Social Media: Is it Worth the Time?

Photo credit: Tom Raftery on Flickr

When discussing time management and writing, I often joke about the hazards of the time-sucking internet, usually citing Twitter and tumblr as top offenders.

To anyone who has logged on to either of those sites (or onto just about any social media site, for that matter) it’s no secret that a so-called five minute break can quickly become a half hour excursion or even longer if your self-control fails you. If you’re not careful, social media can very easily suck up time that could be spent writing, or working on a plethora of other important things.

That being said, it’s not unreasonable to start to wonder if social media is worth the time. And to that I answer a very assured yes.

You see, while (most) social media is free of charge, it does come at the cost of our time. But the investment you put into your online presence absolutely does reap rewards, and I’ve broken them down into five categories.

Five Rewards from Social Media Investment: 

1. Exposure. Whether you’re a writer or an artist, an editor or a musician, social media allows you to freely distribute your work to the masses. For some, that means blogs, for others it means being ridiculous witty (or kind) on Twitter. Point is that it allows you to get out there and show the world what you have to offer. 


2. Inspiration. This is huge. While inspiration-searching is often what can lead to the time-suck of doom, social media brings inspiration to all types in many different formats—whether it’s links to incredible posts on Twitter, beautiful pictures on tumblr or Pinterest, or touching videos on Youtube, social media is an endless source of inspiration. 


3. Connections. Relationships. People. I’ve written about the heart of social media before, and this right here is it. 


4. Opportunities. You know those pitch contests I’ve been raving about as of late? I never would have heard about them without Twitter. And those Twitter pitch fests that have garnered more than a handful of agent requests for writers? Also would be impossible without social media. Opportunities are everywhere and social media makes them even easier to find.


5. Growth. A combination of the above four elements leads to one thing: growth. Social media allows us to learn from each other, to learn from sharing our work and making mistakes and seeing how others succeed. It creates experiences we can learn from that we would not have had without it. 

What do you think? Is social media worth the time? Why or why not?