The New York Times Magazine has an article this morning about social networking, especially “ambient awareness” sites like Twitter. It’s an interesting read, and it has me wondering three things simultaneously: 1) how could I leverage this kind of contact for my business, 2) could people really be that interested in a freelance mama who specializes in public safety and horror fiction, and 3) where the hell would I find the time, anyway?
I mean, the article is full of anecdotes from people, even moms, who say it actually takes less time than they would have anticipated. But email is hard enough for me to keep up with… and I can’t help thinking that most of the people I want to stay in touch with are either very private, or with their own time issues, or both.
I know Bryon uses Twitter, and so does Poynter’s Al Tompkins. From a newsroom standpoint it makes sense. How about from a freelancer’s standpoint? Any ideas?
I used to have a Myspace account until I realized how much time it took to keep current. I’ve heard good things about Facebook (I’m not familiar with Twitter), but like anything else, finding time to keep up with it all is the key, which is a struggle for most working moms, I think. Blogging and e-mailing is about all I can manage in terms of social networking these days.
I think it depends on who you network with. Unless you’re interested in fun gadgety experimentation, there’s no benefit to being an early adopter.
I wouldn’t bother with any LiveJournal accounts, except it makes it easy for me to keep up with a specific set of people. The social networking business model isn’t about making communication easy, it’s about sucking people into using their particular tool.
I assume you saw Conrath’s blog about this stuff today?
Kristine, I only got on MySpace because the publisher I work with (Shroud) has a huge presence there and I want to network, but exactly – TIME. I guess I might do more over there if it were really worth it, i.e. books to sell!
Megan, thanks for the viewpoint. That’s how I’m inclined to think of it too. Then I think, hmm, what if I end up going full-time at some point? How important will networking be? And then I think how much of an introvert I am and how easily overwhelmed by people I get. I like LinkedIn because it’s pretty strictly professional… better boundaries? But right now that’s as far as I’m willing to go I think…
Patti, I don’t subscribe to his blog… everything Konrath says makes me feel like a total loser who has no business writing fiction because I don’t have time to market it.
I have no idea where the man gets his energy and I’d love to know what his family thinks of all this! I would have to make major trade-offs to do what he does and I am just not willing to do that. Maybe it has to do with being a mom vs. being a dad, or the age of my kids vs. his. I don’t know…