Instagram, anyone?

[Paul Whybrow]

Moving on from the Social Media is Watching You! thread in the Back Room, I wondered how many members of the Colony use Instagram? Either for fun or to promote themselves as writers.

Several writing gurus have observed that Facebook is losing young users, who are migrating to Instagram as the way to communicate with friends. This would certainly be relevant to you as a writer if your target audience is juvenile or YA. It's less so for me, with crime fiction, as the genre attracts older readers, but I'm still intrigued by the possibilities of Instagram.

As I gird my loins to establish a social media and blogging presence, I've been checking out the advantages and drawbacks of different sites. Three years ago, I set up basic accounts with LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Quora and Pinterest, a Facebook business page, separate to my personal profile, and started a WordPress blog—which mysteriously lost all of the posts I made, though they still showed up in internet searches—and has since reappeared for me to access.

I previously posted about my tactic of using Pinterest to get my name out there, by adding my blog address to pins. I could start other boards more to do with books, writing, publishers, famous crimes and Cornwall, where my novels are set, but it's a time-consuming process.

I've been pondering how effective Instagram could be. Jane Friedman hosted a guest post by novelist Annie Sullivan on ways of using the site:

10 Instagram Tips for Writers | Jane Friedman

There's a community of book lovers on Instagram called Bookstagram, which would be the ideal place to self-promote:

How To Fabulously Get Started On #Bookstagram

It's impossible to predict how many of these book lovers actually buy books, but word of mouth promotion and viral marketing has to start somewhere.

What do you think?

Is Instagram a flippant waste of time?

Or, a useful marketing tool?

 

[Emily]

I use Instagram because I like the aesthetics of it. Not that I am using much SM at all these days, it's bloody boring and I dislike knowing that I am only being shown specific content that has been chosen for me by an algorithm or some such.

And I agree with Kirsten about word of mouth. I have a friend who self published her book (which had a great premise but needed a severe edit which she was unwilling to do or allow be done to it) and in tandem to writing it, drummed up a massive SM following, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter; she followed specific rules, got results... still didn't drum up readers or agents.

So, maybe if you are a Youtube sensation you will get a book deal, but I think that, unless at the end of the day, your product is excellent and excellent enough for people to talk about it, you won't get the results you want, irrelevant of your SM status. It's useful and is an excellent addition, and people (I'm sure?) do want to know what a favourite author's life is like etc etc, but I wouldn't go out of my way to contort myself into having a prolific and time-sucking SM presence unless I knew exactly what results I wanted and how to achieve them.

(sorry, went off on a tangent there, think I need to eat something)

 

[Amber]

No. I have an account but I never had/have any intention of using it. I opened the account because I was interested in seeing what the filters did. It's possible I don't understand the social motivation behind filters as well as where one gets them. I think I found some but they were dogs ears and such. I've seen photos where people have lengthened their neck and manga'ed their eyes. It's a really disturbing thing.... the ability for people to distort their features so that they're unbelievably beautiful... but yet .... a part of the brain that says it might be real.

So. I was looking for those.
I did not find them.
I didn't remain curious enough long enough to answer any of my questions.

Still am unsure of those photos of my niece with goldfish eyes. I mean... I've seen the girl in person. Don't get it.

 

[Emily]

@Amber , I think you need to be on Snapchat rather than Instagram for those filters

 

[Eva Ulian]

Like Amber, I have an account which is quite dormant. Even though I'm an amateur photographer and have taken thousands of photos in particular of parish ceremonies, I still haven't used Instagram... it seems to me I would have to dedicate a certain amount of time, which I haven't got, for results I don't know. I too would be interested to see if anyone finds it worth it.

 

[Nikky Lee]

I used Instagram personally before I converted it to a business account to help build my author profile. Overall, it's extremely buggy to use on a computer, and I had numerous (unresolved) issues trying to sync up the account with my social media scheduling app. The pay off in engagement wasn't that great either (admittedly I was a bit lax with it compared to my other platforms). In the end, I switched the account back to a personal account. I'll keep it, but I'm not particularly active on it—I use it mostly for travel photos.

With all that said, I've seen authors with excellent engagement on Insta so I guess its a case of whatever works for you. Like all social media, you get out what you put in.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Instagram. No. Can't see that I need it.

But an artist friend teaches and exhibits and finds it a godsend.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Social media--all of it--makes me weary. I've got a pinterest account--don't use it. I'm on Twitter--I hate the platform, and as far as I can tell, the writing community there is nothing but writers cheering each other on with meaningless platitudes and wasting time posting cute memes. I'm on FB--I used to think it was okay when I was only friending people I actually knew, but then I realised I needed to be more active and let more people friend me in order to build a 'following'. Ugh! It's become a place I hate to go, my feed full of stupid things from people I don't know and don't care about. I know, I sound like a total curmudgeon, but I'm simply not interested in strangers' cats, dinner, nail polish, or whatever.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Oh Robinne how right you are. Unless there is some kind of human involvement, social media is completely sterile, and sometimes, like pinterest, a means of showing off. And I too am not interested in other people's cats, dinner, nail polish or whatever. But doesn't all that ring a bell? That's what you find in real life too... Being in NZ you probably don't have a next door neighbour, a down the road pub or caffè... but most people around you are boring, and that's what they talk about, dinner, shopping and so on and so on. You, being a writer are probably fed up to the teeth of mundane, meaningless chatter and need people who are, maybe not the same intellectual standard which makes no difference, but who can relate meaningfully to you and you to them. And I think that's as hard to find in real life, as it is on the web. However, there are some around.

 

[Carol Rose]

I've had an entirely different experience by engaging with people on social media. I've made real life friends from meeting authors and readers on Facebook, and I've been blessed to get to know others from all over the world. We do far more than cheer each other on - which is important enough in the writing world. They're friends I know I can count on, even if they live across the globe. I have two such amazing friends on Litopia that, although we may never meet in person one day, we're still there for each other in all aspects of our lives.

And as for Facebook, I have many author friends that I have met in real life, that I talk to frequently about much more than writing, and who I count among my closest friends. Sure, I post memes a lot, but that's because I don't have a job where I can sit on Facebook all day, every day, and talk to people. So I use the memes as a way to stay connected to people. It's a quick click to share it, if it catches my fancy. No one is obligated to like them or share them. I'm sure most people scroll right past them. But I do my share of scrolling, too, so it all evens out.

And I've never been shy about cheering on other authors or helping them out with promotion when I can. It's a tough enough occupation without the help of others. I like to pay it forward and give back when I'm able. I wish all authors did that. But they don't, so I simply avoid the ones who act like playground bullies. Unlike in real life, it's easy to avoid them online.

Social media is all about building relationships, just as we do in real life. The medium is simply different. It's also as positive or as negative as you choose to make it, the same as in face-to-face interactions.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I agree with you, Carol, about making connections with people, and social media is great for that. But the push I feel as a writer is to make lots of connections, friend thousands of people, have a 'following' as big as possible, and I just don't do well in large crowds. Part of what I like about Litopia is that no one is counting how many people I'm interacting with here, how many posts I'm making--I feel like I can interact when and how I'm comfortable. But on Twitter and FB there's an expectation of numbers, engagement, etc. That's not the way I work in the real world, and I find it hard to do online, too.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Oh Robinne how right you are. Unless there is some kind of human involvement, social media is completely sterile, and sometimes, like pinterest, a means of showing off. And I too am not interested in other people's cats, dinner, nail polish or whatever. But doesn't all that ring a bell? That's what you find in real life too... Being in NZ you probably don't have a next door neighbour, a down the road pub or caffè... but most people around you are boring, and that's what they talk about, dinner, shopping and so on and so on. You, being a writer are probably fed up to the teeth of mundane, meaningless chatter and need people who are, maybe not the same intellectual standard which makes no difference, but who can relate meaningfully to you and you to them. And I think that's as hard to find in real life, as it is on the web. However, there are some around.

I have no problem chatting with my neighbours, coworkers, checkout clerks, etc about the weather, their livestock, their dinners, whatever--I have a connection with them that makes those conversations meaningful. It's just that among the masses online, it's hard for me to find a sense of connection that makes those little things meaningful to me. It has nothing to do with whether people are 'boring' or not--it's that I don't know them.

 

[Eva Ulian]

I agree with you, Carol, about making connections with people, and social media is great for that. But the push I feel as a writer is to make lots of connections, friend thousands of people, have a 'following' as big as possible, and I just don't do well in large crowds. Part of what I like about Litopia is that no one is counting how many people I'm interacting with here, how many posts I'm making--I feel like I can interact when and how I'm comfortable. But on Twitter and FB there's an expectation of numbers, engagement, etc. That's not the way I work in the real world, and I find it hard to do online, too.

I find it funny when, every now and then FB sends me a message telling me to write a post because my friends haven't heard from me for a while...a while is about two or three days, I go for weeks not talking to people around here! Besides I'm sure no one is going to be too much bothered if I post or not.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Jane Friedman reports on a new social media network in her Electric Speed newsletter.

Are.na claims to be: A visual platform that helps you think. Spend less time “liking” and more time thinking. Are.na frees your mind from distraction and lets you organize your internet more mindfully.

Are.na

Jane Friedman describes Are.na as a mashup of Pinterest, Scrivener and Pocket. At first glance, it looks a bit like Pinterest, with the feature of being able to add files to help organise/ publicise writing projects. It's free to use up to 100 of what are called private 'blocks', with unlimited public blocks. A Premium Package at $45 a year offers additional features.

I've opened a free account and will be exploring the site.

Hmm, in the sinister way of modern cyber life, I noticed just now when I logged onto Are.na, that although I haven't filled in any personal details or made any posts, the profile picture I have on the Gmail address I used for contact has been added to Are.na—without my say-so—social media really is watching me!

More about Are.na here: This Is What A Designer-Led Social Network Looks Like