Live Tweeting: What is it?

Blue bird on speech bubble downloaded by zakokor from depositphots

Live tweeting is exactly what it sounds like. You tweet, as it’s happening, something such as a show, event or conference. This article does a good job at summarizing the benefits of live tweeting which are basically engagement and growth.

From a promotion perspective, depending on what you are offering, it is an excellent way to promote and engage with your followers. Especially if you have an event you want to encourage others to come to or are live tweeting a television show. However, as an author, I’m not sure it’s beneficial as a promotional tool for me. Live tweeting a day in the life of an author would be boring. It really is hours of staring at a screen and rewriting the same sentence over and over and re-heating the same cup of coffee multiple times.

However, it is a way to connect to others who share a common interest, such as a television show. Where live tweeting can be an amazing promotional tool, especially if they can get the star of the show to participate – I don’t think it should be a requirement, as this article suggests. Live tweeting is time consuming, and while I’m sure, as the article claims, a lot of planning should and does go into a live tweet event, I think TV starts are far more spontaneous with their responses, which I think could add some value to the actual tweet.

One of the disadvantages of live tweeting whether it’s for fun or if it’s to promote yourself or brand is annoying your followers. Whether you’re participating as a fan boosting your favourite tv show, or you are trying to promote an event or product, at some point followers are going to become annoyed with too many tweets. I’m sure TV stars don’t have to deal with it, but as a fan of a TV show, I generally keep my live tweets to a minimal. Which, sort of defeats the purpose of using social media, because it’s supposed to connect you to people who have similar interests as your self. But when you have established yourself as an author and book lover, having your feed filled with multiple tweets fanning over your favourite TV show can make followers go away. Which is why I generally passively participate in live tweet events.

Have you ever participated in a live tweet of something?

Facebook: What is live tweeting? https://bit.ly/3n3qfGW

Twitter: What is live tweeting? #Livetweeting. https://bit.ly/3n3qfGW

References

Dean, Heidi. (2020, February 7) Why TV Actors Should Be Live-Tweeting Their Shows https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/tv-actors-live-tweeting-shows-5885/

Christison, Colleen (2022, June 16) Live Tweet Like a Pro: Tips + Examples for Your Next Event. Hootsuite. https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-live-tweet/

Wait, People are Taking Financial Advice from TikTok? My journey through the research rabbit hole.

Smart phone with TIK TOK logo. Photo by: Daniel.Constante Downloaded from DepositPhotos

Yup, you read that right, there are people taking financial advice from TikTok. When I first read this headline Why Young People Trust TikTok for Financial Advice, my initial reaction is are you kidding me? People are taking financial advice from TikTok creators? Then I read the article and went down a bit of a research rabbit hole. Known as #FinTok, there are users and influencers sending out financial and investment advice. I have yet to watch the videos, I don’t need the nightmares, and I don’t want to mess up my FYP page, but I can only imagine some of the cringe worthy advice that is out there. According to this article, one third of American under sixty-five have from some form of social media. Which brings me to the question, why are people taking advice from influencers on platforms such as TikTok?

My research rabbit hole found little answers, because most of it is filled with warning signs, red flags and other viewer beware warnings.  All of them said the same thing, they warned people of scammers, trying to trick people into investing and paying them good money to obtain their “advice”. This article goes into some detail, about spotting a scammer, and how to spot the difference between good and bad advice. Most of it, seems like common sense to me, like checking if the person has credentials to be giving advice, but as the article points out, the younger generation seems to care more about clout than credentials.

Some articles, like this one, talked about the red flags, and then pointed people into the direction of “reputable” financial influencers to follow. But it still didn’t answer my question to why people take financial advice from TikTok. I managed to find out why one influencer started creating content. His reason was to help mitigate the horrible advice that he saw out there (he’s mentioned in two of the articles listed in the references below). Although, it’s hard to say if his content is trustworthy, since the link in the article to his TikTok page doesn’t work and leads you to a spam account.

Coins and a piggy bank. Photo by: Suzy Hazelwood. Downloaded from Pixels.com

After my research rabbit hole, I have more questions than answers. And yes, there is probably some good advice out there in the vast TikTok land. I didn’t seek out the advice, because again I don’t want the nightmares, or to ruin my FYP page (I’m happy in my corner of TikTok thank you). I’ll stick to speaking to a professional regarding my financial security and future. Can there be some good advice out there? Probably, but I’m not convinced it’s a good idea to use TikTok as my financial advice resource, even if this article, thinks it’s “awesome,” I’m going to leave this trend in the dust.   

What do you think about the idea of taking financial advice from TikTok? Would you take financial advice from a TikTok user?

Facebook: Wait, People are Taking Financial Advice from TikTok? My journey through the research rabbit hole. https://bit.ly/3QfVxHU

Twitter:  Using TikTok for Financial Advice? My journey down the research rabbit hole. #FinTok
https://bit.ly/3QfVxHU

References

Slone, Isabel B. (2022, May 30) Why Young People Trust TikTok for Financial Advice. Canadian Business. https://www.canadianbusiness.com/ideas/tiktok-financial-advice-influencers/

Forberg, Sigrid (2022, February 5) Social Media Is a Swamp of Bad Financial Advice, and Experts Are Fighting Back. MoneyWise. https://moneywise.com/investing/investing-basics/tiktok-bad-financial-advice

Lake, Rebecca (2022, February 7) Personal Finance Influencer Red Flags. Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/financial-influencer-red-flags-5217694

Farrington, Robert (2020, July 1) Personal Finance Influencers Are On TikTok, And It’s Awesome. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2020/07/01/personal-finance-influencers-are-on-tiktok-and-its-awesome/?sh=75b732f6079a

Twitter “Doesn’t Sell Books” – But it Kind of, Sort of Does.

Stack of different colored books on white tabletop — Photo by VadimVasenin. Downloaded from Depositphotos.

I’ve seen it multiple times how “Twitter doesn’t sell books.” There’s multiple articles, vlogs and other content that state the same thing, Twitter doesn’t sell books, and then they explain the technical details of why they failed. This article from one Twitter author, Miles Etherton, goes into detail, on way his attempt to sell his book, and while his data does show that posting buy links, along with images failed, I still disagree with the statement, Twitter doesn’t sell books.

While Twitter itself, physically (or virtually) doesn’t have the ability to sell the book, it gives authors, reviewers, and book lovers to chat up their favourite read, retweet other people’s thoughts on their favourite read and get the book title out there, which does lead to people purchasing the book. The person may have not clicked on the buy link, but they may have gone and further investigated that book.

Designed by Murphy Rae Designs. The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbury. Self Published. 2021.

Earlier this year I stumbled upon a thread about a book, The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbury. The thread was gushing over just how amazing this enemies-to-lovers romance was. A lot of my mutuals, fellow authors, and authors from my writing group jumped in to say just how great the book it was. Well, I found the book on Amazon, and then one-clicked it (for those who don’t know, one-click refers to instantly buying the item). It arrived the next day. The book was as amazing as they said it was – okay it was better than I thought. But I wouldn’t have known the book existed if it weren’t for Twitter. Twitter, and its users convinced me to buy the book. I can’t find the original thread, but here’s a link to the search results from the following term “The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbury”. These results are months after I stumbled upon it, and it’s still generating interest.

It takes more than throwing up buy links with your books cover image in a Tweet and then re-tweeting it multiple times a day. Here’s an article with tips on how Authors can engage with their readers and book lovers – which is key into selling the book. You can’t just post the buy links and hope for the best, you need to drive up hype and engage. One of my favourite ways to promote books is #FridayKiss.

#FridayKiss is a writing prompt, where a word is provided that must be included in a brief passage from the author’s book. Buy links are not allowed. This weekly hashtag gives readers a little teaser of a book, which in some cases, can lead to readers wanting to learn more about the book. (I’ve investigated a few books from the prompt, and awaited books that haven’t been published yet)

Screenshot taken by me of a Tweet by @YourFridayKiss.

Engagement with other authors, readers and the community are key in using Twitter to sell your books, but it does work – you just need to do more than throw out the buy links and hope for the best.

Have you ever bought a book (or any product for that matter) because you saw it on Twitter?
Was that purchase through a direct advertisement, or because other people were talking it up?

Facebooks: Does Twitter Sell Books? Most will say it doesn’t – but I Disagree. Here’s why. https://bit.ly/3wU8CyM

Twitter: Twitter Doesn’t Sell Books! Except, it does. https://bit.ly/3wU8CyM #Authors #amwriting

References

Etherton, Miles (2021 May 13) Twitter Won’t Sell Your Books — I Tried! Medium. https://medium.com/loud-updates/twitter-wont-sell-your-books-i-tried-4e3f945ecf59

Haines, Derek (2020 August 21) If You Use Twitter Marketing Can It Help You Sell More Ebooks? Just Publishing Advice.  https://justpublishingadvice.com/does-twitter-sell-ebooks/

Your Friday Kiss (@YourFridayKiss) https://twitter.com/YourFridayKiss

Hansen, Julia (2019, May 1) Twitter for Authors: How to Connect with Readers & Writers BookBub. https://insights.bookbub.com/twitter-for-authors/

COM0011 – Blog 1- Social Media – A Place to Find Where You Belong

Social media, no matter what platform you’re on can be toxic – but it can also be the place where you find your community. That group of people who are just like you.

There are thousands of communities where you can find yourself landing on. From fandoms like a favourite TV Show, where you can connect and celebrate your favourite characters, moments of a show or come together and rally because the show was cancelled well before it should have. Right now, there’s a group of fans trying to save the show – and a personal favourite of mine – Batwoman (#SaveBatwoman), which has also started to gain traction in the news (Baker-Whitelaw, 2022). Seriously, this show is awesome, and should have never been cancelled – but that is for another topic.

The love for books is another example of people coming together to celebrate a shared interest (using the hashtags, #bookstagram for example will lead you to millions of posts about people talking about their passion for books.) 

Not to mention, the viral videos on Tiktok about creator’s favourite books, which have led to countless posts, lists and sections in bookstores, displaying those viral books from TikTok (Fournier, 2021).

There are also communities such as the LGTBQ+ community, where people can find support, information in a way they may not have been able to access otherwise, if it weren’t for social media (Leventry, 2021). Connecting with others who share the same experiences as you can be awarding and help people feel less alone.

silhouettes of human hands are drawn to the icons of hearts. Image created by VLADGRIN, Downloaded from Depositphotos

Social Media can also be a place where you can also cheer on your favourite sports team (or groan as they lose, again and again). The list goes with the sort of communities you can find yourself in – but it all leads to the same thing – finding a community where you can connect to others who are just like you. (There is a very serious negative side to this as well, trolls exist, and harassment is becoming more prevalent, but let’s save that for a different post).

One of the communities I found was with authors and booklovers, sometimes I dip into fandoms from my favourite shows – and while I tend to be on the shy side, and comment less often than I’d like – I’m still connecting and interacting with people with shared interests. People I’d never be able to connect with if it weren’t for social media. And that is a wonderful thing to have – to be able to reach out, connect and interact with a group of people you may not have able to meet in the outside world.

Have you found your community by using social media? If you have met your community, (and your comfortable sharing), who are they?

Facebook: Finding Your Community on Social Media. Where do you belong?
Twitter: Finding where you belong through Social Media.

References

Baker-Whitelaw, G. (2022, May 22) Fans campaign to save ‘Batwoman’ and ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ following their cancelation on the CW.  Daily Dot.  https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/batwoman-legends-of-tomorrow-renewal-campaigns/

Now Trending on #BookTok. Chapters Indigo https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/tiktok-booktok/

Fournier, M. (2021, December 1) TikTok Has Spoken: You Need to Read These 15 Books ASAP. Popsugar. https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/best-books-on-booktok-48331233

Leventry, A. (2019, September 19) The importance of social media when it comes to LGBTQ kids feeling seen. Washington Post.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/09/20/importance-social-media-when-it-comes-lgbtq-kids-feeling-seen/