Editor's Note: I was paid by BlogHer to write this post and conduct discussions on Chime.in. But the discussions were about blogs to books, so, you know, they didn't have to twist my arm very hard. Also, there's a really, really good giveaway at the end of this post.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by social media? I mean, here you are, reading this blog, so it's not like you don't know anything about it, and it's not like I don't, either, but I'll admit ever since there was more than blogging, I've felt like it's too much. I can't keep up with Facebook at all. I talk on Twitter, and I usually talk back to anyone who talks to me, but I don't try to keep up with everything everyone says. It's too much. As my good friend Average Jane put it back when the world Twitter was young, Twitter is a stream that you step in and out of at will, and you don't worry about what happened when you weren't there.
So now I've joined Tumblr and Pinterest and Google+ and most recently, Chime.in.
I heard about Chime.in at BlogHer Writers '11 because it was a sponsor, and I just joined because I am going to be leading a discussion about blogs and books for the next week. If you're interested in those topics, please do come join me.
I'm going to keep Chime.in about blogs and books, just as I've kept Tumblr straight about publishing and Pinterest completely random. Facebook, hell, I don't know what I'm doing at Facebook, but I'm 100% sure I'm not using it correctly. Twitter is just where I talk to online friends -- most of my real-life friends look at me cross-eyed when I talk about tweeting. That's how I'm managing all of this new social media, and I've found once I hit my stride at how I personally am categorizing things, it's something I look forward to using. I'm not trying to become a design queen on Pinterest -- I'm just pinning some things that are either pretty or really random. With Chime.in, I hope to be mentoring. I really enjoyed mentoring the anthology group at BlogHer Writers '11, and as I have done something of a blog to book, or at least anthologized blogs to books, I hope to pass along a little advice and encouragement this month at Chime.in.
Things I like about Chime.in so far:
- Really easy to join. Sign in with Twitter or Facebook. Sort of like robbing from Peter to pay Paul, except all of them are free. Or something. I'm not actually sure where this analogy is going.
- You can search on your interests and it just hands you groups to follow. I followed the bookish groups, since I've already decided how I'm going to specialize on Chime.in.
- Social media multi-tasking: Whatever you chime you can also send to Facebook and Twitter. I really appreciate this feature, because I have different friends on different platforms, and I like it that way. Let the randoms who for some crazy reason are following me on Google+ see my broadcast links there, and I'll stick to blogging and books on Chime.in. But you know, sometimes I might want to tweet it just to be absolutely crazy. I like having the option, regardless.
Those who have questions about blogs to books here in the past or those who are just curious? Join my thread on Chime.in. I'm hoping I'll get some questions over there, but if not, you know, I'll just talk about what happened to me.
And, as is awesome, after giving away two nooks on my review blog, I now get to give away a Kindle Fire. Yes, yes, yes. Comment here or participate in my blog-to-books discussions on Chime.in to enter. Official rules are here. My part of the contest ends on Monday, November 7 at midnight CT. Comments or discussions on Chime.in timestamped after midnight CT on November 7 won't be eligible for my part of the contest. But get ready -- I'm not the only blogger participating. My friends and colleagues Stephanie O'Dea, Karen Ballum of Sassymonkey Reads and Diane Lang of Momo Fali have Kindle Fires to give away, too!
- Tuesday, November 1 - Monday November 7 -- win here -- GIVEAWAY CLOSED: Congratulations, Linda Sherwood!
- Tuesday, November 8 - Monday November 14 -- win with Stephanie O'Dea Enter here -- GIVEAWAY CLOSED: Congratulations, Cheryl Moore!
- Tuesday, November 15 - Monday November 21 -- win with Momo Fali here and Matt Logelin here!
- Tuesday, November 22 - Monday November 28 -- win with Sassymonkey
See you there!
