At the end of January I did this post on Social Networking. I said this:
Is social networking really social? Or is it a lazy, superficial way for people to sort-of make contact. After all, it's not really contact, is it? Is it? I've been to actual social events where people spend more time on their smart phones texting, tweeting or whatever they are doing instead of engaging with the real, live humans that they are sharing air space with.
When I think about it, this form of social networking should be perfect for me because I can't stand a crowd and I'd prefer sitting on my couch sending emails or blogging instead of putting on heels and going to a party. Case in point: It's 9:00 pm and I'm at home blogging.
Anyway, I decided to conduct an experiment of my own. I'm going to do a full court press on this social networking thing. I now have a Twitter account and I'm going to consistently tweet and post statuses on FB for the next month and see if all this "networking" is really effective or if it's just a big time suck.
What did I discover? In my opinion it’s a fun way to suck up time. I suppose if you follow the right people, you can get some good information from Twitter. For example, that was how I found out that Anderson Cooper was attacked in Egypt. It is a good way to get quick news updates. I find Twitter beneficial not because of what I contribute (because, honestly I don’t have a lot to say in 140 characters) but what I am able to receive.
Facebook is fun but also a time suck. I went shoe shopping last weekend and posted statuses along the way and honestly, stopping in the middle of trying on shoes to respond to comments on FB about the shoes was kind of annoying. Maybe I need to loosen up. Who knows? My son decided to hide all my posts because it “freaks him out” to see me on FB so much. At least he didn’t “unfriend” me. During this process I did reduce my friends list to 99 and I’ll probably make another cut soon. I no longer accept requests from people who I really don’t know. If we don’t have some kind of meaningful association, than there’s no reason for us to be “friends” on FB.
I’ve discovered that full blown social networking is effective for some people. It’s great for self-promotion. I’ll always post a new restaurant review but this constant cha-cha is just not my thing.
I’ll tell you what I do like though … YouTube. I have watched so many videos on black hair care and beauty and I am fascinated. Every single person on the planet with a camera, an internet connection and an opinion can record themselves and let that opinion be known. I’ve made a couple of videos and I’m looking forward to doing more. I don’t know why. Maybe I just like seeing myself on camera.
Don’t let me figure out how to add music and edit the videos.
4 comments:
FB was addicting for me. Now, I am not so thrilled to go on. I have connected with old friends and family. It nice how long lost relatives find each other. Great way to find out about social events.
What I don't like is how folks use it to vent their very private business, the ones with porno like pics and postings is too much and now police, employers and others are using FB to arrest folks and spy on them. You really have to be careful what you share on there.
I will be paring down my list of over 1200. I do want to use FB more for networking in the literary world. So most of my FB friends will be from that arena.
I've never quite gotten into the swing of things with Twitter. On FB I post maybe daily to every other day. Nobody needs to know my every move. No videos from me yet, but I do enjoy the ones people have sent me to watch!
I don't like Facebook, but I love Twitter. Facebook, man... i have family and people from high school on there. I have to watch what I say, so I don't post. THEN the old lovers pop up, wanting to friend me. WHY? Uh, no. i ain't trying to hook up with you, and catch up on anything. NO. UGh.
I like twitter better because there are more bloggers over there and it's faster, and not all mainstream. And like you said, you can find out info fast over there. I needed info on some plane tickets and put it out there and got the info fast. I like that.
Glad that you did your social networking experiment. And I've had fun with you on twitter!
Thanks for the update. I just spent an age on the Internet and yours was the last post I read. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I'd read yours first and left the "time wasting" social networking off my list - ha ha.
You are right though. I hardly ever tweet or Facebook when I'm out and about, I don't know how people can be bothered.
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