Tim Joins Social Media

I'm on MetaFilter, Picasa, Gmail, Blogspot, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook.....

The list goes on and on. It's exhausting.

Okay, it's not especially exhausting, but it is overwhelming. My jump into the social media world started innocently enough. As a Freshmen in college, I joined Facebook reluctantly. I didn't see the value in it. There was so much buzz about it, and I'm so skeptical of anything that causes people to 'buzz', that I joined just to see what the big deal was. I'll admit - for the first few weeks, it was strangely enticing. Friend requests would pop up every time I signed into my account. I connected with friends from high school that I'd pretty much written out of my life.

Pretty soon, though, the whole thing became irritating. I would walk to class and see the same blue and white screen up in every dorm room I passed. Friends would spend hours adding photos, adding friends, adding comments, looking at pictures, looking at friends....the whole exercise was a bit overwhelming. I really started to grow pretty ambivalent towards Facebook because I couldn't see immense value in it. Sure, it was neat to see pictures of what happened during a particular weekend. I'll admit, too, that I added a few albums here and there. The novelty didn't exist, though. It was like the low point in a normal relationship - I could see why I needed to stay involved, if only to maintain some level of contact with old friends and the status quo. But I stopped thinking about it before I went to bed. I didn't need to look at it every morning when I woke up.

In short, it became routine.

After many years, when I started working, the deafening conversation started turning towards blogging, and Twitter, and the 'Social Media' revolution. Again, more curious than enthusiastic, I joined Twitter. I think I've made 5 comments over the last six-months.

However, running in the background were two things that I never really took the time to explore more fully: MetaFilter and Gmail.

MetaFilter was the best way for me to keep up on daily news, funny things from the internet, thought provoking websites, and great discussion. The comments exist strictly to add something thoughtful to a discussion, or contribute more info about a particular comment. The bullying, harassment and negative feedback was absent. In fact, I found that digging (no pun intended) through the comments usually brought out an extra link or two that gave even better background info on the topic at hand. For a link about the tragic bombings in India, somebody would add the history of Mumbai for readers to take a look. The effect was a collaborative, community effort of discussing real world events, human relationships and problems in an open way.

I signed up for an account yesterday so I could contribute. The $5 fee was finally worth it.

Now I'm exploring everything Google has to offer. Beyond Gmail, the best features include photo and document sharing, blogging, reading books and even building websites (called Sites, even if it is basic) and offer an incredible opportunity for people to share their lives. I'm sure there's probably too much of an opportunity to that, but like anything in life, it is an exercise in caution. Don't share too much. Don't list your address or phone number. Don't be pompous. Don't be rude. Be respectful.

In a sense, the normal rules apply.

I'm still figuring out how to best use these. I'm still wondering if I will use these. I originally started my blog so I could write short stories. I made one post in December 2008 and haven't touched it since. However, I've not joined MetaFilter and the Gmail crew because everyone around me was constantly talking about it. I joined it because I saw some real value in what it had to offer.

Digital revolution? I think my experience is an example of how quiet this revolution really is.

twitter versus a blog? I vote blog.

Welcome

Hello and welcome! Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and one of many attempts to document selected snippets of my life. I plan on entering daily thoughts and stories and hope I do not get too caught up in whether or not it is interesting (to me or you, as this usually kills any 'writing project' I have ever attempted). I do plan on a few projects along the way, including my first project where I'll take a picture every morning as I start a six-month workout routine. That should be roughly 180 photos that hopefully show some progress and motivate me along the way.

The title of the blog is a reference to a short story by John Updike, from his "Pigeon Feathers (and Other Stories)" collection. My reasoning, I suppose, is more to credit Mr. Updike for his inexhaustible writing accomplishments with the hope that I will be inspired by him to write every day. Just a side note: He has published over 60 books in his career.

One last thought. My initial feelings towards a blog of any kind have been full of skepticism and real doubt at their necessity. These last several months, after taking a few moments (albeit too infrequently) to read updates on the life of a friend in Germany, I have began to understand the real value in a blog when some thought and purpose is put into it. At the very least, it's a convenient way to think about, reflect and then rethink events that all-too-often are forgotten in the daily rush of life. I wish the pen and paper were more persuasive to people, but why be a Luddite? This seems to be a well-tested digital revolution worth utilizing.