Nicola here and today I’m talking about social media. Later this week I’m heading to the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference in Telford, Shropshire, where one of the talks I’m doing is a joint workshop with Sarah Morgan called “Let’s Get Social.” There’s a certain irony in my talking about authors and social media, or even social media in general. I have a love/hate relationship with it to say the least. But perhaps that can be useful because whilst Sarah is a social media guru extraordinaire, I’m more the person who grumbles because I know that these days it’s an integral part of being a writer but I’m not always good at using it or very committed. So hopefully we will be representing different aspects and attitudes of the authors who will be present. And one thing that I do agree wholeheartedly with Sarah on is that it’s all about engagement. I love chatting about books, writing and history amongst other things so if I want to do that I need to make contact with like-minded people and beat my technology phobia!
At the same time as discussing the workshop with Sarah I’ve also been designing a new website. (It’s at www.nicolacornick.co.uk and it’s still a work in progress.) One of the most useful things I did in the run up to that was ask on Facebook what people like to 
see on an author website. I got so much useful stuff, thereby proving amongst other things how helpful it is to be connected on FB! When I visit a site myself I’m usually looking for information on a book I’ve either read or heard about – when it’s out, more detail about the background and characters perhaps, what the follow up will be. Some of the suggestions readers gave me were things I hadn’t thought of; all were fantastically useful. The biggest bugbear people seemed to have was not knowing the series order for books so listing all the connected books is a must. I also love that readers enjoy knowing more about the historical background to my books. Another request was for book and author recommendations. Perhaps that’s why our Word Wench “What We’re Reading” is so popular?
Back in the day (and the day wasn’t so long ago in real terms but is forever in cyber terms) there were websites and blogs. Like many people I had an individual blog as well as being a part of a number of group blogs. These days I’ve archived my individual blog. There are an awful lot of blogs about and I simply wasn’t able to put in sufficient time to engage with mine and to make it worthwhile for people to come and visit it. In contrast, I think the Wenches blog has such longevity and popularity because it has built up a wonderful community here. It really does illustrate the point about a place where we can all chat and engage in topics of interest.
I also vaguely remember way back being told that Myspace was the place to go for social media interaction but then that was quickly superseded by Facebook. There was also something called Second Life - people held book launches there which seemed really cool. FB really is my bugbear though; I don’t go on it very often, certainly not as often and FB would like me to do. They are always nagging me to advertise or sponsor a post. But you know what I like the best is my personal FB page where I post about anything from historic houses I’ve visited to a video of the dog jumping in his paddling pool.
If we’re talking a social media drug of choice then mine is definitely Twitter. It’s quick, it’s 
interesting and I’ve met so many amazing and fascinating people via their Tweets (and an extraordinary number of men who apparently work for the armed forces, the UN or Cambridge University. They are disproportionately represented on social media, it seems.) Then there is Instagram (great if you love photo-sharing), Pinterest, Goodreads, and just as I was pleased I had a grasp of what these sites do, I realised there was a whole other raft of places about which I had no idea.
How many people have their own YouTube channel these days? Never mind blogging, it’s about vlogging your lifestyle. And apparently as the number of people who engage with audio increases, podcasts are getting more and more popular. And so it goes on.
I suppose in the end it all depends on what we want social media to be for. Some people see it as a way of sharing aspects of their life with friends, family and followers. Others see it as a selling tool whatever business we are in but I think that many of us aren’t comfortable with so overt a drive to sell. In an increasingly busy and fragmented world social media is a way of finding and keeping in touch with other people who are interested in the things we enjoy whether it is books, reading, history or other many topics. The community and engagement aspects are for so many of us the best thing about it.
How connected are you? Do you love social media, hate it or have a more equivocal relationship with it like I do? Do youhave a favourite social media platform and if so what do you like about it?
