A lot is going on in the world lately, and when one logs into a social media site we can see that really quickly! Today is Social Media Day, and I have to say, for the most part I am not a fan! I know… as an artist it is important for me to put myself out there, to be seen, but yet… I open Facebook and I see a lot of negativity. Everywhere we look there are people attacking or feeling under attack. People saying accept me or else, while others are lamenting laws that are giving others rights that are long since deserved. It is just sad to see how ready people are to attack others just because they are different.
Now I know… I am being that guy here, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Of course, I also see Facebook as one of the worlds biggest time sucks! It can really just eat your whole life away if you let it and for that very reason I wont have it on my phone and nowadays I only check it once or twice a month! I have turned to other mediums to get myself out there, and they are not all great either, but the pros far outweigh the cons. At least with things like Google+, WordPress, Twitter and even Tumblr I don’t have to open my feed and see a bunch of bad news and sadness glaring back at me. I don’t have to be hit with the news that I never watch, so why would I want to see it when I open my social media to see what is going on in the lives of those I know?
What about you? Do you find social media to be a challenge? Are you ever overwhelmed by the level of negativity that can breed there? What do you do to put yourself out there and not have all your time sucked away by the void that is social media?
Random Acts of Writing 
I rarely go on my Facebook. I check it every once in a while, but that’s just to see what distant friends and family are up to. I don’t have a ton of friends–I hate how people friend others simply because it was “suggested” and they want to see how many friends they can get. That’s just not the point.
I don’t have an author page for myself on there, either. I’m not published, but I don’t want to be worrying about a social media that I don’t really care for. I stick with Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, Google+, Goodreads, etc.
I actually created a facebook author page, but I don’t tend to go on there much, but I do have my blog auto post to that along with several others. I have found connecting things, so that when I post to one it will update another really helps me cut back on time wasted in social media! But yeah.. sticking with the ones you like makes a lot of sense to me!
I have my blog connected to me social media as well. It makes everything easier.
I used to use Facebook a lot because I moved away from home and it was the only way to keep up with my old town, but now that I’ve joined WordPress, I find myself over here a lot more. And you’re right, Facebook is really negative and a lot of times just makes me feel bad about humanity. Most bloggers seem a lot more positive and hopeful about the world, which is a breath of fresh air.
I am learning the ropes of twitter mainly for networking purposes, but it’s full of bots and scams from what I’ve seen so far. Goodreads and tumblr are pretty nice though.
I totally agree with you! The community I have met on WordPress is so amazing! It is like it’s own wonderful family and has come to mean a lot more to me than any Facebook drama ever could!
Yeah I have been trying to learn Twitter, but I am thinking it might be a lost cause for me *laughs*. I do use Goodreads some, although I prefer LibraryThing and Tumblr… often confuses me *grins*.
Never heard of LibraryThing. Everytime I get on tumblr, I lose track of hours, haha
Pinterest does that to me!!! And you should totally check out LibraryThing, it is really great! I have gotten TONS of ARCs from there… I love that site! It is my book site of choice, (course my phone also will auto upload all my books to that site from an app I have)
I gave up most social media a long time ago… way too distracting. The only ones I have are WordPress and Tumblr (and LinkedIn, if you count that). Seems like every day is social media day — it’s such a hard thing to get away from.