Really, why do I try?

In all my years of blogging, the post that got the most comments was the simple question "Am I the only one who still thinks of unlined paper as 'typing paper?'"

Today on Twitter, I repeated someone else's mild joke about President's Day and, so far, I've had fifty favorites and retweets, by far the most I've had for anything I've ever said.

Instead of spending all this time researching a book, I should have just gone on social media, written "So, what's the deal with mammoths?" and appended a hashtag for Jerry Seinfeld. It would have instantly made me Mr. Mammoth throughout the internet and gotten me an appearance on the Tonight Show and a fifteen minute NPR feature.

Social networking

I'm suspicious of the whole social networking thing. First off, I'm not very sociable. Secondly, I'm pretty private, I don't want to tell the whole world about my every action. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I don't really need another time suck, I'm a blogger. Still I'm told there are some practical uses for it--publishers like prospective authors who can contribute to the marketing of their books--so I'm giving it a shot. I just set up a Facebook page. If I'm feeling especially bold, I might even try Twitter later this week.