All of the social media/ social networking stuff fascinates and annoys me in almost equal measure.  The only reason that I put up a MySpace page is because friends hounded me to do so and insisted that I HAD to do it to promote my books.  One friend actually built the page for me.  At first I went out looking for people to add as friends.  I accepted every friend request, except from ones who were definitely phishing for ways to target products that had nothing to do with books or reading. 

For a short while I even double-posted the blog entries I put here over there.

Pretty soon, MySpace became more of a chore and a time-sink than anything worthwhile for me personally.  It doesn't seem like anyone is using it for anything more than broadcasting announcements about their books.

Then again, maybe that's because I set it up to promote myself, so I attracted other people looking to promote themselves.

In recent months I heard more and more about Facebook.  "Oh no.  I learned my lesson.  Not for me.  Nuh uh."  At the same time, I see the value in it for promoting the company where I work, because it's different than MySpace.  We need a presence up there in the Facebook galaxy.  Given that I'm the one who will need to maintain the presence, I had to create a personal page to learn how everything works.

Surprisingly, I'm enjoying this process.  I don't much care for all of the easter egg hunts and quizzes, but they're easy to ignore.  I've gone so far as to download the FB application for my Blackberry and have posted from my phone.  I've uploaded photos, too, surprising myself with this advanced (for me) geekishness.

 I've purposely kept FB much more personal.  I don't think I even mention my publishing history.  Sure there are a few other authors in my collection of friends but that's because they really ARE friends and I've confirmed them under their real names and not pen names. 

If I don't have an author or reader's name and number in my cell phone address book and actually call them from time to time, suffice it to say, they aren't going on my FB page. 

That's how I've drawn the line.  I want to keep this a personal space where friends and I can share snippets of our lives.  I don't want to read a lonnnnnggggggggg list of book promos or appearance announcements every day. 

I've even found a few old friends with whom I'd lost touch and it's been great catching up on each other's lives.

I guess you could say that I moved my line in the sand.  Oh well.  I can live with it.

Besides, I have a new line.  Twitter.  I refuse to tweet.  I know tweeting is short and sweet, but for me it's, well, for the birds.  I'm afraid that I'd get smothered in short bits from everybody else's life and in turn smother others with minutia.

What would I tweet? 

"Walked Nat & Pyxi.  Bagged some poop."

"Loaded dishwasher.  Snapped a nail.  Damn."

"New bras delivered.  Yippee."

Really.  Does that interest anybody at all?  I didn't think so.

If you're on Twitter, more power to you.  I know there are many who love it and to all of you, I say, "Go for it.  Enjoy.  Tweet to your heart's content."

I don't expect to join you.  Then again, that's the thing about lines drawn in the sand.  The tide so easily comes up and washes them away.

 

Mary Stella,
I just returned from my FLA vacation, and took time out to make a mini-trip in the middle from Madeira Beach to Marathon to see the Dolphin Research Centre. What a great time we had! It was worth the almost 7 hour drive and an overnight stay at the Sea Shell across the road. I am pretty sure I came face to face with you at the Walgreen's on Monday around 4PM but I was too nervous to ask it it was you! I said hello,and you said hi back. Anyway, the Keys are magnificent! Our short time there left us wanting more. Next time I plan to take the ferry from Ft. Myers and spend a few more days. I loved seeing the Dolphins up close, we did not swim or touch them, as our time was limited, but they are such fun even when not entertaining during the shows. We saw a great film about dolphin babies, and learned a lot! Thanks to you, we checked it out and we will be back with our grand daughter one day. God Bless!

Donna Stewart:)

Donna! I wish you'd asked for me! Next time you plan a trip to the Keys, please send me an email beforehand. Glad you enjoyed your visit!

I like the news tweets.

Twitters for Twatters..I so dislike it. Mary I didn't know you were on FB? I'll try and find you :D