How does social media help writers today?

[MR. THINKER!]

With social media being such a helpful tool for so many artists these days, namely musicians, how come the same can't be said for unpublished writers?

[Uprising324]

In my opinion, it can be used to benefit the few of us that are unrecognized. I think it's great for getting opinions on your work. That's just me, though...

[SilverStar]

Unpublished writers can post their work online and advertise it. They can also publish it on writing sites and have it reviewed/read by others, get critiqued, and start to make a name. They can also interact w/ other writers like them and get ideas and such. Blogs are great for this. I'm actually starting a blog reviewing books and stories (mostly YA but I'll read anything), and I'm going to try and go on Wattpad or other sites and review stories by unrecognized authors and other books.

[?]

Due to the Internet, the way that people get information has changed dramatically over the past twenty years. Instead of calling someone we know or going to the library, the first place that we often go to learn how to do something, or to find products or services, is the Internet. As more and more people have gained access to the Internet and started to use it on a daily basis—often as their only source of information when they need questions answered—a great deal of work has been created for copywriters. Today, millions of people in the United States, and hundreds of millions around the globe, use the Internet to access information. Many of them, without even knowing it, depend on the work of copywriters to provide them with the information that they need.

More recently, the Internet has undergone a change as a result of the rising popularity of “Web 2.0” sites, which include online forums and social media sites. The name comes from the fact that these sites continued to grow during the “dot com crash.” Simply put, they facilitate communication between Internet users. Instead of presenting original content to users, these sites depend on the users to provide the content and often have little or no content provided by the company that runs the site. Wikipedia.org, YouTube.com, Craigslist.org, Facebook.com, and Twitter are well-known examples of Web 2.0 sites, but there are thousands of others.

The result is that more and more people are getting information from other Internet users through social media sites and forums. Conversely, fewer people are getting information from traditional articles posted on informational sites.