How to use this Page

Change is constant. We are all affected by the changing weather, natural disasters, and the march of time. Changes caused by human activity—inventions, migrations, wars, government policies, new markets, and new values—affect organizations as well as individuals.

The post Leadership for change appeared first on OUPblog.

Add a Comment

One of my email subscribers asked me about Staged. It’s a social media engagement service that gets you Followers. But, unless you have the budget, it can get expensive since there’s a monthly fee.I’ll call the subscriber John Doe for this article.The other part of John’s question was that although the service did get him a lot of Followers on Twitter, how could he monetize them.The first thing

Add a Comment

I had the chance to add more than 1,000 followers to my Twitter account last week. It was tempting. I mean let’s be honest – who doesn’t want to believe that there are thousands of people who want to hear what you think about I had the chance to add more than 1,000 followers to my Twitter account last week. It was tempting. I mean let’s be honest – who doesn’t want to believe that there are thousands of people who want to hear what you think about books and writing and more?

The only thing that held me back? The cost.

And I don’t mean the $25 charge for adding their Twitter handles to my account.

One of the things I love about Twitter – about the internet in general – is the way it allows us to connect with other people. Last week Andrew Smith favorited and retweeted one of my tweets. And yes, I had a major fangirl moment ☺ I live in a tiny town in California with a population of less than a thousand people. And yet, I shared mini conversations with people in Canada, Florida, New England – even a guy in Africa. How cool is that?

I wouldn’t have had these conversations with people I bought from a list, people who may not even know their name was on the list. We had these conversations because we share a common interest. And finding those people to connect with – people who like books and reading, writing and publishing, movies and music – that’s half the fun. Finding and making those connections. Not buying them.

I may not have as many followers as some of the people who’ve been doing it longer. But I’m content to find those people over time. So that when we do find and follow each other, we’ll share a real connection. Maybe even have a memorable conversation.

That’s worth more to me. That’s priceless.?

The only thing that held me back? The cost.

And I don’t mean the $25 charge for adding their Twitter handles to my account.

One of the things I love about Twitter – about the internet in general – is the way it allows us to connect with other people. Last week Andrew Smith favorited and retweeted one of my tweets. And yes, I had a major fangirl moment ☺ I live in a tiny town in California with a population of less than a thousand people. And yet, I shared mini conversations with people in Canada, Florida, New England – even a guy in Africa. How cool is that?

I wouldn’t have had these conversations with people I bought from a list, people who may not even know their name was on the list. We had these conversations because we share a common interest. And finding those people to connect with – people who like books and reading, writing and publishing, movies and music – that’s half the fun. Finding and making those connections. Not buying them.

I may not have as many followers as some of the people who’ve been doing it longer. But I’m content to find those people over time. So that when we do find and follow each other, we’ll share a real connection. Maybe even have a memorable conversation.

That’s worth more to me. That’s priceless.

Add a Comment

Ok. I think every author concerned with reaching out with their readers, networking with other authors and selling more books is either engaged on social media or has at least thought about it. The two (in my opinion) heavy weight entities with regards to social media are Facebook and Twitter. These two networks have their fans.

I have to admit that I used to be a big fan of Facebook as it was easy to migrate from having a personal account to a fan page. I understood how it worked and I could apply what I was doing on an almost daily basis on my Facebook Personal account to my Fan page. On the other hand, this Monster called Twitter, just didn’t make sense. I mean wasn’t the whole concept of Twitter similar to shouting in a market place?

It just didn’t make sense and I avoided it…until sometime last year when I read a book titled How to Get Followers on Twitter: A Simple Guide on How to Optimize Twitter and Hootsuite by Denice Shaw. I started applying some of the things I discovered in this book and my Twitter following has swelled from less than a hundred to more than 500.

Now it has to be said that the amount of your followers does not determine how influential a person is on any social network. I have seen Facebook fan pages with thousands of fans but only a handful currently engaged with the posts on that page. An effective social media network should do at least one of the following:

1. Help you to easily find people interested in your passions and interests.
2. Facilitate easy connection with people who share your passions and interests.
3. Enable a conversation with people that share your passions and interests.

Now with the algorithm changes at Facebook, it has become almost nigh on impossible to do any of the above. Can you think of a painless way to get discovered by people on Facebook who like the books you like? Most authors (and I’m one of them) no longer see the same traction Facebook once provided.

However, Twitter provides the three benefits I highlighted above. Central to the ease of seeing and being seen on the Twitterverse are little things known as hashtags. If you’re on Twitter, you’ve probably seen someone leave a message like this

‘Can’t wait to read the latest #mystery #novel by Harlan Coben.’

The symbol ‘#’ before the words mystery and novel render them as hashtags. Anyone on Twitter who is interested in mystery novels can search for those hashtags, find your tweet and either retweet (that is broadcast your tweet to their followers), favourite (similar to liking a post on Facebook) and/or reply to your post. As an author, I usually use the hashtags below:

#IndieAuthor

#novel

#Mystery

#WritingTip

#Kidlit

#MGLit

#Kidlitchat

I’ve found it humbling and exciting when people who don’t even follow me either retweet, favourite or reply to my tweets simply because I have included a hashtag that relates to something they’re interested in. I have made many new friends and acquaintances this way. I have had the parent of a student at a school where I did a reading reach out to me on Twitter. I’ve had a few New York Times Best-selling authors retweet, favourite and/or like my tweets. This week, I had a lovely lady reach out to me on Twitter and share a picture of her grandson with one of my books. The possibilities for connecting with your fans and other book lovers really is bountiful on Twitter. I’d like to encourage you to join Twitter today and join the conversation. There’s a certain group of people who are speaking your language and will gladly welcome you into their fold as to share with you and have you share with them.

I’ll still keep using Facebook but my main stop when I think of social media is Twitter.

I’d highly recommend Denice Shaw’s book as it contains many useful tips, etiquette, resources to help you understand and use Twitter well. Get it at the link below

How to Get Followers on Twitter: A Simple Guide on How to Optimize Twitter and Hootsuite

Are you still finding joy on Facebook? Or perhaps Twitter still doesn’t make sense to you. Or maybe you use LinkedIn or some other social media network that you’d highly recommend. I really would like to hear your thoughts and comments, so drop a line or two in the comment box below and you can follow me on Twitter @davidchuka

Display Comments Add a Comment

Today, we’re excited to introduce a new way for people to engage with your WordPress.com blogs: an embeddable version of the Follow Button that you’ve seen in your toolbar for some time now. Like similar buttons you’ve seen for other social networks, this Follow Button can be added anywhere on …

Display Comments Add a Comment

I've just created a FAQ page (see the header bar above) that should answer all you burning questions, such as Why Caroline by line? Where did the follow button go? and What can I do to get published?

Anything else you're dying to know? Ask away!

Display Comments Add a Comment

By R. Michael Alvarez After my co-editor, Jonathan N. Katz, and I took over editorship of Political Analysis in January 2010, one of our primary goals was to extend the readership and intellectual reach of our journal. We wished to grow our readership internationally, and to also deepen our reach outside of political science, into other social sciences.

Add a Comment

Crossing Chalk has now reached 20 Chalkheads, thanks to me. Okay, not just me. But these people too:

Display Comments Add a Comment