For an assignment in my New Media class at Southern
New Hampshire University I researched three published authors’ Facebook pages
to get a well rounded idea of how they present themselves to the public. Research shows that certain practices help
writers’ exposure to the public and I wanted to discover if those practices
were being carried out.
David Morrell has been a lifelong favorite author of
mine so dissecting his methods might have been too easy for me. His page does show much interaction with the
public along with advertising for his work; a plus for a writer. John Grisham’s Facebook page felt more like a
platform for advertisement and not as interactive as Morrell’s site. The author I’m choosing to take a deeper look
into is Nicolas Sparks. Is it because he’s
in Southport, North Carolina right now and I might see him pass by in his car? Maybe.
Sparks’ Facebook page has plenty to offer for his
fans. There are contests such as the
Twitter party which offers chances to win an autographed copy of Safe Haven and
other prizes. The site also has a “Fan
of the Week” posting that is decided by participation through wall posting and
comments. Sparks also shows his
character by sharing moments from his charity work; the Sparks’ Basketball
Camp.
The three necessitates to a good Facebook page are
the Profile, the Pages, and the Groups.
Sparks’ profile is professional in the sense that he makes his followers
feel a part of his work. There are many
pictures from the set of Safe Haven, being filmed right now just down the road,
which is an adaptation of his book. Though
Sparks doesn’t actually post many comments to those commenting on his post his
followers still seem satisfied that he is taking the time to update his page
several times daily.
Sparks has pages of information on his work that are
intergraded with games, fun extras, and calendar of events. Getting information on anything Sparks is
very easy through his Facebook account.
I didn’t see that Nicolas Sparks has any groups that
he leads and being a full time author and advisor to movies probably doesn’t allow
him time to follow many groups. This is
countered by the availability of the public to participate in any of his
various games, contests, or interactive networking.
The advice for writers on Facebook is for them to be
social, natural, consistent, and diverse.
Nicolas Sparks seems natural in his posting, often laid back with his
picture posting. He is consistent by
dropping lines from movies, asking questions about his novels, and updating his
account daily. His diversity and social
skills seem to lack slightly. If Sparks
would interact in the comment section like David Morrell does, then more people
might comment for the chance to be spoken to.
His diversity ranges from one of his projects to another and in the multiple
available pages, but not in random postings or comments or information on his personal
life or perspective.
