Anti-Social Behavior

I’ve been blogging for several years now, but I only became what I’d call a real, dedicated blogger this past summer.  That’s when I committed to writing and blogging every day, and I’ve been working to maintain a higher caliber blog (or what I hope it will become one day).  I’m shy by nature, and blogging has been a great way to put myself out there, if you will, while still remaining in the driver’s seat.  As a self-professed control freak, I really like that.  I like to share ideas and I love meeting new people online, and those are great aspects of blogging.

I’m also dipping my toe into the social media side, which is something that really goes against my nature.  I joined Twitter last month as another way to promote my blog and meet new people who might want to (hopefully) become readers, and it’s a fun and easy way to communicate.  But it also makes my head spin, literally, at times.  I have friends who use it to chat all day long, and I know other people who use it strictly as a marketing tool.  Right now, I fall somewhere in between the two, as I mention my daily posts, comment on friends’ tweets, and occasionally share little tidbits of my own.  I have to be careful, though, because some of my followers are private, which means they have more freedom in what they post.  I can have a big mouth online, especially when political and social issues come into play, and since I’m trying to remain fairly neutral and pleasant, I have to refrain from participating in certain conversations that might have me in a tizzy in a private space, like a forum.

I tell you this only because I find it absolutely fascinating that social media has transformed our world, largely for the better, and made it so much smaller.  As I am learning more about what it means to blog and write online, my eyes are opening to new ideas and possibilities.  I didn’t grow up with much technology (and I had to walk to school barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways!), but things were changing as I came of age in the mid-1990s.  I was in college when the Internet became a “thing” that most people had in their homes, and I remember professors reminding us that it would be a class requirement to have an email address, a novel idea at the time.  If we didn’t know how to set one up, they’d tell us, we could just head over to the school computer lab for help.  Lucky for me, my Computer Science major boyfriend always made sure I was in the loop technologically, which is one of the reasons I married him.  Well, that and the whole love thing.

When Facebook became popular, it was only for college students, and since I was already a graduate, I didn’t set up an account.  I still haven’t.  It’s weird, I know, but I just never felt like I needed one.  Of course I realize that I am probably shooting myself (or my blog) in the foot by not jumping on that bandwagon, and I have been the subject of several mini-“join Facebook” campaigns, but I’m still holding out.  There’s something about not using it that just feels right to me, and maybe that is insane.  I’ve written about not using Pinterest in the past, because I like to keep some things to myself.  And last week, a well-known blogger mentioned that she uses a fake name on Pinterest, to keep her ideas private.  I felt a little vindicated by her statement, because Pinterest can be a hot-button issue for some people.

When I watched the presidential debate last week, I noticed lots of activity on Twitter.  I realized that major events like that are a prime opportunity to attract some attention, especially if your comment is really witty or snarky, or your handle has a Sesame Street theme (Thanks, Mitt!).  But I like to watch television the old-fashioned way, without interruption, so my old-school brain can’t tweet and watch at the same time.  I just can’t think of clever things to say.  They come later, as I’m thinking about a blog post or writing one.

I guess all this is just to emphasize how much I’ve learned, and am learning from social media, and I know I still have a long way to go.  But I like to turn off at times, and keep some things to myself, and for now, that seems to be working just fine.

What do you think?  How are you using social media?  I’d love to hear.