Social Media Craze

In 2006, I embarked on a journey. What was this thing called Facebook, which was all the rage? I really couldn't care less about Myspace - as I'm not a musician or DJ - but all my university and travel friends seemed to be on this Facebook...


So I created an account. 

And here I was, in what would become the trend-setting social media platform, just dog-paddling along. It was nice; I could find friends, make new ones, keep in touch and share photos.

When I was out of work in 2010, a friend of mine from Swing Dynamite told me; Twitter's where it's at... If you want work, you have to network, get a twitter account!


So I joined the Twitterverse. 


I was chatting with some other communication professionals such as myself, and they admitted to me: "We do not read our Twitter feeds... can you imagine how much time we'd waste?" And I wondered, "Where do we draw the line of necessity to have an online presence for personal and professional reasons, and when does it become madness?"


Thus, the saga continues.

At the cross between Twitter and Facebook, I took a left and stayed with LinkedIn. Then I ventured to Stumbleupon and wasted many an evening gazing at beautiful landscapes and reading many quotes that I would not have the genius to have written. Somehow, I must have been dazed and ended up with a Youtube account and weekly digests - like a tattoo you get when you're hungover. I carried on.

I've had this particular blog for a while, before which I had a FB blog. I was told it was probably good to have a writing sample somewhere... Quick, Blogger, it's a must-see destination!

I started promoting my photography freelance services and needed a website... so I heard about this new cool place to be: Tumblr. Lately, I've been catching up and updating it, but I just can't seem to stay on top of my blogs... If you're a follower, you may have noticed this fact.


Speaking of promoting my photography... I had an exhibit in January for which I created a FB page. Now, I have the tedious task of maintaining it AND of creating one in my name as "photographer". Say what?


Naturally, when everyone started protesting Facebook and inviting me to Google+, I said, "WAIT A MINUTE!". I'm sure it's wonderful; who doesn't love Google products? But do I really need two of the same TYPE of social network? I mean, how many places can you REALLY be at once? That's what Social Media is... if it stands for your online presence, then you need to maintain it and how many of these can you expect to commit to?

Then, well... Wow. I fell in love and threw my principles out the window. Online boards are just my imagination translated into cyberspace. So I "requested" a Pinterest account (read: please, won't you let me be part of the cool kids?). I'm still having this affair, but I have decided that I must also do the responsible thing, and contribute to my community... And so I have a Yelp account now as well, which like anything worth doing, takes time to build.

This leads me here; updating my blog about a month and a half since my last post. I feel like an underachiever... probably because I'm spreading myself like the last of the peanut butter. These icons are like stamps on a passport that just keep on giving. It seems rather inevitable, especially for a communications professional like me.

I guess the lesson is: know the platforms, decide what you want out of them and use them in the fashion & at the frequency that works for you... and stick to fewer and do them well!