The Social Networking Crazies

We live in a digital world where communication is near instant and information gets shared in the blink of an eye.  In the past if you wanted to communicate with an old friend or meet someone new, you had to write a letter, make a phone call, join a club, or go to a bar (or an AA meeting.)  Now we have Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and so forth.  I'm anti-social by nature, mainly because I hate crowds and don't like to make demands on what little free time I do have, but Social Networking sites are very appealing to me.

I have been exploring different sites and have accounts on just about all of them but I think it is time to draw a line in the sand.  I can not keep up with them all, and find it pretty tedious to even think about how I would be able to manage them all and still be interesting enough to keep a friend or two online.

I find Flickr to be a little annoying, because you have to have a Yahoo account to use it and there is one more login to deal with.  Facebook is so full of crap anymore, I can't stand all the quizzes and requests for apps, games, and other information farming junkware.  MySpace has always been an eyesore to me, so I'm not looking back there.  Twitter is really popular, but I just don't see the point anymore.  I have 200+ followers and it's always just such a mess to try and funnel through what is good and what is not.

My new thought process is that I'm going to go "All In" with Google and use it as my main online source for photo sharing, social networking, chating, and so forth.  If I can figure out how to integrate it with my iPhone and Mac enough to where I can automate things like uploading pictures, documents, other online activities then it's all over.  The only exception is LinkedIN, which has it's own place on the professional level, and that's where i would like to keep it.

More Twitter Refletions

I have begun to narrow my Twitter account options down quite a bit.  I tried a few of those services out there that are supposed to line you up with followers with similar interests, they work about as well as using a fire hose to fill a dixie cup.  I dropped all the people I followed that did not follow me back, with the exception of a few "high profile" types.  I went from 900 or so following down to less than 300.  I still find it difficult to wade through so many tweets, in an hour I can have about 150 to 200 updates and 90% of it is junk.  I'm just shy of having 200 followers, which is pretty good I think.  I haven't touched the thing in a 10 days either just to see what would happen.

I found a pretty good bunch of Ham Radio folks and have had a some help and tips come in from a few people right off the bat.  That is the part I really like.  An added bonus is now that I linked my Facebook account; my tweets become Facebook posts, and I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

My Twitter experiment has no evolved into a mass outreach and then slowly funneling out the parts that don't really apply.  My guess is that for every 20 or so people I end up following in the short term, 1 will end up being long term.  I'll play the numbers game until I find the right numbers and contract until I get the right information and people.  I've made some good connections so far, and I think it really has been worth it.  I can't help but wonder how many people following me think my posts are worthless though....

Twitter is not what I expected...

It turns out that there is some very good content there, from some folks I might not have ever heard from before.  I read a few good articles, heard a good joke or two, and found some insight.  There is a lot of crap to weed through, but I suppose that is true of the internet and life as a whole.

Where I fit into it all is the impasse I find myself pondering.  I'm not a writer, or a celebrity, or anyone I would listen to if I had the opportunity.  I spent the day with my wife and our animals just enjoying the time together.  We caught up on some TV, laughed, and did some chores.  It's simple and ever so sweet and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

That's my big philosophical thought for the day.  I even got new episodes of American Dad and Family Guy tonight, it's a win all the way around.

Finding my slice of the social pie.

I have not really jumped on the social bandwagon the last few years.  I've spent most of my time on facebook playing the game Island Paradise, I gave up on user forums a few years back, don't share photo's, and I don't really instant message either.

I've never been afraid to tell people I'm a geek, I don't fit the "mold" in some respects and in others I do.  I have always fit in with just about any "sub culture" whether it was the jocks, the nerds, the stoners, whatever.  I try not to judge people and just take them as they are and believe everyone at least has the potential to contribute something valuable to the world.  It's probably because of that I never really found my niche and have been a social vagabond.

Having said all that I'm stuffing my online persona full of social sites and tools and when the dust settles, maybe I'll find a place or two to hangout and meet some decent folks.  I live out in the country so I don't have a neighborhood, there are maybe a dozen houses in the surrounding couple of miles around my property.  This doesn't help, and on the plus side, folks online can't borrow my tools or ask me to help them move!

So here I go, I guess the next step is to update my profile and follow some more blogs here on blogger and work on my twitter account.