I'm a social media junkie.

I love Facebook (an addict according to my husband). I love Twitter and have been known to spend a Friday night having a virtual #wineparty (sans wine since my meds are incompatible with alcohol). I love message boards and websites that connect like-minded people (like SheWrites).

For me, social networking is about connecting and sharing. It's amazing, really.

BUT...

I fear that social networking is turning into a mass marketing blitz. I've been known to click on a headline on SheWrites thinking the topic sounds interesting, only to be taken to a nearly blank page with a link to someone's blog. I find this unfortunate. (On the contrary, I love when someone includes a link to their blog at the bottom of a post so that I can click to more writing if I am interested in reading more of their work.) I also find that people often comment on blogs (here and otherwise) with a link to theirs, often without adding anything of merit to the conversation at hand. To me that completely defeats the purpose of social networks; instead of a real conversation and sharing of ideas, it becomes almost predatory. It's as though the social network is a pre-defined market for which to take opportunistic advantage.

Having witnessed numerous conversations about book promotion, I do know that social networks are a major part of the marketing campaign and don't discount how powerful that can be for generating buzz and reaching a much wider audience than local book tours. But I think it's much more than just adding links and perpetual promotion. You have to be a part of the community.

--
How do you use social media to promote yourself (whether a book or a blog)? How do you feel as a participant in any social networking group (Twitter, SheWrites, etc) about links in posts, Facebook Fan pages, or business tweets? How can we use this to better engage our market while also being active participants in the community?