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Author: Janet Gershen-Siegel

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The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts and More

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 1, 2020

What Are The Best Lengths for Social Media Posts?

Best Lengths for social posts can seem elusive. What’s right? Does it ever change?

The fine folks at Buffer and, in particular, Kevan Lee, have done it again and have everything you always wanted to know about social post lengths but were afraid to ask.

In my travels online, I have seen blog posts that were under 50 words long. I have seen blog posts that were a good 10,000 words long. Tweets, of course, are limited. But there have been plenty of Pinterest pins with just an image and nothing else. Or they’ve got enough verbiage behind them to seemingly rival War and Peace. So, what’s ideal? Is there any science behind it?

Blogs

How long should blog posts be? Buffer likes blog post titles to be six words long (oops, this blog post’s title is too long). Interestingly enough, the blog post where I got the inspiration for this blog post from also has a title that is too long.

Sometimes, six words is just not long enough.

Thanks to Buffer for this graphic.

Interestingly enough, Buffer said blog posts are best at 1,600 words in length.

However, Yoast (the fine makers of an SEO plugin I use for my own blog posting–as do many other people!) provides good SEO credit for blog posts that are at least 300 words in length.

The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but one thing is for sure – those fifty-word blog posts just plain are not long enough.

Facebook

How big should a Facebook post be? Buffer said forty characters.

Keep it short, snappy, and to the point. According to Lee, Facebook posts that exceed forty characters degrade in engagement as they get longer.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that 700-word screed you wrote? Better make that a blog post instead and just link to it. But if you put the whole thing on Facebook, people will scroll right on by. Yes, even if you add an image.

Here’s a trick to get around the forty-character wall – links show the title and some text, and you can always change these.

Or add an image with some text. But don’t go nuts! It is very, very easy to hit and exceed critical mass.

Best Lengths for LinkedIn Posts

How long should a LinkedIn post be? Buffer clocks in at twenty-five words, based upon clickthrough data.

Pinterest

How large should a Pinterest image be?

Buffer’s got you covered – 735px x 1102px. These taller pins seem to stand out more, and are therefore shared more often.

Best Lengths for Twitter Posts

How long should an effective Tweet be? Buffer said to limit it to 71 – 100 characters, in order to provide some space for people to comment before sending out a modified tweet (MT).

So keep hashtags at six characters for maximal impact. Yes, we all know that people sometimes use hashtags as a bit of wry commentary.

Tumblr in particular seems to inspire hashtags like #DudeLooksLikeALady (and not just for fans of Aerosmith). Excessive hashtagging is one of the characteristics of Instagram. However, the best length hashtag on Twitter has six characters.

Best Lengths for Posts: Takeaways

TL; DR – Check out the chart, and the cited article, for more information. The research on best lengths for posts is sound, and fascinating, and the article was a hell of a find.

Is it still relevant, years later? Eh, kind of. You make the call, sports fans.

The best lengths for social media posts keep changing. But there’s one constant in life—cut to the chase!

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Community Management — Get TogetherCommunity Management, Scale. Freshening, Get Together, Love, Small Things, Without Management, True Community, Party Started, Terrible Netizen, Snakes, Circle Game, Look, Netizen, Corralling, Wandering off Topic, Facebook versus Forums, Superstar Users, Analytics, Community Roundtable, Community Management Haikus, Life of a Community Manager, Social Media Job Descriptions, Superstar Users, Community Roundtable 2010

Community Management — Get Together

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 27, 2020

Conquer Your Fears and Get Together

Yes, you can—and should — get together! Life online is all well and good. Many of us spend large chunks of our time connected, whether that is via a desktop PC, a smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet. Newer technologies will, undoubtedly, make it even easier to get and stay connected.

But sometimes you’ve just got to say: Stop the Internet, I want to get off!

Of course you go offline every night for bed (er, you do, don’t you?), at the absolute minimum. But there’s more to it than that.

When your community has been around for a significant period of time (say, a year), your users are going to, naturally, be curious about meeting one another. In person. With no screens dividing them.

And this is excellent. It is a sign of the community jelling. You should encourage this. Or, if you like, you can even suggest a meeting yourself.

I mean, why the hell not?

Informal Gatherings

For informal gatherings, there is little, if anything, that you need to do. If you can attend, great! And if you can’t, ask people to take pictures. However, remind your users they should get permission before they take any photographs and post them online.

Furthermore, if there will be minors present, emphasize that photographs of them really should not appear online. Be prepared, if the child’s parents ask, to remove such photographs if they end up on your site. But that’s about it.

Formal Gatherings

Formal gatherings allow for a lot more dazzle. A get together can be as expensive or cheap as you like. Your attendees might wish to reserve a block of hotel rooms, or even a hall. Or you might just need to make reservations at a restaurant.

Or you could think outside the restaurant, and consider a visit to a museum, historical attraction or nature preserve. Your group might enjoy attending, say, a minor league baseball game (it’s often a nominal fee to get your site or company mentioned on the scoreboard or over the public address system. Usually this takes the form of a charitable donation).

Or your users might even enjoy a potluck, or a cruise, or a bowling tournament for fun. They might like to run a 5K race (or just watch) or even attend lectures or form a book group. And they might even enjoy helping to build a house for charity or volunteer at a soup kitchen for the day. The only limits are your imagination and the focus of your community.

Because a forum devoted to young mothers, for example, might enjoy a gathering where they can bring their children. Whereas a board focusing on a hip hop artist might prefer attending a concert.

Get Together Swag

For a gathering (in particular, for one specifically planned and sanctioned by you), it’s nice to bring swag. That is, forum- or company-specific merchandise. Make it free for the taking! Hats, tee shirts, frisbees, key chains, whatever you like. The young mothers’ forum might like diaper bags or onesies. That hip hop forum might like licensed mix CDs, or special music that they can download.

Just give them the URL and a key or password, so they can get it exclusively, at least to start. And, it’s not a problem if people begin to share the URL and the password. Because you want them to do this.

Gatherings are fun. It’s enjoyable to finally see and get together with people you only know from online. Once you’ve heard their voices and seen their mannerisms in the flesh, you’ll never read their posts the same way again.

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Community Management — Freshening UpCommunity Management, Scale. Freshening, Get Together, Love, Small Things, Without Management, True Community, Party Started, Terrible Netizen, Snakes, Circle Game, Look, Netizen, Corralling, Wandering off Topic, Facebook versus Forums, Superstar Users, Analytics, Community Roundtable, Community Management Haikus, Life of a Community Manager, Social Media Job Descriptions, Superstar Users, Community Roundtable 2010

Community Management — Freshening Up

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 25, 2020

Let’s Look at Freshening Up a Stale, Tired Community

Freshening up is something you may have to do. But why?

Communities go through any number of cycles, so it is inevitable – the forum becomes stale.

There are a few things you can do. First off, try to see it coming before it happens.

Say what?

Yes, it’s possible, although it’s not necessarily reliable. How? Check your site metrics. Now, there are natural variations all the time. A bad day or two is not necessarily an indicator of trouble, even if those days come in the same week, or even one right after the other.

Time the Avenger

The real issue is a decline over time. The two main metrics you care about are time on site and the percentage of new users versus returning ones. There is nothing wrong with having a lot of returning users. It’s a forum, and people get comfortable and will to want to keep coming back if the comradery is good. However, you do need to get a relatively constant stream of new users. As for time on site, check the average, and see if it has been declining over time. This is over a significant period of time as in: over the course of about a quarter of a year.

Follow the Bouncing User

Hand in hand with both of these metrics is a third: bounce rate. Bounce rate is defined as a visitor coming to only one page prior to exiting the site. You’re a lot more likely to see a higher bounce rate if you attract a lot of new users (e. g. they see what they want immediately – or don’t – and then depart). A lower bounce rate is generally a more positive metric. Hence, as you can see, in this instance, the converse may be true.

Therefore you should have some notice when things stagnate. Even if you don’t track your metrics too closely, you should follow your users. Are they not making too many new topics of any sort? Or are they complaining? Are they leaving?

But once you know, and it doesn’t matter how you determine that the community is stagnating, what do you do?

Don’t Panic

Don’t panic. This is relatively normal. One thing you should do, though, is determine whether it is a seasonal issue. As the weather improves in the time zone(s) where most of your users live and work, they will go outside and – gasp! – go offline. In that instance, don’t worry, the users will come around again. But there’s no reason why you can’t practice a few of these techniques anyway, in order to be proactive.

Fortunately, if that’s what’s going on, it’s far less dire.

So let’s assume that the weather and the season are not factors. Your percentage of new users is down and has been declining. Your users’ time on the site is tanking. They’re leaving. And the ones who are staying are bored, angry and restless. Worse still, they’ve taken to causing trouble in order to entertain themselves.

Some Freshening Techniques

Here are a few techniques for freshening:

Improve your SEO – attracting more users will help to replace the departing ones.

While you’re at it, target your SEO better. E. g. let’s say you have a forum about relationships, but not a lot of gay and lesbian users? Try adding keywords about, getting link-backs from sites that feature, and get listed on directories that cater to: gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

Purchasing Another Forum

Consider purchasing a smaller forum that caters to the new users you hope to add. There are plenty of small forums out there for sale. Look for not only a targeted forum at a good price, but also an active one. Prepare the forums by telling your original forum that new people are coming. You can even tell them which kind of community they come from. Ask your extant members to be welcoming.

As for the board you are absorbing, diplomatically tell them about the transfer. Do this in as many places as possible so that as many people as possible see it. If that forum has a blog or a newsletter, use it to communicate this. Expect consternation, and expect some people to leave without giving the other forum even a chance.

Avoid Duplicate Accounts

Check your database, to be sure that you do not bring in what the database will think of as duplicate records. Whether your primary key is username or email address, or something else, compare the extant member list to the member list of the community you’ve purchased.

For any duplicates, give the members of the board you’re absorbing the chance to rectify the situation by asking them to select a new username or email account (or whatever else you may be using as your database’s primary key) in advance by sending them a private message.

Do not tell them where they are going as you can end up with even more duplicate records if the absorbed users create new accounts at your currently existing forum.

So keep it on the QT. And, to make it easier on yourself,

  1. have a contingency plan for any records that are still duplicate (e. g. you tell the absorbed user and they fail to timely help you to fix the problem, and,
  2. keep the lead time short, as in less than a month.

Freshening Up With New Features

Add new features for more freshening. What kinds of features? Blogs, skins and groups are all great features to add if you don’t already have them. Spread them around and only offer one at any given time so that you have reserve magic rabbits you can pull out of your hat, or

Ask your users! Really? Yes. Send out a survey or conduct a poll, or just open up a topic or a blog post, asking: what would you like to see on the site? Some users will be flippant, but many more will take you seriously.

And, most importantly, listen to your users! If you can implement any of the changes they request, see if you can do so over time. And if you can implement more than one, do so in stages (with the more important or more requested one being done first) so that the new features can keep coming. If you cannot, explain why. Your users will (mostly) understand.

Some of them may even be able to assist you with implementation.

Freshening Up: The Upshot

Communities, like anything else, can become a little flat and need freshening. It’s like any other party. If a party gets dull, and it’s not yet time for everyone to go home, you bring out different foods, change up the music or even break out the board games or call other friends to come over.  You start freshening up the snack bowl. It’s not much different with an online party. You’ve got to keep it lively.

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Community Management Tidbits – Drawn to Scale

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 20, 2020

What Does it Mean When a Community is Drawn to Scale?

A community that is drawn to scale has the tools and the wherewithal to be able to grow.

There are little forums, and there are big ones. And there are forums with a very personal touch, and those without. It should come as no great shock to most people that smaller communities tend to have a more personal slant than much larger ones.

Getting Started

When you first start your community, like it or not, you will be building traditions. Perhaps your organization welcomes everyone personally, either in a topic or by sending a private message. Maybe you even mail out some swag the old-fashioned way, using the postal system. Or you write it up in a newsletter.

Growing

This is all perfectly fine when you’ve got a community of fewer than 100 users. But what happens when you hit 1,000 users? Or 10,000? Or, like Able2know, the site I’ve been managing since its inception in 2002, where you go from 2 users to over 1,200,000??? And of course there will be more to come.

Suddenly those nice personal touches become nice for everyone but you and your staff. Suddenly, they are nothing more than a burden, like a nest full of baby birds, constantly demanding a feeding. Yesterday.

When they don’t scale, they start to really stink after a while.

Setting Expectations

Hence you must start setting expectations early. If you want to welcome everyone, recognize that, if you can automate at least some of that (or delegate it), then it will be far more sustainable for far longer. Many forms of forum software allow the administrative team to send out a private message upon an event. One such event can be confirmation of an email address and/or a completed registration. Hence you can set up your software to send out a welcoming message.

Welcoming Messages

What should your welcoming message say? Only you truly know your users. What you say to the members of a gun owners’ forum will probably differ from what you say to a board dedicated to people looking for international pen pals. But either way, there are a few messages you might want to get across, no matter what your audience:

  • Welcome to the site!
  • Here is a link to the site rules
  • Come and introduce yourself (if you’ve got a specific topic or forum where people are supposed to introduce themselves, put the link here)
  • You can find forum announcements/the site blog/major news here
  • And here’s where you go for help or if you have an issue (this is where a link to your Help Desk, or the address for support, should go) and
  • Here is how to get your account removed, if you allow that.

Scale and Respect Your Users’ Time and Interest Levels

Including all of that information will help to head off some newbie questions at the pass. But don’t make the message too long as no one will read all of it. All you can hope for is for a good minority (say, 30% of your users) to read or skim most of the message, so make it short and bulleted. Hence it should comprise more of a reference than a one-stop shopping place where your users can find answers to their questions. And that will help to assure it can fulfill at least some of its purpose. User-centered, information-centric design is key here.

The personal touch is lovely, and you may still wish to use it every now and again. Certainly if you bring in a larger staff, it will allow for some of that, or at least allow for it longer. But if it gets away from you, don’t be afraid to scale and go to an automated solution. After all, no one expects Facebook to send a personally tailored note whenever they join the site or make a change in their status or friends list.

May your site become that large, too.

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Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky, A Book Review

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 4, 2020

Let’s Look at Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky really has something here. Because I have to say, I just plain love this book. I am a fan! In addition, this book ended up tying with Groundswell for being my favorite of the six books that we were assigned to read in my first Quinnipiac University social media class, Social Media Platforms (ICM 522).

At the time, I started classes thinking I would only get a certification and nothing more. However, I ended up staying long enough to get my Master’s of Science in Communications in Interactive Media (social media). And a part of that decision can be traced directly back to reading this particular work.

Philosophy To Go

Furthermore, I really liked the philosophical and sociological aspects of his work. Essentially, what he ended up saying was – society is changing. It’s not just the Internet; it is happening to humans ourselves. We are in the process of becoming new, and different. Hence there is a seismic shift going on, in our society.

Of course, that is likely to just be the wealthiest slice of society. Because heartbreakingly poor people in Third World countries simply aren’t going to be adding to online or offline content any time soon. Or, if they are, it is far more likely to consist of content that is survival-based.

Hence this would be items for sale, rather than the products of truly creative pursuits. But the internet is also one, big, giant marketplace. And those contributions are just as valuable.

Clay Shirky on Amateurs vs. Professionals

In addition, I really love what he had to say about amateur participation. Because in Chapter 5, on page 154, Shirky persuasively writes:

“As more people come to expect that amateur participation is always an option, those expectations can change the culture.”

So, here’s to amateur participation. Because it is here to stay and I suspect it will never, truly go away.

Ten Years Later, What Do I Think?

I think what Shirky has to say is still useful. However, one piece of social media has a use case which he did not think of when he wrote the book. I am talking about people who do not own a tablet or a personal computer or a laptop. They don’t even own an e-reader. But they do own a smartphone.

There are great swathes of people, particularly in Asia and Africa, who consume social media only one way—via mobile.

Amateur participation is happening on ever smaller screens. And mobile users move quickly! If you don’t grab them in the first few seconds, guess what? They’ll swipe left.

I think my rating right now would be 4 1/2 stars. But that’s not really the fault of Clay Shirky. And, if he updates this seminal work to include more mobile-only users, then my rating would go right back up to 5 stars.

Rating

Review: 5/5 stars.

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… And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 16, 2020

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Your home page is vital. Log into Facebook, and it’s the first thing you see. It’s your Home Page. So here’s what’s in it. You can divide it into what look like columns.

NOTE: Facebook constantly A/B tests. Features move around, change, are renamed and resized, or disappear all the time. These are rolled out in stages; your neighbor may have a different-looking Home Page from yours. And this is 100% normal.

Home Page Links

So first of all, column one (left side, top):

  • News Feed
  • Messenger
  • Watch
  • Marketplace

Then shortcuts; this is a section you add to or subtract from.

Then …

  • Explore
  • Pages
  • Groups
  • Events
  • Fundraisers
  • Games etc.

Your Feed

Then column two (center):

  • Status messages on friends’ pages
  • Other friend activities
  • Anything your friends or the pages you follow are sharing

Column Three

Then column three (right, top):

  • Events
  • Friends’ Birthdays
  • Marketplace
  • Groups You Might Like
  • People You May Know
  • Targeted Advertisements
  • A list of friends available on chat (at the bottom)

Let’s start with Column One:

Groups

So this is a list of the groups you have joined.

Pages

These are pages you are following.

Friends

So pretty obviously, this is a way to access your entire list of friends.

Create Group

So you can create groups for any reason. And this includes to support a beloved entertainment figure, promote your business or just complain about people wearing Crocs. So I’ll get into the specifics later.

Games

These will rotate as you access more games, depending upon recency.

Status Messages on Friends’ Pages

So this is the actual News Feed itself. And you can comment on others’ statuses (statii?) or posted links.

Your Home Page Still Shows Other Friend Activities

First of all, you are served everyone’s activities. Facebook can be a tsunami of data. However, a lot is aggregated; you are usually shown that six people joined a group, rather than separate messages on all half-dozen.

Events

So if you’ve got upcoming events and you haven’t RSVP’d, they’ll show up here, but you can jettison them by clicking the x on the right side. Note that you’ll be invited to all sorts of stuff, including sponsored activities and openings by commercial ventures. And RSVP’ing is not strictly necessary. However, as an event organizer, I have to say it’s appreciated so as to at least get a handle on headcount (and know who not to expect).

You need not RSVP for commercial store openings or whatnot.

Friends’ Birthdays

Whether they’ve made the year apparent is their own business. But if they’ve got the month and day up on Facebook, birthdays will show up here. And of course you’re under no obligation to wish people a Happy Birthday, but it is kind of nice.

People You May Know

So this is based upon some sort of an algorithm whereby Facebook looks at things like your current friends list, their friends, your location and possibly also your school(s) and workplace(s). However, I don’t believe the latter are included at this time. So if you have any mutual friends, Facebook lists them as well.

Facebook does not always get this right, or it gets it wrong in interesting ways, e. g. Facebook says I “may know” the spouse of someone I attended High School with. Well, unless I went to High School with the spouse (over 30 years ago), then there isn’t much of a likelihood there.

Hence there are times when this list is bewildering. Hey, Facebook is doing the best it can.

Targeted Advertisements on Your Home Page

Well, they’re as targeted as Facebook can make them. This  apparently has a basis in your click activity, your likes, your friends’ likes and whenever you click on an ad to get rid of it. Again, sometimes Facebook can get this wrong in rather spectacular ways; for example, when I wrote this post originally, it showed me an ad for Toyota. And I have neither owned nor contemplated owning one, ever.

Your Home Page has a List of Friends Available on Chat

It should go without saying that you should never click on links from chatters you don’t know well. And you’re under no obligation whatsoever to answer anyone’s instigated chat.

So a big part of the Facebook experience is not only playing games but also sharing them with others, or sharing status or links. The way you see and can participate in this sharing is via your Home Page. It is, essentially, a bulletin board between you and your pals. But keep your own wall the way you want it. If you don’t want people to swear or argue politics, etc., that is 100% within your rights.

Want More About Facebook?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social media platform on the planet.

Facebook Features:

Next article

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… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 14, 2020

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I

Let’s look at your profile page part 1.

If you’re a member of Facebook, you’ve seen it dozens, if not hundreds, of times – it’s your Profile Page.

There is also a Home Page, but I’ll cover that in some other segment. But right now, let’s just concentrate on your Profile. Here’s mine.

Keep in mind, FB changes things up constantly. The largest beta tester the world has ever seen will never sit still.

Profile Page Part 1: Basics

So at minimum, the Profile page consists of the following:

  • Wall
  • Info and,
  • Photos

And it also contains:

  • A space for your profile picture
  • Information on any mutual friends you might share with anyone peeking at your profile
  • A small subgroup of your friends
  • Your Likes
  • and Your Photos
  • Your Links
  • A share button, and,
  • On the right side, there are advertisements

NOTE: Facebook is the biggest A/B tester on the planet. They constantly move things around in order to try for an improved user experience. Hence this means you may see buttons moved, resized, renamed, or even eliminated. And it also means your neighbor might see an entirely different configuration.

Let’s start with the tabs.

Wall

Up at the top, you can put in your status. There doesn’t seem to be a true limit to how long a status message can be, but after a few lines, it’s excessive. People put all sorts of nonsense in here – including not only statements of their adoration for celebrities but also mundane minutiae such as the scintillating fact that they’re about to go pick up the dry cleaning.

If you want to use Facebook at all for your business, your status messages should really be short, somewhat on point and inoffensive (this is also true if you are looking for work and are not using Facebook for any of that – potential employers are watching!).

Below is the wall itself, where friends can post replies to your status (they can also reply directly to the status), send you greetings, send you game requests, etc. You can always delete or hide these messages, which can be a good idea if they are becoming something you’d rather not share with others.

People routinely answer all sorts of dumb questions about me (e. g. Do you think Janet Gershen-Siegel has kissed a boy? Gee, I’ve been married since 1992. You make the call.) and I usually just hide or delete those.

You can also hide notifications from various applications so, if everyone you know is playing Farmville, and you don’t care about it, right-click on any Farmville notification and select the hide Farmville notifications button.

However, be aware that there are any number of similar or satellite applications (gifts, new gifts or whatever), so you may be doing a rather similar task more than once. Still, understand that you don’t need to ask people to stop sending you requests. Just block the app.

Info

You can add any number of tidbits here. At minimum, you should at least list your marital/dating status, your birth date (the year is optional) and your current city and/or home town. This will draw people in and make it easier for them to find you, particularly if you have a rather common name.

You want friends and business associates to figure out that they want you, the Mary Lou in Hicksville, New York, versus the Mary Lou in Mars, Pennsylvania.

Marital status isn’t strictly necessary (and I’ve found it doesn’t stop guys from sometimes hitting on me – eek), but I personally think it’s a nice thing to include. However, of course, no one can force you to do this and naturally it is illegal in the United States for a potential employer to demand this information.

Birth date is kind of nice to have, partly as an identifier and partly to give another piece of information out that’s just pleasant to see. It’s a minor revelation (particularly if you only give out the month and day) and is essentially harmless. And an American employer cannot legally ask for the year. However, employees do have to be of a certain age in order to work full-time at all.

Still, if you get that far along in a job application, an employer won’t use Facebook to confirm your age – the employer will instead use official governmental records like your birth certificate for that.

Adding your birth date also means the inevitable onslaught of Facebook birthday greetings.

Biography

Biography is optional and, if you use Facebook for business, keep it short, on point and inoffensive. Work history is also not necessary but it can be helpful if you need for people to find you (are you the Mary Lou in Hicksville who worked at AIG, or at the Dairy Queen?). Plus that can add to the networking vibe but keep in mind that Facebook for networking remains a poor substitute for LinkedIn.

Educational information also helps to identify you. Graduation years are not necessary. Likes and interests will show up in part by your typing in here and also by you “liking” various pages. Keep in mind that this can be found, so “liking” a page with a profane name is going to be something that can be picked up by potential employers and clients.

Profile Page Part 1: Photos

These are pretty self-explanatory. Any photographs that you’re tagged in them will show up here. You can collect photos into albums, of course. Also, if a photograph is unflattering, compromising or just plain not of you, you can always untag yourself.

Before my parents left Facebook, I was sometimes tagged on my mother’s photos so I could find them. I don’t mind this. My profile has enough photographs of me that it’s obvious I’m not her. But you might. So, if this happens, talk to whoever’s doing this. There are other ways of sharing photographs and albums which might suit your needs better.

Want More About Facebook?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social media platform on the planet.

Facebook Features:

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Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020Writing Progress Reports, First Quarter 2018, Second Quarter 2018, Third Quarter 2018, Fourth Quarter 2018, First Quarter 2019, Second Quarter 2019, Third Quarter 2019, Fourth Quarter 2019, First Quarter 2020, Second Quarter 2020, Third Quarter 2020, Fourth Quarter 2020, First Quarter 2021, Second Quarter 2021, Third Quarter 2021, Fourth Quarter 2021, First Quarter 2022, Second Quarter 2022, Third Quarter 2022, Fourth Quarter 2022, First Quarter 2023, Second Quarter 2023, Third Quarter 2023, Fourth Quarter 2023, First Quarter 2024, Second Quarter 2024, Third Quarter 2024, Fourth Quarter 2024, Writing Progress Reports Hub, First Quarter 2024, Second Quarter 2024, Third Quarter 2024, Fourth Quarter 2024, First Quarter 2025, Second Quarter 2025, Third Quarter 2025, Fourth Quarter 2025

Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on June 30, 2020

Progress Report – Second Quarter 2020

How was second quarter 2020? It was dominated by COVID-19 and our country’s conversation about race; that’s how it was. So I spent second quarter 2020 hunkered down. And working! There is so much out there on small business recovery. And man oh man, is it ever confusing.

Second Quarter 2020 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I finished posting fan fiction as I am not posting wholly original work there these days. That is, unless it’s for the WattNaNo profile. The only exception is anything which went through a ton of querying but never got anywhere.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

  • Dinosaurs – 29 reads, 9 comments
  • How to NaNoWriMo – 18,579+ reads, 231+ comments
  • My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 972 reads, 133 comments
  • Revved Up – 59,252+ reads, 530 comments
  • Side By Side – 9 reads, 0+ comments
  • Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 13,479 reads, 590 comments
  • The Canadian Caper – 473 reads, 37 comments
  • The Dish – 250 reads, 24 comments
  • There is a Road – 188 reads, 28 comments
  • WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,814+ reads, 45 comments
  • WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2019 – 1,124 reads, 7 comments
  • What Now? – 1,949 reads, 48 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So, my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Prep Work

So, currently, my intention, for this year’s NaNoWriMo, is that I am writing the second novel in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So a lot of this year will be spent on that. This one will be called Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent.

Second Quarter 2020 Queries and Submissions

So, here’s how that’s been going during second quarter 2020.

In Progress

As of second quarter 2020, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

  • A Kitten – Zooscape
  • Blue Card – Salvage
  • Darkness into Light – Corner Bar Magazine
  • Gentrification – Minola Review
  • I Used to Be Happy – Whiskey Island Magazine
  • Justice – Protean
  • None of This is Real – Journey Into…
  • Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – Pif Magazine
  • The Guitarist – Gemini Magazine, The New Southern Fugitives
  • The Student – Daily Science Fiction
  • Who Do We Blame for This? – Short Story.me

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for second quarter 2020 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

  • 68 submissions of 19 stories
  • Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
  • In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
  • In Progress: 10, 14.71%
  • Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
  • Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
  • Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

So, in 2019 my querying stats were:

  • 23 submissions of 11 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
  • Acceptances: 4, 17.39%
  • In Progress-Under Consideration: 0, 0%
  • In Progress: 11 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 47.83%
  • Rejected-Personal: 4, 17.39%
  • Rejected-Form: 3, 13.04%
  • Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 4.35%

2020 Stats

So, in 2020 my querying stats so far are:

  • 24 submissions of 12 stories (so 9 submissions carry over from 2019)
  • Acceptances: 1, 4.17%
  • In Progress: 11, 45.83%
  • Rejected-Personal: 7, 29.17%
  • Rejected-Form: 1, 4.17%
  • Ghosted: 4 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 16.67%

It can be pretty discouraging and hard to go on when nothing new comes up which is positive. It was a huge lift when Killing Us Softly got an acceptance!

Second Quarter 2020 Productivity Killers

So it’s work, and the whole social distancing thing, what else? Plus the country is in the midst of an upheaval over race. It’s .. a lot.

I am working on a ton of things and since that is also writing, it can sometimes burn me out. Because second quarter 2020 will not be the end of that!

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Writing Progress Report – First Quarter 2020Writing Progress Reports, First Quarter 2018, Second Quarter 2018, Third Quarter 2018, Fourth Quarter 2018, First Quarter 2019, Second Quarter 2019, Third Quarter 2019, Fourth Quarter 2019, First Quarter 2020, Second Quarter 2020, Third Quarter 2020, Fourth Quarter 2020, First Quarter 2021, Second Quarter 2021, Third Quarter 2021, Fourth Quarter 2021, First Quarter 2022, Second Quarter 2022, Third Quarter 2022, Fourth Quarter 2022, First Quarter 2023, Second Quarter 2023, Third Quarter 2023, Fourth Quarter 2023, First Quarter 2024, Second Quarter 2024, Third Quarter 2024, Fourth Quarter 2024, Writing Progress Reports Hub, First Quarter 2024, Second Quarter 2024, Third Quarter 2024, Fourth Quarter 2024, First Quarter 2025, Second Quarter 2025, Third Quarter 2025, Fourth Quarter 2025

Writing Progress Report – First Quarter 2020

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 31, 2020

Progress Report – First Quarter 2020

How great was first quarter 2020? So I spent first quarter 2020 finishing up my 2019 NaNoWriMo novel. In February, I started to edit that same novel. This also meant starting to outline that novel’s sequel. I will be writing it for 2020 NaNoWriMo. So how awesome was that?

First Quarter 2020 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I posted on the WattNaNo profile and nowhere else.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

  • Dinosaurs – 323+ reads, 9+ comments
  • How to NaNoWriMo – 22,775+ reads, 308+ comments
  • My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 972 reads, 133 comments
  • Revved Up – 59,320+ reads, 530+ comments
  • Side By Side – 10 reads, 0 comments
  • Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 14, 070+ reads, 591+ comments
  • The Canadian Caper – 485 reads, 37 comments
  • The Dish – 250 reads, 24 comments
  • There is a Road – 189 reads, 28 comments
  • WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,855+ reads, 45+ comments
  • WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2019 – 1,551+ reads, 10+ comments
  • What Now? – 2,471+ reads, 104+ comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

A True Believer in Skepticism, to be published in Mythic Magazine.

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Darkness into Light, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

WIP Corner

So my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It’s the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.

Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – coming in November 2021!

Prep Work

So, currently, my intention, for this year’s NaNoWriMo, is that I am writing the third novel in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So, a lot of this year has been spent on that. I have called this one Time Addicts – Everything is Up for Grabs.

First Quarter 2020 Queries and Submissions

So here’s how that’s been going during second quarter 2021.

In Progress

As of second quarter 2021, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

  • I Used to Be Happy – Gemini Magazine
  • Justice – Adbusters
  • Mettle – RAB
  • Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – A Thousand One Stories
  • Who Do We Blame for This? – Sonder Review

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for second quarter 2021 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

  • 68 submissions of 19 stories
  • Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
  • In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
  • In Progress: 10, 14.71%
  • Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
  • Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
  • Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

So, in 2019 my querying stats were:

  • 23 submissions of 11 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
  • Acceptances: 4, 17.39%
  • In Progress: 11 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 47.83%
  • Rejected-Personal: 4, 17.39%
  • Rejected-Form: 3, 13.04%
  • Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 4.35%

2020 Stats

So, in 2020 my querying stats were:

  • 37 submissions of 12 stories (so 9 submissions carry over from 2019)
  • Acceptances: 3, 8.11%
  • In Progress: 7, 18.92%
  • Rejected-Personal: 12, 32.43%
  • Rejected-Form: 4, 10.81%
  • Ghosted: 11 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 29.73%

It can be pretty discouraging and hard to go on when nothing new comes up which is positive.

This Quarter’s Productivity Killers

So, it’s work and the pandemic, what else? But we also spent the end of the first quarter clearing out my mother-in-law’s apartment. Second quarter 2020? Dealing with the rest of it.

I fear second quarter 2020 will not be the end of that!

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Writing Progress Report – Fourth Quarter 2019

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on December 31, 2019

Progress Report –Fourth Quarter 2019

How great was fourth quarter 2019? So I spent fourth quarter 2019 preparing for and then doing NaNoWriMo. And then the aftermath! Then everything just sort of fell into place. So how awesome was that?

Fourth Quarter 2019 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time fixing and polishing them.

Then on Wattpad I posted some fan fiction as I am not posting wholly original work there these days. That is, unless it’s for the WattNaNo profile.

Milestones

Also, I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

  • How to NaNoWriMo – 17,865+ reads, 231 comments
  • My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 972 reads, 133 comments
  • Revved Up – 59,075 reads, 528 comments
  • Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 13,007+ reads, 589 comments
  • The Canadian Caper – 468 reads, 37 comments
  • The Dish – 249 reads, 24 comments
  • There is a Road – 188 reads, 28 comments
  • WattNaNo’s Top Picks 2018 – 1,692 reads, 48 comments

More Published Works

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works!

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So yay!

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome.

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM, a story posted at Unfading Daydream‘s October issue (about possession) and their 2019 Anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in the November 2019 issues of Mythic Magazine.

WIP Corner

So, my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a handbasket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – the latest designer high doesn’t make you happy or sad, and it doesn’t even make you hallucinate. Rather, you can go back in time. Welcome to the 26th century, where the very rich use yesterday as their playground, and it’s up to Josie James and the rest of the OIA Department of Temporal Narcotics to rein in the worst of the abuses and cut off a burgeoning black market.

Prep Work

So currently, I have been working on some writing prompts to keep me sharp and keep the words flowing. My 2019 NaNoWriMo novel is set in the Obolonks universe. But I need more of a plot! So a lot of this year has been spent on that.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Queries and Submissions

So here’s how that’s been going during fourth quarter 2019.

In Progress

As of fourth quarter 2019, the following are still in the running for publishing:

This list is the name of the story and then the name of the potential publisher.

  • A Kitten – Dual Coast Magazine
  • Blue Card – Gods Among Men podcast
  • Darkness Into Light – Polychrome Ink
  • Dinosaurs – Electric Spec
  • Gentrification – Hecate
  • Killing Us Softly – Strange Fictions
  • None of This is Real – Analog Science Fiction & Fact
  • Side by Side – Leading Edge Magazine
  • Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us – Weekly Humorist
  • Who Do We Blame for This? – Emerging Worlds

Some of those have been out for a while, so I’m not exactly hopeful. Dinosaurs is on its 11th query. And Side by Side is on its 9th query. Who Do We Blame for This? is on query #8, and Blue Card is on query #7. Assuming no one picks them up, at some point, I’ll throw in the towel on those, and just post them on Wattpad. For Dinosaurs, this is its last shot.

All Other Statuses

So, be sure to see the Stats section for some details on any query statuses for fourth quarter 2019 which were not in progress.

Stats

So, in 2018, my querying stats were:

  • 68 submissions of 19 stories
  • Acceptances: 4, 5.88%
  • In Progress-Under Consideration: 3, 4.41% (so these don’t seem to have panned out)
  • In Progress: 10, 14.71%
  • Rejected-Personal: 14, 20.59%
  • Rejected-Form: 24, 35.29%
  • Ghosted: 13 (so these were submissions where I never found out what happened), 19.12%

And so in 2019 my querying stats are so far:

  • 30 submissions of 13 stories (so 6 submissions carry over from 2018)
  • Acceptances: 5, 16.67%
  • In Progress: 10 (so this includes 2 holdovers from 2018), 33.33%
  • Rejected-Personal: 10, 33.33%
  • Rejected-Form: 4, 13.33%
  • Ghosted: 1 (so these are submissions where I never found out what happened), 3.34%

So, particularly discouraging is the fact that I had no new acceptances in second quarter or third quarter 2019. In the fourth quarter, one story sprang back to life and I got another acceptance. So those were helpful. But man oh man! It’s still pretty discouraging and hard to go on.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Productivity Killers

So, it’s work, what else? Furthermore, during fourth quarter 2019, I did NaNoWriMo and saw my parents three times. I was a busy gal!

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