Moosey's Facebook and Twitter
Head Gardener
At the time of writing these words I've been on Facebook and Twitter for almost one week. So what have I, Moosey, learnt about becoming a social networking gardener?
My initial reaction has been rather self-centred. Yippee! I've got friends, and fans, all around the world. Smiling people put nice things on my wall. Like Kathy Purdy, famous blogger of Cold Climate Gardening, saying hello. Maybe I am quite a nice person - even likeable! So my personal self-esteem grows even higher. One only hopes that it will trickle down into the gardening core and inspire me.
I've given myself a rule: Always write it (whatever 'it' is) in the mornings, early, just after the first cup of hot tea, when the mind is full of lashings of optimism. At such times nothing in my little gardenworld is impossible. I've learnt quickly never to twitter after six hours at the autumn bonfire. A short snappy instant message can never encapsulate a whole day of smoky tedium.
Me :- I'm sitting by the water race, surrouded by Phormiums of many different colours, probably writing a list. Web-master says this photo is not iconic enough...
And what is my purpose in writing? This is where my web-advisors and I tend to part company. Promoting a Mooseys Country Garden brand sounds far too much like commerce-business - way too artificial for me. When I'm in the garden I'm just the real me. When I stop gardening I compulsively record what I've done and thought about.
I write lists, I pat myself on the back, I grump, I philosophise on the various meaning of life... Picture the gracefully aging gardener sitting by her oversized Phormiums muttering to herself 'I am not a brand. I am not a brand. I am not a brand'. Hee hee...
Lawn Mowing :- My garden would be far less beautiful if I didn't have well-mowed lawns. Non-Gardening Partner must take some of the credit.
'Put up lots of photographs on Facebook' instructed my web-master. I started slowly, with my ginger gardening cats - what a brilliant response! Fluff-Fluff the Fierce was an instant hit. So then I thought I'd widen things, and up went a series of Non-Gardening Partner mowing the lawns. Hmm... Only one comment and that from one of HIS friends! Same man in earmuffs on the same mower, granted - but hey! The lawns were all different...
And what about the content? Oh dear. I'm only just learning how all this works. The simplest things seem difficult. I'd really like to add things to my 'likes' column, but I haven't yet worked out how to. It seems only fair, since 46 nice people have become fans of Mooseys Country Garden, which is jolly decent of them all, after one week. I hope they stay fans for ever.
Inspiration :- A talented watercolourist Neelima Perni used one of my irises as inspiration. Now we're back in touch thanks to Facebook.
Life in the Moosey Social Network Garden is definitely hotting up. I'm in touch with new friends, and I'm able to pull old and new threads of the rug of Moosey life more firmly together. Hmm... Social networking has obviously improved my use of metaphor!
So enjoy Moosey on Facebook and flit around with the tweeting me on Twitter. I'm certainly enjoying myself.