Social Media?

Perhaps I’m dating myself, but I just don’t get most social media.  It’s basically a requirement, if you’re trying to be a writer, that you use social media to promote yourself.  You’re supposed to set up a facebook author page, a twitter account, a webpage, a blog, pintrest, twango, rootcanal… sorry, kind of started making stuff up there, but if I’m honest about it, half the time when I hear about something new I’m fairly certain the person telling me about it is pulling my leg.

There are a few I kind of like.  I mean, blogging, that’s basically just me talking about myself in front of a bunch of people, but without them being able to see me, so I don’t have to put on any clothes first!  The webpage is fine, too.  I wish they’d make those things a little bit easier to play with, if they did I’d be changing stuff up more regularly.

But there are so many different online things that I just don’t get!

Twitter: what could I possibly have to say in a hundred and forty characters that anybody would want to hear?

Okay, I can think of a few things, but only… maybe twelve or thirteen. And those don’t come up often.  Outside of ‘finished my latest book, and boy am I tired,’ and ‘I just became an Uncle!  Woo!’ most of my interesting tweets are also fairly depressing.  I can’t imagine why anybody who didn’t know me already wold want to hear about that.

Pinterest may be cool, I don’t know, I don’t understand it at all.  As best as I can tell you just click ‘pin it’ on images and articles that look cool to you and then… can other people look at your pins?  I don’t really know how that works.

But the one that really makes me crazy is linkedin.  As best as I can tell, linked in is basically an electronic rolodex, but without the useful contact information, and other people get to put themselves into it.