Random Bits and Pieces: facebook

Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Janet & John go back to Twitter and Facebook

(with a bit of general security thrown in)

Facebook.

You all have Facebook pages – or should have. When you set-up your Facebook page, you will be asked for your contacts. Time for some "Joined-up thinking"

Put EVERYTHING that you want your readers or friends to see.

THIS is the place to put:

a. 1. Your Twitter address

b. 2. Your Blog address

c. 3. Your Website

d. 4. Your author page.

e. 5. Your e-mail address

f. 6. Your Birthday – (the date without the year if you wish)

If you wish, set up an "Authors e-mail address" to keep it separate from your personal e-mails.

But – DO NOT put your full home address in. This is basic security.

DO put your home country and county or city.

This is my Facebook Page. More details about me can be found by clicking on the About link.

Put down everything you think your readers or friends would be interested in, BUT only things that you are happy to display in public.

You will be asked to put your phone number in. If you do this (and it can be very useful) you can choose it to have it visible to everyone, i.e. Public, visible to your Friends, or just you. Set it to "Only Me".
If you forget your Facebook password, you can click on the "Forgot my password" link, and Facebook will send a text message to your mobile with a new temporary password.

To help remember your password (and all passwords) try e-mailing a copy of them to yourself.

Do put your Birthday down, but not your Year. You can leave that blank.

The page above shows my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and my Blog addresses. It also shows my mobile number – but the security setting on this is set to "Only Me"

Also, DO make sure your Twitter page shows your Website, your Blog and your Facebook page. Make it easier for a prospective reader.

When someone Friends or Follows you, you can set your computer to send an automatic message. This is a common feature of "platforms" like Crowdfire.

Fine, but if you do so – DO NOT say "Hi – buy my books" (or variations thereof).

This just comes across as needy! Personally, I hate Auto-messages. It IS a Social medium, so try and be there.

You can use a "Validation Service" like Truetwit. This helps weed out any spam Tweets. I know of at least 2 friends who use it. It seems fine, but personally, I haven't needed to. Do remember, there may be a gender issue here.

New Friends on Facebook

This is the "important bit" of your top bar on your Facebook page, and THIS is where you find your new Friends. If this is marked RED then someone wants to "Friend" you.

Click on it, and you will see their details. In general terms, it is only good manners to accept and "Confirm", but, if they have no friends in common with you, or if they are obviously using a false picture, or if their name is in an Oriental script, in Arabic or doesn't make sense, then DO NOT FRIEND THEM!

If in doubt, right-click on their Photo, and if it has been ripped off from some oriental film star's page, it may show up. Not guaranteed, but a help.

I get a number of requests to Friend from some VERY odd people. Single ladies from the Far East in the main.

The best way of finding new Friends is through your EXISTING friends. When you click on your Friends tab, you will get a page showing, eventually, ALL your current friends. Thjs is MY Friends page (as in early July 2016)

Clicking on Sue's page, and then on her Friends link gives you:

You can see some of the details of Sue's Friends, however – if you click on "More" you will see a tag "People you may know"

Clicking on "People You May Know" brings up this screen:

If you look at the names, you can see a number of people listed who have a LOT of friends jointly with me. I use a working figure of 60. If we have 60 or more friends in common, then we are likely to have interests in common, and can be a 2-way source of support.

I have now sent a Friend Request to Candie, Elizabeth, George and Glennis (and had positive replies from them)

You can also SUGGEST friends. Click on the link marked "Suggest Friends" and you can suggest to the owner of the page any of YOUR friends you think they would like to know.

Note that JoJo Moyes appears in the above list. BUT Jojo doesn't empty her Facebook requests, and she has had so many that you get this message:

Unable to Send Friend Request

This person has reached the friend request limit and can't accept any more.

So keep looking for friends. Your publisher and agent will like it, and, hopefully, so will your sales figures.

A Separate Author (or Blogger) Page.

Several of you may have, or want to have, a separate "Author Page". I have one, and I find it useful for news purely related to writing and the WiP.

They are very easy to set up: Click on the small downward arrow in the top bar of your own Facebook page. In the drop-down menu that appears, click on "Create Page"

You will then get a choice of what type of page. As a writer or author, you may well choose "Artist, Band or Public Figure"

You can then select either Author or Writer from a drop-down list.

You name your page: i.e. John Jackson – Author, and you add a profile picture, a background picture and information to suit.

You want people to "Like" your Author page. Your Agent or Publisher wants it even more. That being the case, announce it on Twitter and on your main Facebook page, and LIKE YOUR FELLOW AUTHORS PAGES!

Then they will like yours.

And, there is the added bonus of when you actually meet someone at an RNA, Writers or Bloggers function or the like, you have an instant intro "Hi, We are Friends on FaceBook! Or "I Liked your Author's Page""

And so to Twitter.

I get "Followers" EVERY DAY who will promise to get me several thousand new followers. Well, no, they won't – and they won't get them for you either.

Mr Goredama Farebrother – who may be better known as Fany Vekhunu has been reported to Twitter and blocked.

It's VERY easy, and just a few clicks of the mouse. Just click on the "Little Man"

Click on "Report",

and then on "They are posting spam",

and finally, "Block", whereupon, Twitter will thank you.

But what about Twitter followers who have slipped through the net? (and they do!)

Click on your Twitter page:

Then click on "Followers"

These 3 Followers are pure Spam! They want to sell you followers.

This is a classic page where the owner has not deleted her Spam followers.

If you don’t, you will find yourself getting more and more of them. Notice that the

Twitter address NEVER matches the person's name. (look at the 2 on the right, and the bottom middle one)

Just for fun, I clicked on one to see what Tweets they had sent out. NOTHING but spam.

This was another that came to me. I'm not altogether sure she has any interest in writing, beer or

romantic fiction. This MAY be a gender issue, of course. You may all find yourself being

Followed by hunky guys.

She has only sent 35 tweets, is following 1318, and is only followed by 134. That itself is a sign of a spam account.

There are some good ways to extend and keep your Followers list. Here are a few.

a. Follow people who follow you (or "Follow Back")

b. Follow those at the top of the tree – like, for instance,

i. @KatieFforde, (8,000 followers)

ii. @JillMansell,(18,000)

iii. @carolematthews.(12,000)

c. Follow other RNA Members. You'll find a LOT of them at https://twitter.com/RNAtweets/followers

d. Send a DM (a Direct Message) to your new followers. DO NOT try to sell them your book)

e. Use Hashtags. These allow people to link to other tweets on the same subject. An RNA convention has evolved of sending our book-related news out on a Tuesday with a tag of #tuesnews and also addressed to @RNAtweets.

f. Also on hashtags, I use #ff for the Friday tweets. This stands for "Follow Friday" and is used to identify friends and followers.

g. Be informative and original. DON'T just Retweet other people's tweets.

h. Don't rapid tweet - Don’t incessantly tweet to your Followers. They really don’t need to know what you are doing every five minutes.

i. You only have 140 characters. This can REALLY sharpen your headlining and general writing skills.

j. Respond to RT’s - If someone has retweeted you, thank them.

Twitter and Facebook are well described as "Social Media", and, like so many things – the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

Phishing!

I had an e-mail this week. It is a perfect example of a Phishing e-mail The perpetrators are looking to harvest and sell live e-mail addresses. Should you be so mistaken as to give your account details out then they would be delighted to help themselves to the contents of your account.

NatWest <ishwar_kataria@hotmail.co.uk>

jjackson@btinternet.com

Today at 7:27

Dear jjackson@btinternet.com,

Your online security is important to us. That is why we are committed to safeguarding your personal information to keep it secure and confidential.

There was an attempt to sign in to your Natwest online from an unrecognized device, for your protection you are hereby requested to perform some necessary information update

Review your account

To strengthen the security measures protecting your account, we have added additional security. We will review and verify the activity on your account with you and take necessary steps to protect your account.

We know what it means to serve you,

Yours sincerely,

Natwest Online and mobile banking team

This is a CLASSIC "Phishing" scam.

It also has some classic giveaways.(Highlighted)

1. The senders e-mail address is not a NatWest address. Anyone can get a Hotmail address, and no bank or business would EVER use one.

2. The Grammar is shocking, as is the punctuation.

3. It "looks wrong".

4. It hasn’t got my name on it – only my e-mail address.

If you EVER get an e-mail like this do NOT click on the link. You are demonstrating that your e-mail address is "live" and they can then add your address to many other lists and sell it on.

Mark it as Spam!

And finally, be nice to people. God knows the world, including the world of Twitter and Facebook needs a little kindness.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Social Media – or "The Clue Is In The Name."

This post is based on a talk I gave to the Flying Ducks - the Harrogate chapter of the RNA.

For writers, this means Facebook, and Twitter. These are both FREE and easy to download.

Also classed as social media, but really messaging systems and photo-sharing platforms, are Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and WhatsApp. These are what all the kids use when swopping "selfies", and are of little use to a writer.

And on the edge of social media are Blogs, and your Website.

It's called Social Media because it only really works if you are social – or, perhaps, sociable.

If you've been writing, and been published for a long time, and have a decent back-list, you will have a coterie of regular readers. These are the readers who will wait for the next Freda Lightfoot or Jessica Blair book, or who will buy a re-released book of theirs.

But to attract NEW and younger readers – this is where Social Media comes in.

So let's look at them separately.

Twitter.

Nearly all of you are on Twitter – I know, because I tweet most of you on a Friday. As Authors, you would all like more sales, library borrowing and readers.

If you talk to your agent or publisher, they will ALL, apparently without exception, ask how many followers you have on Twitter.

A Follower is someone who is interested in you and what you do. There are TWO sorts of followers:

Good Followers. Friends, readers, agents, publishers, RNA members, etc.

Bad Followers. People you want to sell you stuff – especially the "Get 5,000 new followers" type.

People who never tweet themselves.

People with obviously fake photos on their profiles.

People with strange foreign sounding names.

When someone like this asks to follow you, just BLOCK them.

Once you have Twitter installed and you are registered, you CAN just use it as you find it.

Many people – including me – use a program called Tweetdeck; also free. This helps display your tweets in tabular form on the screen, and makes them easier to reply to.

My Tweetdeck screen, this morning.

You can add or change the columns yourself, should you wish. You can also schedule Tweets, or attach a picture.

Also available is Hootsuite. This fulfils the same sort of function as Tweetdeck. They are both good, and the more you use them, the easier they are to use, and the more you get out of them.

Tweets.

Twitter limits you to 140 characters per message. This is good, insofar as you need to be concise.

If you just send out a message without any specific addresses, it will be seen by all your "followers".

If you start the Tweet with a Twitter address, i.e. @jjackson42, it will go to my Notifications and to any "Joint Followers" we have in common.

If you include other Twitter addresses, it will show in their Notifications.

You can send someone a Direct Message – which ONLY goes to them (see the right-hand most column above) These can now be more than 140 characters.

Twitter has a very useful Web-page which explains a lot more than I can put here. It's at:

https://support.twitter.com/categories/281

What is Twitter For?

It's an information network, and the information that you want to spread around is – in particular – about YOUR BOOKS, and the books and other news of your friends. That way, they will reciprocate and spread the word about your books.

This process is called RETWEETING and is very easy.

Here, I have retweeted a message about the Dublin Writer's Conference. You can tell by the GREEN marker on the upper right-hand corner of the tweet.

To Re-Tweet something, look for the symbol with 2 arrows on. (second from the left below)

Just click on it, it will open up a separate "box" for you and you can add a comment, or just re-send the original message. This will now reach all YOUR followers as well as the person who sent the original.

If you want to REPLY to the Tweet, click on the left-hand arrow. Your reply will go to the sender – and to any other addresses shown in the original message.

Click on the Heart to show you "Like" or have seen the Tweet.

Click on the 3 dots for more options.

As I was writing this, I had this "follow" It's a good example of a follower I didn't want. We have no friends or interests in common. I'd rather be safe than sorry!

To block him, I clicked on the "Silhouette", and then on "Block" in the drop-down menu that appeared.

And this morning I had these 2 "follows"

I followed these 2 back, as they are both writers.

A good way of building your followers list is to Follow those people in your Friday #ff Tweet. These will ALWAYS be the Twitter addresses of "like minded people."

So, to recap so far. You should (and perhaps already are) be happy setting up a Twitter account and building up a good number of followers.

In general, if someone follows you, then return the compliment and follow them back.

Twitter Etiquette

Twitter is a "live medium" and works best for short messages or announcements.

Do NOT send out "Buy my Book" tweets several times a day. There are people who do, but they don’t realize that, in the first instance, they are sending the same message over and over again to the SAME people.

Some good writers and nice people are guilty of this. You wouldn't want to block them, but you can opt out of getting their messages by "Muting" them. When you click on the "head" icon, you get a drop-down window again. If you are getting too many tweets from someone you can Mute them by clicking on the link shown.

If they are Spamming you, or abusing the system, or yourself - you can Report them in the same way.

#Hashtags.

Hashtags identify a "common interest." They always have # at the start of the word, and are always 1 word.

When you hear that "So and So was Trending" this means that there were a LOT of tweets with the same hashtag or subject.

These were the subjects trending in London when I wrote this:

United Kingdom Trends

· #marr

· #InternationalDayOfHappiness

· #bbctbq

· #AusGP

· #Murnaghan

· Barry Hines

· Alonso

· Vettel

· Ros Altmann

Lewis

RNA Members tend to exchange "News" on Tuesdays, to from most RNA members who make an announcement then, you will see @RNATweets and #TuesNews in the text.

#ff tweets are a convention for sending a general tweet among your followers on a Friday. #ff in this case stands for Follow Friday.

#tbt stands for Throw-Back Thursday, and is a conventional way to precede any old photos of yourself that you think may be of interest.

Finally, on Twitter, the RNA has a semi-resident Twitter expert in Anita Chapman (Neets) She has an excellent blog, and this is her guide to Twitter for Writers.

http://www.neetsmarketingblog.com/2015/01/my-beginners-guide-to-twitter-for.html

And so to: -

Facebook.

Most of us have a Facebook page. If you don't, then click on https://www.facebook.com/ and you can get one immediately, and free. Facebook remains THE LARGEST social media platform in terms on numbers of users, with over 1.5 billion users!

It is still a Social Medium, and, to work for you, needs regular use. You would be VERY surprised at what posts people like.

A very conventional snapshot of my page this morning.

A lot of authors have their own personal Facebook page, and also, for their reading public, a separate Author page. The difference is that your Author page is open for anyone to leave comments.

BUT – people cannot ask you to be their Friend via your Author page. They can – and hopefully will "Like" your page.

This is MY Author page, as I see it. If you have one, then only you will have a similar view.

They can NOT see any of your personal details, and they don't see any of the "control buttons." They are only for the page owner.

I'm sure many of you know Sue Moorcroft, who writes rather nice contemporary fiction.(i.e. very good reads)

This is HER author page. When Sue logs on and checks her author page, she will see it with all the whistles and bells on, like on my Author page above. We dont. We get the "Janet & John" version, if you like.

For your own PERSONAL Facebook page, this is only visible to your "Friends".

If you WANT to have an Author page, then go to your own personal page, Look for the small down arrow in the top "bar" of the page, and click on it.

It will say: (obviously with your name, not mine)

Click on Create Pages, and follow the instructions. it is pretty easy. Click on the Artist, Band or Public Figure box, and then Get Started.

You can invite people to be your friend, by e-mail, or "Friend" them via their Facebook page, and they will normally return the favour.

You can also UNFriend them!!

You will get some strange requests to be your "Friend". Basically, their request will show how many mutual friends you have in common.

This is a good guide to ensure you are "Friending" someone with the same interests as you. Remember too that people may ask to "Friend" you under their pen name or real name.

Facebook will also show you other users, and how many mutual friends you have in common.

I use the magic number of 60. If someone is already sharing 60 friends with you, then there is an excellent chance that you will have a good deal in common, particularly in matters related to writing.

Here, I clicked on "Add Friend" for Portia, with 200 friends in common, and Lottie, with 61 friends in common.

If you see a genuine friend on the list - someone you actually know in real life - then add them!

You can "Friend" or "Follow" various official organizations, such as

England Rugby https://www.facebook.com/OfficialEnglandRugby/?fref=ts , or – more usefully perhaps,

The Society of Authors. https://www.facebook.com/TheSocietyofAuthors/?fref=ts.

And, of course, the RNA. https://www.facebook.com/Romantic.Novelists.Association/?fref=ts

For those who like their Celebrity News, Hello! Magazine also has a page with more than 1.6 million Followers. https://www.facebook.com/hello/?fref=ts

They won't follow you back, but you can get your "fix" of Celebrity News.

Facebook is VERY useful for disseminating news about you. Like all of these things, the essential part is "control." YOU control what goes out on your page or twitter feed.

People LOVE seeing snaps of your garden, or your kids / grandkids or pets. There are more pictures of cats than anything else on Facebook!

Also, when you take a picture of friends and post it to Facebook, as I do frequently, you can "Tag" them. They will see the pic on their own page. You can only tag people you are Friends with though, and DO make sure they are happy about being tagged.

And, with pics of your children and grandchildren; they don't need Facebook to embarrass them - we do that perfectly well without Facebook's or Twitter's help.

As a Writer – how can I use Facebook?

Post about those things that are important or interesting to you, and that you hope will be interesting to others, such as:

1. Your new cover.
2. Your new publishing contract
3. Your new agent or publisher
4. Your new book.
5. Your new blog or webpage update.
6. Anything relevant about your sales on Amazon or other charts.
7. If Amazon is featuring your books in a special offer.
8. Anything else you think people will enjoy.

Post if you have BAD news, especially if it's something that really affects you. You will find a great outpouring of support and sympathy from friends on line. It IS a great support network, and Social Media at its best.

Re-posting if it is really important to you is fine but DO NOT OVERDO IT!

Post reasonably regularly. It’s a Social Medium, and your posts keep your page alive.

Security – for both Twitter and Facebook.

Once you post something, it is out there, forever. In general, that isn’t a problem, and certainly shouldn’t stop you using either Twitter or Facebook.

However – NEVER POST WHEN DRUNK!
(Not even when just a little bit tiddly.)

(a special thanks to Sue Moorcroft for allowing the use of her Author page)

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