“Social Media” is an overhyped, misunderstood, and often loaded term that has become THE generic buzzword of the past five years. The overarching term could be used to describe MySpace, Twitter, Blogging, Facebook, Bebo, and countless other digital technologies built around the idea of online two-or-more-way communication.

It is an abstract concept; a poorly defined, multi-faceted idea that many have yet to fully grasp, and even fewer have been able to master.

All the same, as it turns out, the comic community has been among those industries to embrace social media the most wholeheartedly.

Which is why I’m going to use this post to write about how useful social media can be for writers and artists looking to build a career, or even just a grassroots following, in comics (and in doing so, redundantly add my voice to the hype).

A social-media-focused post was inevitable, really. Not only does the phrase keep popping up in any sort of dialogue regarding the current state of the industry, (see Michael Cho on how comic artists are ‘internet hoes’) but it’s the most logical subject to segue into from my last Random Bits post on Community in Comics.

Since we’re dealing with an abstract concept here, let’s break it down to the basics. Assuming you have some grasp on what social media entails, (or you could get an idea what it’s about here, here and here) the aspects of social media we’re concerned with here are pretty well threefold:

Channels that allow individuals to showcase and obtain feedback on their work.

Tools that enhance your online presence by familiarizing the public with who you are.

-and-

Sites or services which provide an opportunity to network with  peers in the industry

Obviously these three aspects of social media often overlap, but for the purpose of this post, we’ll distinguish them for their separate functions.

Who’s using social media?

Everyone. Okay, maybe not everyone, but an impressively large number of the creative minds in comics today have some form of online manifestation capable of interacting with the general public.

For example, a partial list of some of the bigger industry names who tweet would include:

Neil Gaiman, Joe Quesada, Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Mark Waid, Dave McKean, Robert Kirkman, Darick Robertson, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Steve Niles, and Marv Wolfman.

To bring it home, there are also plenty of Canadian comic book all-stars dwelling in the twitosphere, such as:

Fiona Staples, Steve Rolston, Karl Kerschl, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Michael Cho, Lar deSouza, Jeff Lemire, Ramon Perez, and Kathryn Immonen.

There are even more Canadian comic book personalities that may not have twitter, but keep an active blog or some other form of web-presence. The Joe Shuster Awards blog keeps a pretty nifty list of links to many such sites right here.

MySpace is something of a dying venue for comic book workers, and Facebook Fan pages – now a staple for many indie musicians – has yet to catch on within the comic book industry. The industry does, however, have some alternate social media channels which at least a few artists have learned to use effectively. But I’ll get to that in the next section -

How are they making the most out of social media?

If you browse through any of the Twitter feeds from the names listed above, you’ll find a pretty similar, fairly simple formula. Take equal parts of industry-related updates, (ie., new art up at xyz.bit.ly!) quirky personal news, (just made the best chawanmushi! Yum!) dialogue with peers, (@joeQuesada had enough Disney/Marvel mashup musical suggestions for the next decade yet?) and response to fan feedback (@kushyloafer thanks for the kind words, next time I promise the ogre’s shoes will be earth-shatteringly huge!).

The point is to build yourself as a real person while networking, build a loyal fanbase who feel like they have an open connection with you, and give people a real-time channel to find out what’s new with whatever you’re working on.  Plus developing a fanbase you can interact with is a two-way street; not only do they get to feel like you’re more than just an unreachable name on a comic they like, but you also get to be privy to some (hopefully) helpful feedback about your work.

Blogs kept by artists and writers work a little differently. Everyone has their own approach to blog content  – Michael Cho keeps a sketchblog showcasing his recent illustration, while Jeff Lemire exclusively publishes news regarding recent releases, and Kate Beaton alternates between providing general life updates and giving between-the-panels insights into her webcomics.

As long as you write about something connected in some way to whatever you’re trying to promote, your blog is accomplishing its goal: connecting the web-browsing masses with your work, and bridging together whatever multiple projects or social media outlets you have through a sort of ‘hub’.

Then you have the multimedia side of social media outlets. Sites like illoz, illustrationmundo.com, and even Flickr have been effectively utilized by comic artists looking to showcase and get feedback on their work.  The Fabler would fall into this category as a site that seeks to assist creators in showcasing their sequentially presented comic art.

Looking for Group artist Lar deSouza notably uses Ustream as a way to communicate with his fans while providing a window  into his creative process.

All of this might seem redundant to you if you’re already among the growing ranks of the web-2.0-savvy online comic community. If so, that’s great, you’ve probably already benefited in one way or another from  keeping a presence on the inter-webs. Alternately, you might be among those who find that even uttering the phrase ’social media’ leaves a bad taste in your mouth, or you could simply be a little intimidated by the directions that self-promotion within the industry is taking.

If the latter is the case, what you need to know is -

Why you should (or shouldn’t) hop on the bandwagon

I think I’ve given a half-decent overview as to most of the benefits social media affords to creators (and aspiring creators) in the comic industry. Those three points I mentioned before tie-in here nicely:

By building an online presence, you make it easier for your work to be ‘discovered’ and you make yourself significantly more ‘reachable’ by anyone interested in talking to you about it.

By showcasing your work online, you allow yourself to grow creatively from the feedback you receive while also having a handy way to display items from your portfolio to anyone even remotely curious about what you do.

By networking through means like commenting on blogs, posting @replies on Twitter, and engaging in dialogues on sites like Ustream, you expand your contacts within the industry and thus increase your likelihood of success within the medium.

All this is straightforward stuff, and comes with a lot of bonus benefits. Following other comic fans/creators in the industry on Twitter can be handy in giving you a good idea what’s going on in the industry, as can hopping around some of the more regularly updated creator blogs out there. Checking out the posted illustrations of other comic artists can often trigger a spark of inspiration for your own material.

I admit that I don’t really have a counter-argument to this. You really should hop on the bandwagon, if you haven’t already. If you’re still a little intimidated, just remember – it doesn’t have to be as big as a revolution in the comic industry, at its essence social media is just another toolkit to help build your name as an artist, a writer, or whatever else you’re aiming for.