Do a Google search for “should creative writers be on Twitter?” and you’ll get plenty of results. Approximately 266,000,000, to be precise.
Two of the top three are even from Twitter itself, indicating that many creative writers already use it.
There’s also an article from Reedsy, another from Hootsuite, and one from Huffington Post. But the very first one you’ll see is an article from The Writer’s Circle. It’s titled “If You’re a Writer, You Need to Follow These 12 Twitter Accounts.”
According to it:
A lot of writers are still undecided when it comes to Twitter. It’s not nearly as personal as Facebook, but it’s a surprisingly great tool for writers! The brief nature of tweets encourages people to create original content. And, although the “retweet” feature allows others to repost content, writers should see this as a vehicle for others to share their words! The best part about Twitter is interacting with published writers. Because Twitter is less about social networking and more about content production, it doesn’t matter who you are; as long as you’re writing, your words will be read! Just remember to include #amwriting, Twitter’s most important hashtag.
Here’s why I’m not buying that endorsement at face value…
Despite how it doesn’t provide a date, the referenced article reads like old news.
There’s the explanatory language used as if people don’t know what Twitter is all about… the fact that the author even thought to compare it to the long-since embattled Facebook… and how he/she labeled the platform as being “more about content production” despite its new reputation for mob rule…
It all leads me to classify the post as being published well before 2019.
Also, when I put in “should creative writers be on Twitter” followed by 2019 and 2018 – as well as 2017, 2016 and 2015 – it didn’t show up at all as far as I could see. While that could simply mean the site cleverly marked it as evergreen for SEO purposes, I’m not convinced it’s relevant.
None of this is meant to insult The Writer’s Circle or this particular author. The write-up probably was very relevant once upon a time.
But in today’s fast-paced online world, if you’re not early-in to a self-promotional platform or idea, you’re at a disadvantage. I won’t go so far as to say you don’t have a chance at all.
Just understand you’ll have to either be exceptionally good at getting the word out or exceptionally lucky.
Moving away from that article altogether, most of the other results on the first three pages don’t look promising either. The “should creative writers be on Twitter” query brings up:
6 titles only focused on the hashtags you should be using
10 titles that only tout which authors you should follow
11 titles that are clearly marked as being published in 2015 or earlier.
Even the aforementioned Huffington Post’s “No Excuses! Why and How Writers Should Embrace Twitter” guide is from 2016. Early 2016. As in February 10.
And as we’ve already implied, that’s practically roaming with the dinosaurs.
We’re going to specifically explore some of the titles that sound more promising next Wednesday. But so far, I’ve got to admit… I don’t feel bad at all not being on Twitter as a creative writer, an author, or a human being.
Who knows though… I might reach a stunningly different conclusion as we continue this exploration. I’ll let you know if it happens.