If you go over to the right of my website, you’ll see my Facebook and Twitter links. Please, friend or follow me if you’d like. I can’t say that I post all the time, nor can I say that what I post is particularly interesting, but I try my best to use the New Social Media to my advantage.

How important is it, though? I seem to have several (really cool) people who follow my blog, which I’m not sure I’m doing right anyway. I know that I enjoy the blogging. I can tell stories, ask questions, and even offend people! Much fun had by all. Yee haw! But Facebook and Twitter?

Facebook is set up for my writing career but I find it most useful to stay in touch with my friends and family. Oh, and to post silly memes that usually originate with George Takei. I find I often get annoyed with Facebook because of political, religious, or inane content, yet will post memes and such with my own political, religious, and inane content. This makes me a hypocrite, probably, but it’s Facebook, not the real world. I’ve been able to “meet” pretty cool people through Faccebook like Lee Thompson (whom I actually met in the flesh, there’s photographic proof) and RJ Sevin, my brother in all things Freddy. And there are others, too, but I’m not sure I’m using it “right.” For instance, I just posted the following:

CAUTION: VENTING: I am so angry right now I’m shaking. It’s a good thing I’m home or I would end up saying what I REALLY feel right now, which would not end pretty. Hopefully, the anger will subside by tomorrow. Punish someone for their mistake, but do NOT punish them for the person who’s supposed to be responsible’s mistake.

Now, I’m upset that I posted that because I prefer to post things that are more entertaining, insightful, or silly. Now shit just got real and you don’t care, and neither do my FB friends. Nor should they. That status update reads as exactly what it is: a frustrated person having a tantrum. But for every “real” status update I put up, there seems to be three bullshit ones like this.

I try harder on Twitter. In many ways, I like Twitter better. 90% of my Twitter use is following links from other people’s Tweets. I try to Tweet interesting, funny, and entertaining stuff (that also goes to my Facebook feed) but tend to delete most of my Tweets before I send them. I don’t know.

Is it a necessity to have these things as a writer? How do you use them? I don’t have time to wish everyone on Facebook happy birthday if I don’t know them (and I don’t know how to find the birthdays on my FB app). Nor do I often know what to write to people I consider my betters. Same with Twitter. How often can I reply or mention someone who has more than 120 followers without feeling like a fanboy sycophant even though I’m just responding to something I agree with or have something to say about? Is it just my paranoia?

Who knows? Who cares? I enjoy Facebook, and I love Twitter. I’m just not sure how to use them effectively. And I just don’t want to be one more voice contributing to white noise.