TWEET, TWEET
Entered the vast Twitterverse yesterday. Writer Dennis Cass made me do it.
In a recent video, he’s a hapless author anxiously absorbing a host of tips from a social media guru who seems intent on bringing the clueless writer up to speed. Clearly, to the networking novice, it seems like light speed. The guy’s painfully aware that he needs to be” linked in,” but he’s also rueful about this overwhelming “new normal” in the arena of book promotion and self-promotion: “You Tube! Of course! ‘Cause twenty years ago when I wanted to be a writer, a big part of the dream was being able to put little videos up on the internet. That’s it! I mean, that’s why we do this!”
It made me laugh. At the same time, I found myself wondering if he’s talked to anyone yet about creating a platform. Or the need to become a brand — morphing into something distinctively sparkly and instantly recognizable, like Windex or Xanax. There’s a thought-provoking NY Times Magazine essay about one author’s frequent impulse in a Facebook-and-Twitter-centric world, to privately register the most mundane act, the passing moment, as if each were being seen through a lens, its subject mentally crafting the clever tweet or captivating status report before her “experience” is even over. It gives one pause.
Yet here I am – now a bona fide tweep. One of a handful of articles –“Twitter 101” by Alice Pope in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of SCBWI’s magazine — sits on my desk, open to a whole page of Twitter tips. @WriterRoss tells me: Keep it tight. Omit connecting words. Twitter is a wonderful tool for learning to edit extraneous information. @glecharles reminds me to be “relevant.” Always add value and remember, it’s SOCIAL media, not just an alternative RSS feed. (Which is why, I suppose, there was a long string of responses to critic Gael Greene’s musing about cicadas. Made me wonder if the tweeple all a-twitter about these insects subscribe to @GirlsSentAway’s “80/20 rule” – 80% professional tweets, 20% to show your personality.
Pope, the long-time editor of Children’s Writers & Illustrators Market, asserts that Twitter can be “a powerful networking tool and an important spoke in your platform wheel.” My platform wheel, tweeps. And she’s right, of course. If Facebook has linked me with friends, and even friends of friends, who are writers and illustrators and publishing professionals and librarians and bookstore owners along with family and close friends, Twitter has the potential to expand that constellation exponentially. The goal is to eventually link them to my writing, if, that is, I still have time to do the writing and adhere to the advice of @nialleccles: Do not allow it to distract… tweet during scheduled breaks.
In a Chicago SunTimes piece by Roger Ebert, literally no longer able to speak, he writes about how Twitter has permitted him to unload his zingers and one-liners, a God-given talent he could no longer use pre-tweets. (I’ve suspected for some months now, btw, that some of the creators of the most entertaining status reports on my Facebook page have begun issuing them instead as tweets.)
Ebert expresses joy over this opportunity to have a running conversation with the world. Indeed, the very first tweet I read, after choosing people to “follow,” came from Marcus Samuelsson, the chef who visited our table more than once when he owned the restaurant Aquavit in Minneapolis. He’s since been voted top chef in the nation, written a cookbook called New American Table and made a meal for American-in-chief, Prez Obama. Yesterday Marcus was looking for vintage plates uptown. Did I or anybody else know where he might find some? It struck me as oddly egalitarian and highly entertaining that both Emeril and I got the “ask.” And as I was tweaking this post last night, Yoko Ono tweeted to say she’s become a follower of mine. I noticed that Yoko’s chosen to follow about 37,000 others of her close to one million followers, but this sublimely democratic chance for dialogue with artist and peacemaker Yoko still tickles me. So tweet me, tweeple. I’m @TunieMB and happy to be here.
