I posted this message on Twitter earlier this morning. I figure I might as well ask it here as well.
Am I wrong to be anti-social on social media?
That’s an interesting question. I mean, I suppose the act of being on one of the new-fangled social media networks means that by definition I’m attempting to be part of the whole “social” movement. In my case, I’m still not on Facebook (I will continue my resistance just because) but I’ve got my Twitter account. Even so, I’m finding it difficult to be social. How can I describe this? Twitter and blogging has a general point of self-promotion. In terms of blogging, I’m expanding my thoughts into paragraphs and posting the results out on the Internet for everyone to see. In terms of Twitter I’m pushing out my thought bubbles to my followers and it’s up to them to decide if they want to keep following or not.
Some days, it kind of feels like I’m not using these platforms to their full potential. There are a lot of bloggers out there that have many readers and actively encourage new visitors to become regulars as well. I don’t seem to do that. After all this time this blog is still a completely personal thing: I don’t write to attract readers. That appears to be contradicted the fact though that I’m part of various groups that give me a bit more exposure. Though I can’t say I’m doing much to foster links with others to encourage incoming traffic.
Same goes for Twitter, I guess. Most of my tweets are about my daily life observations. I’m honestly not sure how that would be worth following. And yet, I’m kind of envious of the people that manage to attract big readerships–though not enough to actually do something about it.
I guess you can say I’m kind of experiencing some social media angst. I’m using these tools purely for personal reasons, so why should I care who’s reading, right? Of course, though, the ego would totally like validation and someone telling me that yes, what I have to say is actually interesting.
No matter. To be honest, I believe that the best thing I can do for myself it just to continue doing what I’m doing because in all honesty I feel like I’ve got a good thing going. In the end, that’s all that matters, right?
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5 comments
Erin says:
Tue. March 10, 2009 at 12:28 am (UTC -5 )
Sometimes I wish I was a little more social media angsty and a little less of a social media whore. It’s mostly for that ego stroke, I’m not gunna lie. I think for those of us who do this stuff for personal reasons and not because we’re writers hoping to get published, all that really matters is that you’re happy/content with what you’re doing. Is there a right or wrong way to use social media when it’s purely for personal reasons?
wegrit says:
Tue. March 10, 2009 at 9:06 am (UTC -5 )
Yay for resisting Facebook! I applaud anyone who does because I, myself, was not strong enough. I caved when I moved abroad. Anyway…I think the solution to being antisocial on social media is to just ignore the media. When I decide I want to disappear for a few days because Facebook is sending me into a spiral of self-loathing (which it does more often than you’d think) I just don’t use it. Same with my blog, which has been decidedly lacking the last couple of months. Not that I don’t want to write, just that I don’t have anything of value to say.
I am, however, totally resisting Twitter. I just don’t see the purpose of it.
Jay says:
Tue. March 10, 2009 at 10:13 am (UTC -5 )
In theory there’s no wrong way to use social media and all, but it almost feels like everyone should be whoring themselves out at some level. It’s almost expected. I saw a tweet regarding Tumblr, and I thought “Holy heck, so apparently blogging is out of fashion? Screw that.” I don’t think I feel the need to follow every trend just to self-promote.
So, when by going against the grain and remaining relatively low-key I can’t wonder if there’s any point at all. Thing is, there IS a point. I have managed to find meaning in blogging and Twitter. I guess I need to be a little more insular in that I can’t let all the voices get to me telling me that “this is how you do it.”
TOPolk says:
Fri. March 13, 2009 at 5:25 am (UTC -5 )
While I don’t share your feelings on facebook, I can understand where you’re coming from on Twitter. Most of my real life friends don’t know what Twitter is, let alone us it, however A TON of the 20sb bloggers do. If it weren’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be very “social” on Twitter and fall back on posting things like what’s going on or random thought bubbles. It’s cool to use Twitter to interact with and get to know semi-strangers, but I can understand how/why one wouldn’t be too keen on doing so.
Jay says:
Fri. March 13, 2009 at 10:47 pm (UTC -5 )
Heh. Yeah, my avoidance of Facebook doesn’t seem to be entirely rational. I can definitely see benefits. And particular spheres of friends do like reminding me of those benefits. And yet, I think the ease of making connections is the off-putting factor. It doesn’t make sense at all.
You do seem to be right about 20SB really taking a shine to Twitter judging from that thread. At this point people are kind of saying that there’s no single right way to use it as a tool. While I agree, the caveat is that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another person. I use Twitter to keep on top of news events, pick up on Toronto-related information, and to post what’s going on with me/random thought bubbles. Interacting with semi-strangers certainly is interesting, but I’m not sure I can’t bring myself to use it mainly as a socializing/chat tool. There are far better vehicles out there for that, no?