JACK'S BLOG
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BloggingWHAT'S THE POINT of social media if we aren't using it to socialize? It seems to me that there's a lot of sermonizing going on in blogs and advertising in Tweets, but very few conversations. Take a minute and look at the Tweets that have accumulated on your home page. Count off the first twenty and look at how many are part of a conversation. I found one. How many did you find? To be honest, I haven't made a scientific study of this, but most Tweets appear to be ads. Don't get me wrong. I'm not judging. I Tweet at least four times each day: Twice to get people to look at my novel on Amazon and twice with a link to my free memoir on Smashwords (which is, admittedly, a promo to get people to buy my novel on Amazon). I Tweet occasionally when I come across something humorous or poignant on the web and want to share a link to it. The balance of my Tweets contain links to blog entries posted by me and friends of mine. Rarely, someone responds with a question and we may exchange two or three Tweets that appear like a discussion. Little of this Twitter activity sounds very “social,” does it?
Doesn't socializing occur in conversations? It seems that way to me. Now, I'll admit that it is difficult to have a “conversation” with a few hundred Tweeple, let alone a few thousand. (I've accumulated almost three thousand of them.) Truthfully, I don't look at every Tweet, do you? I bet not. I open Twitter a couple times each day. First, I look @Connect to see who's tweeted me and respond immediately if they have (though this rarely happens). I know that some people take the time to reply to everyone who retweets them, but I don't have time. I thank them by adding them to a list of everyone who retweets me and return the favor by retweeting them whenever I can. That's my second chore on Twitter. I go to my lists and make the rounds of my “Core” followers (the ones who retweet me) and a couple of other lists in which I've accumulated people of special interests. Ultimately, I'm always searching for the chance to engage in conversations. What's the best way to start a conversation? I think it's to ask a question. That's why I title most of my blog entries with questions. You know that the Twitter button in your blog uses the posting title as the default text of the Tweet. I ask my followers what they think about something and tell them what I think of it. I then invite them to join in a conversation with me, on Twitter or in a discussion thread attached to the blog entry. Does my strategy work? Sometimes. My blog garners between six hundred and a thousand unique visits every day, but I don't have too many people leaving comments. Maybe they're answering me in their heads. I wish there were more posting comments. I'd be happy with comments that disagree with me. In fact, I even prefer those. They are the grist of some of the best conversations. Well, that's my strategy. What's yours?
2 Comments
7/9/2012 12:40:30 am
Jack, this is probably the best and most insightful blog or editorial I have seen on social media. I am delighted you wrote it. Unfortunately, all we generally see are Tweets by writers. If you have different followers and are following regular people, it's a whole different scene in the Twitter world.
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