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Hello Pinterest. Goodbye Pinterest.

BLOGGING TIPS- 

Handwritten notes of blogging tips for layout for Western and Asian market of readers

Handwritten blogging layout tips #blogging #layout @boneAndsilver

About a month ago, I met with a ‘blogging expert.’ I’ve really enjoyed the last 9 months of taking this blog more seriously, which to me meant posting and commenting regularly. So I thought I’d check in to make sure I wasn’t making any terribly dumb mistakes. I’ve absolutely loved getting more readers, and more importantly, such fabulous interactions and comments from my ‘tribe’.

For you all feel like my tribe out there. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve deleted followers who suddenly appear, and have no perceived connection, input, profile pic, or even actual blog! I’m not interested in fake ‘numbers’ (and as an aside, my dear reader ‘T’ over at No Love for Fatties who started to check her own followers deleted over 100- we had a cyber laugh about that!)

JOINING MORE SOCIAL MEDIA- 

Anyway, along with 10 scrawled pages of tips and hints (which cost me $120/hr, half of which I can’t decipher now), I was told I HAD to join Twitter and Pinterest, to increase my reach.

OK. Done. Even though I have vehemently resisted Twitter up till now- who wants to be tweeted at all day long??

Now it’s 4 weeks later, and today I decided to delete Pinterest. It’s cute, looking at all those incredible images, and yes, I could scroll all day, sighing at all the beautifully framed, artistically-focused shots, but I’m not reading or writing am I? Newsflash: I don’t want to be a photographer. D’oh.

I need to prioritise my screen time, and pretty pictures aren’t making the cut.

reducing screen time, over 50s, hand drawn illustration, comics, bespoke

Reducing screen time is good self care for everyone incl over 50s #handdrawn #comics #screentime #wellbeing @boneAndsilver

My jury is still out on Twitter though. I hated it for a week, till I started following some funny feminists, a few musicians, a couple of comedians and politicians [same thing?], and a partridge in a pear tree, then got re-tweeted by Brian at Bonnywood Manor which was such a thrilling surprise (his posts about cat Scotch are hilarious- thanks Brian x).

So now I’m giving Twitter another month, and I’ll let you know what happens. You could come find me on there I guess: bone&silver @boneAndsilver . I have 4 followers hahaha. *sigh

USING MY SCREEN TIME WISELY, AND EFFECTIVELY- 

Remember that post I did about 50 minutes of special hat-wearing on each task HERE? I’m still doing it quite often, and realised I don’t want to add more hats to my wardrobe. I enjoy my Instagram cap, and my Facebook beanie; the Twitter top hat gets another month, but Pinterest is gone, with not even a hat named after it.

I felt even more justified in my instinctive decision when I read of this social media experiment: 10 experienced bloggers spending 15 minutes a day for one month expanding their Pinterest profiles, with the aim of increasing traffic to their blog (full article HERE)

“But the question we were really trying to answer was: can Pinterest dramatically increase your blog’s traffic? And for most of us that participated, the answer is no.”

Rebecca Coleman- Social Media Marketing

Disclaimer: I am NOT deriding Pinterest, nor those who love and use it. I’m just sharing my personal opinion and research. What do you think- is your experience similar or completely different? I’d love to hear it! Have I been hasty?

In gratitude for the discussions, G xO   

 

81 Comments

  1. You have at least one more Twitter follower…some @drnoir33 fellow. TOTALLY pretentious. Has some weird “Just Get Bored By Me” blog…kind of sad really. 😉

    I kid therefore I am.

    Twitter can be a time-sucking emotional minefield if you are not careful. I find I have to almost physically restrain myself at times.

    That said, for those of us in the anti-Trump “Resistance,” it is an essential tool.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Thanks Matt- I’ve actually been wondering about whether to follow Trump or not- in some ways, I don’t want to fuel the ego, yet I am definitely part of the “resistance”- how would it help?

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Very good post! I find that every platform has its goals and ‘type’ of reasons for being. If it aligns with you – then you will be successful on it. if not, then, well, not. anyways, thanks for sharing your experience! i can’t believe its that expensive to meet with a social media expert!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thanks TwoBirds, I’m glad this post resonated for you 😊
      I quit for exactly that reason, but if I was a photographer, it would be absolutely ESSENTIAL to build a community there.

      And that price was reduced from $160/hr by the way! 😬

      Like

  3. ONE MORE. HAHA.
    ‘ I’ve deleted followers who suddenly appear, and have no perceived connection, input, profile pic, or even actual blog!’
    I’ve been wondering myself, what the hell is with these fake profiles. I want to visit their page and it’s non-existent. You have any idea?

    I think we should not burden ourselves with numbers, but try to find our own tribe as you call it, people we follow and who follow you, blogs/topics we’re interested in.
    It’s important to leave comments. I hate when I really put an effort into it and all I get as a feedback is a stupid smiley. In such cases, I know these people are not interested in my blog and what I have to say.
    Lots of people started following me recently because they first liked my comment and then got interested in what I have to say. So, try it out.
    You could always join ‘my tribe’, which I absolutely adore. Amazing group of people, promise.
    BTW, I think you’re a very interesting blogger.
    Later …..

    Liked by 3 people

    • Oh I agree completely, and yes, what’s with the blank blogs??

      Commenting is the only way to go, and it’s the favorite part of my mornings now!

      I keep meaning to check you out- I will visit I promise 😘
      And thanks for your juicy comment once again, G 😊🙏🏼

      Liked by 1 person

      • Favorite part of my mornings and evenings. It’s 10 pm in Germany.
        And don’t apologize. Take your time.
        I’m a recent blogger myself so I’m still learning. What I do is, whenever I find an interesting blogger, I make sure to check out who’s following them and who they’re following. I figure, if I like them so much, I’ll probably like these people as well. And it’s as a rule true. In most cases I do.
        Keep in touch.

        Liked by 1 person

    • I always figured those blank blogs belonged to people with good intentions who hadn’t gotten around to doing anything yet. If not, who cares? They follow, they don’t follow, they don’t exist. Does it matter? I can’t see how it does, although why anyone would bother is beyond me.

      For the record: I was on Pinterest for about 10 minutes. I never did figure out what anyone was doing with it, or why. Twitter actually makes some sense to me, although I’m not about to live my life on it.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Then you’re my kind of guy.
        We’re here to say sth smart and exchange our ideas with the like-minded individuals. All the rest, as you said, if it doesn’t bother them, it shouldn’t us either.
        FTR, I don’t think they exist AT ALL.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Haha, yes Pinterest seems kinda weird: just moving images around, like picking up a spilt deck of cards.

        I’m starting to enjoy Twitter a little (especially with the politics here in Oz & US), but I’m definitely not going to start living on there

        Liked by 1 person

  4. One more thing, I don’t have Pinterest, nor Instagram, I visit my Facebook profile once in a blue moon and my Tweeter activity is pathetic. I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR ALL THAT.
    Besides, I enjoy blogging for the sake of writing.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. gigglingfattie says

    Totally following you now on Twitter! I don’t do the pinterest thing for my blog. I don’t see the point.

    And I stopped after deleting 150 followers lol a few actually refollowed me! But I’ve never gone back. I will never know what my true number is…and I think I’m ok with that haha. It was a fun experiment!

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Very interesting to read your thoughts on Pinterest and Twitter. I keep hearing I should be on Pinterest, but I’m resisting because I don’t want to have one more thing that eats up so much time. I’ve been on Twitter for about a year-and-a-half. Very inconsistently. I won’t even look at it for a couple of weeks and then I’ll spend a few hours liking, retweeting, or tweeting. My own tweets are split between messages related to kindness and resisting our current political situation and the insane idiot in the White House—not sure if these dueling messages are wise, but, then again, nobody appears to be reading them. Can’t help wondering what the world would be like if we didn’t have any of this social media stuff. We’d surely have a different president . . . . Sounds pretty good right now.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I think we’re twins in this regard Donna! And yes, I question the social media, while at the same time enjoying the corner of it I do daily… it’s the modern conundrum I think. Thanks for your opinion, much appreciated, G

      Like

  7. This was interesting to read. I haven’t done any of the social media outreach stuff. I despite Twitter; I tired of Pinterest several years ago. And I’m an anonymous blogger so I can’t exactly link posts to my Facebook account (how mortifying would that be?!).

    I just write. Whatever followers I have are strictly from the WordPress community and a handful of online friends. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  8. Too many portals. I waste enough time as it is! I have a personal FB page that’s years old, but is and always will be completely private from my blog. I’m semi-anonymous on WordPress but did feel it was useful and a good excuse to have a Twitter account. I don’t personally know anyone on Twitter so attracting followers is really hard! I’m not very good at the whole ‘networking’ thing. But I get more out Twitter than my personal FB. As a hobby photographer I should do Instagram or Pinterest, but know I’d find it overwhelming to keep up! It’s interesting to read about other people’s experiences 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks for commenting Lockwood; I agree it’s so valuable to hear what works/doesn’t work for other folks here.

      I try and keep my Facebook life private (is that an oxymoron??), but being a personal blogger means a certain amount of anonymity is forfeited… thank goodness for aliases hey?

      As a photographer though, Instagram is a lovely platform… you just gotta keep it simple. Good luck to us all hey (and thank goodness for WordPress community), cheers G

      Liked by 1 person

  9. I have kept my online presence to WordPress, and find that takes up as much time as I am prepared to spare for the internet. I am busy living my days. I have just about cut out Facebook, and not got into any other online platform.

    Liked by 3 people

  10. Every so often I flirt with the idea of opening a Facebook account, or a Pinterest one, or a … But as with all flirting, it’s just a phase. 😀

    I get all the contact I with the ‘outside world’ I need through the blogs I follow and the newsletters I read … and if I miss out on something because I’m not constantly ‘on’, I’m fairly certain the universe will not end. (and if it does, then that’s the least of my problems. 🙂 )

    Facebook, with its paywall getting closer and closer to being a closed loop, has pretty much made it useless as a promotional tool, (unless you want to pay, of course) although it still remains a very useful tool for personal and political use. (so long as you don’t violate their terms of use, which varies from moment to moment – same with Twitter actually)

    Liked by 2 people

    • Haha, good description Widds! Yes, I agree with your assessment of not needing to know everything- sometimes the curious devil in me wants to be informed about all the shit stuff, but it just makes me feel shit… so although I definitely still use Facebook for personal & political stuff too, I am proud of making this choice to not start another online portal. We’ll see what happens with Twitter…
      Thanks for sharing xO

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Honestly, I’ve never tried Pinterest or Twitter. I limit my social media to Facebook, and I’m not even a huge fan of that! But I agree that we have to use our screen time wisely, and where we think it counts the most. Since you’re going for actual readers and not just empty stats, I would say use the outlets you like, and don’t worry about the others. That’s the fun of blogging: you get to do it as much, or as little, as you want!

    Liked by 2 people

  12. I appreciate that you did this post. I have been wanting to try Twitter for the longest time but haven’t begun just to limit my screen time. I keep feeling that my quality of time and writing too might suffer if I try to keep up with more platforms.

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Thank you so much for the mention. As for my own experiences with Twitter, it’s been a very mixed bag. For the most part, it annoys me, mainly because I don’t understand the mystical way in which it works, with some folks managing to amass billions of followers. (And those hashtags? I’m lost.) Still, I stick with it for two reasons: I’m trying to get at least a minimalist following that will appreciate my books when they come out (just being honest), but, more importantly, over the years I’ve stumbled across a few really interesting folks who constantly entertain me with their bits of sharing. At the end of the day, I want to appreciate the various flavors of humanity, and, in that regard, Twitter is a rapid-fire stream of spinning the wheel and seeing what you can find…

    Liked by 2 people

    • You’re welcome. And thanks for explaining your Twitter approach Brian, that’s helpful. I’ve been wondering whether to do a ‘social media’ workshop re all those mysterious hashtags and viral follower-collecting; then again, I’d kinda like to walk on the beach at sunset and not be carrying my phone. Or else just sitting at my computer getting lost in story writing and reading, rather than scrolling around. It’s a tricky balance! I’ll see what happens 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  14. I personally love Pinterest but I couldn’t see how it would be helpful to a blogger whose sole audience is for writing. Fashion/style, cooking/food, home improvement stuff – definitely would add value there I imagine.
    I use Pinterest adhoc to file bits and pieces of things that interest me…kind of like the old way I used to use internet bookmarks. I love using Pinterest to plan travel and trips – I have found amazing things to visit on my travels….things that I don’t think I would’ve come across otherwise – just because you get to see all the pretty visuals as you scroll through pins, so I look closer at things that capture my gaze. I like using it for goal setting, manifesting, saving quotes and things I find inspiring or bits and pieces for house etc. I’ve also found it great for learning things more recently…..and being someone who learns most by doing and seeing, it’s nice to have visual references to come back to and easily reference.
    Never been a fan of twitter personally, but finding my voice and being comfortable with stating my opinions in any sort of forum or presence has only been something I’m just growing into more recently.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Yes Magenta, I can definitely see the visual appeal of Pinterest, and if I was a little more free with my time, I’d probably love it to be honest- sounds like you use it in a really smart way, that’s great. And disciplined of you too. I admit I get distracted by ‘pretty things’ too easily- I made a Pinterest board about street art and then wasted an hour looking at graffiti instead of actually writing anything!

      I’ve no idea yet re Twitter; it seems kinda annoying so far…
      Thanks heaps for commenting, & doing all that belated archive reading 😊😃😘

      Liked by 1 person

      • Thank you, Atwood 😊
        Manifesting – law of attraction etc, if you’re familiar with that. Essentially what you described. What the mind can conceive, you can achieve 😉

        Liked by 1 person

  15. I am with you, Bone and Silver (an interesting name, btw). Teetering on the fence with Twitter. Can’t afford to get too sucked in by Pinterest. Set a timer? My retirement artform seems to be impressionistic photography, so I need to do research. Gaudi and some black and white photo studies really took me away for awhile. Too busy with book launch and Christmas to open Pinterest again right now.
    Social media is a miracle! To be talking with you, Down Under and all. Meeting like minds around the globe…but a huge time suck. Need to be creating. Can’t read or write much.
    Happy holidays.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks for commenting and connecting Atwood! And I’m glad you like my blog name : ) I love it I admit. Social media is indeed an incredible gift; it just needs to be tamed, not allowed to take over…

      Like

  16. Wow, I did not know you could delete followers… Learnt something new today, I will have to go explore.
    Honestly the biggest use I have found for Pinterest is a place to store recipes, ideas or pictures that I want to refer back to later. For example when I was getting ready to get my one and only tattoo I got ideas from the internet and pinned any pics I want to take elements from. Saved me having to go to various different websites because I had them all in one place.
    I do not use ANY social media to promote my blog, I have the button thingamedoodles but nobody uses them I don’t think

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Pinterest can be a black hole that sucks you down into doing nothing productive, in the same way that YouTube videos can do this. However I use it for pinning pictures of things like all the Art Nouveau that I can’t afford in real life (seriously, some of that stuff sells for more than my monthly rent), or as a tickler files for ideas. I have a couple DIY boards (one helped when I was planning my son’s graduation party — I didn’t use everything I pinned, and I modified some of the ideas, but it gave me a place to start), a few boards of actual Victoriana to give me the reality that steampunk is based off of, and a private board of mixed images that is a simply a tickler file for building my steampunk persona (which may someday turn into a fictional character).

    I can definitely see something like this latter being useful if you are a fiction writer, as it’s sort of a catch-all to dump anything to do with a character, from fashion sense to pictures of locations.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Trace-Blogs says

    I am obsessed with Twitter! I am just a reader though, I only have about three disappointed followers. I’ve never written a tweet. x

    Liked by 2 people

    • OK, that’s good to know Trace- you’re the first person who’s actually confessed to an addiction, I’m impressed : )
      Are you enjoying it suddenly having more characters in each tweet to read? I follow JK Rowling, and she wasn’t impressed at all!

      Like

  19. I am on Pinterest for food. People post some nice recipes. Nothing to do with the blog and I’m not really active there.
    I am more active on Twitter. My friends’ group chat is there and I follow some people I like. I don’t spend too long on it (apart from the aforementioned group chat) and it’s not linked to the blog. It is linked to my Wattpad but I don’t think it has ever helped with it. Again, my use is more personal than ‘professional’.

    Liked by 2 people

    • It’s been so great to hear of everyone’s approach; thank you for sharing yours DFM. I agree there are some lovely recipes on Pinterest, but yes, that’s not what I blog about. It feels quite liberating actually to just say ‘No’; I hope I don’t regret it in a year or two!

      Liked by 1 person

  20. I have a Pinterest account and spent many happy hours designing my board covers (because a ‘blogging’ expert I’d read said I should) then sat back to wait for the follows. Nada! I’ve given up with it now. It’s still there because I can’t face deleting all my lovely, quirky covers lol! I’m on Twitter (as you know) and went through a phase of being really active and watching my followers go up (and down like a see-saw). I’m now tired of it, and tired of people following me just so I’ll follow them back – then unfollowing me when I don’t. I do have a blog FB page which I really enjoy and I get a lot of interaction on it. People follow my page because they like my humour, not because they expect me to follow them back – as that’s not possible. I say, find one social media platform and concentrate on just that one. I haven’t got time/energy to keep everything going, I have to just choose one. Life’s too short to become a slave to your computer…it’s bad enough having two teens in the house who are surgically attached to technology without their mother joining in! 🙂

    BTW the blogging expert who recommended co-ordinating all your Pinterest board covers last year is NOW saying that’s not the right thing to do – sheesh!!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Wow, that’s really good advice, thanks for sharing! I’m SO not gonna do any other social media- it seems like it changes all the time anyway- as you say, too many screens is not good for anyone. Thanks heaps for commenting Midlife : )

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Good to hear your experience and opinions – thanks for both! Seems to me that Pinterest is good as a planning tool but not much else, and a tremendous waste of time otherwise.

    If you can stomach it, would be interesting to hear your perspective on the sexual misconduct revelations coming (mostly) out of the U.S. May not be especially relevant for you (in that case, never mind!), but I was thinking that I’d appreciate your take.

    Thanks for blogging!

    Liked by 2 people

  22. I do have a pinterest account but never used it to attain more followers. I’m not sure how I would even go about it, other than cross referencing the too and maybe add social media links. I just like to look at the pictures and it allows to collect different eye candies into a variety of self set folders. Hahaha.
    I’m with on the fake followers and have some cleaning up to do. The other day a new follower must have given me 30 likes in all about 20 seconds. He must be some sort of speed reader and this really defeats the purpose. Words go unread for statistics and I felt insulted by it.

    Liked by 2 people

  23. I just have my blog for past few years. No twitter, pininterest nor FB. Just lazy I guess. I also participate in 2 international cycling forums. That’s enough.

    Liked by 2 people

  24. I think you are brave to be on twitter! I am full up on just my blog and instagram. I do have a pinterest account but really don’t spend a ton of time on it. I usually head over there when I need some sort of new recipe. I do love intstagram because I can follow climbers and photographers but twitter…As long as Trump likes it, I am out! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  25. I have been slowly dipping my toes in the stream of social media! I like it… Some of it… lol. I like being able to share my poems and stories and thoughts and maybe some of the stuff I write can help someone smile or cry or know they have a partner in grief or happiness somewhere. I love reading what people have for thoughts and feelings and it is nice to be able to find some new friends!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. I’m also struggling with social media. I have a Pinterest account but it’s for my craft interests. I wouldn’t know how to use it to gather more followers to my blog, the two are not mutually compatible. I have people following me on Instagram, but haven’t posted anything on it (go figure). Twitter baffles me, but I’m persevering. I find that photos tend to attract more interest than posts, so I try to add something to draw people in. Only time will tell, but I’ve just followed you on Twitter, perhaps this will be our turning point!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Jane, thanks for commenting and Twittering me! I heartily agree that the social media stuff seems random; at the end of the day, I just want to write, & read other writers, with the occasional pretty picture to break up the text, so that’s what I’m going for! Good luck with it all, and I’ll bump into you in cyberspace hopefully 😃😘 G

      Liked by 1 person

  27. I am new at blogging and have been posting lots of photos and blog titles to my Pinterest account with very little response. Must be doing something wrong or just need to be persistent. We shall see…

    Liked by 2 people

    • That’s interesting to know, thank you for joining the debate! I guess you need to give it a good 3-6 months of regular posting to see… I just don’t want to do that on Pinterest. I appreciate your comment Kira, best of luck on here, G 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  28. thereelcarrie says

    It’s refreshing to read something that most people are thinking but not saying! I orginally used pinterest for fun, which its great for however, when I started a blog I started to see how unfun and forced it can be.

    I hate the pins that say something like “why you need pinterest” or “how to grow your traffic in one month using pinterest” . It can make you feel like you have to do eveything they say or you’ll fail. But know I know I would rather be spending my time making content.

    Well done on a great post. You have a new follower. I’m looking forward to reading more.

    Like

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