Rant incoming.
Okay. I’m pretty active on Twitter. I’d say I tweet maybe 10-15 times a day. On the weekends that number probably cuts in half because I’m sleepy. My tweets are literally about anything that pops into my head. A movie quote. Something my dog does. An interaction with a co-worker. A text conversation I’ve had. Anything. I’ll tweet about it. What I very, very rarely do is tweet about books, writing, reading or any of the things I discuss on here. Why? Because that’s what this blog is for. I only wish others felt the same way.
I follow a few bloggers on Twitter. Probably less than 15. And I’ve followed many more than that during my time on the site, but I’ve unfollowed almost every one of them. Why? Because for some reason writers feel the need to tell everyone exactly how much they’ve written several times a day. And then those same people also feel the need to let everyone know the precise moment they sit down to read. It’s like they’re trying to live up to this persona that their entire lives are full of books even though they’re working a full-time job in an industry that has nothing to do with books or publishing or anything writing-related.
I have no issue with people tweeting about their writing every now and then, but is there really a reason to use #amwriting in ten straight tweets? WE GET IT. YOU’RE ON TWITTER PRETENDING TO BE WRITING. No one gives a shit.
I know what you’re thinking by this point. You’re thinking that I should just unfollow these people and be done with it. Yep, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m unfollowing other bloggers on Twitter as soon as this post publishes. Cause I’d prefer to read pointless tweets from people I know personally and from celebrities I follow, but not from bloggers I don’t hardly know at all. If I want to read about your writing or reading, then I’ll gladly do so on WordPress.
I guess the point of this post is to say that you shouldn’t follow me on Twitter because I don’t follow back unless you’re in a group of maybe three bloggers. I wonder how often James Patterson tweets using #amwriting. Oh wait, that’s just ridiculous.
On this day in 2014 I published Not Your Typical Easter Post.
Johnny Reads 
Fun to hear your perspective. I look for the very hashtags that frustrate you. I find writers to be very funny and inspirational, especially #writerproblems and amediting.
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I don’t. I find them to be attention-seeking.
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Hehe! I love the line about Patterson. So true! Although I’m not on Twitter and am holding out until the bitter end.
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Yeah. Imagine if well known authors were tweeting all day about #amwriting. It would be a joke. But EVERYONE who is known by no one is doing just that.
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When I’m in the thick of writing, being online is at the very back of my mind. I think people just want recognition for the ‘work’ they’re doing.
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Yep. You need to give a seminar on social media behavior while writing. It’ll be a hit.
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I’m on the fence about Twitter. I think it’s a bit stupid, and my tweets are generally boring, because really, who cares what I tweet about? However, I follow some very funny people who make great use of the limited characters. I’ve unfollowed several authors because all they do is talk about writing and promote their book. I mean, sure, social media is good for that promotion. But when it comes to “famous” people I’m more interested in who they are in their downtime than hearing about their latest project/appearance/etc.
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I like it. But I think there are way too many people who are tweeting for Favorites or Retweets. I don’t. Cause like you said, who cares what I’m tweeting? No one wants to have an author shoving his book in their face every ten minutes. I follow such a diverse set of celebrities that they tweet very differently from one another. But sometimes even they get boring and I unfollow.
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I almost exclusively use my Twitter to cross-post my blog posts now, and to promote my annual convention AtomaCon. I don’t expect anyone to follow me on Twitter unless they want to hear about my “creative” side, but I have never in my life used the hashtag “#amwriting”. I used to misread it as “A.M. writing”, haha, like they were writing in the morning or something.
And while I don’t try to be funny or diverse on my own Twitter because I don’t really care about followers anymore, I will only follow a person if their most recent tweets are interesting or funny. I won’t follow someone whose only posts are blog promotions or them talking about their own writing. So, if they’re trying to build a fanbase, that’s not the way to do it.
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My posts link to mine, but no one gets here from there. Cause they usually follow me here first. As for following people, I only follow celebrities I REALLY like or people I know. And like five bloggers who aren’t clogging my TL with #amwriting or #amreading everyday. No one else.
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My blog posts are auto-tweeted. Those are about writing. I will occasionally tweet a personal observation about something I am reading or writing. I also retweet art and funnies, an the occasional inspirational quote or useful blog (writing related). I also tweet about my daughter getting sent home early from school, buying a Prius, or about Breaking Bad, iZombie or something else I love. Point is my twitter feed shows pretty clearly I am a writer, but also (I hope) that I am a person. What I HATE are 10 million book cover promo tweets spamming my feed.
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My posts are also linked to mine. But people don’t get here from Twitter. Not really. They usually follow me over here first. But like 50-75% of my followers are from WordPress. They know I’m a writer. I don’t ever tweet about it or try to make it out that I am. I tweet more about sports than anything. No idea about book cover promo tweets, I don’t follow hardly any writers anymore.
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