Twitter tweaked me out at first. I imagined tweeny-boppers twittering away furiously on teeny-tiny cell phones about what they had for breakfast and who made out with who at last night’s game of spin the bottle (do kids even play that anymore?). But I’m doing some serious catching up on social media. It’s the best and easiest way to follow what’s going on in publishing and the best and easiest way to put myself out there. So here I am, twittering the night away.

And I’ve been missing out! I don’t actually know most of the people I follow, but that’s what Facebook is for. I make sure I follow all the companies where I’ve applied for jobs, people I want to work for and people who’s updates are just plain interesting. Even if they’re not hiring now, at least my name is floating around the twittersphere. And there are job boards! And contests! And people follow me!

Here are some rules I’m learning:

1. No one likes people who market themselves too much. Even if Twitter is a great business platform, you’re boring if all you talk about is your product/book/service. That being said, I’d also like to point out I don’t care what you had for breakfast either.
2. I do like reading about what books you like or interesting (and relevant) articles you’ve read. Discussion is fun.
3. Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you should follow them. General rule of thumb: If their photo involves undergarments and/or too much skin, block.
4. Be careful of information overload. I’m finding I’m deleting people who take up my whole homepage. I don’t have time to weed through your crap.

So, to conclude, this post would not be complete without:

Tagged as: creative ideas, facebook, networking, publicity, resume, Social Media, tips