A few years ago, in an attempt to simplify my life, I completely overhauled the website and streamlined the thing like a sleek sports car. Gone was the front page that needed new graphics every month, and the blog turned into an iframe leading to my Tumblr account. To simplify life even further, I dumped Instagram and Facebook into Tumblr and Twitter, so I wouldn’t have to be quite as diligent in upkeeping all four sites.
Viola! No more pesky upkeep. Now I had time to write.
Except things didn’t go as planned. For one, I still kept the same amount of hours on social media, only they weren’t the productive kind, they were the getting-sucked-into-a-black-hole-of-new-recipes-and-Facebook-comments kind. And, while I love Tumblr, I don’t really throw words on that site. I share Instagram on it mostly, and I don’t have near the following on Tumblr as I did on Blogger, back when Google Friends Connect was still around.
Then came the Terms of Agreement changes for Facebook pages, and the Twitter Algorithm revamp, and suddenly I found myself interacting with only a select few.
That’s when harsh reality smacked me in the face. In trying to simplify, I’d done the unimaginable–I had distanced myself from my readers.
And so I’m doing something about it. The website has gotten a facelift and is now more easily accessible on tablets and phones, and I’m cutting time scrolling through frivolous things to blog again. Let’s get back to the good ol’ days, when we chatted in the comments, messaged each other, and had a great time. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with you!
5 Comments on “Grab a Cuppa Joe, and Let’s Chat!”
I, for one, approve of this direction. 😉 Here’s why… social media has become less of a place where we connect than a place where we have to make sure we have all bases covered and we do try to take the shortcuts because writing time is precious, but in trying to be present everywhere, we wind up being present nowhere because A feeds B, which then populates C, which tosses the snippet to D, and so on. How many times is the person posting “actually there”?
Yes, I do chat occasionally with people on Facebook or Twitter (never figured out HOW to be social on Tumblr and Instagram as they are more photo based), but it’s getting harder to do, so all my roads lead back to my blog.
That is so true! This next year, I’m streamlining all the sights I’m on and sticking with ones where I have the most interaction. And here, I won’t have to worry about someone changing some algorithm or messing with who can see what. Let’s get back to blogging!
Agree … 100%
What we say on our blogs can be seen by all and not who the social media keepers deem able to see it.
I am reading this and listening with big ears. I desperately need to streamline, and to combine social media so less effort goes to more places. I also need to streamline to facilitate a routine blog. This all helps. Thanks!
I’m going to try to scale back and concentrate only on the places where the readers interact with me. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes! 🙂