal number that I’ve lost track of somewhere along the way.
Then Twitter happened.
I was my usual social media-resistant self when a MySpace friend (@gay_love_coach) first mentioned it. I poked around the Twitter site, watched the Twitter video and, like many Twitteresisters, didn’t get it.
I didn’t get it for months and months. And then two strangely related phenomena kicked in: 1) my attraction to computer-related distractions that keep me from writing; and 2) my success at using social media to promote myself and my books.
You see, I’m a writer with two recently published books who’s always on the lookout for new ways to get the word out (and new ways to avoid working on Book #3).
Book-promotion potential is the social-media siren that always seduces me.
But if book-promotion is the inducement, that motivation is soon overtaken by all the cool people I meet.
And so it has been with Twitter. In the short time I’ve been around, I’ve made great professional contacts. In fact, within days of joining I met
• @WritingSpirit, who almost immediately named herself captain of the cheerleading squad for my book The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write,
• @smithereensblog, who promoted that same book in his TwitLit contest, and
• @jnbammer, who hasn’t stopped supporting me and my blog.
I’ve also connected with fellow authors, bloggers and coaches—and learned much from all of them.
But, as with MySpace, the “social†aspect of “social media†is also surfacing, and I’m meeting people I’d love to visit with over a cup of coffee—if only we were in the same city.
If we were, I wonder whether we’d find ourselves communicating in 140-character sound bites and using those strange, Twitter-specific abbreviations that squeeze thoughts into Twitter’s arbitrary character-counter.
“Hi! How R U?†I’d ask my new friend.
“Gr8,†he or she would reply. “Mlk 4 yr T?â€
Guest post for Twitter Stars by @markdavidgerson
Mark David Gerson is a blogger, inspirational speaker, creativity coach, and award-winning author of The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy and The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call.
Mark David Gerson’s personal site: http://markdavidgerson.com
Mark David Gerson’s New Earth Chronicles (blog): http://newearthchronicles.com
The Voice of Your Muse blog: http://thevoiceofyourmuse.com
Mark David Gerson’s books: http://lightlinesmedia.com
Mark David Gerson’s events/appearances: http://booktour.com/author/mark_david_gerson
Just kidding.
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