One big announcement - as those who may be keeping an eye on the Blogaversary icon will have noted, 40 days ago my blog celebrated its 7th anniversary. Happy birthday, dear blog!
This being the month of beginnings and the beginning of a new year, I decided to do an assessment of my involvement in social networks, somewhat like what I did in this post. So here goes.
My Social Media Involvement - An Assessment
Unlike some people, I am not uber-obsessed with social media. Well, ok maybe I am. But the ones I'm involved in, I'm involved really more nominally in than I think most people are. Like, for example, I use Facebook to keep up with friends and family, follow some brands, and share things I find on the internet (articles, etc). I do not use it to, say, play Farmville. Frankly, I'm not enthralled with the idea of social gaming. It's just sort of the next step up from those annoying Facebook quiz apps people used to send to me.
I think the reason this is so is because I grew up without social media. As I pointed out in this post, the major social networks, except LiveJournal and DeviantArt, all came out after I graduated high school. And even after they came out I avoided them in favor of forums/message boards. I prefer forums/message boards because of their structure and because they allow for deeper and more varied discussion. Sure, they can have their problems (the codelyoko.com forum had so much user activity it frequently crashed, and the one I tried at totallyspies.com, which is part of the site's Totally Spies Club, wasn't the most user-friendly thing in the world). But I like them. (In fact, I wish YouTube had message boards, the way its equivalent SplashFace on iCarly does, because I think it would allow so much more discussion than can happen just in comments). My first involvement with social media, therefore, was when I joined Facebook on January 25, 2008. (Which means I'll have been involved with it for four years as of tomorrow....wow!)
I made a list of all the social networking sites I am involved with or have been in the past, and was kinda surprised at how large it is. But how much am I involved with them? Well, let's see.
Facebook
Facebook is the social network I've been with the longest, as aforesaid. I used it for the first year and 22 days under a pseudonym (Lara Larame). I then realized that all of my friends were actually people I knew IRL, so I switched to using my real name. I now have 40 friends, all but one of whom are people I know IRL now or people I went to high school with who I no longer see. I have also "liked" a lot of fan pages for brands and the like and follow those as well. And I have a couple fan pages I admin - the Facebook fan page for LAR Productions, the on-again-off-again YouTube band I'm a part of (which band founder Amy/Maria founded and which I co-admin with her and our other, currently inactive member Reilia), and the fan page for my website Myu Corner. My main profile is here.
On May 18, 2010, I started a separate Facebook profile for my writing persona, having not had much success with my Goodreads and MySpace accounts for that persona. Thanks to mentioning my intention to found that account on The Anomaly, a writing forum I'm a part of, I managed to gain 100 friends on the first day, due to two fellow Anomaly members showering me with friend recommendations. I now have 185 friends on that account, but I don't check it as often as I do my regular Facebook account, because I do most of my Facebook-checking using Facebook for iPhone on my iPod touch, and that app doesn't support multiple accounts (like most Twitter apps do), which I guess makes sense because most people only have one Facebook account.
Twitter
I joined Twitter in 2009, when I began to try to create an author platform for myself. I had avoided it before then. Nowadays, I mostly use it for the same purpose I use Facebook for - to follow people and keep on what is going on. Often times I have found out some news item on Twitter before I found it out elsewhere!
My personal Twitter account is Larabooklover. It was originally named Bgirldotnet, like my old YouTube account, but I changed it when I deleted bibliogirl.net, my personal website domain to which the name referred. (Larabooklover is also my AIM name). I have a fairly healthy follower/followed ratio (83 followed/68 followers) and as of today over 3,000 tweets. Most of these are auto-posts from Tumblr and GetGlue though, as well as articles I've shared and replies to and retweets of other people. There are also times where I had some thought that I wanted to express but it took several tweets to get it out. (I should probably just use Twitlonger for that - the Twitter app on my phone [MoTweets] does that automatically if you post a tweet that's too long, but the Twitter app I use on my iPod [Echofon for iPhone; I'm not a fan of Twitter's official app] doesn't).
I have a writing Twitter as well, waldenwriter. As with my writing Facebook, I don't update this much. In fact, probably 90% of my 587 tweets on that account are retweets of other people. People seem to be ok with that though, because I have a good follower/followed ratio (32 following/39 followers). And many of the tweets that aren't retweets are auto-posts of my writing blog posts from LiveJournal. Thankfully, no one has called me a spam bot yet!
Lastly, I also created a Twitter account for LAR Productions, since I'm the creator of the band's website (currently down) and have thus appointed myself as our social media manager. There aren't very many tweets on that account yet; most of them are auto-tweets from our Facebook page. The account is at: http://www.twitter.com/larproductions.
YouTube
As mentioned in this post, I have had a long and turbulent history with YouTube, with four suspended accounts in the 5 years and almost 8 months I've been with them. (Technically, I have 5 deleted accounts, because I just deleted Bgirldotnet myself). This is one of the few social networks where I am actively involved, rather than just using it nominally or passively. I have three accounts - my new main account LitTechGirl, my solo fandub account WindKnightFuu, and my group fandub account imagodeidubs (created primarily to house my Dark Mercury Arc Fandub Project, the group fandub project I started back in 2007 that is still unfinished, but which I intend to finish this year for sure - and which some people like but quite a few people dislike, it seems). I'm not uber-popular on any of these accounts - I have only 13 subscribers and 5 friends on my imagodeidubs account (as well as, it seems, a lot of copyright notices - which means my channel could disappear at any time...maybe I should just give up on the Dark Mercury Arc Fandub Project?) and 10 subscribers on my WindKnightFuu channel. But I do have a lot of views on those two channels (25,963 on imagodeidubs and 6,753 on WindKnightFuu), so I guess that's good. (I'm not counting LitTechGirl in all this, because it's still so new; I just started it earlier this month).
Other Writing Social Media
Besides my writing Facebook and Twitter, I also have a presence on a few other social media sites as part of my still growing author platform.
My writing blog/journal is on LiveJournal, here. I went with LJ because I had enjoyed keeping up the LJ for my school's French club. It also allows for a lot of community forming, which will be good when I get more of an audience for my writing, and also as a way of promoting my writing. Currently, I mostly use it to write about my writing and to follow communities about my interests, such as Sailor Moon, manga, and Hello Kitty, and some writing communities.
I also have an account on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/reneedlevine. I initially started it just as a general personal account to help me get a job, but then switched it to being focused on my writing. I may still use it for professional networking in general eventually though.
I also have an account over at the document-sharing site Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/waldenwriter. I use Scribd to post samples of my writing for promotion purposes, as well as to provide a link to longer pieces for review on The Anomaly.
I used to have a writing-related account with GoodReads, but then decided it wasn't working for me and closed it down.
Other Personal Social Media
Besides these major social networks, I also have accounts on a number of more minor sites.
Blogging
First of all, for blogging. I have this blog, of course, on Blogger, and have had it since before Blogger was bought by Google. I also have another blog here that I kept for my MAT 165 class last semester, and used to host Myu Corner and my site-in-progress Sparkle Moon on Blogger as well, but didn't like the lack of control I had over the look of it (this was before the Template Designer came along).
I now also have a blog on Tumblr, at http://www.starry-dreamer.tumblr.com. I started it on June 2, 2011. I mostly just use it for reblogging or commenting on things, which is what I think a lot of people use Tumblr for. I also use it to follow other Tumblrs, much like I follow brands on Facebook.
I also have a personal account and a writing account on the blog rating/directory site Technorati.
Media
I have a few media-related accounts as well.
Probably my oldest of these is on Photobucket, under the name of Dani17 (also an old forum username of mine). Technically, Photobucket isn't a social network, but now that is focusing more on community, I think it will become one. I use Photobucket mainly for image hosting for my blog and for forums, the way some people use ImageShack.
I also have a rarely used Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12360139@N04/. I actually started it so I could participate in a photo contest the local transit district was running. I don't know what I'll use it for now (though it's definitely easier to log into now that it's tied to Yahoo).
I now have a GetGlue account, which I am enjoying a lot.
Lastly, I have an account at the anime/J-drama viewing site Crunchyroll. I started this because I got tired of seeing ads when I watched Futari wa Pretty Cure on there. I haven't even fully filled out my profile.
Other Accounts
Then there are some accounts I have or have had that are neither blogging or media-related. Two of these are Livemocha and weRead, but I closed my accounts with those sites (Livemocha because I couldn't deal with all the requests from people for me to check their assignments for them, and weRead because I stopped using my weRead Facebook app).
I also have used Meetup and Ning. Meetup I joined because an Asperger Activity Group I'm a part of uses it to announce their events. Ning I've used a few times for school, and also to join the Nerdfighters community, though I haven't gone there in ages.
I have a StumbleUpon account, which is kinda fun because I've found some pretty cool stuff through it.
Last of these is MySpace. I created a profile there for LAR Productions (since, though it isn't as popular as it used to be, MySpace is still good for bands), which, like all our social media, is in desperate need of updating.
Conclusion: My Future in Social Media
I'd like to update my social media accounts more often. And with real statuses, not just auto-posts. I'll probably need to read some stuff on how best to do this. Or at least think about it more.
I may search out even more networks, such as Google+ and Pinterest. (Though the funny video below is making me think I shouldn't join Google+. Actually, it pretty much lays out my exact attitude about social networking in general).
I'll have to think about it for sure. For now, I will leave this post alone, sit back and "use my little gray cells," as Hercule Poirot would say. Then I will confront it.
***
Hope you guys liked that. Bye now!
I made a list of all the social networking sites I am involved with or have been in the past, and was kinda surprised at how large it is. But how much am I involved with them? Well, let's see.
Facebook is the social network I've been with the longest, as aforesaid. I used it for the first year and 22 days under a pseudonym (Lara Larame). I then realized that all of my friends were actually people I knew IRL, so I switched to using my real name. I now have 40 friends, all but one of whom are people I know IRL now or people I went to high school with who I no longer see. I have also "liked" a lot of fan pages for brands and the like and follow those as well. And I have a couple fan pages I admin - the Facebook fan page for LAR Productions, the on-again-off-again YouTube band I'm a part of (which band founder Amy/Maria founded and which I co-admin with her and our other, currently inactive member Reilia), and the fan page for my website Myu Corner. My main profile is here.
On May 18, 2010, I started a separate Facebook profile for my writing persona, having not had much success with my Goodreads and MySpace accounts for that persona. Thanks to mentioning my intention to found that account on The Anomaly, a writing forum I'm a part of, I managed to gain 100 friends on the first day, due to two fellow Anomaly members showering me with friend recommendations. I now have 185 friends on that account, but I don't check it as often as I do my regular Facebook account, because I do most of my Facebook-checking using Facebook for iPhone on my iPod touch, and that app doesn't support multiple accounts (like most Twitter apps do), which I guess makes sense because most people only have one Facebook account.
I joined Twitter in 2009, when I began to try to create an author platform for myself. I had avoided it before then. Nowadays, I mostly use it for the same purpose I use Facebook for - to follow people and keep on what is going on. Often times I have found out some news item on Twitter before I found it out elsewhere!
My personal Twitter account is Larabooklover. It was originally named Bgirldotnet, like my old YouTube account, but I changed it when I deleted bibliogirl.net, my personal website domain to which the name referred. (Larabooklover is also my AIM name). I have a fairly healthy follower/followed ratio (83 followed/68 followers) and as of today over 3,000 tweets. Most of these are auto-posts from Tumblr and GetGlue though, as well as articles I've shared and replies to and retweets of other people. There are also times where I had some thought that I wanted to express but it took several tweets to get it out. (I should probably just use Twitlonger for that - the Twitter app on my phone [MoTweets] does that automatically if you post a tweet that's too long, but the Twitter app I use on my iPod [Echofon for iPhone; I'm not a fan of Twitter's official app] doesn't).
I have a writing Twitter as well, waldenwriter. As with my writing Facebook, I don't update this much. In fact, probably 90% of my 587 tweets on that account are retweets of other people. People seem to be ok with that though, because I have a good follower/followed ratio (32 following/39 followers). And many of the tweets that aren't retweets are auto-posts of my writing blog posts from LiveJournal. Thankfully, no one has called me a spam bot yet!
Lastly, I also created a Twitter account for LAR Productions, since I'm the creator of the band's website (currently down) and have thus appointed myself as our social media manager. There aren't very many tweets on that account yet; most of them are auto-tweets from our Facebook page. The account is at: http://www.twitter.com/larproductions.
YouTube
As mentioned in this post, I have had a long and turbulent history with YouTube, with four suspended accounts in the 5 years and almost 8 months I've been with them. (Technically, I have 5 deleted accounts, because I just deleted Bgirldotnet myself). This is one of the few social networks where I am actively involved, rather than just using it nominally or passively. I have three accounts - my new main account LitTechGirl, my solo fandub account WindKnightFuu, and my group fandub account imagodeidubs (created primarily to house my Dark Mercury Arc Fandub Project, the group fandub project I started back in 2007 that is still unfinished, but which I intend to finish this year for sure - and which some people like but quite a few people dislike, it seems). I'm not uber-popular on any of these accounts - I have only 13 subscribers and 5 friends on my imagodeidubs account (as well as, it seems, a lot of copyright notices - which means my channel could disappear at any time...maybe I should just give up on the Dark Mercury Arc Fandub Project?) and 10 subscribers on my WindKnightFuu channel. But I do have a lot of views on those two channels (25,963 on imagodeidubs and 6,753 on WindKnightFuu), so I guess that's good. (I'm not counting LitTechGirl in all this, because it's still so new; I just started it earlier this month).
Other Writing Social Media
Besides my writing Facebook and Twitter, I also have a presence on a few other social media sites as part of my still growing author platform.
My writing blog/journal is on LiveJournal, here. I went with LJ because I had enjoyed keeping up the LJ for my school's French club. It also allows for a lot of community forming, which will be good when I get more of an audience for my writing, and also as a way of promoting my writing. Currently, I mostly use it to write about my writing and to follow communities about my interests, such as Sailor Moon, manga, and Hello Kitty, and some writing communities.
I also have an account on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/reneedlevine. I initially started it just as a general personal account to help me get a job, but then switched it to being focused on my writing. I may still use it for professional networking in general eventually though.
I also have an account over at the document-sharing site Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/waldenwriter. I use Scribd to post samples of my writing for promotion purposes, as well as to provide a link to longer pieces for review on The Anomaly.
I used to have a writing-related account with GoodReads, but then decided it wasn't working for me and closed it down.
Other Personal Social Media
Besides these major social networks, I also have accounts on a number of more minor sites.
Blogging
First of all, for blogging. I have this blog, of course, on Blogger, and have had it since before Blogger was bought by Google. I also have another blog here that I kept for my MAT 165 class last semester, and used to host Myu Corner and my site-in-progress Sparkle Moon on Blogger as well, but didn't like the lack of control I had over the look of it (this was before the Template Designer came along).
I now also have a blog on Tumblr, at http://www.starry-dreamer.tumblr.com. I started it on June 2, 2011. I mostly just use it for reblogging or commenting on things, which is what I think a lot of people use Tumblr for. I also use it to follow other Tumblrs, much like I follow brands on Facebook.
I also have a personal account and a writing account on the blog rating/directory site Technorati.
Media
I have a few media-related accounts as well.
Probably my oldest of these is on Photobucket, under the name of Dani17 (also an old forum username of mine). Technically, Photobucket isn't a social network, but now that is focusing more on community, I think it will become one. I use Photobucket mainly for image hosting for my blog and for forums, the way some people use ImageShack.
I also have a rarely used Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12360139@N04/. I actually started it so I could participate in a photo contest the local transit district was running. I don't know what I'll use it for now (though it's definitely easier to log into now that it's tied to Yahoo).
I now have a GetGlue account, which I am enjoying a lot.
Lastly, I have an account at the anime/J-drama viewing site Crunchyroll. I started this because I got tired of seeing ads when I watched Futari wa Pretty Cure on there. I haven't even fully filled out my profile.
Other Accounts
Then there are some accounts I have or have had that are neither blogging or media-related. Two of these are Livemocha and weRead, but I closed my accounts with those sites (Livemocha because I couldn't deal with all the requests from people for me to check their assignments for them, and weRead because I stopped using my weRead Facebook app).
I also have used Meetup and Ning. Meetup I joined because an Asperger Activity Group I'm a part of uses it to announce their events. Ning I've used a few times for school, and also to join the Nerdfighters community, though I haven't gone there in ages.
I have a StumbleUpon account, which is kinda fun because I've found some pretty cool stuff through it.
Last of these is MySpace. I created a profile there for LAR Productions (since, though it isn't as popular as it used to be, MySpace is still good for bands), which, like all our social media, is in desperate need of updating.
Conclusion: My Future in Social Media
I'd like to update my social media accounts more often. And with real statuses, not just auto-posts. I'll probably need to read some stuff on how best to do this. Or at least think about it more.
I may search out even more networks, such as Google+ and Pinterest. (Though the funny video below is making me think I shouldn't join Google+. Actually, it pretty much lays out my exact attitude about social networking in general).
I'll have to think about it for sure. For now, I will leave this post alone, sit back and "use my little gray cells," as Hercule Poirot would say. Then I will confront it.
***
Hope you guys liked that. Bye now!
