Social Media: Why Bother?

During this month, I will again be using the devices of social media to send out messages, hoping to create dialogue and for no other reason to share a bit of what's been on my mind. These devices are pretty simple. Twitter, Facebook and of course this blog.

I've neglected just about all three lately and not for bad reason or fault other than I've kinda felt a bit lost in the process. I've asked more than once of myself, "Does anyone really care about what I think, do, eat, create or question?"

Here is a funny commercial that seems to say it all for me when it comes to social media.

 

Unfortunately, the truth of this message is as shallow as the message. Social media can and is a very helpful tool to society. Think of the power of 140 characters helping fuel a cultural revolution such as Egypt and Libya. How a "friend" is not a friend in a usual sense but one in a practical sense when the "six degrees" emerge in one location; the web.

The value of social media is the interaction. For one to simply participate as an observer is voyeuristic at best and a tad creepy at worst. Those who engage in true friendships, which this commercial seems to poke fun, are themselves in an interactive relationship that can not decry the same frailty toward twitter toting and Facebook flaunting folks.

Yes, we may not be interested in what you had for lunch but we might be more than curious about what you think!

Like I tweeted this morning... "Some days you're smarter than you think, some you're not as smart as you think and others you're not thinking. What will it be today?" It was 133 characters. Enough to ad your re-tweet.

Comments

[Terri]

I will admit that FB takes up WAY too much of my times on so many occasions. On the other hand, I has benefitted me in many ways. Being able to develop lasting relationships with people I met over a weekend at some triathlon camp, for one. Nearly instantly getting the recipe of the apple pancake a friend and I shared at her place for brunch, another. Plus, it informed me that you wrote something on your blog that I might be interested in reading.

And I love your tweet today. :)

[mereimage]

Terri, yes... this makes the point exactly and I really appreciate you making it. And here the point can even be more telling when others realize you're from Canada and the social network has no geographic boarders!

I hope all is well with you in the great white north!

[twitter.com/torybee]

I have wrestled with this post, because I see so much good in twitter and facebook but lately I've been wondering the value of it. As you say, interaction is key and yet, is it even possible to really interact with the amount of "friends" on the average facebook page? And sometimes on twitter it nearly seems that the goal is often promotion or marketing instead of interaction. And I'm guilty of that too, and sometimes that's even the appeal: I like the things and blogs folks link. I follow them FOR that, not to find out what they had for lunch. (or photos of their lunch! I used to tweet photos of lunch.....)

Yet through it all I see great merit in these mediums, and they aren't going away. I almost wonder if through them we'll re-learn what friendship truly is when we start thinking about the people in our life and how we interact with them. I once thought I'd be content to live solely in the realm of internet life but lately, it disappoints me. These things are designed to increase connection, but I almost wonder, if you really contemplate it, it just exposes our need for each other and true community. Can true community be achieved through online interactions? I believe so, but it takes on a similar formula that IRL ones take: a giving of time, sharing of ideas and the willingness to live and act regardless of convenience.

Real friendships aren't always convenient.

Technology and social media are tools. They're amoral; neither good nor bad. It can bring us truly closer and connected, or expose our loneliness despite the hundreds of "friends" or "followers" we have. It can be used for good, or abused. I've thought often of disengaging online, but I think that even the tenuous connections I have there with some, are connections I will miss, so the bigger question to me is: if I really value them, why don't I find the time to engage with them more? Why am I content in just reading their status? Again, I think it comes down to convenience. And it is a bit scary to further contemplate that.