I Got Roped Into Joining Threads

So, here's the deal. (And you know how much I hate social media.) I opened one of Jessie Cuniffe's daily emails and she was touting how great Threads is.

"The next biggest advantage?

IT’S WORD-BASED."

I grew to despise Instagram because its focus is visuals, and creating them was not only exhausting but pointless. I never gained any traction on Instagram, unless you count spammers. I accumulated a ton of those.

So I debated whether Threads might be a better fit for me. Naturally, I wanted to take a peek at the app first, but oh, no....you can't do that unless you either sign in with your Instagram account or create a new profile. Since I'm determined to leave Instagram in the dust and start from scratch, I reluctantly created a Threads account. 

Well, yes, there are more text posts than images/reels, but the vibe is same old-same old. Everyone tries to lure followers by writing something "catchy", but I've come to realize that when it comes to catchy, there are no new ideas. Thus, every engagement-hungry post reads the same. I already hate the site.

And, hey, guess what---one cannot delete their Threads profile! 

Thanks a bunch, Jessie. 

To be fair, I typed "writing community" into the search bar, and discovered that there are some clever people posting. I haven't yet seen any blatant promoting, which is refreshing but kind of self-defeating. "Clever" is great and all that, but how do these posts actually create any selling opportunities? I realize that a new account would look jerky if they started off their Thread life by pushing their book, and I would never do that, but that's the only reason I'm on social media--to sell books. I don't need new virtual friends or even new actual friends. I'm fine with my friend count as it is. Does that sound mercenary? Well, why else do authors take to social media? Just to shoot the shit? 

The basic truth I somehow forgot is that on all these sites--Threads, Reddit, Substack---an author is only talking to fellow authors. And fellow authors aren't going to buy your book; they want to sell theirs.

And not to be a buzzkill, but I'm not interested in talking about the writing process. How much is there to say about it? Yea, it's hard, blah blah blah. Everybody knows that. 

Look, no harm done, really. I'll probably set up my profile and write a post introducing myself. And await the countless offers of paid reviews and book trailers that I'll have to spend time deleting. 

 

It was a dumb idea. 

I'm known for those.