Social Media: Helping or Hindering the Art of Writing?

Friendly Friday will be a little different today. We’ve had yet another death in our circle, this one a freak accident, that has continued the horrible series of losses we’ve been part of  since September. Every one of these tragic events has made me really think about being human, living, and dying. That is probably the biggest reason I feel the need to get this first book published now. It’s about leaving some sort of legacy, and making my mark on the world. (Of course, I hope I’m around long enough to get my in-progress novel finished and published, too.)

For those of you who have somehow missed it, I have a project up on Kickstarterto help me fund the publishing costs for my book, which will be published in April. This book will be a

One possible cover for the book...

comprehensive “how to” book for writers. If you are new to the business and want to know what to do to get started, this book is for you. On the other hand, if you have written for a while, but still aren’t making the money you need, this book will help with that as well. If you have written a novel and want to get published, this book is for you. Writers at all stages of their career will benefit from the information I am putting together in this manual. Please check out my “How to Write and Get Paid” listing on Kickstarter, and my first video making attempt, back the project, Twitter it, Facebook it, and share it with all your writer friends! Thanks for all of your help…

Now, on to this nice guest post from Laura Backes. She discusses social media and writing and raises some good questions. Would love to hear your opinions after you have read this article.

Social Media: Helping or Hindering the Art of Writing?

Writing has turned over a whole new page these days with implementation of different social media sensations like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogging. You no longer need a fancy degree or published clips to prove that you have a career in writing and saying you work for a newspaper is admitting that you’re in a profession that is teetering on the verge of extinction. In fact, it’s arguable that all you need now to prove that you’re a writer is your own URL. What has social media done to writing?

There’s no doubt that the world of writing has exponentially increased since social media took the world by storm. Suddenly everyone is an “author” with their daily blog updates and tweets going out to the masses. Social media has, for all intents and purposes, eliminated the need for a printed newspaper or magazine because printing articles doesn’t even begin to compete with typing something up on your computer, clicking “submit”, and having your article appear on the internet only seconds later. Sadly, editing and proof-reading are only after-thoughts in the mindset of “publish NOW”, and often fall to the wayside in hastily thrown together published works.

However social media’s impact on writing isn’t all bad. Sure, just about anyone can get away with calling themselves a writer, but for people who actually have talent within the field social media is only helping them to get better at what they do. Take, for instance, Twitter: in 140 characters or less you have to get your message across. If you fail then it falls on deaf ears. But if you succeed then you have effectively captivated an audience… which is the whole purpose of writing in the first place, right? Social media like Twitter (or sites like Facebook and Tumblr) reinforces all of the key aspects of writing: being clear and concise, eliminating unnecessary fluff, staying on topic, telling a story in as few words as possible… all of these things are what you are taught in school make up an effective writer.

It’s kind of a catch-22 situation. On the one hand, social media is making the good writers better, and everyone out there who lacks talent but still parades under the title of “writer” or “journalist” is just further highlighting those who really do have what it takes. Sure, anyone can publish something, but it takes true talent – social media or not – to gain a solid following of people who appreciate your work.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post from Laura Backes, she enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internetserviceprovidersinmyarea.  You can reach her at: laurabackes8 @ gmail.com.