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Month: October 2026

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Social Media and Writing Part 3

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 29, 2026

Time for Social Media Writing Part 3

So, Social Media Writing Part 3? Well, it is more like Social Media and Writing Part 3. Good lord, I do write when I get going, eh?

These posts are related to a Chuck Wendig post on these topics.

When we last left, I was talking about some things not to do. Here are a few more.

You Do not Have to be Everywhere Online

Never become a one-armed paper hanger online. Just like with athletic training, rest (that is, taking breaks) is a weapon. Furthermore, too many posts will burn you out and they will probably end up hurting each other.

In SEO in particular, too-similar posts can cannibalize each other. And then nothing does well. Of course, you do not want this.

Now, this does not mean you take three years between blog posts. It does not mean you never tweet! Rather, the idea is to say what you want and need to without overdoing it. You do not need to get back to people in five minutes. Even big-time professionals take some time.

And yes, I am including big-time professionals who have people to do all of this for them. If it bothers you, you can always set an expectation on your blog or Facebook page or the like.

But do yourself a favor: do not be too specific, so as to allow for the occasional weird hiccups in life. If your laptop is damaged during a vacation, you will thank me for this.

Never Chase the Shiny Stuff

Here is a corollary to the previous tip. By shiny, I mean new platforms. Hot platforms are fun and they can be exciting. Furthermore, it can be helpful to get in on the ground floor, as it were. Or that can be a waste of your time.

Most of us remember when MySpace was big, and Facebook was an upstart. But here we are now, years later, and we can be killin’ it on Facebook without having been there at the very start. So relax. And do some research.

Maybe the shiny thing would fit your work and your readership perfectly. Or maybe it won’t. Experimenting is all well and good. Just take some time and take its temperature and get some metrics.

If it is not working, stop doing it.

Timing is Everything

We have all heard that expression, and it is so true on social media. But it is also true in writing. When a big zombie television show stops making new content, for example, readers might be interested in almost continuing the story. I do not mean fanfiction.

Rather, I mean similar works in the genre but that do not infringe on copyright. That could be an opportunity to ride the wave.

Or maybe people are sick of those stories, and that is why the show was cancelled. Without further information, either theory is plausible.

Use Your Spots But Please Try not to be Annoying

What? While you should not be a 24/7 advertising channel (nobody likes that, not even born advertisers), you can and should take advantage of certain spots and placements. For example, when you add a picture to a blog post, what do you put in the alt= attribute?

Nothing? Sacre bleu!

Excuse me for a moment while I swoon in horror. At the absolute minimum, put your blog post title in there. Even better, add your name or your the name of your blog.

Or, are you published and your work is available on Amazon? If it is, then you need to take possession of your author page.

Make it so that, if someone clicks on the author name (that would be your name), then they get somewhere. Somewhere with a bit about who you are, and what you are working on next. It is foolish to let this free real estate go.

When people click on the author name, they want information. So feed it to them.

But do not force-feed them, by providing an X stream that is a nonstop ad for your work. That brings me to my next point.

This is a Community. Act Like It.

Way back, when I was a kid (so, the late 1960s, early 1970s), suburbia was where you could borrow a neighbor’s hedge clippers. Or they would come over for coffee and bring a cake and you would temporarily take possession of the plate it was on.

In both instances, you would return the articles as soon as possible, cleaned and ready for reuse. If you broke either, you told the owner, you apologized, and then you presented them with a brand-new one. Or if their kid had a recital and they invited you, you did your best to go. If your dog got loose, they helped find the beast. You get the idea.

People still help each other, of course. And I grew up far from Mayberry. So the concept here is: build each other up. Do not break each other down. Got praise? Then tell everyone. Got criticism? Then tell the writer privately.

Do not lie on your public reviews, but never tear people new ones, either. Even bad writing can be considered unique or ambitious.

And that reminds me: if you get someone’s book, either free or cheap or used or at full price, review it!

Never, Ever Sacrifice Writing Time for Social Media

This one is important. Yes, you need to promote, and social media is a part of that. Promotions can also include holding book signings, or donating your book to your local library, or handing out bookmarks.

But do not lose your writing time because you are out socializing (Or in. You know what I mean).

I use my calendar program and I just make a daily appointment with myself. Now, I do not always keep those appointments. And the one hour I set aside sometimes means 2,000 words and sometimes it means 20. But the appointment is still there.

I urge you to make a recurring appointment so that writing is as important to you as visiting the dentist or changing the batteries in the smoke detector.

And Finally from Social Media Writing Part 3 …

Hard work is everything.

Overnight success stories take years.

You are worth it.

This has been Social Media Writing Part 3. Now back to you, in the comments section. Did I leave anything out of Social Media Writing Part 3 (of 3)? Do tell.

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Working with Social Media

† Four Important Social Media Stats
• Social Networking/Social Media Tips
† The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More

Social Media for Writers

• The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
• Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Next blog post

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Social Media Writing Part 2

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 27, 2026

Getting to Social Media Writing Part 2

Can we look at Social Media Writing Part 2? Er, I mean Social Media and Writing, Part 2.

More about the Chuck Wendig blog post, and my take on it all.

Recap from Social Media Writing Part 1

Let us return to our discussion. In the first part of this post, I talked about the current state of social media, more or less. Numbers are high. The avalanche will never let up.

But now is the time to talk about you.

Yeah, you.

Your Definition of Success Will Define Your Book-Related Happiness. Choose It Wisely

What am I talking about?

What I mean is, if you go into writing thinking you are going to become wealthy, stop right there, turn around, and go to actuarial school or something.

Actuarial?

Er, I don’t know. Bear with me, okay?

Just, do not consider writing as a super-lucrative career. That is rare, which is why most of the people who have become wealthy from writing are household names.*

Furthermore, two of them, JK Rowling and Stephen King, both started in grinding poverty. They both played what I like to call Bill Roulette, where you have five monthly bills but only enough money to pay four. So you mentally spin a big wheel and choose who you are going to stiff that month.

Although they probably both dreamed of making it big, I imagine their initial goals were things like paying all the bills or getting the transmission fixed on the car.

*Note: there are people who write to market and can do rather well. But you should see how much they spend on ads, promos, covers, etc.! If you get there, great. But do not expect to get there. It is a ton of work. In particular, if you have a day job, it is likely to be out of reach.

Icons

Think you are going to become iconic, like Harper Lee? You might, yes. It is not wholly outside the realm of possibility. But do not go into writing with that as your primary goal. For you will surely be disappointed.

Furthermore, before your death, how do you even measure iconic status? If it is by number of books sold, then you are right back to the fame and fortune dream, supra.

SMART Goal Success FTW

Instead, try defining success in bite-sized terms. And try defining it objectively. Usually that means books sold or reviews obtained.

Goal: sell 50 books. Get 20 reviews. Average 3 1/2 stars or better on the reviews.

There. That is reasonable, attainable, and measurable. It is a good old SMART goal. And it is useful, because at a certain number of sales and reviews, Amazon starts serving the link to your book in more places.

You may or may not want to add a time component, but I personally would not. Why not? Because you will just make yourself crazy with a self-imposed timeline.

What if, for example, your most devoted and reliable readers end up being middle schoolers? They might not have the time to read for pleasure during the school year. So if you limit your goal to the school year, you could end up feeling like a failure. And then summer would save you. So avoid the heartache and just excise the time element.

You will be a far happier person.

Nobody Wants to See or Read a Nonstop Advertising Stream

Seriously. Stop doing that. That is why people are on the Internet in the first place. If they wanted ads, they would be watching network television.

If the only thing you have to talk about is where to buy your book, then I have got news for you.

You. Are. Boring.

So please, never, ever do that.

Instead, divvy up your time. And spend 30% or less of it on self-promotions. For your other time, take 40% for promoting others. And take no more than 30% providing more personal information. Do not talk about the weather or your lunch, but if you just broke through writer’s block, I bet your audience would love to know that.

Me, I use my personal info percent and a bit of my promoting others percent by writing information/instructional stuff. You know, a lot like this post.

Social Media Writing Part 2 and Beyond? It is not Done Yet!

Egad, I had no idea I would write this much! Time for part 3!

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Working with Social Media

† Four Important Social Media Stats
• Social Networking/Social Media Tips
† The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More
• Jell-O on the Wall: Social Media Perfection is Fleeting

Social Media for Writers

• The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
† Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Next blog post

Leave a Comment
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Social Media and Writing

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 22, 2026

What is Social Media Writing?

Is there such a thing as social media writing? No, I mean both of them. Not the combo.

Social media and writing go together.

Kind of.

I read a Chuck Wendig post on the two and I want to comment on it.

Basic Info That Can Help Anyone (Really!)

Let us start with the basics.

Social media will not save a bad book

Unfortunately, it is oh, so true. We have all seen the Twilight tropes, e. g. “still a better love story than Twilight”. My apologies to Stephenie Meyer, and to the people who enjoy her work.

She caught fire because she hit a particular market extremely well. Social media did not fuel her success, at least not in the beginning. Although it probably did later, as people shared their joy on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Rather, her work did well, at least in part, because it hit the teen/tween girl market like a bull’s eye. Ever wonder why Bella Swan is so undeveloped with such a bare bones description? It is so any young girl can dream of being her. Any girl of any race or height or weight or hobbies.

Her publisher, Hachette Book Group, also marketed the Twilight novels very well. At the time the fourth one came out, I received it (it is called Breaking Dawn) as a bonus because I was working for Hachette in their IT department.

Some people get Thanksgiving turkeys. Some people get …

Er, sorry, Ms. Meyer. I do not want to turn this into a bash session.

Rather, the point I am dancing around is: what if Ms. Meyer had blasted everything on Twitter and Facebook? What if she did not had a good marketing department behind her? Then she probably would not have gotten so far.

Social media did not improve her works. It did not worsen them, either. Her success arose, for the most part, outside the realm of social media. And it did not save critics from savaging her work.

Converting from one platform to another is exceptionally difficult

You may be fantastic on LinkedIn but stink on X. You may be killin’ it on Wattpad but limping along on YouTube. Or you may even have tons of Facebook friends but few followers on your Facebook page.

True story. I read a lot (duh!). It’s all sorts of stuff. I read fanfiction, I read original writing, I read free stuff, I read NaNoWriMo novels. And I read the classics.

What often interests me is seeing works which are highly rated on GoodReads with so few sales on Amazon that they do not get recommendations. But with enough sales, your book gets mentioned in those, “If you like __, you might enjoy ___” kinds of notifications.

I see people who are Wattpad gods and goddesses, cranking out tons of super-appreciated chapters and adored by hundreds of thousands of (presumably) screaming fans.

Then they try to monetize their work, and it falls flat. New York Times bestselling authors, for real, only sell a few tens of thousands of works in any given week and they make the cut.

So why don’t these Wattpad writers with phenomenal read counts to an order of magnitude ten higher than that end up on bestseller lists?

Social media is a daily tsunami

Part of the reason? This right here. We are all inundated, every single day. Users upload over twenty million YouTube videos every single day. They have over one billion users. Facebook has over 3 billion monthly users. It skews younger and more male, too. I did not expect that.

Half of all adult Facebook users have over 200 friends. In contrast, X only has about 99 million American users these days.

Given all of these big numbers, you cannot blame organic reach decline on a platform trying to hide posts so you will pay for the privilege of advertising (although that is certainly a part of it). It is also a sheer numbers game.

If you have 200 friends on Facebook and it is your sole platform, you still can never keep up with it all.

If you go on Facebook for 200 minutes (that is, almost three and a half hours), that will not even be one minute per friend, as you will inevitably read a headline, take a survey or quiz, like a comment, post a picture, or watch a video.

Social Media Writing – Takeaways

How does this apply to you, the indie author? Does social media writing matter? Stay tuned. I will keep covering it, I swear.

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Working with Social Media

† Four Important Social Media Stats
• Social Networking/Social Media Tips
† The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More
• The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
† Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

Next blog post

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Sharing Less

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 20, 2026

Sharing Less

Did you know that sharing less can help you out in dozens of ways? Because there is something to be said for mystery.

It can also be said for a fan dancer and their artfully concealing fans, if you will. For a dark corner where the camera does not go. And where we do not allow others to see.

Perhaps not even our lovers, our mothers, our children and, most assuredly, not our government. Sorry, not sorry.

What is private online any more? What is not? Where should lines be drawn?

Origins

This post is a riff on Learning Not to Share, an article by Rich Barlow in my alumni magazine, Bostonia.

Wait a second, oops! I just told you where I went to college. I had better cover that up, and sweep it out of the way.

Oh no, wait! I just told you it was undergrad. Good thing I did not tell you one of my professors studied under Wittgenstein.

D’oh! I probably just gave away that I majored in Philosophy! Wait, I will come in again.

We Keep on Sharing

It is like this, over and over and over again online. We share. And we share again. And then we overshare. While the above few tidbits probably do not tell you too much about me, there is plenty of additional information out there. There are plenty of minefields.

We can detonate them in all sorts of ways, both intentionally and not so intentionally.

So, I might accidentally drop something whereby someone could steal a password, stalk me, take my identity, burgle my house while I am away, or something along those lines.

In fact, I use oversharing as a means of password stealing in The Invisible Gang.

Digital Nosiness

Stephen Baker, the author of The Numerati, talks about what essentially amounts to digital nosiness. There is far too much information out there, and we are all inviting it in. And we are also giving it out.

And we do so in the name of greater security, or peace of mind. We want to make sure our teenagers are driving safely so we agree to put what is essentially a black box in the car.

And we want to know that our elderly parents are all right. But we are not committed enough to move them home with us, or move to their homes or cities, even briefly. So, we install sensors in their beds to make sure they get out of them every day.

So then, as privacy erodes, we accept more and more of these intrusions until they are no longer seen as intrusive. And a privacy (and shame) tradition that harkens back to biblical times is canned in favor of The Age of TMI.

Stop Volunteering Information

Is it possible to shut the barn door, when the horse has hightailed it for the next county? Sadly, probably not. But this oversharing is nothing new. I well recall, when I was practicing law (uh oh, another identifier!) and prepping witnesses for depositions.

For example, if the opposing counsel asks, “Were you driving?”, the answer is yes, no, or I don’t remember. It is not, yes, and the car is blue. If the lawyer wants to know the color of the car, she will ask you. Never volunteer anything.

Yet, inevitably, people would do just that. They would volunteer all sorts of stuff. The vast majority of it was completely harmless. However, every now and then, it opened up different things, and drew others into question.

Or it got the whole thing onto some wacky tangent and it then became hard to throw a lasso over the proceedings and get them back to the matter at hand.

I well recall a deposition, once, which was going to take maybe 45 minutes took the better part of a week as a witness and opposing counsel kept feeding one another more digressions.

This was even after I repeatedly told the witness to just stick with answering the actual questions and nothing more.

This tactic, by the way, did not, ultimately, harm my client or help the opponent. All it did was make the matter stretch out that much longer. And, I am sure, it nicely increased my opponent counsel’s bill.

But not me. I was on salary. A deposition could take three years and I would not make any extra money. Dang, there I go again, oversharing!

Sharing Less as an Antidote to Hokum

One truly massive advantage to keeping our yaps shut is in the troubling and now ever-present task of avoiding scams. To wit.

Consider the scenario of Innocent Inez and Unsavory Uriah. Maybe he knows a tiny bit about her because her name has ended up on a sucker list. That is, a list compiled by scammers which identifies her as being someone more likely to fall for a scam than other people.

Why do you think scammers will send official-looking letters but the spelling is off? Because they know that the people who will accept that junk as real will be a lot easier to convince to hand over their cash than the people who do not.

So, what if Inez posts two things on Facebook. 1) I am so sorry my Uncle Joe died. I cannot believe he put me in charge of his estate! and 2) I am gonna try and take care of my grandkids.

That is it. Nothing more.

Watch Out, Inez

Uriah now knows she has some degree of control over money (although he does not know how much yet) and she has people in her life she wants to help out. He virtually never needs to know anything else.

He sends her an email that is ostensibly from the local bank, offering help with handling a complicated estate. Then he also sends something purportedly from the local school district, an offer to celebrate grandparents if she shares a few memories.

He uses different personae and email addresses for these two notes. Inez’s answer to the bank email is she would love some help as it is so hard. And her answer to the school email is that she even attended the same school and helpfully provides her graduation year.

Uriah has officially died and gone to Scammer Heaven.

Uriah Exploits Inez’s Oversharing

With her graduation year and her alma mater, Uriah has a few vital pieces of data on Inez. He can make an educated guess as to her age and he can tell that either she never left her home town or she left and came home.

As the bank persona, Uriah tells Inez that a lawyer, Sheldon, will be writing to her from a local law firm. But Sheldon will be using a Gmail address because he has to bill outside the usual firm billing. Innocent Inez swallows this ‘explanation’ hook, line, and sinker.

She has no idea that Unsavory Uriah is also Shark Sheldon. And she has just served him an excuse to not use a firm email address on a silver platter.

As the school persona, Uriah asks if Inez has a love story to share from when she was at the school. This is just to get more information. Uriah does not care what her answer is, so long as she gives up another data point.

The Shark Swims

As helpful estate lawyer Sheldon, Uriah gets things like bank account numbers, the death and birth dates of her uncle, and other financial data points. As the school persona, he continues to get social information. To get even more, he invents Loverboy Larry.

This social persona expresses an interest in her grandchildren, including their names (a popular source of password fodder), and tells her she looks too young to be a grandmother or to be in her sixties.

More Ensnaring Hokum

Uriah (or someone like him) could also garner a lot of this data from everything from a tarot reading to faith healing or even an AI trained to gather personal information. The biggest thing that can really help out someone like Inez is if her children or grandchildren intervene.

But they may not realize they need to act until it is too late.

Wiping Away Shame

Still, there is an opposite to this.

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.Some sharing, particularly in the face of things that have been taboo for too long, seems to be, to me, to be a very good thing.

Take, for example, the physical demands and changes that go along with weight loss.

In the interests of full disclosure, this has been a subject rather near and dear to my heart.

So I put it out there. The fact that stretch marks do not really go away and what post-weight loss plastic surgery is really like. And how, no matter how much you want to convince yourself otherwise, the oatmeal just does not taste one bit like fried chicken.

I think that this kind of oversharing can have a true benefit. Give hope, or at least some amusement and information. And trample away shame until it is well and truly gone.

But there is plenty more out there where that came from, and it is often all too much, and it can be damaging. Give away too much and you are the naked fan dancer, all out of fans. Oops.

How to Strike a Balance by Sharing Less

So my suggestion is: tread lightly, and as wisely as you can. And ask yourself: will this information do more harm than good? Will it hurt me or my family?

So, even if the answer to both questions is no, my advice is: consider it and weigh it anyway. And then you can freely and intelligently decide, one way or the other.

Do this based upon reasoned understanding. And not on expediency, or going along to get along, or trying to be cooler than everyone else in school. Above all, do not sleepwalk and step backward into these kinds of giveaways.

If you are going to toss aside that last fan, at least look your audience in the eye when you do so.

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How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 15, 2026

Do You Know How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life?

Woo doggy, social media can really do it to you. It can absolutely ruin your life.

Oh. My. God.

You did WHAT???!?!?!?

Quick, lemme tweet it!

No, I will take a picture and upload it to Instagram.

And I can never forget to blog it!

This kind of gaffe deserves a Facebook post, too!

Really?

So, you know what’s it like. You post a selfie taken at the ballgame. Except you told your boss that you were home sick, with the flu. Or maybe you were supposed to be with your significant other.

But, oops, you checked into a locative media site. But it was with your friend. You know, the one with benefits. Or maybe you rant against your kid’s soccer coach on X. But then he calls you out on it. Or benches your kid because of it.

Hence in May of 2014, The Boston Globe presented a half a dozen ways that social media can ruin your life.

And the article presents some boneheaded moves, including a poor choice of a Halloween costume (because evidently the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing are a laugh riot to someone out there), a Candy Crush addiction, and some poorly thought out tweets.

You Did What?

I am sure that the following will, eventually, be the kinds of behaviors that I could add to a successor article (Note: some of these are real, some are speculative. I will not name names. So you decide whether any of these have really happened, or are still in the maybe column):

1. How about claiming a permanent injury for your lawsuit and then checking in from a dance contest?
2. Or what about if you blow off a court-ordered Gamblers Anonymous meeting for a trip to the track. And adding a selfie with the dogs or horses running their hearts out in the background.
3. Or saying nasty things about your ex on Facebook or X, and your child growing up to read your sunshiny status updates.
4. And then maybe a job interview, as you tout your fine record of academic achievement, with old Instagram photos of you showing off your barely passing C-average transcript.
5. Finally, politicians caught with underage drinking photos, sexting, pictures of their junk, and a panoply of other nuggets of oversharing.

And lest we forget, this has not gone away. Remember those folks caught on the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert? That was in 2025.

I love social media but man oh man, people! But have a little self-control and some common sense.

Set this site as a preferred source

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So, Do You Want More About Social Networks and Platforms?

So, if my experiences with non-platform-specific social networking and media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media in Our Society

† Its Relentless Pace
• Seduction AKA Oops, Did I Do That?
† Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection
• Hope, Hype or What?
† Balance

In Addition, Social Media for Writers

• The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
† … and Writing
• … also Writing Part 2
† … and Writing Part 3
• Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

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The Cyber LegacySocial Media, Social Media Writing, Social Media Writing Part, Social Media Writing Part 3, Best Lengths, Hesitation Generation, screen name, Happy Holidays, Relentless Pace, Cyber Infidelity, Podcasting, Neurotic Writers, Social Media Balance, Social Media Perfection, Losing Control, Social Media Tips, Employee Passwords, Look Like Online, social media, Social Media Platforms, Promoting Writing, Social Media Marketer, EditMe Webinar, Demand for Social Media Jobs, Stumbleupon surpasses, Less Conversation, Snapchat Settles with FTC, Quickly Boost Results, Hope and Hype, Auto-Service Economy, Sharing Less, Social Media background check, formatted posts, Four Important Social Media Stats, Cheat Sheets, Social Media Seduction, social back, Social media background check, Collaboration rocks, Wikileaks knocks, Editme Webinar, Cyber Legacy, Campaign 2012, Demographics, ways to improve, Time-saving tips, They Used to Call me Robot Girl

The Cyber Legacy

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 13, 2026

The Cyber Legacy

What is your cyber legacy?

Introductions

So you find a new site. You look around. And you think – this looks like a place I might like. Therefore, you take the plunge and you register.

And it does not really matter if it is Bluesky, or Facebook or something like Able2know. If it is big enough, it scrolls and leaps by so fast that you can barely get your arms around it. And in the beginning, that can be incredibly exciting.

However, after a while, it is a bit too much. So if you want to hang around and have a more meaningful interactive experience than complaining about the weather, you end up finding yourself some sort of an enclave. I have covered this before, actually.

Life Online

You find your niche, whatever it is. And you start spending time with people. It does not matter what you are doing, be it playing fantasy sports, or comparing notes as new mothers, or trading rumors about the next season of Doctor Who. What matters is, you have found your peeps.

And that is when it can get kind of complicated.

Transitioning to the In-Person Experience

My husband and I once met a fellow we had know for a few years from online. He was passing through Boston on his way home from Maine. And one thing he mentioned was – my online friends and my offline friends are pretty well-integrated. I like that.

After all, consider some of my closest friends who I did not meet online. Most of them either attended school with me at some stage or another, or they worked with me. In some fashion or another, we hit it off. However, the same is true of the cyber world, is it not? You meet someone, and you hit it off with them, and you thereby become friends.

No great mystery there. The only remarkable thing is that the lines are being forever blurred between people we met physically first, and people we physically met later, if at all. And we care less and less about how we met our friends, these days.

Cyber Mourning

With cyber friendships – as with all friendships – there can be loss. And we all know that it is going to happen sooner or later. A voice will be stilled, a timeline no longer updated.

We may or may not know the correct or full name. We may never have heard that person so much as speak on a video or on the telephone. Yet we feel a sense of loss just the same.

I have found that, as this has happened on Able2know (and it has happened several times now, a function of both the size of the site and its skew in the direction of more elder demographics), people have wanted to rally around.

It is not necessarily a formal obituary type of posting or topic.

Instead, it can be a topic that is more like a wake in its layout, verbiage and intent. There is no real template for this. You just go with what works.

And recognize that there are people who grieve in their own ways. There may even be hostility (“You were never kind to him until it was too late!”) or one-upmanship (“I got to meet her in person!”).

Internet Afterlife and a Cyber Legacy

The If I Die app allows for a final status update once three people (you choose them) confirm to the service that you have shuffled the mortal coil off to Buffalo.

It almost seems like a video will, where the rich uncle leaves everything to his parakeet and, while the cameras are rolling, also tells the assembled family that they were all wastrels.

But it is not just that. It is also – look at the data that is out there. What sort of a legacy are we leaving for future generations?

A tour through Facebook reveals an awful lot of appreciation for cute cats who cannot spell, George Takei and political soundbite memes.

And if future generations only look at that (which might happen, as it could very well be the only thing that survives long enough and is complete enough), they might just see that cyber legacy and feel we are rather shallow people indeed.

Forums Tell a Different Story

However, if they dig into communities, I think they would see a rather different picture. A picture of real caring. Of reasoned and impassioned debate.

Or of rabid fandom. Of people who help each other by answering questions or offering advice on things like repairing a fan belt on a 1968 Buick or ridding a computer of spyware. And of some fall on the floor humor as well.

So, what footprints and fingerprints will you leave behind for your cyber legacy? And what digital fossils will await future archaeologists’ discovery?

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.What will the people of 3026 and beyond (way, way beyond) think of us? What is your cyber legacy going to be?

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Why Use a Screen Name?Social Media, Social Media Writing, Social Media Writing Part, Social Media Writing Part 3, Best Lengths, Hesitation Generation, screen name, Happy Holidays, Relentless Pace, Cyber Infidelity, Podcasting, Neurotic Writers, Social Media Balance, Social Media Perfection, Losing Control, Social Media Tips, Employee Passwords, Look Like Online, social media, Social Media Platforms, Promoting Writing, Social Media Marketer, EditMe Webinar, Demand for Social Media Jobs, Stumbleupon surpasses, Less Conversation, Snapchat Settles with FTC, Quickly Boost Results, Hope and Hype, Auto-Service Economy, Sharing Less, Social Media background check, formatted posts, Four Important Social Media Stats, Cheat Sheets, Social Media Seduction, social back, Social media background check, Collaboration rocks, Wikileaks knocks, Editme Webinar, Cyber Legacy, Campaign 2012, Demographics, ways to improve, Time-saving tips, They Used to Call me Robot Girl

Why Use a Screen Name?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 8, 2026

Is There Any Good Reason to Use a Screen Name?

So, is a screen name a good idea, or no? Particularly in the age of Facebook and the real names requirement.

I was inspired by this post in Angela Connor‘s blog. If you do not know Angela Connor, I urge you to check her out; her blog is extremely insightful and is still one of my favorites.

Her ideas make a great deal of sense, and I think some of this is why the Blizzard forum experiment in real names for users was such an immediate and egregious flop.

Masks

The internet, like it or not, is for many people a place of masks. You pretend to be younger and thinner than you are. Or you pretend to be unmarried. You pretend to be a Klingon. Or you are a teenager and pretend to be an adult.

Or you pretend to be another gender or richer or lovelier or more conservative or whatever.

And the masks can be freeing to many. Perhaps they were freeing when the ancient Greeks donned them while performing Oedipus Rex for the first time. I think there is more of a place for them than perhaps we would all care to admit.

Because there seems to be a value to being able to put makeup on one’s face, or wear a Halloween costume.

Screen Name Unreality

And this is not the same as our reality. It is related but not identical. Maybe the librarian who goes out for Halloween dressed as a dance hall girl wants to be known as someone who takes risks (and maybe foolish ones, at that).

But when the morning after rolls around, she is back in the library helping others do research.

A Screen Name Allows for (Somewhat) Anonymous Commenting

This kind of anonymous commenting allows for something like this. Because the sympathetic guy who is really seething inside gets to call people out.

He gets to be a bully and be an all-around racist jerk (I have worse names, but do not wish to besmirch my own blog) behind one screen name.

But then he surfs to a different site where he can chat up the ladies with his sensitive New Age guy demeanor, all behind another screen name. And then when the time to log off comes, he goes home and kisses his wife and plays with his children. And this is all just one guy.

Facebook and Screen Names

To comment openly through a full, correct name (usually) medium like Facebook would be to cut off the dance hall girl. And it would stifle the racist jerk, the ladies’ man, and any number of other secret selves in favor of a drab and ordinary world.

Even on a news site, which is pretty much the definition of drab unless there is some sort of a hot story, the jerk, the dancer and the Romeo all want to be free.

Still, Facebook has been a runaway success. But some of that is still screen names. A person with Au at the end of their name is identifying to all and sundry that they are on the autism spectrum.

I have seen last names like Lionchaser and Orange and Juneberry. The chances are extremely good that none or most of these are real.

But does that actually matter, in the grand scheme of things?

Screen Names and Reviews

Hey, are you writing the occasional bad reviews, but still want to remain friends with the people you’re reviewing? Then you might just need to be using a screen name, eh?

Who is Real?

But we should never take their opinions as seriously as the real people. Because, even though those personae live in real people’s skins, it is the real people who vote, marry, pay taxes, work, make the news and are members of our real society.

The trouble is telling them apart and knowing which one is real.

Can you always tell? I bet you cannot. Not always.Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

ChatGPT Adds to the Confusion on Screen Names and More

Beyond whether the name is real, are the posts real these days? A few years ago, a friend who runs a writing contest had to jettison a few entries because they were written by AI.

AI is only going to get better and better—and more unnerving—as time marches on.

We may very well look back on questions about screen names as being a quaint little hiccup. You know, right before the Apocalypse.

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Social Media Balance

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 6, 2026

Social Media Balance

Social media balance is sometimes elusive. Yet much like everything else, social media needs to be balanced. Too much, and you will alienate your readers. And too little, and they will wonder if you are still alive.

I will confine my comments to just blogging, Facebook and X. Of course there are other outlets, but right now, we will just look at those three.

Too Much

During the 2012 Christmas season here in Boston, the oldies station began broadcasting all-day Christmas music early. How early?

So it was, if I am recalling correctly, even before Veterans Day. Egad, it was awful. And then of course other radio stations also began their regular broadcast of holiday music. So it was very hard to get away from it all.

Now, lots of these songs are lovely. This is not me slamming religion. Do not misunderstand me. Rather, it was just … c’mon already! Because it was way too much!

It was not festive. Instead, it annoyed people (not just me!). And the same can be said of social media. If yours is a small outlet, a tiny company, a Mom and Pop operation, here is a little secret. You do not need to constantly tweet and update Facebook.

Reasons Why You Should not Overdo It

You will oversaturate the people you are trying to endear, and they will turn off to your message. Most definitely, you will burn right out. Also, you will run out of things to say.

Not Enough

It continually amuses me when people say something like, “I have a blog.” And they will post their link. However, the last time they updated was 13 months ago, or more, or they have never updated.

Or it is a Twitter stream with three tweets, and the account is over a year old. Maybe they have a Facebook page with nearly nothing on it.

Given the number of abandoned accounts, and the number of deceased persons’ accounts on Facebook and the like, followers might be wondering. Have you gone to the great computer room in the sky?

Per my SEO pal Garit Boothe, best practices is to keep everything fresh to the tune of nothing being over 3 months old (so, posts are updated and re-released at later dates).

Reasons Why You Should Never Underdo It

• Your readers will leave you, big time. They may be loyal but the audiences of today are also pretty fickle. You are no longer shiny and new. So they leave.
† Google still indexes abandoned accounts, although the information is out of date. And it can sometimes end up making you look worse than not having a social media presence at all. AI will not be any kinder to your abandoned blog.
• You show, essentially, that you no longer care about your subject matter. So why should anyone read what you write at all, if even you do not believe in it?
† The algorithms will smash your site into smithereens.

While the exact, perfect information on any algorithm is proprietary and kept secret from us hoi polloi, one thing is certain. Newness counts. No posting means you have nothing new going on.

And it will push your site down in rankings on Google and YouTube. Facebook also values recency. And as for Twitter? No one will be able to find your stuff. AI will also disdain you, unless your information is 100% unique.

Seeking Social Media Balance

It is rather Zen, I suppose, to seek a balance here.

But how do you get it?

The easiest way is to consider the people who you follow where you just love their updates. They never seem forced or rushed, and they seem to come in, just at the right time.

This is not the time to think of really big wigs in social media, like George Takei, Shama Hyder Kabani, Wil Wheaton, Guy Kawasaki, or Ashton Kutcher, etc.

Instead, consider your friends, colleagues, and neighbors, even if these are people who are not making (or trying to make) a career out of social media.

Look at their Facebook walls and their Bluesky and X streams and their blogs. What is it about how they handle those outlets that grabs you?

By the way, recognize that a person might be really good at one form of balance, but not at another. That much is not unexpected, as these are all rather different forms of media.

Your friend who crushes it on Twitter might be just plain awful on Facebook.

2 Reasons Why You Should Strike a Social Media Balance

1. Posting too much at the beginning can lead directly to posting pretty much nothing later on, so spread things out over time, and you can avoid both issues simultaneously.
2. Giving yourself a degree of posting responsibility can help you take it all more seriously. Of course you can (and probably should) be playful. But even the silliest of accounts have some form of a schedule, particularly if they have gotten large. They can never just “forget” to post.

Schedule Those Suckers

• If you are really inspired and have a lot to say, then that is just great! But unless it is time-sensitive, use the scheduling features of programs like HootSuite. Or try Facebook’s own post scheduling feature. WordPress and Blogger both allow you to save drafts and schedule them to publish when you want them to. These functions are your friend.
† Spreading the wealth over time will assure your readers that you are not just some flash in the pan. It will also assure them that you are still among the living.
• Too many posts means that many of them will get lost in the shuffle. Too few means that they can loom large, and maybe seem more important than you think they should be. Spread the wealth, and you can avoid both problems.

One more thing about social media balance. While Tweeting, Facebooking, etc. should be mindful, it should also be kinda fun. Overdoing it means that you are probably spending too much time online.

While underdoing it probably means that it no longer interests you that much. Or, at least, what you are posting and sending out to the universe has lost its luster.

Consider what either of those scenarios means to you. Because social media balance matters.

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Social Media in Our Society

† Social Media Continues its Relentless Pace
• Social Media’s Seduction AKA Oops, Did I Do That?
† Social Media Background Check Being Used For Jury Selection
• Social Media: Hope, Hype or What?
† How Social Media Can Ruin Your Life

Social Media for Writers

• The Power of Social Media (Neurotic Writers’ Edition)
† Social Media and Writing
• Social Media and Writing Part 2
† Social Media and Writing Part 3
• Are You Promoting Your Writing With Social Media?

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