Social media is a foreign language that I’m only slowly learning to grasp. It took me a few years to be comfortable with Facebook, and even now I still have second thoughts at times when I go to post something but I’m getting over it. Twitter, well I only started using it seriously last month. That’s right, I’ve been active on Twitter for about four weeks and I am surprised by the results. I still have a lot to learn but here are five things I’ve learned about Twitter so far.

1 – Twitter is about everyone else
Social media has made us into narcissists. There’s no doubt denying it. We are celebrities in our own little world. We want recognition, we want praise, we want success. There’s nothing wrong with that. A healthy dose of narcissism can be the difference between failure and success. Too much and you start getting on people’s nerves. Twitter isn’t about you, ok maybe a little, but it’s not there for you to scream “BUY MY BOOK!”, “BUY MY GODDAM BOOK ALREADY!”.

What in the world are you supposed to do instead? 
That question plagued my mind for weeks. What in the world am I going to tweet about? (Yes, tweet is a verb and not just the chirping type) I’m not funny, I”m not cool, and I’m still so inept when it comes to social media.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about at all. ‘Just retweet other posts’ a friend told me. Sounds easy enough. I find something I like, and I retweet.

Easy.

Twitter is about promoting others. The good thing with promoting others is that social karma will come back your way. Someone eventually, if your work is good enough, will promote you too. Retweeting is a good start until you figure out the ropes, then slowly but surely your tweeting confidence shall grow.

2 – Twitter is more effective than Facebook
Facebook has been losing its shit for a while now. You put up a post but it only reaches fifty people? What the? Unless you pay for a page, Facebook seems to hide your stream from your fans. Why is that? It’s all business, isn’t it?
With Twitter, there’s a constant traffic going on. You get your notifications, your tweets and you can see everything that’s going on. It’s also so much easier to get followers. When I started on Twitter four weeks ago, I had 9 followers. Yes, 9. That number made me feel deflated. What was I doing wrong? Four weeks later I’ve reached 300. I’ve been on Facebook for six months and there are 113. What am I doing wrong there?

3 – You can say a lot in 140 characters or less
At first glance 140 characters doesn’t seem like much but it’s enough to get your message across. You can tease your reader with a sentence from your novel. I’ve seen a lot of romance/erotica type teasers on Twitter. Quotes are popular, motivational quotes are great for writers as we often procrastinate, self-criticise and make excuses when the words don’t come. Twitter also teaches us to omit useless words. Write tightly: on Twitter and in your fiction and non-fiction works.

4 – There are a lot of writers out there
Writing is mostly a solitary activity. Having a community to share your thoughts, struggles, hopes, dreams and setbacks, makes being a writer easier and less lonely. Thanks to Twitter I’m finding writers from around the globe who are either in the same boat as I, ten steps ahead or a couple behind. It’s nice to know that we can help one another whether it’d be from a quick tweet, a short message, some moral support, or reaching out for an interview or advice. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the writers I’ve started following.

5 – You only need 10 minutes a day
Time is of the essence, especially when you’re combining writing with full or part time work, commuting, parenthood, home duties, family and friends and all the other responsibilities that plague our day. Making room for social media may not be at the top of your priority list. It definitely is not on mine. But I’ve found that 10 minutes a day can make all the difference. We can all find 10 minutes. I use my time on the train for writing and social media. It’s a little bit everyday that will make all the difference to your career. And because it’s only 10 minutes it’s structured, focused and not time wasteful. I went from 9 to 300+ followers in four weeks by spending about 10 minutes per day on Twitter. Imagine what might happen in four months?

Twitter is still foreign to me. I still grapple with confidence on what to tweet, what to retweet, who to connect with, who to reach out to, and how much self promotion to do. Balance is key. I won’t be shouting buy my book unless there’s a promotion going on, but I will be reading and observing what others are doing, feeling grateful that there’s a community out there, and hoping that someone somewhere will pick up my book, enjoy it, and be willing to promote it. Until then, I’m going to go back to writing and reading more novels, and yes, tweeting about them too.

Do you use Twitter? What do you love and hate about it? Any words of wisdom?