INTERACTION

A couple of people have recently suggested that I might be wise to join Facebook, as a writer, in order to make more contacts. I’ve never used social media and I’m extremely reluctant/cautious about doing so. I can see that it probably has its uses, and there’s at least one writers’ group I’d like to join that can only be done via FB, but has anyone had experiences, good or bad, that they can share? Or is it just too easy to have your page hacked to make it worth it? Most of what I’ve heard about FB is the oodles of banality one has to wade through to find something worth reading, so I thought you folk might be able to balance the view a bit.

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http://www.julietravis.wordpress.com

Mt facebook page is fairly evenly balanced between writerly stuff and personal stuff. I would say about 90% of the friends I have on there are writers, publishers, artists. It's certainly a window for your writing, and also easy discussion about films, media, etc with likeminded folks. I don't know a lot of people who have been hacked and I would imagine the risks are fairly minimal. Levels of banality depends on who you choose as your friends! I'd say it's probably worth it but it can also be very easy to waste time there and sometimes I hear people getting into arguments about very trivial things.

I'm also on twitter, which is almost purely a promotional tool. It's good to have outlets where you can immediately share details of publications etc, but also a delicate balance between that and seemingly spamming everyone with your book. Best thing is to establish people as friends first and then mention anything you have published. Befriending someone to immediately promote something is frowned on (not that I imagine you would do this!)

Either way, seek me out on either of those platforms if you decide to jump in

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www.andrew-hook.com

Thanks for responding on this, Andrew. My experience of FB is more or less limited to my partner tearing her hair out at the rubbish she often comes across (often via a Friend of a Friend) so perhaps I’m more ‘down’ on it than I should be. Basically – rubbish in, rubbish out! It’s interesting that you use it for both personal and writerly stuff; I assumed it would be completely separate (no reason that it should be, of course). What I really need to do is be able to discuss writing etc with like-minded folk as I’m extremely isolated for that kind of thing where I live (some people won’t talk to me at all because I don’t have a ‘proper’ job and the one writer I do know down here considers that what I do is ‘too dark’; it’s all rather conservative), so it would be more about that than self-promotion, which I’m rubbish at anyway (so no point in Twitter, then! )

As soon as I have a bit more time I’ll probably give FB a go. And if/when I do, I’ll find you. Thanks!

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http://www.julietravis.wordpress.com

Glad to have been of some use

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www.andrew-hook.com