| Nothing generates buzz like the Internet's 'social media' and, for a writer seeking exposure, the question is, is the buzz about reality or only about itself. Are we accomplishing anything by webbing, blogging, Facebook-ing, and tweeting? Or is all this just a way to convince ourselves we're really busy? I think it can be either but for most of us is a bit of both. So let's take a realistic look at the choices available to us when we set out to publish online or brag online or just get the word out online.
There are currently several sorts of social media in play. Here are the main ones today. Tomorrow, who knows?
Twitter: Easy to start an account (in fact very easy, I congratulate the management on user-friendliness.) You send “tweets” up to several times each day, each of no more than 140 characters. Your ‘followers’ receive these and, theoretically, know what’s up in your life on an almost-real-time basis.
Lifespan of updates: Setup is linear and new posts push older ones down until they are not easily read. How fast this happens depends upon how often you tweet.
Frequency of updates: At least once per day, often more.
Ease of creation: Minutes. Free unless you opt for advanced features of no real use to us.
Flexibility: Very little. Short text messages designed to be read on a cell phone only. Incidentally, the entire HTML code for a URL counts against your 140-character limit. There are workarounds but even those will use up some of your tweet-count
Ease of modification: Make new posts on the fly, even from a cell phone.
Viewer usefulness: Tweets may be read in seconds, but the ‘noise’ is a problem, as followers may also receive hundreds of other tweets the same day and yours get lost.
Blogs: (Short for Web Log, not that anyone remembers that any more). Somewhere between a tweet and a web page, a blog is the easiest way for most people to get onto the Internet in a more-or-less large and permanent way. Much better for advertising purposes then Twitter, less so then a web page.
Lifespan of updates: Setup is linear and new posts push older ones down until they are not easily read. How fast this happens depends upon how often you blog. Blogs do offer the option of an index to older posts. Can take images, HTML codes, display advertising, and no limit to length of each post.
Frequency of updates: At least once per week, sometimes more.
Ease of creation: An hour or so to set one up from scratch. Free unless you opt for advanced features of no real use to us.
Flexibility: Some, mostly in the choice of templates to use. Creative use of HTML code can enhance your blog if you know how to do that. Blogs have no problem with linking to web sites as the HTML code is not an issue.
Ease of modification: Make new posts from your computer (usually) though some can do it from their cell phones. Because you control the blog administration, you may add to your blog at any time.
Viewer usefulness: Viewers may ‘subscribe’ in any of several ways. Blogs may also cross-feed one another so that a new entry on one can be replicated on another (a feature not often used, but available). Because the viewer is not receiving hundreds of blog subscriptions per day, there is less noise.
Dedicated Meeting Sites: (The likes of Facebook or LinkedIn and that ilk). Also somewhere between a blog and a web page but more permanent. Much better for advertising purposes then a blog, less so then a web page.
Lifespan of updates: Depending upon the host system, you may have one or a number of "pages" that are permanent, plus "walls" or other bulletin-board-type places for others to comment.
Frequency of updates: At least once per month, weekly is better. (Exceptions, like LinkedIn, are professional "business card" sites where you would typically update only when you have a new client or have just ladded something to your bio.)
Ease of creation: An hour or so to set one up from scratch. Free unless you opt for advanced features of no real use to us.
Flexibility: Some, mostly in the choice of templates to use. There is good administrative control so you decide how much you wish to interact with the public.
Ease of modification: Make new posts from your computer (usually) though some can do it from their cell phones. Because you control the administration, you may add to your site at any time.
Viewer usefulness: Viewers may ‘subscribe’ in any of several ways. Meeting sites may also cross-feed one another using HTML linksso that a new entry on one can be replicated on another (a feature not often used, but available).
Web Sites Family-Friendly Amateur: Typically these are set up using a hosting company’s own templates and software. You do not need to know HTML or own an expensive web-generating program. Trade off is that your web site web address (or URL) will look like this:
http: / / www.acmewebsitesforall.com/your_name_here.something.
Not terribly personal. Or professional-looking.
Lifespan of updates: As long as you choose to maintain the hosting account. Note, though, that because you do not own the software used to create the web site, you will not be able to transfer the hosting to another company. You are forever locked into your relationship with your current host.
Frequency of updates: Should be updated monthly, preferably weekly.
Ease of creation: Several hours to set one up from scratch. You pay the host for the hosting service and, sometimes, for the use of the blog software. Various layers of service, with add-ons and different prices/packages. Can include email service.
Flexibility: A lot, within the scope of the host’s templates and software and your creative use of HTML code. Words, images, movies, .pdf files, whatever. Links to anywhere no problem. Most hosts for these limit the number of pages you may create but few people approach that limit.
Ease of modification: Make new pages or update existing pages from your computer. More complex than a blog but still not too hard once you get the hang of it. You will need to log in to your account and jump through a few hoops to do your updates.
Viewer usefulness: No noise because the viewer has chosen to visit your web site and, for the next few moments, you have his or her full attention. Best way to advertise because you can have all manner of ads. Information on one page can link to more detailed information elsewhere on that web site or another.
Web Sites User-owned ‘branded’ professional sites: The ne plus ultra of online media. And I'm not just saying this because I want to use ne plus ultra in a sentence. Twice. (Until now I thought it was some sort of toothpaste.) Much more complex but offers the most flexibility of all. Total control. You must own and be able to use a web-site-creation program. They’re expensive and hard to learn to use. You must register a name (the URL) for the web site, no easy task sometimes as all the good ones are taken. You must—separately—arrange for a host for your web site. Hosting companies can handle both for you but the name and the hosting account remain discrete items and must be renewed as they each expire. A host can also set you up with an e-mail account that matches (is ‘branded’) to your web site name. For our purposes, the lowest level of hosting service usually suffices.
Lifespan of updates: As long as you choose to maintain the hosting account and also pay the annual bill for the name. Because you own the name and the material and have your own web-creation program, you may change hosts at any time, though having root canal surgery is more pleasant.
Frequency of updates: Should be updated monthly, preferably weekly.
Ease of creation: Many, many hours to set one up from scratch. A complex site might take a week.
Flexibility: Total. You control all HTML code. Words, images, movies, .pdf files, whatever. Links to anywhere no problem. No limit to the pages you may have, though if you get totally crazy you may exceed the storage limit for which you paid, and have to pay more. Highly unlikely.
Ease of modification: Make new pages or update existing pages from your computer. This is actually easier than the simpler web site, above, because you do updating on your own computer and just upload files. No logging-in first and then finding things.
Viewer usefulness: No noise because the viewer has chosen to visit your web site and, for the next few moments, you have his or her full attention. Best way to advertise because you can have all manner of ads. Information on one page can link to more detailed information elsewhere on that web site or another. Because you have total control you may do as you please.
Newsletters: An adjunct to any of the above. If you try to send an email to a thousand of your closest friends, you get stomped on my your email service provider who thinks you are a spammer. But companies exist that will, for a fee, send out “blast” newsletters for you.
Lifespan of updates: One email’s worth, though the original newsletter is stored on the host site and might be re-used.
Frequency of updates: At least once per month, often weekly. (And you pay the fee whether you send one newsletter a month or thirty.)
Ease of creation: Half an hour if all material is in place as Word files and all you need to do is copy-and-paste. The first time you do this will take an hour because you have to set up the template. But after that you just make a copy of a previous newsletter and then modify the date and contents.
Flexibility: Some. Photos and links are permitted, plus a limited number of pages. My experience leads me to have no photos and minimum links, as they tend to trigger anti-spam filters at the receiver’s end. Getting fancy backfires here.
Ease of modification: A few minutes. Log in, copy old newsletter. Modify date and contents, Set a delivery time. Pretty simple.
Viewer usefulness: Probably best of all—if the viewer actually receives the newsletter. It comes as an email that contains links back to your web site, blog or Twitter account.
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