Michelle's corner

For an author, social media is never straightforward. You have a name, or perhaps two ... or three. It's a scrabble sometimes to protect your presence on various media when up against a global community, many of whom have the same name.

At the start of it, there's a question or two that weighs. The old ones of, "Know thine audience," and also, "Know thyself."

On Twitter, I dropped from 95 followers this morning to 91 with just a couple of posts. How did I do that? I don't know. I posted things that mean something to me. Do I know who stopped following, or why? No, I don't. I'm also not going to chase them down to ask why they left, either.

Twitter has a ... Oh! I dropped to 90 followers just while typing this :-) ... group of people who will follow you for a day, or two, or perhaps three, with the express expectation that you'll follow them back. When you don't, they unfollow you again. Also, unfortunately, there are people I like, but if I were to follow them, the number of tweets they post would blow my feed in to next week! Do you follow someone and then put them on silent? Is it right? Wrong? Acceptable? Heck, has anyone written a book on, "Etiquette when Tweeting," yet? ... or has my local librarian mis-filed it under "Ornithology"?

There is automatic software that could tell me, but I don't use it, because that usually means opening up access to my Twitter account, to a third party company that I know nothing about. I'm just not going to take that risk. Now, I will admit that when that number drops, I do take a look at the followers to see if one of a number of key people have unfollowed ... because I care about them. I'm honoured that they've decided to read the ramblings of a maniac like me and I'd feel real remorse about having offended them ... I'd also feel a little disappointed because 140 characters isn't enough to really express something fully, and part of the reason I hold them in high esteem, is because they're intelligent people whose opinions I respect. I'd hope that they'd contact me privately to clarify and talk stuff through first.

(I also feel differently about different services. I think more of the "booklikes" follows than the Twitter follows because it is more likely that people are actually following me because they want to read what I'm saying; rather than playing the "follow-me" games.)

I am my books, and my books are me. Some people use social media as a sales platform. I've tended to be a bit more personal and expose my feelings; and I write under my real name. After all, I've done that with the books that I've written ... in a manner which may well, one day, bite me up the backside with pointed gnashers ... but that's a decision that an author has to make. The balance between sales and exposure. Are you going to play to the audience and let them have what they want, or be honest about what you stand for, and let them make their minds up about you? (and the consequences thereof)

Which social platform is going to last? Where should you put your efforts? Not an easy one this.

The trick is, as I see it, that social media isn't fixed. It isn't static, and its survival isn't always down to cash. For example, Orkut started in 2004 and closed its doors in 2014 despite being owned by Google at the end.

Of the current batch still going strong, we have LinkedIn (2003), Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006) and Pintrest (2010). And there are more. The question does seem to be reputation and use. Google launched their Google+ and so few people came to it that they had to tie it in to their other services in order to give it a pulse. Rather than can it, they forced it to live. Sometimes the reasons behind which services live and die, aren't straightforward.

Microsoft canned their accountancy package. Why? People were using it! But they decided to put Microsoft Money out to sunset release in 2010. I think that an unfortunate number of people, believe that the internet and computer software packages are something that will be here forever more. They aren't. They won't be. They never have been. The trick has always been in handling change ... the only constant.

These services also have to be paid for and in times of austerity there's less cash floating around. However, instead of turning to the users for micropayments, they seem to be happier turning to the advertisers. Facebook are in trouble for its abusive tracking of people - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/17/facebook_learns_belgiums_bite_is_as_bad_as_its_bark/- and Twitter is now starting auto-run video adverts - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/16/twitter_gets_more_annoying_with_autoplay_videos/

There are countless articles about these services being in trouble. I don't think a year has gone by without me reading several articles (and tweeting a few of them) asking whether Twitter is in trouble! And I have to admit that if anything could actually see a service being banned from a country; I really do think that Facebook is sailing very close to that wind in Europe at the moment. ... there's the question for you. How would you cope if Facebook was to stand its ground to the degree where it actually got its service banned in Europe? Or any other service, in any other country for that matter.

Some service owners have started with the best of intentions but have sold out when the smell of money is wafted under their nose. GoodReads has now been owned by Amazon for a year or two; not that many casual users seem to know it; they don't advertise that fact anywhere! The most high profile sell-out of recent years was, "Notch," the creator of Minecraft who said that on his exit, the system would be given to the community, but instead sold to Microsoft. Who can blame him? That was a lot of wonga to be waved under his olfactory glands.

There is one service which is exploring the fremium model; Ello - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ello_%28social_network%29- and there are others whose futures have yet to pan out.

But the question for us is, if these services aren't going to last the test of time, then what are we, as authors, going to do. Our presence will (we hope) far outshine the life of these, "free," services.

A web URL means having your own web site. You don't have to go overboard either. I'm going to tell you the name of the company that I'm with, not because I'm getting anything from them, but because I've had great service from them for the period I'm with them. I have the Basic Web Hosting plan with Lunarpages. I also get a free domain name ... and that's the trick ... getting a decent domain name that you can print in all your books. I get a heck of a lot for my $4.95 a month ... less if I take it out in bulk come renewal time. It is also located in California so is immediately subject to Californian law (actually, I think it's a little South down the coast these days) which makes it ideal for someone like me, who talks adult conversations. But it is worth talking to your friends and find out what they use ... cast your net a little.

I do have an advantage. Being a techy, I can speak binary to these people and get problems sorted quickly.

To do this, however, you're going to need a web site. Me, I do my own coding and I can take advantage of all the features on the system like MySQL, PHP, etc. The control panel will take a bit of learning, but actually it isn't that difficult and once you've mastered it, you'll have a considerable number of tools at your beck and call. Imaging being able to set up multiple e-mail addresses at a whim! It's well worth putting in a little bit of effort.

A web page doesn't have to be complicated, either. All you really need is one page which looks reasonable and provides links to the social media platforms you're currently using. Bingo. Job's a good 'un and shouldn't cost a lot either. Get quotes. And if in doubt, don't get drawn in to having complicated sites. If one page with links is good enough for you, then keep it at that ... as decent web designers ... like decent editors ... cost decent money.

The ability to control your own domain and have your own e-mail addresses, actually frees you up. Many of us have e-mail addresses that are tied to our ISPs. If we change from AOL to Virgin, or to BT, or to Compuserve (little IT in-joke there) ... our e-mail addresses change also. Free cloud services can also change. Hotmail recently became Outlook. There is a question mark over Yahoo's future. Those sorts of things.

E-mail addresses like these can't realistically be put at the back of a book, as they are outside your control and could easily change.

I can now hop ISP's for a better deal, knowing that people can still get in touch with me, and all the services that I've registered for, don't need to be altered because my e-mail address hasn't changed. Many of us are leaving a trail of digitally abandoned trash all over the internet. Signing up for services and then abandoning them.

Also, do the other thing. Write your services in to your will. After we die, our books will live on. If our families or estate can keep the service running, then they have the choice to do so. Or whatever. The fact exists that we're putting all this stuff on the internet and we are failing to take care of our Internet legacy. So put the passwords somewhere safe and make an adjustment in your will ... so that fans can be informed of things, and our legacies can live on.

Dark subject, I know, but one that has to be thought about now, to save heartache later.

So to conclude ... social media is, like the language we use, a living, breathing organism. Be ready for change. Draw your line between the balance of, "blogging," for yourself or your audience and, no matter what happens, just wish everyone well wth their own lives; after all, it isn't as if anyone's keyed your car on Twitter! And don't forget to make a plan for your writing legacy.

Good luck ... it's a social nightmare out there!