So, I'm into the social media. I find it fascinating. I find it time consuming, and perplexing. I find it frustrating and amusing. But mostly I recognize it as an intriguing new art/communication form/forum.
Personally, I know I would do much better on an anti-social network, but that's just me.
'Bah. You kids get out of my bandwidth! Stay off my wall! Don't stand in the feed!'
But I digress.
It's a brave new social world. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, blahster, mehster, etc... And while you probably don't NEED it, social media isn't going anywhere. It's only going to get bigger, and count more.
Social media - regardless of its source/platform - is ultimately an authentic communication. It's something created by YOU for YOU (and/or your network) that represents YOU.
Facebook is the ultimate social network. You friends are on it. Your co-workers are on it. Your clients. Your mom. It's made the web smaller and more manageable. You can surf to any corner of the internet and 'like' something and then easily report back to your friends and family. Further, it's rendered most brand websites obsolete, or as billboards redirecting visitors to its Facebook site.
But on a personal level, Facebook is you. Not from one status update, or two. But as a collection. If you are a fun decent polite human being, you will share your thoughts and digital meanderings accordingly. You will like your friend's posts and you will add colorful commentary. You will share things to their wall - either to their amusement or consternation. On the flip side, if you are compelled to go on about your religion, politics, weight struggles, workouts, family histories, bad moods, sleep cycles, hatred of work, and love of your lol cat/dog/child - you are probably irritating in real life as well. Just as if you are a blowhard who thinks your every passing thought is pure whimsy spun of a brilliant golden hue for everyone to enjoy.
Facebook is not your blog. It is not your journal. It's a well lit place for children. Specifically, it's a community center with all your friends, family, co-workers, and clients. That is, it's a relatively civilized place with people to whom you are familiar. More specifically, it is like a craft fair. Here someone is scrapbooking. There someone is singing a song. Over by the free coffee someone is bragging about their kids. In the corner over there someone is blathering on about current events. In the other corner someone is showing a video about pot belly pigs that skateboard. It's ok to look around, and have a beer - get a little loose. There are a lot of interesting things on display. Some you could probably make yourself, some that are simply amazing. If you wanted to, you could take out photos from your family vacation and put them up for people to see. It's that kind of place. Ultimately, there are many things to share and like.
Twitter is hard to explain. It's sort of like a micro blog, and it's sort of like EVERYTHING. It's a meat market, a coffeeshop, and a pharmacy. It's a closet, a pulpit and a soapbox. It's a news stand and a 'zine. It's the cosmos of email, as well as the very tip of the pin. It's a gentle stream, an avalanche, and a furious thunderstorm.
It is the great void, the bright abyss.
It is the best thing on the internet.
If you want to tweet, you have 140 characters. It's like Haiku. Be succinct. Be precise. Have at it.
But you don't have to tweet to enjoy Twitter. If you are a human being with an interest in something, Twitter is for you. If you want to scream or yell or whisper, and not care if it's heard; if you want access to a celebrity (of any kind); if you want to know why the trains are not running; if you want to cheer/jeer a sporting event/tv show/uprising from anywhere in the world as it happens with thousands of other people; if you want to topple a government - Twitter.
LinkedIn is like a large clean gym for mathaletes - remember to pick up your badge at the front door. It's nerdy and awkward. Maybe it's for schmoozing and rubbing digital elbows with peeps in your industry. I don't really know. The iPhone app is pretty cool, though. It's nicely done - from a very nerdy 'badge at the front door' pov. That said, I don't really understand LinkedIn unless you're looking for a job.
GooglePlus is a weird amalgam of Facebook and Twitter, but it seems much less a public forum and more a bunch of cliques, yet still a public forum. It's weird. It's powerful because it's Google. It's cool because it's Google. But it's weird because it's Google. It's probably ahead of its time. I've not fully embraced G+, but I like it. At least, I appreciate it as a competitor to Facebook.
Foursquare is a GPS social media app. You get points for checking into places. If it's a new place you're checking into, you get extra points and maybe you get a free cup of coffee or appetizer. You compete against your friends to win mayorships and badges (digital). The points themselves are worth less than air miles. I used to 'play' 4sq. But I found myself ALWAYS losing to someone, and beating someone (anyone) wasn't terribly rewarding. And I was becoming even more obsessive-compulsive about using my phone than I already was. So I don't 4sq anymore unless it's when I travel, which is usually to get a free coffee or appetizer.
In short, I'm the mayor of my home and that's fine. That's all I need.
MySpace is for musicians. Flickr is for photographers. Instagram is for iPhoneographers. YouTube is for anyone and everyone with access to a video camera and a short attention span. Tumblr is a theme/meme blog. StumleUpon is ferociously entertaining. Friendster is for... I dont know what Friendster is for. Path seems like it's just for you, as in ONLY you.
Here's the thing about sharing media socially across the internets; all the heavy lifting has been done by these various platforms. You don't need to know css, html5, perl, java, blahblahblah9. You just need online access and the willingness to share. That's it.
Let's say you want to share some vacation pictures. You create an album on Facebook. Fin. You're done. Whether your Great Aunt Gladys has a Mac, a PC, Firefox, Safari, Mozilla, a tablet in iOS or Android, a Samsung, iPhone, or Droid - Facebook knows - and it will display the information accordingly. So if you post Saturday night, and Gladys doesn't see the post until Wednesday morning, she WILL see it. She doesn't have to get you on the phone or wait until the Spring to walk her through it. She doesn't need to ask the neighbor boy over. And she can 'like' it or comment about how much your kid is growing or whatever, and you WILL see it. You might not see it until the following Saturday because you're busy with work and life and everything else, but when you do - you and your Great Aunt Gladys will have a connection. And in modern society where we all get lost in the common routine of days - that's pretty cool.
Smartphones. This is a big part of social media because they offer mobility. Social is mobile. It's alive. It moves, it appears, it shows up, it attends, it records, it checks in.
It posts, it shares.
I love my smartphone... But the 'phone' part is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, I can make a phone call, but these things are mini-computers/cameras. They are extraordinary devices. And they are always with you, usually in your pocket of purse.
I use my iPhone4 like a Swiss Army knife. Sure, it has a compass, can lock in my gps location, and knows the forecast two weeks out - but that's not what I mean. I use it to get the news. I use it to text/email/message my friends and family. I use it to buy diapers from Amazon and a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I use it to post videos of my daughter to Tumblr. I use it post random angry thoughts while at the grocery on Twitter. I use it to share vacation photos on Facebook. I use it for instant creative expression on Instagram.
All that said, spending this much time geeking/learning/sharing/grokking has led to some epiphanies:
Epiphany 1 - Each platform is its own artform. How/what you post on Facebook is not how/what you post on Twitter, etc. People who cross/duplicate the streams appear in my feeds as someone sending out communications from the department of the redundancy department.
Epiphany 2 - Facebook is better than email. I get TONS of useless emails. Well, when I say tons, I mean hundreds a day. Most of them are telling me what to buy and where to buy it. Actually, on some level, almost 94% of my emails are telling me what to buy and where to buy it. 2% is from African royalty asking me to launder money. And the last 4% are emails I care about - family, friends, and work. So Facebook is better because whenever I get a message, it will be from someone I care about.
Epiphany 3 - Twitter is the BOMB. A couple weeks ago, I got off the plane and went to baggage claim. The American Airlines monitors that SHOULD have had the baggage claim info were instead touting the American Airline mobile apps. Ok, great, but where are my bags? So I tweeted exactly that with a picture of the monitors. Within 5 minutes, AA tweeted back asking where I was and that they were going to look into it. WHY? Because Twitter is a public forum, and everyone can see. And don't even get me started about Jenna Jameson...
Epiphany 4 - Social media has created a new kind of social currency - of sorts. Not just how many friends you have or how many followers? But who likes what you say/share? How many? Who shares it and retweets it? How many times? This is all online, of course. You have to be online; either tethered to your computer, or walking the earth with your smartphone. But that's not necessarily true because - what we do online echoes in reality. Or at least it can as people come up to face to face and say things like, "Hey, did you see my tweet?" "Dude, your post was awesome." "Did you see your girlfriend's wall, man? You guys might be done."
Revelation - If nothing else, Facebook is great for wishing/collecting birthday wishes.
I could continue to blather on about social media, but I've already blathered on too much already. Bottom line, social media is the new TV. But you get to program it. Stream it. And produce it.
In short:
