Admit it. You were lonely on Twitter without me. What did you do all this time, without my Tweeting 140 characters of brilliance out to you every few hours? I reassure you that you'll never have to suffer like that again, because I now have a Twitter account! Assuming you do too, (because apparently ALL the cool kids Tweet these days) you can find me or Tweet me or follow me @fiercedivablog
If you take a look at my blog sidebar, you'll see that there are a few added widgets since the last time you have visited. Not only is there a link to my Twitter account but also to my new Google+ profile!
How did this flurry of social networking begin?
I belong to a women's blogger network called The SITS Girls (if you look, you will see that they are on my sidebar too!). I read an article that they posted last week about Google+ that basically said if you were a blogger, you had to start a Google+ account immediately because NOT having one would affect your Search Engine Optimization ("SEO"). Any blogger I know, including myself, would more readily embrace fiery death in a plane crash than have her blog come up on Page 2 of the Google search engine.
At first, I buried my head. "Not another social networking platform," I thought, but then I hopped on the bandwagon out of fear. I hate, Hate HATE using fear as my motivator to do anything. But Page 2 of Google is a lonely place. Very, very lonely…
What makes this feel so yucky for me, is that I don't want to Tweet, or have to start some virtual "hangout" on G+. I want to write. I would be perfectly happy living on an Ashram 100 miles from the nearest town, practicing yoga and writing (although, preferably, it would be an ashram where they serve strong coffee every morning and where the occasional glass of wine is not frowned upon, where celibacy is not required and one with a very good eyebrow waxer on staff). I want to hide in my Ashram and write and not have to worry about search engine optimization, tweets, Instagrams, getting pinned, getting tagged, "author ranks," or how many "likes" I have on Facebook.
I take writing seriously. I want to deliver fabulous, thought provoking content. I want to entertain you and at the same time, inspire you to live the life you love. I want to be your best girlfriend in the blogosphere. I love you guys. Seriously, I do! But there is also a business side to this for me, which is, I would like to monetize this blog – whatever that may mean. Perhaps this blog will attract advertisers one day, or I will get paid writing assignments through someone who has checked out my posts and likes my writing style. Perhaps I'll collide with the ultimate prize and get a book deal. Given I have these goals, I have to "play the game," expand my reach, and increase my readership any way possible. Because no one is going to give a book deal to a Fierce Diva who only has 3 subscribers. That's not how it works. I need thousands of you to be reading, tens of thousands, most likely, before anyone takes me seriously. Having presence on every social networking site known to man is part of staying in the game.
Don't misunderstand me. I love hearing from you guys! I jump for joy when I get a comment, whether you leave it here or on Facebook (which is where I get most of them for now), and I'll jump just as high when you +1 me on Google or Tweet me – despite all my whining. I want to be accessible to you. But I kind of wish we could all meet up in one place versus a half a dozen different places.
This post is beginning to feel like an Andy Rooney commentary, God rest his soul.
End rant.
You know that within a week, I'll be addicted to Twitter, right? I'll never know how I lived without it.
#namastedivas!
©2012 Ilene Evans
