July 01, 2015 
Miriam 
As you all know, we’ve been pushing the whole build-your-platform-through-social-media idea pretty much relentlessly since grumpy cat memes and the Kardashians became a thing. We’ve also suggested that understanding how social media works and knowing how to use it properly (for good, not evil) is essential. We’ve seen how often it can backfire and how damaging the repercussions can be.
That was brought home to me this week by two separate “#Ask___” Twitter events. First, E.L. James had to deal with responses that ranged from mildly sarcastic to outright insulting when she agreed to participate in an online chat to promote her latest iteration of 50 Shades. Then, in a very different arena, presidential candidate Bobby Jindal’s #AskBobby hashtag elicited some pretty rude commentary about the Louisiana governor’s policies and even personal life and left a lot of people wondering if someone so clueless about how Twitter works could actually be a good president.
What’s amazing about both of these situations is that these are folks who should know better—or at least their handlers and p.r. people should. The social media universe is mostly a Hobbesian place—all cynicism, righteous anger, and meanspiritedness—where moderation in opinions or dialogue is in very, very short supply. And, those who are out there promoting themselves, their work, or a cause, need to figure out how not to fall victim to the pitchfork wielding mobs (metaphorically speaking, of course). So authors need to beware. In order to reap the benefits of an effective social media presence, you need to understand the potential pitfalls and be thoughtful about how to avoid them. Like any tool, this one can help build or destroy.
What useful things have you learned from your experiences on social media?
1. Facebook: extreme right lives here, avoid moderate POV, or any opinion that may oppose unfettered capitalism. For that matter, stick to pictures.
2. FB: Never mention anything positive about our President or your character and reputation will be attacked, maybe your faith, too. (Even with a diverse body of friends).
3. FB: When it comes to helping the poor, make sure you include one of two things: how they’re gonna work for the food you give them or how after you feed them, they’ll go to your church and accept your faith.
4. FB: Where the middle is silent and the left speaks out with caution or when there’s a large victory.
5. Twitter is like a high school lunchroom. You’ve got the table for sports fanatics, techies, and writers. There is little crossover. And if you sit at one table one day and visit another a different day, you’re tainted, and shunned for awhile by the first table. The second table will also be unwelcoming since you’re not extreme enough about their table’s theme.
5. Twitter: Both extremes live here, but the right tends to attack on fake accounts.
6. Quotes by famous people are safe.
7. The more Extreme the opinion, the more stars and RTs and MTs and sometimes a hashtag forms.
8. If you want to stand out on Twitter, you must be sensational, none of that center of the road, people come at things from different perspectives approach.
9. Memes are safe. People can agree about animals, unless you’re not a cat person, like me, then you’re called out for being disagreeable, which is mostly true.
10. DO NOT under any circumstances put up anything real (like a struggle) on any social media outlet. Pictures should be posed and filtered and statuses should be edited with a wand of positivity.
But on a serious note, I can’t think of one book I bought because an author had a big network on social media. When others ascribe value to that author’s work, I sometimes pick it up, and I look them up on Twitter. When they use their platform to do something good, I like them more.
Well said, Tips! And funny, too.