IS SOCIAL MEDIA MORE HYPE THAN ANYTHING?

I was just watching CNN, "Starting Point," and they had a fascinating guest where this person talked about how social media, Twitter most specifically, is really not as effective as people have talked about. He did say it was a very useful tool, especially for celebrities. However, for your average person, it really was not that useful.

This prompted some thinking on my part. First, I use Twitter myself. I follow some people and groups, and some others follow me. For my art blogs, and this blog, I usually tweet when I put up a new post. However, since I can track the traffic sources in my blogs, I see very little movement coming my way from Twitter. Now, I will say I lined up my next interview on my art blog through using Twitter first, but I also am in contact with Kiyomi (the musician) on FB and email because I also can message her through her website. (By the way, be sure to check out that interview when it comes up and check out her wondererful site, kiyomimusic.com) So, in this example that I use I would have to say, while Twitter in iteself has not been essential, it has been useful.

When you measure Twitter up against FB, I find FB more more useful. It gets information out on my blog much better. I find that people do not follow Twitter nearly as closely, at least in my case. Social media is a strange thing. You have to know where to target your efforts and how to promote your information and site. Things to keep in mind about creating sites is what key words you will have pop up when entered in search engines. How is it designed? What do you talk about? Is the site engaging? These are all things to keep in mind when using the internet and social media.

So, as far as Twitter goes, I like it. It does not move traffic as fast as I would like it to, but the interviewee on  CNN said that many people who are on there just log in once a day and they are not the "power users" like many of the celebrities are. So, therefore, it is to be expected and it is just another aspect that you have to understand. Also, it is a tool that most artists are expected to have if they want to be successful. networks take time to build. So, it is wise to be patient as you build a network and expand your online presence. Artists need to be more aware of the tools out there and make use of them. In my final conclusion on this for this particular entry at this time is to have patience when building a network on any social media and know how to target it and it should be successful for you.