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Reluctant to Join Social Media?

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social newtworkingHi everyone! For some, the war cry of Join Twitter! Network! Engage & Share! Create a Facebook Page! Get Yourself Out There! can seem a bit much. I know a lot of writers who are confused and frustrated because they don’t feel they are suited for the noisy mosh pit of online socializing, yet they are told repeatedly that they must do it to succeed.

I do believe that social networking is one of the best things you can do to create discoverability for yourself and your books, but completely understand how intimidating it can be for a person standing on the edge of it all. So if you have misgivings about these networking platforms or know someone who is struggling with how to connect with others, I am discussing this exact topic over at The Eagle’s Aerial Perspective blog: What To Do…If You Feel Social Networking Isn’t Right For You

After all, I think that’s what we need sometimes–a view from high up where we can see the big picture and not be scared off by the misconstrued noise of social networking at ground level.

Also, some of you probably read Roni Loren’s  Bloggers Beware: You CAN Get Sued For Using Pics on Your Blog – My Story. I know most people put pictures with their blog posts and link them to the sites where they found them, thinking this is the right thing to do and will protect them from liability. IT WONT. Roni’s story is a ‘it could happen to you’ situation, so I strongly encourage you to read about her experience if you haven’t already.

Kristen Lamb has stepped up to help in this regard, however! If you need pictures for your blog that are free from copyright, you can join WANA Tribe and use her Flickr group built for this purpose. From WANA Commons:

“This is a photo reservoir for the WANAs. Many of us are bloggers, so we come here as one community to share our images for free use by other WANAs without fear of copyright infringement. If you post images in this group, you are claiming to be the owner of copyright and that you are granting us to use these images for free without fear of reprisal.”

Here’s another post on Where To Get Photos For Your Blog that might help. Becca and I will be changing how and what we post for pictures to make sure we’re not infringing on anyone’s copyright, and I strongly suggest you do as well.

Well, it’s Monday and the world is your bag of Doritos. I hope everyone is having a great summer and writing up a storm! Have a happy and productive week! 🙂

Image: Geralt @ Pixabay

Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. tracycampbellwriter says

    Hi Angela:
    I loved this post.
    The information you’ve provided certainly helps.
    I currently only blog but your lurking advice is one I can manage for now.
    Thanks
    P.S. I’m loving the Emotion Thesaurus

  8. One Latina's Pen says

    I do enjoy blogging, FB, and Twitter but have to remind myself -almost daily- that 80% of my time is for writing fiction and 20% is for social media.

    The article on copyright infringement is scary, but oh so helpful.

    Twice I’ve asked for permission from photographer/artist and twice received it. Once there was no attribution and artist contacted me and asked that I link to her, which I did and she was very gracious. I had no idea that wiki had a media site-Mil Gracias!

  10. Kiya Krier says

    That poor woman! I have done some research about photos used on blogs. I just had this nagging feeling that grabbing any old image off Google was entirely too easy. Turns out I was right! Eeek!

    A friend of mine just started her own blog to grow her personal training business. I will be sure to remind her of these image laws!! Thanks for the reminder.

  11. Sharon K. Mayhew says

    I’m on Twitter and FB, but on FB I only friend people I either know or know well from blogging. I don’t do a ton on Twitter, but when I do tweet it automatically goes to my fb page.

    Blogging is my favorite social media…

    I hope you both are having a great summer too. 🙂

  12. Heather says

    I’ve found the key to social media is finding what works for you, what you enjoy and sticking with it. And, not doing too much! Not everyone has to be on every social media site. I think that’s a common misconception.

  14. Loree Huebner says

    Thanks for sharing the info, Angela.

    I do believe that social networking is a great tool for authors. We just have to make sure that we are doing it right.

    Great post.