On which social media site(s) do you participate?

I joined the facebook back when it was a closed community, only allowing those with college or university email addresses to join; or something along those lines: That was 2004.  However, I have removed most of my earliest content (kids shall be kids) due to a need to maintain some privacy (what? Facebook "privacy," HA!) as well as social media integrity.  In the year passed, I created my Author Page [link below] and have had such a pleasure evolving my business identity; my fan page is a way of building my platform, voicing my ideas, and sharing my (dare I say outlandish) opinions.  I have but 100 fans on my page (okay, 107, but who's counting?); I am confident that as time goes on- as fresh, unique, and inspiring content is added- that number will continue to steadily incline. Perhaps you like my style? Then do me a solid, c'mon darling, LIKE my page. *giggle*

Find me: http://facebook.com/author.miranda.innaimo

I will admit it: In order to get a good grasp on what all the hullabaloo with the Google+ was about, I purchased a digital copy of "What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us," by Guy Kawasaki. Maybe it was necessary; maybe that Amazon gift card was burning a hole in my digital pocket: Either way, the whole system- albeit unique unto itself- is NOT impossible to figure out. Just like most things in life (whether tangible or electronic), effort must be put forth to gain understanding and achieve one's goals. "What exactly are your goals pertaining to Google+?" Well, I like to put it this way: With the facebook, I am limited to "requesting friendship" with people I literally know [95% of the time]; whereas with the Google+ the "circles" feature allows you to categorize people into specific labeled groups: There is no social media stigma in adding people who merely intrigue you to your circles: That's rather the point; therefore, with the Google+ I am able to interact and connect with hundreds; nay, thousands; nay, the entire world of peoples because of this limitless opportunity. To speak of numbers, I have 215 people in my circles, and I am in the circles of 153 people; these numbers are small, I know, but I take my circles seriously and enjoy making genuine connections.  If you enjoy witty banter and  loads of original writings, let us circle up!

Find me: http://plus.google.com/u/0/+MirandaInnaimo/

In the wide world of Twitter (aka, the Twitersphere [okay, maybe I am slightly alone in referring to it as such; I'm not entirely sure]) I was a little "late in the game." It took me ages to surrender to pick up a smartphone; silly me, yes, I know I could have easily gone through the Twitter website to create and maintain a profile, but- I will admit it- I was prideful; and certainly a little (*ahem* VERY) clueless about the significance of this aspect of social media and its relevance to an independent author. What we tweeps do with 140 characters is remarkable: We tell entire tales in the fashion of a journalistic headline; we manipulate links to make them as short as possible; hashtags revolutionized the pound sign and made complete strangers unite over similar interests and key words or phrases.  I'm currently just over a 1k following/followers, and I'm pretty stoked to have done this in about thirteen months (as I chose to switch to my current account after gettin' hitched).  Obviously, I'm not one of those people with a ridiculous following (seriously, hundreds of thousands of followers, how do you do it?) but I enjoy the information I receive from my meek and meager following; I am easily able to keep up with direct tweets so send one my way and you'll spark some glee into my life via 140 characters or less.  To talk more of numbers, so far, I've composed just shy of 2k tweets.  So if you ever find yourself in my neck of the Twittersphere, follow on! And I promise: No truetwit validation required! ;)

Find me:  http://twitter.com/MirandaInnaimo

Love, love, LOVE me some Instagram! Then again, I also <3 all things photography related (okay, maybe not ALL, cause, ya know, there's icky stuff in the world that displeases my optical senses, but you get my point). For me, Instagram killed my digital camera: When suddenly, I could snap pictures on my phone, edit them instantly, and share them with an audience, there was no longer any reason to lug around that digital camera (more so when [far too quickly] my digital camera was deemed outdated and my cell camera was found [in many ways thus listed] superior). Now with this portion of the social media world, I'm a little (a lot)... Shall we say, accepting; if you like one of my photos (and you're not a robot / spammer / p-vert) I am going to insta-follow you: That is just the way I do it: That said, I've only posted about 250 photos, giving me a 343 following / 132 followers ratio. Such is life! In addition, allow me please to say this: My Instagram photos travel to many more places than just sitting pretty on my Instagram profile: I use them as feature, profile, and content images; to me, I hardly even tolerate (my own) raw photos anymore: I must have a filter of some kind! Odd, perhaps, but this is 2014 and I've adapted to such extremes. So you know: I enjoy photographing nature, random possessions, clothing outfits, thrift store purchases, and myself (uh, hello, "selfie" anyone?). So don't be shy: Double tap to <3 one of my photos and I'll insta-follow you (pending you aren't a robot / spammer / p-vert)! Hahaha.

Find me: http://instagram.com/mirandainnaimo

Now the YouTube has served me well: I enjoy free music so much that my only musical purchases anymore are in the form of vintage cassette tapes; other than that, when I want to hear a song, I'm onwards to the YouTube. For me and my needs and purposes, this website has only become better and better as of lately; more so since I discovered the chrome extension called AdBlock (goodbye obnoxious advertisements, hello exactly what I intended to hear).  My own uploads include mostly vlog posts (to be directly embedded on my website [see wordpress two below]). I don't want to tell you how many (few) subscribers I have at this point, so let's pretend I didn't even mention it, mkay? I will say this: YouTube slightly did me wrong when I switched accounts, deleting my old username and embracing my new married lady name: For some reason, they would not allow me the mirandainnaimo user name I so value- due to the fact that I had accidentally attributed that name to an outdated gmail account- and so, sadly, I am just plain old minnaimo on youtube (if anyone knows a way to fix this or a way around it, let us chat as soon as possible) And so, drat! My consistency on the web has been foiled by the infamous YouTube! Tehehe. Carrying on despite all obstacles though. If you want to make me giddy, subscribe to my channel and we can commiserate about all things via video footage and song recommendations.

Find me: http://youtube.com/minnaimo

I have not quite mastered the art that is the Tumblr social media; I primarily use it as a "catch all," meaning: When I write a blog post [see Wordpress below] I allow my content to also appear on my Tumblr page. Sure, I wander over there sometimes: To follow like-minded, intriguing people, those who post things in categories in which I am fond.  Yet as far as me having a "following" on tumblr; not so much.  I really did not start participating on this site until very recently, and like I said, I don't quite fully understand its purpose. If anyone can enlighten me as how to better facilitate the Tumblr, I'd appreciate it.

Find me: http://mirandainnaimo.tumblr.com

In recent months, this has been- by far- my favorite form of social media.  I say that because it is through Wordpress in which I host my website (custom vanity URL being http://mirandainnaimo.com) and my blog. Now you should know something about me: I adore blogging. I started out- on a different site, which I won't mention- when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old (we'll call it a decade ago); because of this regimented hobby, I began to craft and hone my skills as a writer.  I use this website to feature my current writings: Poetry, prose, fiction novels [in progress], vlog, music reviews, readings, and publications (both my own and those by others).  I am very happy to have obtained over 1.4k followers to my website in the past year in which it has been up and running.  This is my social media love child; it is my prized virtual possession; it is my favorite place on the web because it is all mine and I can do with it as I please; it grants me a certain liberty to express myself as needed and to build a rock solid internet presence.  If you enjoy writing, photography, or any form of content creation, I highly recommend investing a few dollars (it truly is not much per year) to build your own website.  With some extensive research and some serious effort, it is plausible to achieve a quality website: Sure, at some point I had to hire someone from Writer.ly [see below] to show me the ropes- the difference between pages and posts, and how to control content deisgnation- but after a good hour of instruction, I was able to navigate and midigate my website exactly as I had hoped to be able to do so. If you're intrigued, sign up for email notifications so you never miss a new post. <3

Find me: http://mirandainnaimo.wordpress.com

With Soundcloud, I'm a little off and on; when I have fresh content to share, I am on there like white on rice- doing everything from following new people, listening to and commenting on tracks, creating sets, and joining groups- and when I have nothing to share, I almost ignore the site completely: Sorry Soundcloud, I'm just odd like that. "What does an independent author share on Soundcloud?" I'm glad you asked! I like to record recitations of my writings- such as poetry, short stories, and even my WIP fiction novels- and upload them to the site to be enjoyed by many.  This site has been good to me.  I have just over 1k plays (which would be well over 1k by now if I had not deleted some tracks and therefore lowered my stats) and roughly 450 fans; I have only shared a total of 17 tracks so far.  I really think there is nothing better then hearing an author recite their own work; it gives the writing such a depth of emotion: To know exactly and in what tone the words are meant to be expressed and absorbed.  I enjoy the synergy of Soundcloud: With the ability to cross-post or share content onto most of my top social media sites, it really makes the web feel like just that: A large web where everything is somehow interconnected and linking forwards and backwards unto itself.  I like their statistics format too, with the ability to see who exactly is listening, commenting, and downloading your material, and at what times and in which regions of the world.  If you would like to hear an indieauthor recite some of her most recent writings, please, by all means, check out my Soundcloud.

Find me: http://soundcloud.com/mirandainnaimo

Ah, the great and wonderful Blurtit: The question and answer website.  I classify this as social media because (nearly) all of the content is created by user members around the globe: Questions are posted and categorized by subject; participants are then able to answer questions as they see fit (hopefully: Honestly, kindly, and to the best of their ability). Question subjects vary as much as the individual responses; I prefer asking and answering questions pertaining to such subjects as religion, spirituality, holy scripture, literature, fiction, poetry, and [obviously] social media. That said, I still browse most of the questions asked just because I'm curious like that.  The neat thing about Blurtit is how excited I was to join; the site was in beta after a relaunch, and I gushed to a friend of mine about my hopes to be accepted into this community; sure enough, I was, and my excitement over Blurtit has yet to dissipate.  As an independent author, I find this also to be another wonderful fan-building resource: I like to post and answer questions pertaining to my writings, building interest over my pieces of poetry or prose, and allowing an audience to obtain insight regarding the works I've accomplished or even yet to begin.  This is a wonderful community, full of interesting people with great ideas worth sharing. Please, if you Blurtit, follow me so I can also keep up with your questions and answers!

Find me: //blurtit.com/u/1577039

I hit the Pinterest hard when I was planning my wedding back in 2012/2013; I loved finding inspiring images of beautiful dresses, shoes, clutches, center pieces, and what have you.  Yet after the "I-do's" were said, I rather fell off the Pinterest planet.  Fear not though; in preparing this post, I meandered over to Pinterest, added a whole new board (called Spoken Word Poetry), followed everyone I know in both real life and on the web, and checked out a plethora or pins; these things I hope to maintain as times goes on.  I see, certainly now, the clear benefits of Pinterest for my indieauthor career; instead of neglecting Pinterest, I can use it to share my content, connect with others, and enjoy fresh material (just like most other social media realms; the big difference being format and formula; the crowd here is far different, I find, in what appeals to them- which, fortunately for me, I am interested in sharing such content).  I believe Pinterest is all about the visual appeal with quality content supporting it; these two things (basically, aesthetics and originality) I am also a big stickler. So if you can forgive my past Pinterest shortcomings, please, by all means, let's connect there too.

Find me: http://pinterest.com/mirandainnaimo

Considering this is where I primarily make an earning by selling my book (currently, I have but one published) I should probably be more active here than I have been as of so far.  Amazon- not what you may consider a "social media"- has actually become quite the opposite.  Authors are encouraged to create profiles [see link below for mine] where their readers can get to know the person behind the story.  *Shrug* I know, I know, I know: I need to be more on top of this site, and yet, it just doesn't seem entirely crucial to my business.  As an author, I'm happy to sell my book; I am less than thrilled about selling myself.  I enjoy social media as a 21st century luxury; when it crosses over into a chore, an obligation- and dare I say, obsession- then I tend to shy away.  Do I want my readers to become familiar with me as an author? Certainly so! Yet most importantly, I want my readers to see me as a genuine human being with every day tendencies (okay, except the one, which is: I very much love to read and write; something I find to be less than abundantly common). But do you know what? I believe, as time goes on, and as I continue to publish more and more, I will dedicate myself and extra time on this site; as it is, with one little lonely book published, I've done enough for now (or so I believe).  Should you have an Amazon account, and you'd like to check out my book, that would be divine! Thanks much.

Find me: http://amazon.com/-/e/B00E40EQZ2

This is another social media outlet I claim without fully comprehending or taking advantage of its assets; I've signed up, filled in the necessary blanks, and yet, done very little else.  I know, as an author, this should probably be my home page; but again, back to the work versus passion argument, I'm not trying to sell myself: Just books, and to participate on a site for the sheer purpose of gaining profit is not in my nature. Do I respect Good Reads? Absolutely; you want to keep track of all your books read and find the next one for your shelf, this is perfect. Yet for me to participate on their site solely for the sake of some brainiac recognition, advertising, and persuading people to read my work, I'm just not there yet; maybe some day, when- again- I have published more works than just one little [wonderful] poetry book.  I think this site offers a fabulous set of services; I've just yet to dedicate myself fully to them; and when I do something, I put my heart into it: Until I can pour all I've got into Good Reads, it's best if I just respectfully shy away.  That said, if you're an avid reader or a fellow author, then by all means, let's connect together, share our passion for the written word, and maybe, just maybe, we can explore this territory together.

Find me: http://goodreads.com/Miranda_Innaimo

Okay, okay, okay! Writer.ly may not technically constitute as a social media site, but hey- it's social, and I participate there, so it's on my list. This site is relatively new, but my! Has it grown exponentially in a short amount of time. Writer.ly is a social-based resource tool for writers by providing serivces through their members: Editors, designers, creativity coaches, publishers; you name it, if it's a need of a writer, chances are good that Writer.ly can fulfill it.  But the buck doesn't stop there.  It's a two way street with Writerly. Not only can you hire folks to help you, you can offer your talent and services to receive jobs as well; all financial transactions occur through PayPal, so it's basically cash money in the bank. I highly reccommend Writer.ly should you have the writer's needs, or some talent to offer.  Oh, and while you're there, make me one of your watched members. ;)

Find me: http://writer.ly/UserAccount/mirandainnaimo

To be honest [some more], I have not to the fullest been an active participant on this site; however, I think they provide such an excellent community for writers (and believe it or not, both female AND male authors) that I could not allow myself to leave them out.  They offer fabulous content pertaining to all things writing related, message boards, and your own on-site blog feature- which, of course, could very easily make it into their newsletter and boast your name  as well as provide platform recognition.  I do hope to participate more on this site, as I highly respect the women (and men) who do so; it's a kind, compassionate, and nurturing community, where a network of support is offered to those writers who need it.

Find me: http://shewrites.com/profile/MirandaInnaimo

Last but certainly not least: Wattpad. This was love at first site (ha!). This writing community allows professional, aspiring, and random writers to interact with their readers.  By sharing stories, authors allow their works to be read by an audience for free: A privilege and honor to fans. But it doesn't stop there. There is so much social interaction on this site, I would wonder if any reading is actually taking place if not for the massive amount of comments left on every chapter-by-chapter post within a book / work.  This is a fun place to be a writer and a reader. Should you choose to check it out, you may also enjoy some of my poetry and fiction writings.

Find me: http://wattpad.com/user/MirandaInnaimo

And so, until next time, much love!