RGV Social Media Club

I am definitely a newbie to the whole social media arena but I can see the potential for reaching a much wider audience without spending a fortune in advertising dollars. Not only is the potential to reach more people attractive, but the idea of building a community instead of merely selling something intrigues me. As the owner of a bookstore one of my goals is to welcome discussion and interaction among my customers and supporters and I think being more involved and fluent in the use of social media can only help broaden the diversity of those who find Paragraphs a place where ideas are welcome.

So I was pleased to see that Shaine Mata is planning to start a Social Media Club for the Rio Grande Valley.

From Shaine's blog:

I thought I’d join the conversation for kicks, only to find out that it was not led by Connie, but by Kristie Wells, co-founder of Social Media Club. I spoke with her exclusively for a few minutes. Everything since then has started falling into place, from conference calls to messages expressing interest from other folks in the region.

Here we are 24 hours later and there is a Facebook group and SMC RGV wiki page. I am really excited about the support that has come from Social Media Club and local chapters. I don’t want to give you the impression that it’s an automated process. One crucial part is missing. Social Media Club RGV will not get off the ground without a team. You don’t have to be an expert; you just have to be interested in social media.

Here are some of the leadership/volunteer positions we need:

• Programming Director
• Partnership Director
• Promotions Director
• Production Director
• Membership Director

You can find more details by visiting the SMC RGV Wiki. It is quite possible for one person to fill dual roles. Even with all the outside support, we can be sure that this will be a labor of love. I won’t lie to you. It will require some work. I hope you are interested in being a part of something groundbreaking for the Rio Grande Valley. Join me in launching Social Media Club RGV.

Any of you South Padre Island or Port Isabel computer gurus willing to give Shaine a hand?

It would then give us the knowledge and credibility to work with our local businesses to improve our visibility online. The attendance at the recent RGV tweet-up, which was held at The Padre Island Brewing Company, shows that there is a fairly strong interest in the area and it would be great for SPI/PI to be a part of this growing community. I plan to stay as informed of their activities as possible and learn more about how Paragraphs can become part of the social media world.

Now I Understand

For a lot of bibliophiles the idea of owning a corner bookshop is a dream that occasionally flits across the back of ones mind, as witnessed by the popularity of the movie I've Got Mail. My theory is that everyone who loves books could imagine themselves in the role of Meg Ryan.

But, as I began preparing for this adventure, I heard a familiar refrain from many booksellers, "I don't have time to read, anymore." I thought, can that really be true. When one is surrounded by books, galleys, reviews and everything new in the literary world how could one not have time to take advantage of all these treasures.

The truth is, I have fallen victim to the same problem. Where I used to read a couple of books a week while probably working my way through a serious more difficult read at the same time, now I have a stack of books I would like to at least skim and a list of books that sound like good candidates for curling up with, but I never seem to be able to get to any of them.

Instead of reading books, I have been reduced to reading about books. Interesting, yes, but just not the same. And then there is the ubiquitous computer and internet.

To be able to live this daydream, I needed to figure out a way to sell enough books and sidelines to support myself. Yet there are times when I reviewed the mission statement, vision and plans for Paragraphs and felt they read more like something prepared for a non-profit or civic organization. But this is the nature of being a neighborhood bookshop as opposed to a B&N or Half-Price Books.

The part that I hadn't considered, being a relative recluse, is that having a community business means coming out of ones cocoon and socializing, listening, talking, and just plain interacting with others. And in today's world that means spending an awful lot of time behind a computer screen. Answering emails, commenting on blogs and participating in online discussions has replaced huge chunks of my solitary reading time

The web has created an entirely new model for marketing. The advent of social media almost requires one, if she wants to be recognized, respected, and ultimately have another spend money in her physical shop or online store, to establish an on-line identity. As I review the stories of successful booksellers, many have a full-time internet guru specifically in charge of social networking.

Gone are the days of a single website, even with an attached e-commerce capability. Now one needs to consider Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and blogging platforms, not to mention Del-ici-ous, Stumble, Technorati and Digg.

And what has just occurred to me is that if it takes the bookseller this much time to interact with others via this cornucopia of networks, when do the people I am communicating with, have the time to read?

So unless it is a hobby, I think the days of the curmudgeonly gentleman sitting in the back of a dusty book-filled shop wearing a tweed blazer and smoking his pipe while contemplating the words of a literary giant, have passed into history.

Something New - Should I Twitter?

I have noticed the Twitter widget on a number of blogs lately. It seems there is no end to the gadgets, widgets and places where people are setting up social networks. I barely have time to read the few blogs I find particularly interesting and while I am always thinking to myself, "I want to blog about that," or composing blog posts in my mind as a way of outlining and clarifying my thoughts, the time never seems to be available to get the writing done. I know there is a way to make a blog post from my mobile phone, but I have as yet not been able to do this very efficiently or successfully.

I have been trying to find an effective means of garnering all these fleeting thoughts in one place, similar to what many of the early Americans did by keeping a commonplace. They would copy sections from books which they found relevant, thought-provoking, or selections which they liked and wanted to remember. These journals would also include personal reflections and ideas relating to the individuals reading or experiences.

So, when I read this in The Daily Dish I was intrigued.

John Dickerson makes the case for Twitter journalism:

We can all agree that journalism shouldn't get any smaller, but Twitter doesn't threaten the traditions of our craft. It adds, rather than subtracts, from what we do. As I spend nearly all of my time on the road these days reporting on the presidential campaigns, Twitter is the perfect place for all of those asides I've scribbled in the hundreds of notebooks I have in my garage from the campaigns and stories I've covered over the years. Inside each of those notebooks are little pieces of color I've picked up along the way. Sometimes these snippets are too off-topic or too inconsequential to work into a story. Sometimes they are the little notions or sideways thoughts that become the lede of a piece or the kicker. All of them now have found a home on Twitter.

I think I may have to give Twitter a try. What I find particularly inviting is the possibility to use my mobile phone, which I have available much more often than I am near the computer or have access to a pencil and paper. This may be the answer to sharing my thoughts on books I have read without needing to write a full review.