Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Writers, Social Media, & Smartphones...

do they go together?

If social media is the way to build our platform, then perhaps owning a Smartphone is a key component. Hey, wondering if you could claim it as a business expense? Of course, that would require an income as a writer. One day...please Lord.

Anyway, it occurred to me as I stood in line at the grocery store, followed by waiting in line to fill up my gas tank, that those chunks of time were the perfect length to take in a blog or two. Or interact with Twitter or Facebook friends.

I was always taught "waste not, want not". And time is one thing writers don't have to waste.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to Facebook, Twitter, and Blog hop on the fly? Oh, the possibilities. Instead of being limited to reading or writing in long hand (which is really time consuming) while waiting at the barn I could actually be connecting with writing pals, and family, too.

The thought of devoting my writing time solely to writing, while getting my networking in on the fly seems very appealing. Especially since I'm not on Internet at home unless I'm writing. My days go like this: I have to time my writing spells then click over to the networking sites, then back to a writing stint before reconnecting online again. On and on this goes while my computer chugs away.

What about you, do you have a smart phone? Do you utilize it to improve your networking and writing time? If you don't have one, do you wish you did?

May networking take you to knew friends this week, and may you be the answer to some prayers, too!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

8 comments:

Jessica Nelson said...

No smartphone for me, yet, but I'm jealous of the hub's! He checks facebook and e-mail on his. Maybe someday we'll get one, right? :-)

Jessica R. Patch said...

I got a smartphone a couple months ago. LOVE it! I get alerts when a twitter or fb comes across, so I can respond almost immediately.

I check my email all the time, you know, waiting for THE one! lol

I read blogs and comment in the car rider line. The down side, PREDICTIVE TEXT.

I now have to read my stuff before sending. You never know what word it will enter and I haven't found a way to make it go away yet. :)

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Jessica N. You and me, both. My hubby and girls all have smartphones, me, I have a broken down pay-as-you-go dud!

Jessica P. I know I've heard of this issue of predictive test on some before but I also heard that there is a way to turn it off. Check your settings, or user's manual. I'll have to put that at the top of my list to do when I get one. See, I'm hopeful! :)

Kara said...

I just got an i-phone last summer and love it. I often check blogs, facebook and twitter when I am out and about. It does seem to give me more time for my writing when in front of the computer. But now I want an i-pad because it has a bigger screen and I could do the same thing, I think. I'm not that tech savvy:)

Loree Huebner said...

Have one for hubbies work. We don't really use it for social networking except texting kids and my bff.

Kids all have one.

I like time away from phones and computers...I swear I'm going blind from looking at small screens.

Erica Vetsch said...

I hate to brand my little cell phone "un-smart" since up until just a year ago, I didn't even own a cell phone. My little red flip model wouldn't begin to qualify as smart though. I don't even have texting enabled on it. :)

I think I would use it as just another excuse not to write, a gadget to play with. Corralling my laptop time is hard enough to do.

Susan Anne Mason said...

My daughter got herself one in June and LOVES it! She says she doesn't need a laptop now (Because kids don't use them to actually TYPE anything!)

She'll have to school work on our home computer.

I can see they'd be very useful, but very addictive!

Sue

Eileen Astels Watson said...

I think it really depends on how your life goes for YOU whether one would be good or bad to own. If you're good and satisfied with how much social networking you get in during the time you have allotted on the internet while writing and want to keep it confined to those hours then a smartphone isn't the answer for sure.

I could see how you would definitely need to utilize discipline with one!