Friday, January 14, 2011

To Twit or Not to Twit?


So, I've been blogging for more than a year now. And it rocks! Facebook's a pretty fun place to waste some time, too.

But TWITTER? Never tried it.

What do you guys think?

Is it worthwhile?

Or a waste of time?

Let me know! Maybe I'll give it a go.

25 comments:

S.A. Larsenッ said...

I think it's worth it, although it took me a bit to figure it out. lol It's a great place to find tidbits about contests, other authors, book releases, etc... at the tip of your fingers.

Once you figure out the lingo, it's actually fun. But BEWARE - it can become a time sucking machine, too!

Matthew MacNish said...

I'm on twitter, but honestly? I don't really get it. Maybe I'm just too long winded for 140 characters or whatever it is.

Today's guest blogger is K.M. Walton!

Sandy Williams said...

I love Twitter. I usually have it on in the background while I'm writing, and it's sort of like writing in a coffee house. Every now and then, you need a little break from the page you're working on so you just look up and say "hi."

Plus, there are a ton of authors/agents/editors/other publishing professionals on there, and it's fun getting to know them.

If you do decide to sign up, I'm @brimfire (my real name is taken :-( )

Angela Ackerman said...

I joined twitter when it started, didn't get it and so never used my account. Then 6 months ago I decided to give it another try and am so glad I did. I completely see the networking applications of Twitter now. Traffic to my blog has strengthened and I have discovered many great writing articles and news that I wouldn't otherwise know.

Give it a go!

Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

Laura Pauling said...

Same as Angela. I've found new blogs. I'm up on all the news, book releases. I see my friends' posts as soon as they tweet about it. I follow great discussion like YA Lit chat and kidlitchat while I'm writing because tweetdeck makes it possible. And I don't find it distracting. I say go for it.

Angela said...

It's probably great but I'm already drowning in my facebook blogger life. If you try it, tell me how it goes. Maybe I'll give it a go.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I've had pretty good success with it. Although I haven't been tweeting much lately, but it's all up to you how involved to get. I met lots of great people through Twitter, though. If you tweet, looke me up! @cvaldezmiller I'll come follow!

Windy Aphayrath said...

Unless my day job has sucked the life out of me, I'm pretty much a twitterholic. I LOVE it! There's so much more ability to interact with people you wouldn't normally get to interact with and it is just interesting how it makes the world smaller and more ... friendly, I suppose. :)

Megan Miranda said...

I'm kind of a late addition to it, but it's definitely growing on me!

Annette Lyon said...

Took my a while to figure it out and feel comfortable there, but now I LOVE it.

Caroline Starr Rose said...

I have no interest. ;)

Unknown said...

I tweet.... occasionally... It's more of a way to spread the news of my newest blog post, which I have fed to twitter. And tweeting is fun, it lets you 'talk' to someone in bites of 140 characters at a time!

Dottie :)

Stephanie McGee said...

I enjoy it but try not to make it only about promoting my blog or brand or what have you. It's like a giant instant message conversation going on all the time that you can pop in and out of.

Plus the chats that go on can be well worth the time. Agents will do an #askagent session where you can tweet a question with the tag and they'll answer. (The undivided time of an agent? Awesome for someone who doesn't have an agent.)

There's a chat for YA lit, kid lit, literature, urban fantasy, and many others.

It's well worth the time. Just install Tweetdeck and Twitter becomes even easier to use and keep track of.

Angie said...

I'm just starting to find my own groove for Twitter. The important thing for me to remember is that it's not Facebook. I shouldn't expect it to be the same. Once I got that figured out, I was okay with it.

amberargyle said...

Facebook is more for hanging out with your friends. Twitter is more business oriented. It's generated tons of hits on my blog. More so than Facebook. And I only started really using it this fall.
Definitely worth it.

Bethany Wiggins said...

Amber, You convinced me.

Anonymous said...

I tweet, but I use twitter only as a writing tool.

Be sure to follow me @quillfeather :)

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I have not leaped off that particular cliff yet. I'm afraid of the time suck. Let me know what you decide. :-)

G. B. Miller said...

I once had a blog commenter ask if I "twittered" but I told her unfortunately that I didn't.

That was because the only thing I would probably talk about would be my somewhat confidential job.

But if you feel the need to do so, then do it.

But I do agree with a few others that it can turn into a major suckage of time.

Jemi Fraser said...

I have to be in the mood for Twitter. I know some folks LOVE it, but I find it easy to ignore for long stretches of time. Then the mood strikes and it's lots of fun. I mostly love the chats #yalitchat, #kidlitchat, #askagent... I've learned a lot from them :)

Stina said...

I'm on twitter but I haven't used it as much as I once did. I'm following too many people (and I'm not following that many) so I miss a lot of good stuff. I don't follow many agents, tho. And I only follow a handful of authors. And I never follow #chats. Too confusing!

Tom Kepler said...

I'm on twitter to have it automatically post notices of blog articles. I don't have a cellphone, so I don't really "follow" the flow of info. Amazing that the computer is just too static physically to keep up with the moment-by-moment essence of twitter.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

I don't really get it. I've been lurking for a while... Maybe I don't say anthing interesting when I tweet???

DL Hammons said...

It's a fun diversion every now and again...but that's all I consider it. Personally, I feel its very much over-hyped. But that doesn't stop me from signing up to follow your tweets! :)

T. M. Hunter said...

It's all about what your purpose is for tweeting, and what you expect to get out of it.

I enjoy Twitter for the interaction with friends and fans. Sometimes you get to learn new things you never would have just sitting around and talking with people in real life.

And of course, from time to time, it's good for running a contest or letting folks know about your latest book or story release.

Only pitfall is that it can become very time-consuming, just like anything internet-related.

@astonwest