Social Networking for Online Writers: Are Twitter and Facebook the Answer?

I've been thinking about social networks for a while now -- Twitter and Facebook being at the top of my list. I've tried them both out to see how well they work for promoting my writing. To be totally honest with you, I haven't seen much of a return on my investment. What I have seen, is tons of people trying to sell me ebooks and reports that are guaranteed to teach me how to how to use Twitter or Facebook to build a following that will be eager to click on my links. Some even claim to make thousands of dollars a day just by posting a few simple links.

My question is: If these people know how to make thousands or millions of dollars with a few minutes work, why are they wasting their time and effort writing books to teach me how?  

Oh, we both know the answer. They are making money off the hopes and dreams of people just like you and me who are all too eager to believe that with a "secret formula" we will be on our way to guaranteed success.

There may be formulas out there -- such as setting goals and working to achieve them -- but I'll leave those conversation to my blog In the Direction of Dreams. If you are interested in that sort of thing feel free to stop by and check out the resources for attaining your goals by changing your thinking.

I just published an article about Social Networking for Promoting your online writing, so I won't repeat myself here. If you are interested in reading about how and why it works -- or doesn't -- you can read that in Social Networking: Twitter and Facebook as Promotional Tools for Writers  (or Tweeting Away Your Time). 

Your views and experience may differ from mine and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Feel free to leave your comments on the article (Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the comment box.) or on this post.