| Wassily Kandinsky Several Circles |
Obviously, how one uses social media is as individual as the people behind their blogs, whom I get to meet through their writing. Prior to this blog, I did explore some of the social networks. Fb did not do anymore for me than provide status updates that I either already knew about or was not particularly interested in. "Having dinner. Chewing." "I'm seeing stars. Again." Twitter never interested me, which is not to say that it does not have its purpose or that there aren't authors who are hilarious, profane or profound in 140 characters or less.
Whenever I am invited to "follow or join me on fb, twitter, G+...", I am acutely aware of two things: time and internet clutter. Multiple social networking sites compete for our collective attention and time, set up to attract marketing, but are often distracting and time-consuming. It's difficult to resist the temptation of following links, which lead to other links....
Most recently, G+ was added to the fray and I had the opportunity to explore it. I do think that controlling who sees what type of information is a good idea. Then again, what I share with my closest RL friends and family is not something that I would release into the (public) internet domain, especially when the laws regarding privacy and personal information have yet to be modernized.
While the introduction of circles does appeal to my organizational obsession, I would end up with several circles of one, for those friends who share one particular interest, but not the rest of them. In a 10 minute conversation, I can share and get the status update that would take me considerably longer online.
Social media is in its toddler stage and I am looking forward to future ideas and development that will allow us to individualize and aggregate everything into one network.
In the meantime, I have books and blogs to read, friends to meet and circles to draw.
Meh.
Hey, Wassily. That took 5 minutes. Time well spent.
I'm in complete agreement! So much so, I feel I have to share this, stumble it, tweet the link to this post and 'like' your fan page (you have a fan page, right?)
ReplyDeleteKidding! Sorry, couldn't help myself. I do agree about the distraction it can cause, though. Trust me I know.
Hello AC. I agree with you on this one too. Most social networking is just banal, self-indulgent twaddle from people who should get a life. When I – rarely – mention Facebook it goes under the pseudonym of 'facepest'. As you can imagine, I'm not a member.
ReplyDelete@Vinny, lol. Or, you could just blog it.
ReplyDeleteI know too. Images, art and good vids are where I get lost...just one more and 2 hours later...
@Alistair, neither am I. It's an inefficient time-waster. However, I do think it's useful for small businesses or artists, to name a few.
I think it's why I do like blogs though, I've come across some really good and intelligent writing.
I am in the process of deleting information off Facebook and will be on Google+. My family live on 3 different continents ~ social media has helped make those homesick days more tolerable. Google+ is my choice because of the privacy and circles etc etc. It's not for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy Facebook...I don't always like Facebook, but for now, it's what I use. Being a military family, we move often, leaving family and friends all over the world. I can upload pictures for people to look at as they choose rather than forcing them upon them via email. I've used it as a crutch on bad days. I don't always like to talk on the phone, so Facebook makes it easy to keep in touch...or makes it easy for me to be lazy about it. I do have a Google + account but so far, Nubian is the only friend that uses it and I haven't taken the time to figure it out. And even if you don't belong to FB, you can view photo albums, but I blogged and posted pics for you anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel. Never been much of a joiner myself. I love writing but am lousy at joining in...
ReplyDeletePearl
I guess you can look at it in a macro sense as a situation of "different tools for different needs."
ReplyDeleteMy wife enjoys FB, she keeps track of her kids and enjoys sharing photos. I can't figure the thing out and find no relevance to my life and I don't even bother with Twitter.
ReplyDeleteI'm finding blogging a lot of work; and wondering how much longer I will be able to keep it fresh and interesting... assuming it even is that now?
@Nubian and Meg, using it to stay in touch with globally scattered friends and family, especially those who don't have blogs, is obviously useful.
ReplyDeleteIt's an individual preference, I prefer the old school email and phone method.
In my experience, fb turned into a time-waster when people "poked" or joined whom I didn't know or had forgotten about.
@Pearl, this is what I like about blogging, it's about the writing and communicating, but there seems to be this odd perception that one should join everything else. Considering the time involved, to what end?
@Laoch, agreed. I think that none of them, as they are currently set up addresses what I'd like it to do.
@Robert, same here. It is quite a bit of work, but your blog promotes discussion on a regular basis, isn't that proof that it's interesting?
As I'm sure you know, Kandinsky was influenced by music. Sadly, social networking has few such sophisticated influences; I would suggest FB is entirely influenced by gossip. However, I enjoy twitter because it's a writing challenge and more like micro-blogging. With your succinct wit, I think you'd be a superb tweeter.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of G+.
ReplyDeleteI'm terrified now. Thanks, Ant'!
Interesting post. I have similar feelings about social networking, although I do like FB because it helps me keep in touch with family and friends, along with the fact that half of my blog views come from FB. I am interested to see where all of this will go though.
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh at those "Scratching my ass", "Blowing my nose," "Taking out the garbage" status updates on Facebook. I do admit to using it but it's mostly to give people the Word of the Day (You seen parts of it on Blogger as 'Today's Vocabulary'). It's laughable what some people think is important.
ReplyDeleteOK, gotta go. I feel a sneeze coming on and I need to Tweet about it.
I meant to write "You've seen part of it..."
ReplyDeleteGrammar is always important.
Great, now my butt itches. Better get it on My Space.
@dbs, I've seen your tweets, hilarious. Still remember: "remake jaws with starfish, they'll never see it coming."
ReplyDeleteGood point, too much of it is inane.
Did you mean, superb wit and succinct tweeter, cause then I might reconsider.
@Katsidhe, the big G can be a scary place. Sorry?;)
@Paulsifer, I think fb is saturated, millions are competing for traffic.
Will be interesting to see what comes next.
@Al, lol. Yeah, somewhat inane, isn't it?
Recently, someone with 100,000 followers tweeted that he's in the mood for a steak and was brought one from a restaurant, which he tweeted and posted about. All that work for a steak?
Not in social media it isn't. BTW, what happened to MySpace?
P.S. Al, "My empty space"???
ReplyDeleteYour circles are strangely compelling...
ReplyDeletehey, Spriteous, what are you doing spending time online when you have a city to explore?;)
ReplyDeleteDraw some, very relaxing.
I'm with you, Antares. I've been peer-pressured into Facebook and Twitter--both of which I rarely use. Social networking has a tendency to be a time-suck littered with banal blips. (And I was never one for marketing.) Blogging is infinitely more interesting, and conversation so much more enlightening.
ReplyDeleteGood read! :)
@Jayne, resistance is not futile. Completely agree, one needs time to read books, poetry, enjoy the arts...
ReplyDeleteAs to marketing and self-promotion, who wants to compete with half a billion users?
First, the almost non-sequitur...I was just thinking of circles as the base for some new stamp designs...solid. Just thinking. For the most part, I am lost on FB, now knowing how to do stuff, how to undo stuff. My home stamp company has a nice presence there, as does my artist niece, and I have met some creative people. But the relentless marketing...how can so many have so much to sell? No, there is real reading to be done, new worlds to discover. It could be a dreadful time suck. But then, so is the internet in general. Quicksand.
ReplyDelete@Marylinn, good idea, it's an economical and relaxing geometric shape.
ReplyDeleteIt has its purpose, to self-promote or connect people, but I agree mostly it uses time too easily, especially those who share interesting videos and images.
Books to be read, art to be painted, I know. :)