Social Fracture
There is too much social media.
I know, I know. That makes me seem like a grumpy old man shaking his cane at the world, but it’s really true.
Just discovered a subfolder of my facebook mail called “other”, which has been quietly accruing mail since 2008, unbeknownst to me. Apparently they are messages from pages I have “liked” or ones sent via my author page(s). Just found a crapload of fanmail there, and feel like a total heel that it has gone unanswered. Sigh.
This isn’t the first such occurrence. The same thing happened a couple weeks ago when I logged into goodreads for the first time in a while and discovered a glitch that was holding back a slew of e-mail notifications about fan messages I had received there. Or the once every six months I log into MySpace. Or Deviantart. And hell, I can’t even remember the last time I logged in to LibraryThing or BookArmy. Kinda scared to at this point (update: Bookarmy has apparently since mutated into something called Authonomy). I am pretty good about keeping up with twitter and now google+, and I thought I was decent with facebook, but apparently not.
Social media has become so fractured that it is becoming unwieldy and in many ways defeating its own purpose, which is unity (and as Kaji tells us in the Evejah, “Unity is worth any price in blood.”). Just keeping up with the platforms eats up SO much time that could (and let’s face it, probably SHOULD) be spent writing more books.
Something needs to be done about it. I don’t mind using all these services—any way for me to connect with readers is a wonderful thing I am happy to take advantage of—but I need a single interface for it all, both to send and receive. Whoever invents that app or whatever will be my hero. Otherwise, things will continue to unintentionally get lost in the shuffle, like when I post something to twitterface and forget to put it on google+. Back in the day, the single interface was my email. Then it was this blog, then twitterface, but the advent of so many other forums has changed that, and maybe not for the better. I don’t know.
What I do know is that I need a new assistant to help me keep up. Rebecca was wonderful, but she is now a hotshot at Science Fiction Book Club. I was sorry to see her go, but she, you know, deserves a living wage and health insurance, so I had no choice but to give her the glowing reference she deserved. I need to find someone in or about Brooklyn who can help keep my social net from fracturing further, mail out books and bookplates, run contests, moderate my web forum, update my website and various fan pages, plan my convention travel/calendar, and make sure my wardrobe is appropriately nerd chic.
Been meaning to do a job posting on the appropriate (fractured) employment forums, but… busy.
Got that pesky Daylight War to worry about. I will blog an update on that one of these days.
In the meantime, if you have sent me a message, ever, and not gotten a reply, I am really sorry about that. Honest word.
I know what you mean. Not even a month on facebook and already a pile of mails.
Peat, you’re pretty awesome about responding so one or two gaffes caused by a change from the social media provider isn’t a big deal.
There were a few multi-site consolidators, but I think most of them are stalled or dying at the moment.
We need to talk about that ad for your assistant tonight.
That’s exactly the reason why I think a blog/good homepage and e-mail is more than enough. Apart from all the privacy implications of using social networks like Facebook, it’s just plain information overload. If you want to be more trendy than e-mail and blog you can always use Identica or something similar.
Cheers,
Drizzt
P.S.: In case my e-mail hasn’t reached you yet: thanks for the bookplate it reached me this time. 😉
If you’re interested in combining, and you use Chrome, check out: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hbgcgahdbgbdenffckohanhobdcnkoip
I used it early on and it had some CPU resource issues , but it did exactly what was advertised — combined all my streams into one place, and allowed multi-posting. (And I hear the CPU issues have been resolved, but haven’t had time to go back and try it out again)
Even I agree that there’s too much social media – I can’t imagine how hard it’d be to keep track of them if I knew more than twelve people; that you manage it at all is pretty darned impressive! Best of luck, sir!
Chris, that app is pretty cool, and it looks like it works well enough in Safari and Firefox too. Still no idea how it works, but means I don’t have to write things twice. Which is good, right?
Pete,
I am a hiring director at a government contacting agency and I think I can assist you in writing a job description. I will post one below as a rough draft that you may use as a base if you wish
Administrative Assistant / Personal Secretary
PRIMARY FUNCTIONS:
As a full-time Administrative Assistant / Personal Assistant , you will work in support of Mr. Peter V.Brett, Author. As assistant you will be tasked with maintaining various Human Resource functions to help ease the Mr. Brett’s schedule.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:
but not limited to the following
-Maintaining socal networks, mail out books and bookplates, answer phones
-run contests, moderate my web forum, update my website and various fan pages, plan my convention travel/calendar,
-other office setting duties such as use of fax and scanner
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
-2-5 years experience as an administrative assistant or secretary
-Social media savvy with experience using facebook and twitter, as well as other web blogs
-Exceptional computer and communication skills
-Up beat and happy personality, friendly and strong work ethic
-A.A.S Degree or BS Degree in related field
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
-Nerdy
-Young and good eye candy* Pete can edit this*
-5-10 years of experience
-Love of books,reading,social media
WORKING LOCATIONS:
– Brooklyn, NY
If you are interested in this position and believe you meet the minimum qualifications please contact Pete directily at (WhatEverEmailYouWantPete@emailaddress.com)
PS: I have many years experience in recruiting for all types of positions, if you would like me to help you find and coordinate interviews with potential candidates (FREE OF CHARGE) , let me know @ swordofsatan@yahoo.com (personal email ofc)
Chris, combining would be great, but since I do 85% of my social networking on my phone/iPad, the Chrome add-on isn’t terribly helpful as yet.
Nazgul, that is a really awesome template, thanks so much!
I’ve been told about an app called “Palringo” that may be similar to what you’re looking for. Hope that helps.
If you check out the main website Peat, it appears they have one for Safari and Firefox t’boot.
Peat, I KNOW! I read this first on Goodreads, got pointed here on Twitter, or was that FB? Anyway, it took me a moment’s thought to work out which platform to comment back on! The fracture goes both ways!
Still, pretty cool to have options, no matter how you look at it.
Best,
K
Im unemployed but live in Illinois. However, I will work for unpublished (DLW3) pages. Lets say….one a day for starters? Myabe two pages around the holidays?
Thou shalt fear, love, and trust in God above all things, with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul.
‘swordofsatan@yahoo.com’ indeed!
There is none so blind…
May He shine a light onto your path and lead you out of darkness.