Social Media and Author Platform

How many ways can you be on social media now? Here is a lovely picture to give you an idea:

(Do you recognize all of the symbols?)

There are different opinions about writers having their own platform. Some experts say YES! you need one while others say "do whatever you want".

I guess the question is what do you want? And the follow-up question: how much time do you have?

Social media can be confusing. Which place is better to send out launch dates or updates? Where is the best place to post pictures from book signings? I don't think there is one right or wrong answer. It comes down to what you are comfortable with and how much time you are willing to invest.

Here is a breakdown I found of a few popular sites that might help:

• Facebook is for people you know, like from high school, college and family. 
• Twitter works for 140 word observations.
• Google+ tends toward passions like photography.
• Tumblr is full of pics and gifs.
• Pinterest is used for pinning recipes or ideas that you want to find later.
• LinkedIn is for business connections and finding a job.

Those are short answers that can be expounded into lengthy posts. You can use one or all of these to build your platform, but how you use them and the relationships on them will be different.

So back to my earlier question. What do you want to do?

Just remember:

Be careful what you put out into the great Internet universe because it can come back and hurt you.

What social media outlets are you on?
Do you look for authors online? Are they using social media?