Do Genres decide which social networking site authors use?

     

“Literary Culture” I believe represents a community of individuals who share a certain literary interest.

“Literary Culture” today is significantly different from what it was 20-30 years ago. Before the only place where individuals with similar literary interest could gather to share and discuss their opinions on literature were limited to book clubs organized in living rooms of suburban homes. Now with the internet and social media connecting people from all over the world, readers can gather to comment on forums and their favorite authors’ page on Facebook, and sometimes even engage in conversations with the authors themselves.

With the advancement of digital social media, authors who are seeking a wide range of audiences are rushing to keep up with the times to try to establish a presence on the internet. With a large pool of potential readers, the establishment of a strong web presence would be crucial in exposing the internet savvy generation to their work. Do you think the authors are doing so purely for monetary gain?

Nick Hornby author of About a Boy, has a Facebook page that is barely update by the author himself. Instead it serves as a medium in which his fans are able to compliment and discuss his books with other fans. The page also serves the purpose of promoting his books and as a source of free advertising. While I do not fault Mr Hornby or other authors who promote their work shamelessly through social networking sites, I do believe that it may not have the intended impact of gaining a significant number of new readers as the people who would go to such pages already own some or maybe all of his books, but I also believe that the chance of exposing one’s work to new audiences makes such promotions worthwhile.

On the other hand, Jonathan Wilson, an author of a few books on soccer and the editor of the Blizzard, a magazine of sorts which features stories on soccer, has a twitter page that is being update constantly and the author himself engages in conversations with his followers on a regular basis. He does still promote his books and articles but he also does so for different authors which he finds pretty interesting. I appreciate authors who attempt to connect with their readers through social networking sites, as it allows the readers to feel appreciated and valued.

I think the web presences of “literary” figures are largely dependent on their genre of work. By examining “literary” figures who are of differing genres, I have come to realize that the differing genres do play a role in determining the sort of social media they would engage in to connect with their audience, authors and journalists seek to engage their readers through a different medium.

In the case of Jonathan Wilson and Nick Hornby’s differing approach to social media, I think it is because Mr Wilson’s articles has much to do with listening to the feedback given by his target audience and generating discussions as they are mostly journalistic articles as compared to Mr Hornby whose novels are usually not dependent on what his target audience wants to read.  

Links
Nick Hornby"s Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/nickhornby.uk
Jonathan Wilson's Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/#!/jonawils
My favourite Jonathan Wilson article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/may/02/the-question-great-teams-end