Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

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Which Social Networks Do You Use?

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Especially now that Google+ looks like it might be here to stay, it seems like there are more social networks out there than ever.

I’m starting to have trouble keeping up with all of my various accounts across the Internet, and, increasingly, my cell phone.

Personally, I’m on…

Facebook (public page and personal profile)
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Foursquare
YouTube
Instagram
PicPlz
Foodspotting
Gowalla
GoodReads
The Reading Room
Myspace (kind of)

And that’s even before you count, well, blogging and the discussion Forums as a form of social networking as well. I’m sure there are even ones I’m forgetting.

What about you? Which social networks do you use, and do you have trouble keeping up? Do you think we’re in a social media fad or are we getting a glimpse of the future?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. L.G.Smith says

    I'm on blogger (bardsandprophets.blogspot.com) and Twitter, and I have a Goodreads account that I don't know how to use. Really, I'm totally confused over there. It says I've been reading Neverwhere for nine months. Don't know how to change it. I am that lame.

  3. Mira says

    Sorry, Nathan, this is a re-post b/c I decided to take out the last paragraph.

    I think social media is definitely here to stay. It fills a need for connection in a way that can't really be duplicated.

    But the form that social media takes, whether it's Twitter, Facebook, linkedin, etc. will change. New ideas, new techologies, new ways of doing something better and faster, will replace the old ways after awhile.

    For me, I'm not on any of it. I come to this blog and bug Nathan, but other than that, nothing for right now. Maybe later; I just have other important goals that need my full attention.

    But later…when I'm ready…

  5. Anonymous says

    None, unless reading your blog counts as a social network use? I love my computer but choose not to own a mobile phone or TV. I know how easily I could get hooked and then – whoosh – time would be sucked away from my day and I'd be facebooking and watching junky TV and such rather than writing and reading.

  6. Kristin Laughtin says

    For writing, mostly my own blog and daily commenting on 8 million others. At some point I'll probably start a writing Facebook account as well, but since I haven't even started trying to sell stories yet, I'm not sure what the purpose would be, other than rehashing my blog (which is already linked in my personal FB account).

    For my personal life, I have Facebook, Twitter, an old LJ, and probably will get a G+ account. I do talk about my writing on all of these as well, but it's just friends and family reading it for the most part. I've had people asking me to start using LibraryThing or GoodReads recently, too, so I'll probably start that. It's all a little much already.

  7. Kourtnie McKenzie says

    I'm on Facebook and Google+. I use Twitter to keep track of interesting links. I have a LinkedIn, but it only gets updated between jobs. The hardest part is trying to make sure there's different content on all of them. I don't want to come off as repetitive to the friends that I share Facebook and Google+ with.

    I also have WordPress and Blogger, but they get updated infrequently.

  8. Darley says

    Back to ask a question, Nathan. I'd love to know which social networks are the most important. Specifically for an author, which ones are critical in promoting oneself.

    I realize it may be a difficult question to answer but if someone only has time to juggle a few, like me, which ones do you think matter the most.

    Thanks.

  9. Nathan Bransford says

    darley-

    The most important one is the one you like the best. It's way more important to enjoy what you're doing in social media than to feel like you have to conquer any one social network or the other.

  10. Roger Floyd says

    I have a Facebook account and a blog on WordPress. That's it. I'd rather spend my time writing or revising or editing or doing something with more potential or more relaxing, like a hobby. If that sounds naive or unrealistic or overly simplistic, then get used to it.

  11. Sommer Leigh says

    I am on:
    Google+
    My Blog (wordpress.org)
    Twitter
    GoodReads
    YouTube
    The Bransforums
    (And technically I have a Facebook but aside from automatic posting of different things, I never use it)

    I spend most of my time on my my blog, the Bransforums, and Twitter. I'm slowly getting settled into Google+, so we'll see where that leads me.

    1) I do not think it is a fad. Fads come and go and have short but white hot lifespans. LiveJournal, the ealiest popular blogging platform started in 1999. Frienster was started in 2002. MySpace in 2006. LiveJournal is still very very popular and even though Facebook has overtaken the other two and Twitter is its own little demon, we've had serious social networking going on for almost thirteen years. That encompasses almost half of my entire life and all of my adult life. I think we scan stop worrying if social networking is a fad or not. It's not.

    2) The platforms will come and go like any type of business, but the act of digital social networking won't change all that much. Since LiveJournal allowed us to "Friend" people we knew and just "Watch" people we didn't 13 years ago, the concept has stayed very consistant through all platforms. New technology might alter things a bit, but the framework of social networking will always be recognizable.

    3) My prediction and hope for the future is that instead of new social networking platforms we'll start seeing new companies making it easier for us to integrate all of our platforms, monitor, update, and share in more intuitive ways so that it becomes less of a time sink than it is now. I've seen a few people trying to do this, but I'm hoping for something ingenius to come in the future so we can spend less time monitoring our social digital lives and more time being, well, social.

  13. K. C. Blake says

    Wow. I can't handle that many. I've tried most of those, but my favorites are Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Goodreads, and Book Blogs ning. Oh yeah, I am also on Absolute Write sometimes.
    The ones I didn't stick with are Shelfari and Librarything.

  14. Matthew C Wood says

    I'm on:
    Twitter
    Blogger
    Facebook
    WordPress

    And that's it actually. To be honest it's taking a fair bit of getting used to being active on just those! Lord knows how I'd keep up with as many as you have.

  15. G says

    I'm just on Facebook, although I'm not a very heavy user. I don't play games and I don't do a lot of status updates except for my blog during the week, and the occasional rare ones on the weekend.

    I do have a YouTube account but what I have posted on there can only be accessed via my blog.

  16. Jennifer R. Hubbard says

    Blogging – because it's still my favorite; it's where my posts have the most depth and where I have longtime commenters

    Twitter – because it's easy, not very time-consuming, and good for tracking breaking news

    Verla Kay's blue boards and YALitChat Ning – to keep up with children's publishing (I visit these less often; once a week at most)

    Google+ – just started because I was never on Facebook, and it seems like this one has the potential to be a multi-faceted platform that might someday substitute for having to be in many other places

    Which leads to my prediction that not all of these networks will last, and I think most people will scale back and go with just one or two networks in the long run. I won't try to predict which ones!

  17. Elisabeth Grace Foley says

    Until the other day it was only Blogger…I've just started Twitter. Both are writing-centered. I don't think I could handle any more than that; I cut my blogging to once or twice a week this summer because it was too much pressure. I also use YouTube, but not as social networking, strictly for watching videos.

  18. Karen A. Chase says

    Facebook, blog, website, LinkedIn and a few others. But inside, my heart says please let it be a fad, and I think I should really limit all this. Why? I miss people. Even when I'm writing, I don't feel as lonely as when I'm handing social media.

  19. kdrausin says

    I'm on Facebook and my blog. That's it. It seems I have a lot of catching up to do. I must say that I love the two I'm on though.

  22. Anonymous says

    But where are you all REALLY? (OK, I'm on FB and doing nothing, Twitter and never used it, MySpace – feh – and Linkdin, also never used. So where am I…REEEELY?)

  24. fakesteph says

    I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

    I'm on:
    Blogger
    Twitter
    Tumblr
    Facebook
    YouTube
    GoodReads
    Myspace (kind of)
    LinkedIn (kind of)

    I tend to stick with the sites that have a very specific use. For example, I have a MySpace, but it serves the same function as Facebook, so I have stopped using it.

  25. Richard Mabry says

    I can't begin to count the social networks I'm on, but I only routinely post on and read posts on blogger, Facebook, and Twitter. Why am I on the others? I'm afraid not to be.

    My opinion: It's a self-perpetuating fad. Those of us who write are so afraid we'll miss an opportunity to have our name seen that we spend our day chained to the computer or smart phone participating in this back-fence chatting instead of doing what we should be doing….writing.

  26. Carolyn B says

    I'm G+, Twitter, Linkedin, Goodreads,Blogger, WordPress, Yahoo Groups. I recently deleted my FB account because my friends kept getting spam that looked like it came from me, even though I changed my password and blocked all the apps.

    As for the future – I remember when I had to check 5 or 6 search engines every time I looked up something – then Google came along.

    We may be seeing the first glimpse of the future right now.

  27. Stephanie McGee says

    Blogger
    Twitter
    Facebook (personal account and writer page)
    Google+
    Photobucket
    Picasa (technically since that's where things go on the blog side of things)
    Youtube (technically but I don't think I have any videos up anymore)
    Goodreads
    Book Country

  28. Writerzlife says

    I am on Posterous, Facebook, Twitter and I have Google Plus but don't know anyone there…I even have a podcast with a modest 100 listeners. I find Google+ and Facebook to be the same. Facebook has the same features they just aren't as advertised….and well Google is considered the "trusted" agent, but even still I am getting burned out on it all.

    What I want is one place where my information is able to be distributed out TO the social network. I can barely managed three and then to move? Really?

    I don't have much of a following yet and while that isn't my goal (my goal is to write good books) I recognize the ability to reach out to your readers. Still….I am getting burned out on it all.

  29. Adam Heine says

    FB, Twitter, Goodreads, and G+. Most of my updates are automatic (thank you Ping.fm and NetworkedBlogs), but I admit the only networks I actively check are FB and Twitter. I mean, I waste enough time as it is!

  30. SM Johnston says

    I'm on:

    Twitter
    Facebook
    Google+
    tumblr
    Inkpop
    Myspace(bit not active there)
    Figment
    BookCountry
    LinkedIn
    Blogger

    AND I want to be on Pottermore

  32. Anonymous says

    None – and never visit – and this is my sole blog posting in a year – too busy. Cheers

  33. Lynda R Young says

    Where on earth do you get the time for all that?
    I'm on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and I blog. That's about it because I barely have enough time for that and write (I gave up on the house cleaning ages ago).

  34. Terin Tashi Miller says

    Facebook and Twitter,as well as occasionally http://www.eHemingway.ning.com and http://www.redroom.com

    But I don't really blog, except on Redroom now and then. Though I'm thinking about occassionally blogging more on one of those sites.

    I could also blog, I guess, on my own website, but I haven't really yet.

    Or on my Amazon.com author's page.

    I have not looked at G+. I only got into Twitter in April after much urging by writing friends. I've attracted some interesting "followers," but don't know if it's actually helped me promote my work.

    Great question, by the way.

    Allbest,
    T

  35. Simon Haynes says

    I had to set up a web page just to link to all my social networking sites…

    I first encountered you on Myspace, but rarely use it now.

    Facebook – grudgingly. The Like tool cannot be ignored.

    Twitter – love it. Use it a lot (@spacejock)

    Google+ – recent addition, like most. Finding the feed page overwhelming.

    Plus a bunch of others like LibraryThing, Goodreads, Shelfari, LinkedIn, Kiva, Red Room, LJ, Blogger and so on.

  36. Wendy says

    I use Twitter, mainly. I also started using Tumblr recently. Twitter is more for connecting wit new people, Tumblr for sharing things with friends. I also use StumbleUpon and Goodreads, but I don't use the 'social' part of them as much, if that makes sense.

  37. Whirlochre says

    I'm with AllPeepz.

    It's a but like one of those banking facilities where all your loans are consolidated into one — a one-stop shop for all your Twitter, RSS and Facebook feeds etc.

    Problem is, for it to work you have to be strapped into a special chair with a load of Allpeepz cables hotwired into your brain.

    So — fine for synchronising your social life and keeping you in touch but less good when it comes to basic skills such as feeding and washing (and, ironically, going out).

  38. Eric Hoefler says

    As a new writer just getting going, I've been trying to decide what my "online presence" should be. I've been online as "just me" for a while, so I have accounts everywhere, but this is a different question now. How and where should I try to represent myself professionally online?

    Two recent articles have me wanting to take a conservative approach to all of this. The point of both is that social media are secondary media … the announcement channel, the emotional connection channel, etc. The substance has to be somewhere else: the writing, the blog, etc. And the danger is in confusing the two and letting the social media sap the substance from the "real work." Both articles are worth the read, particularly the first:

    "Losing interest in social media: there is no there there" https://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2011/07/30/losing-interest-in-social-media-there-is-no-there-there/

    John Mayer 2011 Clinic – “Manage the Temptation to Publish Yourself”
    https://www.berklee-blogs.com/2011/07/john-mayer-2011-clinic-manage-the-temptation-to-publish-yourself/

    If anyone finds the magic answer, please let me know!

  39. Sheila Cull says

    Bransford, per you mostly, as a writer, you stressed the importance of Twitter and now I understand. So just Twitter and Facebook. My womanly intuition tells me those are here to stay.

  41. Damyanti says

    I run two blogs, I sometimes hit FB, I'm on Twitter whenever I'm on break from writing. I have Goodreads and Linkedin, but not too active on those.

    I tend to interact with more or less the same (increasingly wider) bunch of people on each…which is to say I follow most bloggers I like on twitter and Goodreads as well, and vice versa.

  42. Rachael says

    I'm on Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. I'm also on YouTube, but my account is more for saving my favorite videos than actual networking so far. My Facebook is more personal and my Twitter is more writing-related. I'm kind of sitting back to see where G+ goes before I consider joining myself.

  43. wosushi says

    "The most important one is the one you like the best. It's way more important to enjoy what you're doing in social media than to feel like you have to conquer any one social network or the other."

    I like this.

    I'm on:

    Facebook (public page and personal profile)
    Twitter
    Google+
    LinkedIn
    StumbleUpon
    Foursquare
    YouTube
    Instagram
    GoodReads
    SheWrites.com

    In addition, I blog on WordPress (use to be a Blogger girl).

    Twitter gets the most attention, then G+, and a little love for Facebook (that's where the relatives hang). LinkedIn mostly is there for updated resume info, things like that. I don't update a status or anything. Everything else gets little attention at the moment.

    I don't think it is a fad in the sense that as a whole it isn't going anywhere. But I do think there will be a moment when we'll see fewer new ones popping up.

  44. Caryn Rose says

    People who make fun of social media are just saying, "I don't know how to use this tool so I'll just mock it and that makes it okay."

    Two Twitter accounts built me an international platform. That's all I'm saying.

    I wish Google+ had better tools so I didn't have to log into the site to target messages. I really do need to use it better/more frequently but Twitter/FB/Tumblr/blogging/instagram takes up enough bandwidth already. I like the concept of G+ but I don't know that it will carry long term.

    I can't just give up Facebook (like many people have), there are too many people on the platform who won't go anywhere else. I mean, I've begged people to comment on my blog posts instead of commenting on the FB post that gets generated by my blog post, and they just won't do it. They feel "safe" on FB.

    I check LinkedIn (for non-writing – I have to keep that separate) once a week.

    Also Goodreads, Library Thing, Shelfari…and a couple of discussion forums that I try to participate in but don't have much patience for.

  45. Annikka Woods says

    I'm on:
    -Blogger (personal blog & book review blog)
    -Facebook (family & author pages)
    -Twitter
    -LiveJournal
    -YouTube
    -Goodreads

    That's it. I'm not very active on Goodreads, LJ, or FB to be honest. I focus most of my time and energy on my personal blog and on Twitter.

  46. Emily Strempler says

    I actually use: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Youtube

    I'm from the internet generation, and, contrary to popular belief, we tend to agree that less is more. Though it wouldn't hurt for me to add a tumblr. I may eventually switch to google+, who knows.

  47. J. T. Shea says

    I'm on Nathan Bransford, Author and the Bransforums, period. So stay healthy, Nathan!