What does social media really have to offer?

Your Mom probably yelled (yells) at you all the time for not putting your phone down. Your father probably barely knows how to run a phone. Just me? Please tell me I’m not alone.

When you really stop and think about what your accomplishing on social media, what do you come up with? Are you just on their out of habit? Scrolling through because your at the dentist office waiting for your name to be called? Do you pull your phone out and scroll to avoid eye contact while walking down the street (please stop being that person)?

Maybe it’s all just a habit. But I’d like to think that I’m not just wasting my time scrolling, rather, that I’m using my time wisely and really getting something out of social media.

So, let’s take a look at what social media really has to offer and how we can use it more effectively to find book recommendations. But wait, does social media really have anything to offer book lovers? UM YES. And I’m probably not wrong, actually.

MY TOP THREE FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES THAT I FIND MYSELF SCROLLING THROUGH:

Blogging.

Photo CC- By Pexels

 

Okay, let’s start with the obvious. So I’m currently doing this thing called blogging. I’m writing and thinking critically about social media. I’m using my language to offer insights that my readers may or may not be enjoying. But hey, occasionally, I’d like to think I have something good to say.

I’m rambling. Sorry.

My point about blogging is that there’s an ENTIRE blogging world out there of people talking about BOOKS. Yes, you read that correctly, B-O-O-K-S. Blogging is one of the greatest ways, next to actually giving a book a review on GoodReads, for expressing your opinions about a book you’ve recently read. The great thing about blogging is that it’s an open field and you can go wherever you desire. When you explore, you’ll find that you can follow your favorite authors, publishers, friends, etc… and you can read what they’re recommending (or not recommending) you to read! That’s pretty cool.

Pinterest.

Friends, if you don’t have a Pinterest account, please for the love of books… get one. There’s three great things that I love about Pinterest and books together.

1. You can follow your friends, teachers, other book lovers, etc… and see what they’re reading/pinning to their boards to read!
2. You can type in the search engine a very specific topic of interest you’d like to explore… and it pops up with some trending ideas for you! There are so many categories that you can click on and get great reading results. And the best part I think, is that you don’t have to skim through google search results (because that takes too much time).
3. The best thing ever is that Pinterest gets to know you. They recognize your interests once you start pinning and will begin to make recommendations on its own!

Twitter.

Photo CC-By Pexels

I used to not be a fan of Twitter. Luckily, once I got the hang of navigating myself through hashtags and the different profiles I found a liking to it. The best thing about Twitter is the fact that we get hashtags! My favorites are #IMWAYR (It’s Monday! What Are You Reading), #WhatToRead, and #AmReading. These are all great to scroll through to find people discussing books. Often you’ll see people recommending (or not) books they’ve recently read! Another plus side is that you get the opportunity to follow your favorite authors!

 

All I’m saying is that if you’re going to spend your time scrolling… at least make it worthwhile. There’s a lot of information out there and a lot of different social media sites. Finding the right ones that work for you may take some trial and error, but it’s WORTH IT.

Get out there and take a chance to explore the internet. See what it actually has to offer you. Happy reading!

-A.