Do you love social media? Or do you hate it? Right now, I’m leaning more towards the hate side. Hate is a strong word, maybe more like annoyed.
Blogging is my exception. I love it because I’ve met so many wonderful people from all around the world. I haven’t traveled abroad much, so it’s especially fun to learn about new countries and cultures through blogs.
Facebook is another story. On the positive side, I’ve reconnected with several high school friends. On the negative side, the friend feed is filled with dribble.
Twitter, ah Twitter. I still don’t understand the appeal of this. Yes, I have an account, but I don’t think I’ve ever posted anything to it. If you’re a company, Twitter can be useful as a monitoring too. It’s good to quickly respond to both positive and negative tweets about your company or its products. Other than that, for me, it’s useless.
I used to like LinkedIn because of it’s business and professional focus. I’m getting less and less enamored of it. I’m an open networker and love connecting with people that I don’t know personally. That being said, I will not connect with a total stranger who merely clicks on the LinkedIn connect button and sends me the generic message, “I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn.” Or, even worse, “Since you are a person I trust, I’d like to connect with you.” How can I possibly be someone you trust? You don’t know me or anything about me. Just because my name showed up in a LinkedIn sidebar doesn’t mean I want to connect with you. Sending out connection notices like that is laziness, pure and simple. If I’m feeling particularly crotchedy, I may even mark such an invite as spam. If someone has taken the time to write a few short sentences about why they want to connect with me, I’m happy to do so. Recently, I received a nice invite from someone who reads my Amazon reviews and my blog. Of course, I’ll connect with them.
Yes, it’s easy to connect with hundreds of people on Social Media. It’s not so easy to make meaningful connections. Why not take a few minutes and send a personal note with your connection request. Explain why you’d like to connect with that person. It can be as simple as, “you have such an interesting background, I’d love to connect with you.”
What about you? What annoys you about social media?
Photo is courtesy of Jan Tik’s Flickr Photostream, under Creative Commons Licensing.
Nancy Loderick's Blog 
Richard V Frankland
December 4, 2013
You have expressed my thoughts on social media exactly Nancy.
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Nancy Loderick
December 4, 2013
Hi Richard,
I am glad to hear that I am not in the minority on this.
Nancy
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Peter Wells aka Countingducks
December 4, 2013
I’m with you on the Blogging, and for the same reasons, FB, I have used to keep in touch with friends. I now have an’ Author’ page, with a link on the side of my Blog, and have been disheartened by the lack of interest in it. Twitter is a mystery to me. I have an account, but I’ve no idea what is going on with it
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Nancy Loderick
December 4, 2013
Hi Peter,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on social media. I love the idea that you have an “author” Facebook page. It sounds like a good way to get the word out about your work. That being said, having a successful Facebook page takes time and effort. You probably should be posting interesting little snippets every other day or so. And this little snippets should just be about your book, but things related to your book. One way to start is to make a quick list of 100 things you could post about.
Good luck!
Nancy
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John Sanders
December 4, 2013
I don’t understand The Twitter either, and I feel the same about it as you do. Same too with connecting and the associated etiquette – I reject requests routinely and my connections counts are well below the Dunbar number.
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Nancy Loderick
December 4, 2013
Hi John,
I’m glad to see that I am not alone with my Twitter confusion.
Nancy
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brucethomasw
December 4, 2013
Your first words about recently tending to hate social media caught my attention Nancy, and my heart actually sank. Then when you said blogging was the exception, I was relieved . . . I too have found many interesting and genuinely engaging people from arround the globe.
I don’t use any other social media paltform, and so I haven’t experienced the sort of sensless chatter you describe, although my wife often comments in frustration about her facebook or twitter feeds.
And the whole idea that someone says they trust you, when you have no idea who they are – well, skeptism and precaution leap to my mind.
I find it annoying that an occasional blogger visits a post I have done, and when look at their site, it is about “how to make money blogging.” I understand about business and advertisng, though I do wonder about this. I simply close the site and accept it as a minor inconvenience.
Thanks for the thoughtful rant, Nancy.
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Nancy Loderick
December 4, 2013
Hi Bruce,
Oops, I didn’t mean to make your heart sink. I was feeling particularly crotchedy when I wrote this post. Most of the time I just find social media, other than blogging, merely annoying.
Nancy
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Ralph
December 5, 2013
Hi Nancy 😀 I am finding that I can just about cope with one blog. I was in FB for a while but found that it was not for me. I am always invited to other SM sites but never take up the offers. One blog in WP is fine for me. Good post my friend. Ralph xox 😀
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Nancy Loderick
December 8, 2013
Dear friend Ralph,
After reading your funny blog, I know that blogging is definitely your forte!
🙂
Nancy
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Ralph
December 8, 2013
Thank you my friend. I am sure that you have many more strings on your bow than just blogging 😀 xox
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Nancy Loderick
December 8, 2013
Thank you dear friend Ralph. You have made my day. 😉
Nancy
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Ralph
December 9, 2013
Keep twanging 😉
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CBurns
December 6, 2013
While I’m trying to understand twitter and have an account, I have yet to tweet. As far as FB, I deactivated awhile ago because it activated my judgemental self more often then not…i.e.”why oh why would you put that on the internet?? I’m pretty sure no one on the FB is going to be able to tell you if you have MRSA….seriously???” Thanks for this post Nancy! ps I love WP tho 🙂
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Nancy Loderick
December 8, 2013
Hi,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about social media. I’m with you on WP – just love it!
Nancy
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VOID RPG Admin
December 8, 2013
Nancy, I think you deserve a well-deserved high-five. I could not agree with you more!
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Nancy Loderick
December 8, 2013
Hi,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
Nancy
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VOID RPG Admin
December 8, 2013
I just have not figured out the appeal of Twitter quite yet. It is a mystery to us all.
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Nancy Loderick
December 8, 2013
Hi,
I’m glad it’s not just me. I was thinking my confusion over Twitter might just be a generational thing, since I’m a long ways from the 20 something “digital natives.” But, I think it’s more than that.
Nancy
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VOID RPG Admin
December 8, 2013
Me too! I could give some condescending explanation, but some Twitter god might strike me down in a flurry of RT and Hash Tags.
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Aliosa
December 9, 2013
Good evening !
Thank you for your visit
http://aliosapopovici.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/
A beautiful evening !
Regards,
Aliosa.
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Nancy Loderick
December 9, 2013
Hi,
You are quite welcome. I look forward to seeing more of your posts!
I hope you have a wonderful week my friend.
Nancy
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LaVagabonde
December 9, 2013
I tried FB and Twitter very briefly, but deleted both accounts. It was too much empty chatter. WP, however, is (usually) real conversation and creativity.
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Nancy Loderick
December 9, 2013
Hi,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on social media. I love your description of FB and Twitter being empty chatter. Very true!
N
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Ken Loderick
December 10, 2013
I also have a love / hate relationship with social media, namely Facebook. The good part is I have connected with a few past classmates that I enjoy hearing from. I have also connected with some cousins that I normally would not have heard from. But the bad part is I’m being exposed to too much stuff that holds no interest to me (i.e. recipes, political beliefs / rants, etc.) One of the most annoying things is when people try to guilt you into changing your status to some cause that they believe in. I’m finding Facebook less and less relevant and more annoying as time goes by. Thanks for your nice blog, Nancy!
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Nancy Loderick
December 11, 2013
Hello Mr. Ken,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences on social media. I agree with you that those stupid status updates to support a cause are useless. All it shows is that a person is like a sheep and will follow a pack. It doesn’t do anything towards a cause.
N
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Rupesh
December 13, 2013
Thanks to blogging and you, I have just experienced someone from across the globe expressing my views. 🙂 Great post.
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Nancy Loderick
December 13, 2013
Hi Rupesh,
I am so glad you enjoyed this post. I love blogging because it has opened up my world (and my eyes) to people from all over the world. I love learning about new cultures and people.
I look forward to our continuing conversations.
Nancy
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Charlotte Hoather
December 19, 2013
Blogging is my favourite, the blog community is very polite and intelligent, you can have proper conversations, learn lots of new things and get good advice.
I have a promotional Facebook site, but I don’t have time to answer all comments and people mainly like photos and quick to read messages. My Mum wouldn’t let me on Facebook until I left school she thinks its a bullying, high pressure platform and a distraction from studies.
I started up twitter recently but usually only use it to refer people back to my blog or for quick messages.
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Nancy Loderick
December 20, 2013
Hi Charlotte,
What a great way to describe the WP blogging community – polite and intelligent. Very well said.
Nancy
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Holistic Wayfarer
December 21, 2013
Since you ask, NL:
http://aholisticjourney.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/facebook-phobia-rehab/
I still loathe it. Don’t go there much, and need a GPS when I do.
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Nancy Loderick
December 23, 2013
Hi,
Love it! Another Facebook hater. I’m with you on this. Everytime I go to Facebook, I get more and more confused. There is just more and more useless dribble there. I think half of it is the infamous, “sponsored” posts. Who are they trying to kid?
N
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deanjbaker
December 31, 2013
this is very good to see
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Nancy Loderick
December 31, 2013
Hi Dean,
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Here’s wishing you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!
Nancy
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authormbeyer
December 31, 2013
My publisher set me up for social media marketing, and I find it a frustrating nightmare. I love the blogging on WordPress. I am doing that mostly for fun. But the Facebook author page and the twitter account are a lot of work and I don’t see much in the way of results. I get that you have to be promoting your work in order to compete in the modern book market, especially if you write fiction, but I wish it was easier… or that I hated it less. It stresses the old idea machine, and for what? I have yet to learn.
Thanks for giving me a chance to vent,
Michael
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Nancy Loderick
January 1, 2014
Hi Michael,
Yes, social media is a lot of work. People think it will be easy, but it’s not. Perhaps you could try focusing on one social media platform at a time? Even though the supposed experts say you should be on all platforms; I think you end up spreading yourself too thin.
Another thought is to brainstorm a list of fun tips to share with your readers, e.g. things that are related to your books. You could post a few tips each day. That way you are keeping in front of your target audience, but not overtly selling to them, which can get old.
BTW – feel free to vent all you want!
Nancy
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authormbeyer
January 1, 2014
Thanks!
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