How do you use Twitter?

kaitlinmakes

Hey all! I’m looking to expand my social network and am looking into diving into Twitter - but I’m not to clear on what it’s used for.
Any insight from those who use it and love it? Suggestions and tips?

ShannonBiondi

@kaitlinmakes You and me both! I opened an account but had enough on my plate with Facebook and Insta at the time so Twitter completely slipped me by!!!!

burvantill

I’ve been attempting to break through the twitter barrier for a while now. It’s crazy and chaotic. Like a crowded room where everyone is talking at the same time and you have to try to find the conversation that interests you without flinching from the noise.
I started making Lists of groups of people that I want to follow and that helped enormously. For example, I have a list of illustrators, another for art directors and editors, another for writers, etc. So I select the list and just see what that group of people are doing. To be honest, I have not learned much. It seems twitter is about 90% brain vomit in to the universe and 10% useful information. Although, I have made a few illustrator and writer contacts that I enjoy following. #kidlitart on Thursday at 6pm pst has some interesting conversations normally. I don’t join in yet because it’s so hectic but I look back after it’s over and read what was said.

Coreyartus

At one point, there was a school of thought that one should limit one's social media presence to just a few platforms. Is that a thing, still? Because I'm on Twitter and I can't really figure out why... And I simply can't do all of them.

I was told that Twitter is the most common platform for most of the Children's Lit community, but seriously--can anyone even tell? As much as I try to curate my feed, I feel like a salmon trying to swim upstream. It's just too "loud" for me, if that's even possible...

I'm finding the interest groups on Facebook to be much more practical, relevant and curated.

Instagram seems to be the place for artists to find each other, but it's not good for conversation. And I'm not sure if it's a good place to find people who are actually willing to buy/invest in your art skills as much as it's about networking with other artists.

Other artist-based sites like Behance and ArtStation and Dribble are great for portfolio collections but the average person doesn't necessarily go to those places. Meaning they're great for specific fields of illustration (ArtStation is good for concept and gaming artists, for example) but they're relatively useless if you're not doing work in fields that those sites draw focus toward.

@kaitlinmakes What specifically are you trying to accomplish with being on Twitter that is different from what you might have already? Different audience? Better delivery mechanism? Following specific people?

ArtofAleksey

What i am starting to do is i go on the “trending” page and find a hashtag to help me think of a piece of art i can make to get on that trend wagon or a hashtag for which I can use to promote work I’ve already made. It’s not like Instagram where you can post 30 hashtags you have to be more strategic and engaging. Which is why I prefer Instagram. Not many people care as much for arts on twitter as on instagram.

I struggled with Twitter when I first signed up years ago, it just seemed too much and I never knew what to put on there, but now it's my favourite social media platform as there are so many contacts you can make on there with agencies, publishers, companies looking for artists etc. I've also had lots of really great discussions with lots of illustrators on there over the years and built a sort of "twitter friendship" with some of them.
But it's not for everyone, just liked Facebook is not for me when it comes to promoting my art and talking to other artists etc. You don't HAVE to be on twitter if you dont like it
I think the trick is to not follow too many people who you're not interested in hearing from, otherwise your feed will just be enormous and you'll never see anything from your favourite artists etc. I follow too many people on there so I need to cut it down.

lmrush

After a SCBWI regional event one of the art directors told us to get on twitter, I went home reactivated my unused account and shortly after an agent contacted me who had seen me post my work, she hired me for a 3 book chapter series, then contracted me to be represented by her PS I LOVE TWITTER!!!!!!!

Nyrryl Cadiz

@lmrush i wish i had your luck. I also have a twitter account but it’s also unused. Lol

lmrush

@nyrrylcadiz Well get using it girlfriend!!!!

animatosoor

@lmrush This is really motivating!

kaitlinmakes

@Coreyartus Wow - your insight is invaluable. I have been having the hardest time understanding what Facebook is good for - the groups, duh. I could just face palm myself right now cause I already use them! My personal goal is to have more people see my work and to find a following that can relate to it and want to buy it. From what both you and @burvantill have said, twitter seems to be more of a way to start conversations, which from a PR stance seems brilliant - there’s work I love, but when I get to see an artists personality, that’s when I’m more inclined to buy and follow. I.E. David Hohn, Lee White, Will Terry, Jake Parker

kaitlinmakes

@Aleksey Thank you for that giant cheat! I do love instagram and all the tags you can use, but my engagement isn’t that high yet, so my work doesn’t pop up on the top 9 for tags with 50,000+. Do you listen to One Fantastic Week? Those guys talk a lot about finding a community of people that will follow your work, because you’re the artists who makes work about the things they love, and maybe twitter is a good place to find those communities.

kaitlinmakes

@hannahmccaffery
Thank you for that insight - I probably would have followed too many people but now I will more carefully “curate” my feed.
@lmrush Incredible! It’s actually stories like yours that makes me want to jump on the twitter game - It sounds like it can be an amazing tool.

ArtofAleksey

@kaitlinmakes I don’t I listen to comic lab. They also believe the same thing but also talk about social media because they use it for their webcomics. The issue with social media is that unless you pay the companies, they’re going to hide your work from 75% of viewers. So either platform is tough unless something trends. But what is your goal with social media exactly?

LisaF

Anyone have any good recommendations for illustration-centric accounts that are either informative or entertaining? Looking to expand our feed

burvantill

@kaitlinmakes what’s your Twitter handle?

StudioLooong

@LisaF The Noisy Pencil is a great one!

LisaF

@StudioLooong Thanks for the tip! Followed :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_smiling_eyes:

Sophie Lawson

How do I use Twitter? At the moment I don't lol

I find it fun to just pop on and say something, post an image or something, but I felt like I was wasting my time. So I stopped for a while.

It's also bonkers looking at my feed, I've had some nice chats with people on there, but people I want to follow seem to get lost among the noise. It's so busy, I seem to be scrolling to get to the things I actually wanted to follow. I think it's due to it putting retweets and stuff into the feed.

I think it's good for brain dumping though.

I've been asking the question lately, do we really need social media? I listened to a podcast and a successful author said he never used social media, and he still had million selling books.

I came away from it thinking, instead of focusing on sharing stuff, focus on creating stuff that is so good, everyone else will share it for you lol

burvantill

@Sophie-Lawson said in How do you use Twitter?:

focus on creating stuff that is so good, everyone else will share it for you

Wonderful philosophy!