Comments on: Based On My Wife, I’ve Been Using Social Media Incorrectly

By: daferret

daferret — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:51:38 +0000

Experiences vary, I'd say. I'm a bit of an introvert. It's difficult for me to be open when meeting new people face to face and I tend to be a bit laconic. I've used social media sites to meet new folks. It mostly stems from back in the day, from BBS to IRC. Of course, I still only really communicate with a small fraction of the people I've "friended" and that's something I'll need to work on.

Like billhelm, I most often don't pay attention to sites like Twitter or Friendfeed during the weekends. I'd rather be gaming, reading or dealing with stuff I don't have time for during the week. I reckon that's helped me quite a bit.

btw, I'm sorry to see you deleted your FF account. You do what you gotta do, though, and I'll still be checking out your tweets!

By: webomatica

webomatica — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:56:31 +0000

I read another article recently that pointed out how social networks
have always existed, before the web got all social.

By: webomatica

webomatica — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:49:59 +0000

Yep, I can see myself retreating into one or two social sites as you
have … And I can see I've gotten out of balance recently.

By: billhelm

billhelm — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:29:11 +0000

I used twitter this way for almost 2 years – I only really followed people that I knew in person. I've recently gone away from it, but not so much that I lose sight of those people in the stream. Facebook very much remains my private space with my friends and family, and I like it that way. I get more useful engagement out of facebook then anywhere else because of its integration in the things I'm doing.

That said, I log off most weekends and enjoy other things in the offline world. Gotta get away and have balance. Something I think a lot of people lose sight of.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:44:31 +0000

There are many ways to use social media and many ways to communicate. Perhaps life was better before mass/instant communication and all sorts of other technologies, when people stayed in the area where they were born and really new their neighbours and family.

Now the world is so hectic, the constant urge to do better, make more money or to be at the end of the phone 24/7. Most people seem to move around a lot, relationships are more tenuous and transient.

I think it's a good idea to switch off every now and then, catch your breath and focus on what's important to you.