The best advice I got as a writer was to think about what you want from social media and go after it. Certainly never use any platform you don’t like. It makes sense for me historically and personality wise. It sends Tik Tok right out of there.
I had a big following on Sex Scenes at Starbucks back in the late ‘Oughts, a total time suck that I might have started monetizing. I dropped it because I didn’t want to be a blogger for a living. I wanted to write fiction.
More lately, I dropped off FB for some years as well; partly the fiction, partly the addiction. I returned at the end of last year. Not that FB is much better that it was five years ago. I mean, talk about ZERO improvement in half a decade. The algorithms suck, the ads are pervasive, the reels obnoxious. Despite the fire that ravaged my hometown, it is serving its intended purpose to help me reconnect with writer friends. I don’t intend to use it as a promotional tool, but for networking.
Instagram is, for me, pictures of pretty rooms and vistas. I’m annoyed with FB’s algorithm applied to it but I can generally find nice things to post and see. Sometimes I think about dividing my account –I did it for gardening for awhile — but I’m not terribly compartmentalized.
And now we come to the electric-charged elephant that just wandered into the room. Twitter super duper is gonna suck because there’s this musky smell around the place like the ash that won’t leave my house and yard. The site already gives me a sore throat and a headache and makes me think I’ve got COVID. I mean, yeah, fuck Musk and all the oligarchs, but rumors of changes will turn it into an even deeper cesspool.
Chuck Wendig suggests leaving his sizeable account to just announcements and finding a new place. We-ell, remember Mastodon? Remember ELLO??? Yeah, we tried. Nothing sticks.
John Scalzi recommends putting max effort into your OWN site if you rely on the internet for popularity and sales. Which kinda takes me back to my beginnings, eh?
Anyway, I’m an epic fantasy writer and this wordy post is to say I doubt you’ll be seeing much of me on Twitter anymore.