Boomers Write

Social media applications – in particular Facebook and Twitter -make it easy to post a quick thought or to express your views on the complicated issues of the day. They are a quick, easy and accessible way to “get your thoughts out there”. Social media also offers the opportunity to “connect” with an audience, eager to read those thoughts. Surely, it’s a lure that is hard to resist, but have you ever considered how social media writing may be diluting your creativity as a writer? How expressive or creative can you really be in the limited space of a Facebook status update or a 140 character tweet? More importantly, how much more could you say in a longer blog post or full-blown article? In short, does social media dilute the urge to write?

As writers and bloggers, we strive to give voice to the exchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions. We hope to make a meaningful contribution to the online discourse and to, ideally, gain an audience and become known for our expertise on a particular topic. Additionally, when beginning our writing careers, the first piece of advice we all received was to just “write“. Write often, write every day, write, write, write. Does social media writing satisfy these mantras, or is it really just a quick, easy escape from the drudgery of crafting a full-length blog post or article? As a writer, once I’ve explored a topic via Facebook or Twitter, I do feel that “the pressure is off” regarding that particular topic, diluting any need or urge to explore the topic further via any other outlet.

The metaphor I often use to describe this phenomena is that of watered-down alcohol. Once you’ve added the water, there’s little you can do to make the alcohol full-strength again. Writing online is similar, in that, once you’ve “dealt with” a topic, via Facebook or Twitter, you’re not likely to cover that topic again in a full-length article or blog post. By first publishing our thoughts via the social media outlets, we are, in effect, publishing the protracted, digest version of an article before the full article has even been written.

If social media is, indeed, the future of online communication, one has to wonder if there will still be a place for longer articles or even blog posts. Communication, in general, whether via social media or texting, is surely becoming more and more abbreviated. While we are all honing our ability to express a thought in 140 characters or less, we are also satisfying the urge to quickly and painlessly convey that thought or opinion without delving too deeply into the subject matter.

Conversely, many of the posts and tweets, made to social media outlets, today, only provide links to longer, more detailed articles on a particular topic. Therefore, it looks to me as if online writing, in its more traditional form, is still alive and well, at least for now. That’s why I’ve decided to confine my thoughts and opinions, first to this blog, then, perhaps to longer articles, before lastly posting them to my social media profiles. Hopefully, through this experiment, I will be able to quell the urge to reduce my writing to a line or two on Facebook.

I’ve been doing a lot of research, lately, on paying outlets for freelance writing, online. I have applied to a few and I am happy to report I’ve been accepted to write for three of them: Demand Studios, Examiner.com andSuite101.com and can now tell you a little more about them. Of the three, Demand Studios seems to be the most selective, both in terms of your initial application and the writing you will eventually do for them. They do, however, provide you with extensive writer’s resources and editorial guidelines to follow. The writing, itself, is mostly research based articles and “how-to’s” and most pay a flat fee ($7.50 – $15.00 per article) and some assignments offer revenue share. The content created for Demand Studios will end up on any of a number of Demand Media owned sites, including eHow.com, Livestrong.com, AnswerBag.com and others. If your writing isn’t quite up to snuff, though, I wouldn’t start out at Demand, due to their more stringent editorial policies. Suite 101 is unique among these types of sites in that they don’t hold you to one particular category. You do pick categories or interests in your initial application, but they don’t hold you to it. You can submit articles on any of their topics and share in the revenue the articles bring in. Examiner.com is probably the best for sheer exposure and they have a big push on for writers right now. This might be the best place to begin for those who want to break into the online writing field. You will apply for a particular topic and you are imited to writing on that topic, only. The good news is there are hundreds of topics, some very narrow niches, so you’re sure to find something that interests you. Click here to apply – and please let them know I referred you. I’ll keep you posted over the next few months on how these three writing endeavors are going for me.

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