social online community?
July 25, 2009 | Just me
There is a huge discussion going on in publishing circles about Twitter, Facebook, and other online social communities. Recently it focused on FB.
“It’s a great way to market/network/connect,” says some.
“It’s all about friends,” says another.
“Really? It’s business for me,” she replies.
“How can we best use this?” seems to be the question of the day.
Can I share my two cents? I hate getting messages in my Facebook in-box asking me to join someone in another city for a book signing, or inviting me to sign up for the next best webinar, or sending me links designed to sell me a book, product, or T-shirt with the author’s brand.
My friend, Cec Murphey, would say I’m sounding like a curmudgeon right now.
But to me, spam is spam. If I didn’t ask for it and the only reason you want to be my friend is to sell me something, it isn’t social and it’s definitely not community.
I’m on facebook because of the people. I love hearing updates from family and friends. I like checking out pictures of old classmates, or seeing my great-niece Kinley’s latest pic, or reading insightful notes from people that show me a whole different side of their life.
It’s great to meet someone at church or at Wal Mart and know what’s happening. It’s eradicated all the awkward conversations. I can immediately say, “Hey, I saw you went to Hawaii for your 10th anniversay. How cool is that?”
Do I share notes from my blog on FB? Yes. But they show up on my page and anyone can subscribe to them. I promise I won’t send them to your in-box. Do I send links? Sometimes, but in my status report so it only shows up in the feed of people who have subscribed.
Do I hear from people about faith, about family, about the things I talk about here with you? Sure. And it’s an amazing dialogue.
But I’m not doing it so that you’ll buy my books. I want my books to sell because I believe in the message. It’s my heartbeat to share hope and Christ. But I want to connect with you — a real live person. I want to hear what you have to say. I want to know what’s going on in your life. I want to hear your witty comments.
I won’t spend a lot of time on FB, because there’s too much in 3D life that appeals to me, but when I am on and my niece pops up with a “I love you” message, or my children leave a message on my wall, or I hear from a reader in Nigeria who says, “hey, this insired me today”, I love that aspect of community.
I’d love to hear what you think. I’d also love to connect with you on Facebook. See you there!
T. Suzanne Eller
Create Your Badge
RSS feed for comments on this post.
The URI to TrackBack this entry is:
http://www.tsuzanneeller.com/2009/07/25/social-online-community/trackback/
