Twitter: the dark side, or the light of the blogging community?

Hello friends, happy Wednesday! How are you today? I hope you’re reading wonderful books and overall having a great week. If not, it will get better, and I am sending you hugs. Today I am back with my bi-monthly feature, where I’m chatting about blogging…and I wanted to talk about quite a sensitive topic today, Twitter and its dark sides.

Among the thousand of advice you can get in these newbie book bloggers blog posts, Twitter is almost always part of the top ten. Join Twitter they say, it’s a wonderful plateform for the community. It’s a idea you don’t want to miss out on, because many great things are awaiting there. The book blogging community on Twitter is huge, and thing is, they make some noise. You will always find someone to talk to, no matter what hour of the day or night because well, time difference sometimes doesn’t suck at all. It’s easier and quicker to reach to some book bloggers you love and want to talk to. Really, just go on Twitter, they say, it’s almost a MUST if you want to live the blogging adventure fully.

They’re not entirely wrong, and I’m not here to bash on Twitter. I have been on the social media for years now, first with a personal account, and then since I started this blog almost two years ago, on a Twitter account dedicated to my blog. And if, let’s face it,  being on Twitter won’t be the ultimate thing you have to do to become a famous book blogger and all, it did WONDERS in terms of connection. I connected with book bloggers more, and discovered so many new people. I participated in Twitter Chats, talked about books, laughed and shared my feelings on a book, always found someone to fangirl with. I got to know the community A LOT more, and for that, I am SO thankful.

That being said, Twitter isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, at all. Just like in life, it’s not all black or white either, and then happens a time where something happens. You log onto Twitter in the morning, evening, no matter what the day, and people are changed. Words are thrown, against authors, against books, against ships, against well, basically everything you can think of. There is DRAMA. A community, and people loving and sharing their thoughts about books, can’t really be free of these dramas. But, with 140 characters and something, an opinion can, very quickly, provoke some kind of tsunami and spread all around the blogosphere. It happens with some decisions the author made about a book. It happens with diversity in books. Really, it happens with a lot of things. And it’s TIRING. ALL this negativity. And how come bad feeling spread so fast, but we often forget to spread positivity and love? WHY are we suddenly so mean to each other, to the books we love, or not, but at least should RESPECT? What happened to respecting the author’s choices, embracing what’s needed in the world, just, *insert a bad word here* RESPECT each other’s opinion and share some LOVE once and for all? It is SO, so easy to get carried away. If someone hates and / or criticize my favorite author, I surely would get mad. ESPECIALLY if it’s said in the wrong way. There are ways to say things, and there are also WAYS to keep things for yourself. Often, respect is forgotten authors are being targeted for their bookish decisions, and… just, why. What is the point of creating, spreading, and just keeping on making this drama live?

It’s all shades of grey, really, and it’s just a matter of following the right people, and remembering the positives and GOOD things about this community. If you ask me, Twitter is a great pillar of this community. It allows us to share, to connect, to tighten some blogging relationships, to create trends, to chat with amounts of incredible twitter chats such as the #teenbloggerschat, the #ukyachat and so many more – I couldn’t quote them all, and for the time difference I can’t participate in these, but just, you will find them. When bloggers tell you, newbies or not, to get on Twitter and find the community, they are not talking about this drama-crazy community. They’re talking about these people talking endlessly about books, sharing their feelings, blog posts and overall LOVE for authors, diversity, BOOKS.

It’s not, and it doesn’t have to be all about dramas. It’s 140 characters (more now, but well) to share your love. To have fun, to connect with the community. No place or blogging community is free of dramas, but if we all could be a little more positive and respectful, it would be a little better. On that, I want to mention my friend and fantastic blogger Becca, crazy mind behind the Positivity Project on which you should subscribe right now. And share LOVE.

Are you on Twitter, and if so, do yo have a Twitter account related to your blog? Do you think it’s useful? Would you recommend using this social media? 😊

What do you think of all the drama starting on Twitter? Let’s chat in comments 💬