Back on the Blog Chain: Social Networking for the Not-So-Social

Although it's Tuesday, I need more than ten words today for my Blog Chain post. This round, Amanda asked us:

Are you a good social networker? What aspect of platform building do you focus on the most? Which aspects freak you out?

Kat posted before me, and Kate will answer this question tomorrow.

Like many other writers who've already posted in this chain, I consider myself an introvert. Specifically, my personality type is INTJ (or Introverted, Intuition, Thinking, Judgment, from the Myers-Briggs test), one of the rarest types. As an introvert, I find the Internet a great tool for reaching out to people; it lets me meet people I couldn't in real life while still letting me have some personal space. I wouldn't say I'm a good social networker because I need to invest more time in it, but I know what needs to be done.

The holy trinity of platform building seems to be blogging, Twitter, and Facebook. Of these, I'm best at blogging. I normally manage to post five times a week, occasionally on the weekends. I'd like to comment more on other people's blogs, but most days, it's tough enough just keeping up with my feeds. I do comment if I have something to say. I figure the Writer's Crusade I blogged about yesterday will force me to comment more. I used to use Twitter, but for me, it was overwhelming and had a poor signal-noise ratio. I'm on Facebook, though I spend much of my time there playing games. Still, I have a few published writers among my Facebook friends and helped start a Facebook group for BroadUniverse. When I do get something published, I plan to set up a fan page, but that would be premature now.

Social networking is broader than just the three things mentioned above, however. Participating in writers' groups or forums also allows you to interact with people, as does going to conventions. Some of these groups can have hundreds or thousands of people, so you can't interact meaningfully with everyone. However, you can form solid relationships with a few close people, which I find more personally satisfying. I wouldn't be surprised if other introverts felt the same way. And for all introverted writers who want to promote themselves but don't feel comfortable doing so, I recommend the Shrinking Violet Promotions blog. They're not just about promotion, but about being comfortable with your introversion. The more comfortable you are with yourself, the more comfortable others will be with you.