That whole social network thing again - Pheed, Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter-ache

At the end of November I ended my phone contract and switched, with my old phone, to a new provider that provides a flexible, choose-a-bundle-each-month-and-just-pay-for-that type of arrangement (I'll tell you who it is after a couple of months when I've made up my mind about the service). For this first month I chose not to pay the extra £3 for the blackberry services, like internet and push email, and haven't bothered to do the free get-around programming, for which there are plenty of YouTube tutorials. I'm not bothered about the internet and email, but it also means I can't use Twitter on my phone and - huge surprise - I really miss it! I hadn't realised how many ten-minute chunks of time I'd passed on the way to work in scrolling down the news and in noting competitions and interviews. It's just not the same on a laptop screen. 

I recently joined two networks. One is Pheed, and to be honest, I don't really know why I did except in order to have a look around. People seem to share stuff - pictures, videos - the way they do on Facebook, so I imagine that for focussed people who spend a lot of time online anyway, with something specific to promote, it could be useful. There is an option to 'monetize your content': I haven't looked any further into that because, although I know that it only means 'sell your work', the phrase just sounds so dreary. Why not term it, well, 'Sell Your Work'? Okay, I'll stop griping. The point is, it's a fairly new network, it's another way to connect and publicise your work, and could make you a bit of money. 

By the way, I am pretty much dormant on Facebook now; my friends are mostly people with whom I'm in regular contact anyway by email, text and phone, and hula hoopers I've met over the years, whose profiles I'll drop by to say hello to every couple of months. From what Rebecca Woodhead says in her column in January's Writing Magazine, the days of promoting yourself and your books on Facebook are pretty much over, so I can happily ignore the nagging voice in the back of my head that's been saying 'What about that Facebook author page then?'. (Wait till I'm a proper author, I've been telling it.) 

The other network I joined was Goodreads, which I think everyone should be on. It's a great way to get recommendations for authors you'd never heard of, so you can toddle off list in hand to the library (you do use your local library, don't you?). It's also brilliant fun simply loading it with all the the books you have read, finding ones you'd forgotten about and ranking them.  You have various shelves, you see, and you can create ones with your own labels. As well as the 'Read it' and 'To read' that come with the new account, I've added 'Must re-read' and 'Couldn't finish it'. You can connect with friends and follow people  - there's a distinction there which is unclear to me as yet as I haven't done either, but I will! Give it a go.

Right, must rush - I'm going to Manchester to meet my sisters and then we're all off down to London by an early train tomorrow to meet our lovely cousin for her birthday treat. There will be cake, and tea, and a musical, and possibly wine!