It's hard to believe, but on January 23rd, MPB turned six -- six!
How did that happen?
The blogosphere has certainly changed a lot since then. Today it seems there are more social media platforms than ever before. I've chosen to participate in some enthusiastically, dragged my feet with others, and rejected a few too (Tumblr anyone?).
Here's what I do participate in and how I use it. BTW, it seems to be a matter of some dispute whether a blog is actually a form of social media. I think it is -- it's a type of online forum, right? -- but today I'm writing about social media platforms people use to promote a blog, or to expand its reach or expression.
I probably don't do as much with Facebook as I could. I generally post a link to my most recent blog post there because I know that's where a lot of readers follow me. It can also be a fun place for to leave short comments (I read them) or to message me directly.
I've always found Facebook to be a little bewildering, and I don't understand why some posts reach a lot of people and others do not. Perhaps I could invest more time in it and get more out of it. Thoughts?
I've been a member of Pinterest for nearly four years. It took me a while to join because initially, you may recall, you had to be invited by someone who was already a member. It seemed like a hassle.
I've enjoyed Pinterest a lot. I've found it to be a great place to archive visual ideas I have for projects, or to create an easy-to-access (and share) record of my sewing projects or obsessions-of-the-moment. Now that the Powers at Pinterest have started suggesting images I might like ("Picked for you"), rather than just allowing me to see only posts by people I follow, I find it less enjoyable. There are an infinite number of images out there, but it seems Pinterest picks many of the same ones for me (presumably based on what they think I'm interested in). No more Lucille Ball, please!
I have never used Twitter to do anything other than to post a link to my latest blog post. Twitter has never felt like a good fit, frankly -- maybe I'm just too long-winded -- and I'm not sure how other sewing bloggers use it.
If you use it, what do you like about it?
I truly enjoy Instagram. I didn't join till last Spring because I didn't own a smart phone. Now that I have one, I almost always have a camera on-hand. I love being able to post images of what I'm up to and to see what other people are doing.
What's great about it for me is that it's immediate and I don't feel limited to posting just sewing-related images, though I often do. It's fun to share other aspects of my life: my family, my dogs, food, curious things I come across during a dog walk, and so much more. It doesn't require planning and it's totally spontaneous. It's also fun to go back and look at photos I've posted in the past, or to use hashtags to see who else is posting photos of chihuahuas (or Elna Grasshoppers), for example.
YouTube
YouTube has changed a lot since I started blogging in early 2010. I used to make a lot of short sewing-related videos and hope to continue to do more, but I find that they are very time-consuming to do well. I enjoy watching other people's video tutorials, but I don't create many of my own. I had a weekly vlog the summer before last, but eventually I ran out of steam.
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What else? Even before I had a blog of my own, I was very active on Pattern Review, which I think is a terrific place for sewers to interact with each other. BurdaStyle was another sewing site I enjoyed and where I posted sewing projects and wrote occasional articles.
You can run the risk of over-posting a sewing project as well as under-posting. Once someone has seen something on a blog, they may not want to see it again on Pattern Review (the reverse is equally true: it depends on which sites you visit most frequently).
And that's my social media story in a nutshell.
How about you?
Which social media platforms do you enjoy most? Which are the best for following the sewing adventures of your friends or for sharing your own?
Do you ever feel like if one more social media outlet gets invented you'll dump it all and go back to your manual typewriter?
Jump in!
Congratulations on 6 years of inventive, educational, hilarity!
ReplyDeleteCouldn’t have said it better myself!
DeleteFor following the adventures of fellow sewists blogs are my favourite platform by far!
ReplyDeleteI seem to segregate my activities by platform. Blogs are for straight up sewing (both writing and reading em). Twitter is just pop culture geekdom. Pinterest is good for getting clients to pick stuff they like. Facebook is great for testing groups (easy to post photos and comments). Instagram is for following your pups, flea market sunday, Roisin and gin, and trying to make Jet Set Sewing laugh. Gal's gotta have a goal.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on six fine fine years, and much good sewing. More more more!
Congratulations! Yours was the very first blog I followed and I think I read your first post. Always fun. I read quite a few blogs and I still like pattern review, also the Stitchers Guild site at artisansquare. Must get into instagram. But there can be too much social media in a life.
ReplyDeleteHappy sixth anniversary
Congrats Peter! Keep on blogging. I find the blogs and YouTube the most informative and entertaining. Pattern Review is great for reference, but the forums within contain more rambling than sewing. Sorry, must pass on the other social forms when it comes to sewing information for me.
ReplyDeleteFirst my congrats on your six years blogging! How you did it on a daily basis is still bewildering to me. If I post every six months it's a major accomplishment! I recently got into Instagram and enjoy it but Facebook is another story. I only joined after some prodding from my sister and check the scene out every other week, if that. That is the extent of my social media use and at this time it's quite enough. On a side note, I know you got some ideas brewing on the use of sheer fabrics and can't wait to see what you come up with!
ReplyDeleteScorpioninblue,
DeleteYour posts are savored.
A fan
Six years -- and many more, I hope. Congratulations! Change is the only constant and who knows how we'll be communicating in twenty years; by keeping the focus on sewing, your approach to the various media is very sane. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! If you get fed up with the "picked for you" on Pinterest, there is an app you can download and click that removes them. As you scroll down the page you have to click again as you move along. Easy enough to google the instructions.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda!
DeleteThis is definitely something that I struggle with, and I wish I was better at, but it always seems like there is a new social media that is coming out. And I listened to a great Ted talk on using the platforms, and how so often we use them almost like a mail service to direct traffic to a blog, where really they have their own entire communities and ways to use them more effectively to create followings and share in the community- but it can be hard to do that when you have so many platforms on the go! I use Facebook, mostly for forums, and I love Instagram for spontaneous stuff, I still like Pinterest (even with the 'picked for you') and I'm starting to get into Kollabora, oh and of course I use Bloglovin' . But I just can't seem to get into things like tumblr, twitter or snapchat. - it's all too much sometimes! Congrats on 6 years!
ReplyDeleteWow, 6 years! Congratulations. I do think social media is just getting too much. There are so many new sewing forums opening up I can't keep track and can feel a bit overwhelmed. You can spend too much time updating everything. I do miss the old Burdastyle. It was great back in the day and where I first found your blog. Xx
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 6 years of blogging! There are too many social media platforms for me to keep up with and quite frankly, I don't have the time. I don't have Facebook; no Twitter; no Instagram. I use Pinterest infrequently and when I do it's just to archive ideas. I have my blog but don't post too often...again not too much spare time available.
ReplyDeleteCongrats and how fun! I pretty much agree with your point of view on all of the social media. My time is so much more limited these days that Instagram is really my best way of staying connected to other sewists - both posting and keeping up with others. It's bite sized and manageable for me. And as for Pinterest, it apparently thinks I'm still pregnant... Taco is 14 mos.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 6 years!! It’s really amazing that your posts have remained so fresh for all this time.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are my preference for sewing information.
For years, I resisted social media because I heard horror stories about security. Now that the whole world is on Facebook, I decided to join. I waste lots of time scrolling through pages and pages of baby photos from “friends” I don’t actually know. However, I’ve found groups of folks who like the same things I do and I enjoy having discussions with them.
I would give Twitter a try, but I don’t have anything interesting to tweet, and I’m not interested in reading about the fact that Mary Smith and 14 others are at Dunkin’ Donuts.
I enjoy YouTube. Pinterest and Instagram sound like fun, but when do I get the time for all this? I have an employer who actually expects me to do actual work. Now there’s Periscope. It’s all getting to be too much.
I've been enjoying your posts for quite awhile, 4 years? You are the first blog I read. Thank you for sharing your life.
ReplyDeleteI do Tumblr because of the fellow sickies I've found there. Seems to me that each platform is more suitable for different things. Perhaps.
Congratulations on six years! And thanks for all the great photos and provocative questions. You are my favorite fashion eye on NYC. I joined FB to see photos of my most distant grand nephew, enjoy Pattern Review occasionally. No time to mess around with so many platforms, and not really interested either. I came to this decision/policy the day an acquaintance posted long messages like "waiting in the car in the grocery parking lot for daughter to buy ice cream." I'd rather be sewing! And I've discovered at the ripe old age of over sixty that multitasking really doesn't work, so I work on one project at a time and enjoy being disconnected from such vital messages. Kristina
ReplyDelete