Comments on: 6 Reasons I’m Not Following You on Twitter

By: Seven People in My #Transmedia Neighborhood | Free Verse Media

Seven People in My #Transmedia Neighborhood | Free Verse Media — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:36:06 +0000

[...] Twitter has become even more valuable since then as a professional discovery and networking tool, I still look to blogs for deeper engagement, and subscribe to feeds of blogs that offer real [...]

By: Using Twitter’s Lists Feature for Writing | stream4.me

Using Twitter’s Lists Feature for Writing | stream4.me — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:37:38 +0000

[...] they follow and not follow. Some follow those who fall into a specific field, career and whatnot. Guy LeCharles Gonzalez follows those with some connection to publishing. It’s not elitist if someone doesn’t follow [...]

By: Using Twitter’s Lists Feature for Writing | Meryl.net

Using Twitter’s Lists Feature for Writing | Meryl.net — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:49:23 +0000

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:51:52 +0000

Really? I hope it's a positive memory! That was a couple of sketchy years.

BTW, that's a great site you have! Just added it to my Reader list.

By: Literanista

Literanista — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:35:42 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised to see your name on the list – I still remember you from back in the day at the Nuyorican.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:07:27 +0000

I hate the friends/followers terminology! It's very high school, and there's way too many followers in publishing, not enough doers. I love that I've connected with some very smart and interesting people, though; Dan and yourself included.

I also don't think I'm terribly influential; I'm just a guy who works in publishing trying to practice what I preach, and be the change I want to see. If I had real influence, I probably wouldn't have time for Twitter! LOL!

By: revolucion0

revolucion0 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:26:30 +0000

Sorry, just getting to this now! Earlier this week I read @MikeCane's updated twitter rules, and like Joba (sorry, had to get in that NYY reference), I just can't get with the rule-bot. As a subculture writer and ahhhrtist I hope to shake rules down, stomp them, raid them, and kick their ass all the time. So lists like the 15 Top blah blah blah just don't do anything for me but exclude. I salute you and do contend that you're affirmatively influential in the community and our not-so-quiet movement to cultivate viable alternatives to the mainstream print publishing industry as it is now, and provoke thought and discourse on things other than vampires and reality tv.

Couldn't agree more that twitter isn't going to change your biz; because twitter is a weird beauty contest full of cliques, and, well, followers, right? The semantics were so off putting to me that I was repulsed for the entire first year or so of its launch that I wanted nothing part of a technology platform that labeled me — or anyone else for that matter — as a follower. Bizarre. I've lightened up a bit and I enjoy it and have met some wildly interesting people, including Dan Holloway, and was lucky to have joined the ranks of Year Zero as a direct result of tweeting. But look at my lame-ass numbers of followers — by what metrics are we analyzing these lists in relation to what we are saying on twitter? Dammit, there it is again, LISTS. RULES. I'm holding my potty-mouth tongue here because this is, after all, a family site…

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:42:38 +0000

The contradiction was intentional. My take on the list is that it's not what any of us are doing on Twitter that is “shaping the future of publishing”, but what we're doing in our respective jobs within publishing. No one on that list is a “lobbyist”, and I'm pretty comfortable with making the claim that each one of us approaches our work very much from a reader-centric perspective.

It's also worth noting that social media is all about connections, and except for Nash and Coker, I intially “met” everyone else on that list via Twitter and consider several to now be like-minded colleagues.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:34:10 +0000

Different strokes for different folks, but the ability to engage directly with your (potential) readers is a huge opportunity, especially for small publishers. That doesn't mean Twitter is the right channel for everyone, of course, but neither should it be dismissed out of hand.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:43:15 +0000

An almost contradiction – “Twitter will not save your business model…” And yet you are somehow “shaping the future of publishing” with Twitter? The future of publishing will be shaped by readers (not lobbyists) and no amount of twittering or activism is going to make the slightest bit of difference to the outcome.