Crisply published books will hold their charms over reading
on plastic... with or without social media
Wendell Rodricks
wendellrodri...@gmail.com
Last month, reading *Harper's Bazar*, Amy Molloy wrote an
article on the Selfie and how she posted a naked photograph
of herself on Instagram. This is what she would never do in
real life. Social media, she claimed, has turned her 'other'
self into a hussy.
Why are we showing a different side of ourselves on
social media? A kind of phantom self projected to
the public? A far removed persona from the reality
that we are? Thanks to social media, statistics
show a 30% increase in narcissistic tendency among
people who use social media. Is it because we are
taking better photos on the new cameras that allow
one to make image alterations for social media?
Everyone with the modern cameras imagines they are
photographers. Quite like many people who write but have not
published a book call themselves authors. Even though the
meaning of the word author or auteur is not necessarily a
book author.
Social media has become an imposed epidemic phenomenon for
most. I say most because I have friends on Facebook who
initiate conversation, debate, write about matters that
deserve praise and criticism. They use social media in a
thought provoking manner. It is that small group of people
that make social media so interesting and interactive. Many a
time my own decisions or opinions have changed or altered
based on their point of view.
Talking about photographs and images, the very nature of
social media websites have changed due to the new
narcissistic behaviour of the world at large. Amy Molloy
says in her article in Harpers Bazar that before 2009
Facebook allowed 60 photos per album. Post 2009, one can
'drag and drop' to your heart's content.
Sometimes, one discovers how social media works by using your
cellphone, iPad or tablet innovatively. Quite by accident,
when I was in China this year (where twitter and Facebook are
banned) I discovered that if I used Instagram and shared the
image and text on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram did the job
of posting on my Facebook and Twitter. However, since then,
the Chinese have realised that this can be done and have
blocked Instagram as well.
There are reportedly over 240 million photos on Instagram
with the hash tag #me. And why not? Especially when one is
suddenly handed over so many ways to alter a photograph.
It's not just the arty looking black and white that can
control contrast, sharpness, blur out images and so much more
that everyone is looking 'beautiful', 'fabulous', 'gorgeous',
'killer' and 'awesome' earning many a 'super like'.
The need to look good is easy when one goes via Apps like
Modiface or Facetime. One can draw in fake lashes, a pout,
smoothen skin, remove wrinkles and cellulite and drop 12 kgs
in a flash.
On social media, there is also (count me in guilty as
charged) the growing number of the 'Tweet what you eat'
tribe. Do people get a thrill out of showing what they are
eating? Apparently we do. Once in a way comes a food shot
that can send you to the kitchen to search an old recipe and
share it. That is not a bad thing because more people seem
to be eating out with their cell phone cameras on the ready
than eating home and having a conversation with family and
friends. When eating out these days, observe how many tables
are silently in conversation with their cellphones rather
than chatting or laughing like in the old days pre cell
phones and social media.
There is something bizarre about social media and the people
we show ourselves to be. What you show is not who you always
are. In fact the more we share the more we conceal. We
become a kind of split personality like Dr Jeckyl and Mr
Hyde. But in this case the persons 'out there' is always a
nice person whereas in real life they may be raging monsters.
I must recount here the well known story of a cheating
husband who was spied checking into a hotel with a lady. The
wife got a call from her best friend to tell her what she had
seen. The incensed wife called the husband who said he was
stuck late in the office and was driving home in traffic. To
which the wife calming said "You are driving? Okay, then
blow the car horn"
This story would not have happened post the arrival of
WhatsApp. The friend would have simply clicked a photograph
and the rest would have followed...
I once asked on my Facebook post what happens to my Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter once we die. Do we want to live on
forever in cyberspace? Fear not about being 'out there'
forever. You can control how long an images stays on social
media. With apps like Snapchat the image can self destruct
when your want it to and with Slingshot you can programme a
one view only.
Social media has also edited the written word. Quite like the
media has become, people see images with brief captions and
skim to the next image. Is that why magazines such as
*People*, *Hello* and *OK* are so popular?
'Less words-More images' seems to be editor's new mantra.
This runs very close to writing books. One of the rules is
'Show. Don't tell'. The big difference is that you are
creating an image and 'showing' it via creative writing.
Using a cliche in fashion, it seems as if Brief is the New
Black. Keeping the image large and the prose short is
another fallout of social media. Editors will often run a
story with as little as three hundred words and let the
images do the talking.
Another psychological trend is the need to
'perform' on social media. We are 'performing' for
the net. It is akin to young men watching porn
which makes them anxious and often frustrated that
they cannot perform like pornstars. One of my
friends, acclaimed photographer Farrokh Chothia,
put it very well when he said that if it is not
'out there', it did not happen.
And when it is out there, it is put out there because
everyone should 'like' it. If a post is not 'liked' on
Facebook or Instagram, it is like a non-selling book with a
publisher. It needs to pulped or 'deleted'. People get
frustrated and anxious when the 'like' barometer is low.
Which brings me to the three books that make it to
bestsellers since 2012. *50 Shades of Grey* which I threw at
a girlfriend after page forty, who in turn threw it at her
daughter after twenty pages, who binned it after page five.
the next book was *The Hunger Games* which had a certain
audience in large numbers. But it is the third book *Gone
Girl* that needs scrutiny.
*Gone Girl's* author Gillian Flynn had two crime novels out
before *Gone Girl: Dark Spaces and Sharp Objects*. Gillian
Flynn does not have an active social media life. She prefers
to do the right thing and 'focus on the writing'. We may not
realise it but we can spend up to three hours a day on social
media. The secret of *Gone Girl* from bestselling book to
blockbuster film is the content. It got great reviews that
sent it up the bestseller list. The publisher pressed all
the right buttons from marketing, visibility to distribution.
Social media then did the rest. From whispers, the chatter
go so loud that it went viral. The internet, Facebook
friends, Instagram posts and the twitterati sold the book to
wondrous acclaim.
What is a writers most challenging task these days? Apart
from the writing that engages reader to author, the writer
must keep the audience engaged. It has become important to
keep that audience alive not just by getting out the next
book but also engaging the reader and audience via blog or
video upload.
My friend Deepika Shetty who works for *The Strait Times* in
Singapore wrote a book called *Red Helmet*. Not only did she
single handedly make the book happen, she used social media
and social networking to the hilt.
Is there a difference between social media and social
networking? People tend to confuse one with the other.
Social Media is when you are putting your matter out there...
quite like news. You can do it via a blog, a video, an
Instagram, on Youtube, a pod-cast, a newsletter or eBook.
More about eBooks later. Social Networking on the other hand
is how one networks and interacts. This is mainly on sites
like Facebook and Twitter.
One can use social media and networking in many ways today.
Despite the presence of Kindle, even a company like Amazon
has a website called AuthorCentral.amazon.com. Authors
(including first time writers) can go on line, seek help from
professionals who will go through the entire process of
publishing a book like an agent or a publisher will do. It
does not stop there. Once the book is out, the site informs
about sales, where the book is selling best and much more.
AuthorCentral. Amazon.com has a long list of fawning,
grateful writers since they launched.
A friend in Delhi, Pooja Pandey, did a children cartoon book
using a system called PWYW. Basically one can download the
book for free on this Pay What You Wish site. The site
allows you to down load for a zero amount. Most people
however pay an amount. This system was used by the music
group RadioHead who did a song that went viral and created
history thanks to PWYW.
With so much social media around, is there a threat to books?
Noted author and friend Amitav Ghosh told me once that people
may not buy books any more one day. That implies that Kindle
might be the new bookshelf.
I beg to differ.
As long as we have people who prefer crisp cold
cash instead of plastic, there will be people who
prefer a crisply published book to reading on
plastic.
--
This is the opening keynote at the Goa Art and Literary
Festival 2014, delivered by noted fashion designer and author
Wendell Rodricks on December 4, 2014 at Goa.
