It’s all about the internet

This week I seem to have been talking a lot about social media and the internet. Not on the internet of course – but face to face.

That happens to me a lot since I outed myself as a geek-girl.

I’ve dropped by two RNA chapters… and spent a morning with the lovely people at the U3A in Harrow.

Social media reared its head each time…because there’s a lot of pressure on everyone these days to be social on the internet.

So I thought I would post my top ten tips for social media, blogs and the internet generally.

1. Decide before you dive in what you want social media to do for you. Is it a sales tool, a way of sharing your interests and hobbies, a way of staying in touch with family and friends? It can be whatever you want it to be.
2. Don’t try to do it all – you will go seriously crazy and forget to eat or wash or speak to people face to face. Pick those bits of social media that work for you, and ignore the rest (at least for now).
3. Beware of giving out personal information. Never ever give your address on social media.
4. Respect others – don’t post pictures of people (especially children) without their permission. And respect copyright.
5. Content! Content! Content! There’s so much stuff on the internet – people will only stop to read or listen to things that interest them.. so be interesting. And if you are blogging – write well. Try to avoid spelling and grammar errors (although if you read this blog often enough, you’ll know that’s impossible).
6. Be active. If you blog – do it at least once a week. People won’t come back if they see the same thing on each visit.
7. Photographs are eye-catching – on blogs and on twitter. Especially if your target audience is female and you happen to post picture of Poldark. Which leads me too…
8. Don’t be afraid to jump on a bandwagon. If Poldark is trending this week – use a picture of Mr Poldark to attract attention. People will be googling him.. and they might just find you too.
9. Always reply to people – whether on twitter of Facebook or on a blog. Social media is supposed to be social. Interact with people and keep it friendly. They are ‘real’ people out there you know.
10. And if all else fails – post a cute picture of a cat. There can never be too many cute cat pictures on the internet.

Good Luck.