If Google’s slogan is “Don’t be evil,” then as a budding, mid-career or veteran freelancer, your slogan should be “Don’t be a spammer.” There’s nothing more tiresome than logging onto Twitter only to find your feed overrun by what’s obviously self promotional with no value to you.
The same goes for Facebook updates about the truly mundane day-to-day existence of a writer.
Rita Flórez ate a bowl of cereal. Jennifer Chen thought about some deep stuff today. Bottom line: People follow you because you contribute to their professional and personal lives in some way. A good rule of thumb is if you don’t care about what you’re doing, don’t post it on Facebook because you feel like you need to post something.
The idea is to build a real network of people who you rely on to help you grow as a freelancer. Hopefully, you will do the same for them.
LINKS ON SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR WRITERS
Twitter Does Not Sell Books. This 5-Point Plan Does.
Twitter Chats for Writers
A Writer’s Guide to Social Networking
Literary Twitter: For writers, it’s a 140-character development
What are 10 ways that Twitter can help writers?
Freelance Friends is produced by Rita and Jennifer. Tune in July 28th for part two of our social networking podcast, where we discuss blogging and how to effectively use Google documents as a collaborative tool.
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Great post, Freelance Friends. And I fully agree with your “keep business off Facebook” POV. It’s just not designed for professional purposes. The only work/Facebook crossover that makes sense is promoting your projects to your friends and family when they hit the stands/air/web/etc.
Thanks for listening! When in doubt, don’t email a potential editor or job contact over Facebook. Just be mindful that not everyone wants you to contact them via Facebook about work.