Social media and "connecting."

I suppose it depends on the industry you work in on how social media plays into your "connecting" consumption.

Let me make comments on the platforms that are mostly used, as of today.

Facebook
Okay, I can absolutely see the purpose of this. I remember when it first came out in 2004 - my brother was the first "class" to integrate this type of media into his life and I still remember how clean the layout was. White. Easy to navigate once you became familiar with the interface. The lack of adverts adding to the the overall cleanliness. There were immensely less "lines" and categories to share your personal information. Back then (that felt weird typing that) users had to have a college email account in order gain access to the site. If you were in high school you were SOL and myspace was your stomping ground.

I do use this. My goal with facebook is to keep in touch with friends, old and new, family members and even professional contacts. It's been an indispensable tool to communicate with when setting up get-togethers or reunions.

A downside of this platform is the feed. Dear Allah. When it started it tolerable, now it's a foghorn of "updates." I suppose the upside to the feed is that, when anyone posts something political (say, something about same-sex "marriage," immigration, reproductive "rights" etc.) there are discussions revealing the thoughts of friends about the given issue. This can be depressing since you learn that many of your friends are political idiots. They're "good" people, but they're political idiots. I remember one online conversation between a high school friend and a grade school friend (they never met) when I posted an article about handwriting & education. At the time both of these people were earning a degree in education, so it was no surprise that they commented. One disagreed with the other and so-on and so-on. At the end, one came across as a the typical union "progressive" teacher while the other, who held more conservative views, held his ground and didn't let emotions take over.

Another downside is, as I noted above, the interface has become cluttered. Since the expansion and popularity of the site has become worldwide, every time you comment on another site needing an account you have the option to either log-in your facebook or create a profile specifically for that site. Now, if you log-in on your facebook that site asks if it can take information from your facebook in order to track your user habits. In many ways this ties into social demographics. The site you want to comment on wants to track down the sex, age and geographic area their visitors/commenters come from. This is understandable. But, in the end, I don't see the true point of it nor do I see the benefits besides more infographs about info I really do not care about. In the end, it's an invasion of privacy. If you do not allow the site to gain access to your facebook info then you can't use it to comment. In this way, everyone is "connected." I find this chilling and an insidious byproduct of the obsession of social media.

This is more of an annoyance, but I find the masthead that's located on every profile to be utterly sophomoric. What is the purpose of this? There's the avatar - the original profile picture - then there's this huge, obnoxious masthead filled with whatever picture the user decides to put up. If you don't have a masthead then the area on which the masthead is located is just an ugly grey. You either deal with that grey or put up a picture like covering a hole in the wall with a poster.

Now, I don't have the interest to scroll down my feed to learn what's happening in the lives of my facebook "friends" - if I need to send a message or update my profile my cursor and eyes will immediately find the tabs that allow me to do such things,and my eyes consciously ignore (read: my eyes do not even skim the feed) whatever comes up as updates. I have my profile setup where notifications like engagements are sent to my mobile and that's it. If I choose to offer my congratulations or "like" the update, I will do so. At least I know that so-and-so are engaged. 

Twitter
In terms of news, I say this: national/international break-out stories are just that - break-out stories. The feeling or rush one gets from immediately knowing a story (that hasn't been fully developed), especially on issues many of us do not have a clue about like foreign affairs, is fleeting. A supervisor once said to me regarding the immediacy of twitter feed, "The person who knows about a certain story will not be anymore knowledgeable than they person who doesn't know about it when it breaks out, and follows it - like those who do follow a given issue - through the following weeks, months and years." Sooner or later, if the WOM is strong enough, you'll hear about a given story.

I have a twitter account which is under an alias. I barely retweet or tweet anyone or anything. It's usually just stuff about politics.

The line of work I do twitter isn't necessary unless you're updating for PR reasons, and that's usually an assigned job.

Instagram
Unless you're a photographer or the Most Interesting Man in the World a good majority of what you post will be just like every other idiotic millennial and celebrity.The "community" that has been expressed by a number of others on instragram is false community. It isn't real. Your feels do not make such a community real.

I can see if you have a soft spot for a celebrity and you follow them, but why even, at that?

Twitter & instagram are practically cousins. Instead of 140 characters there's a picture. Twitter is really facebook's feed gone solo and instagram is the photo section of facebook. Neither do I care to view unless under special circumstances.

Pinterest
I have no clue how pinterest caught on. Instead of going into bookmarks you just log-in into your pinterest account. Convenient, but overall the convenience makes it uninteresting.

Google +
I never used it; the fact that I'm scared that something might show up on it that I don't want too makes me even more cautious on what I write & post. I don't know anyone in my social circles that uses it in a serious fashion.

LinkedIn
The most legit, and in my eyes respectable, professional networking site. If you have a personal site and link your linkedin profile to it, then I don't see how you'll lose in the networking game. 

Conclusion
If you're marketing something (like yourself if you're a politician or if you belong to a *sorority), say a movie, an event, or if you're business trying to reach out to the public then I can see the strong point of creating an account on twitter & instagram. It's brand identity and effective communication. But as individuals, excluding the politican? Yea, you and your life aren't as interesting as you think. Celebrities are as uninteresting and lack creativity (even if they're in the creative field) as the wannabe filmmaker.

A healthy percent of my friends and family members do not use instagram or twitter -- both on a personal level and a professional level. Then again many live in the Midwest, working in industries that have not put social media in its everyday fabric. There is no pressure to join either platform. Working teachers in elementary school truly don't have a use for twitter. They also don't see the need to broadcast their politics in such a way. Even for those who work in industries that do, say my cousin who works in tech in Palo Alto, he doesn't have one. His brother does, but he barely tweets and when he does it's something random. The only people that I know who tweet is a person in government/non-profit and another who was getting his doctorate in education.

No employer worth its salt, unless it's National Geographic, or if you're applying as a photographer,  will give two shits if you have an instagram or twitter  (save that you don't post anything un-PC). There are employers who view their potential hire before making an offer if their facebook is "clean." If they suspect anything that might look bad upon the company in your profile (e.g. questionable pictures) then that can decrease your chances of being hired. The gift of common sense says, "No, dear. Don't put that up. Untag yourself from that picture. Don't do stupid crap during the weekend."

How to eliminate your "internet trail"? Post under an alias. Choose not to have a twitter account or instagram, and if you do choose just post stuff related to your field of work.

Truly, I don't have the motivation and urge to be on my mobile tweeting or taking pictures to constantly share on instagram. You'd think that at least 50% of those on these platforms are making serious money from posting pictures and tweeting. That sunset and whatever pathetic #YOLO pic will be the same as the other account whose owner lives in Brazil.

I'll stick to blogging, my tumblr (beats instagram & twitter) and facebook. In fact, a personal website seems like a more creative outlet than both twitter/instagram combined. Then again many who use twitter don't know how to build a website from the ground up. The irony. Technically savvy yet almost useless when it comes down to it.

*Sororities (almost every chapter in every state) are turning to tumblr as a gallery alternative. It's a marvelous decision.