Social media and me

My first experience using social media was early in my high school days. I created a MySpace account to help me stay in touch with my boyfriend at the time. It felt a little pointless to use an entire social networking site to communicate with one person, especially a person I saw almost everyday. Though I eventually added friends, it still felt like a useless part of my life. With no background in AIM, AOL or any other instant messaging programs, I felt completely overwhelmed by my MySpace account and eventually let it fall to the wayside.

It's funny to think how far I've come in terms of using social media. I have about four gmail accounts that I check everyday, multiple times per day. I have a Facebook account that I check almost everyday. With my Facebook account, I'm always logged in, even if I don't plan on updating my status or commenting on any pictures. I just enjoy the freedom associated with clicking on the Facebook link in my browser's bookmark bar and being fed an almost infinite stream of consciousness. Granted, most of my newsfeed is pretty irrelevant to my life, but it's an amazing way to fill idle minutes in my day. I also use Facebook for public relations purposes. I schedule updates regularly and I get a little thrill in seeing the notifications on the pages I manage, even though it's not my authentic self interacting with the Facebook users.

My Twitter account is by far my greatest untapped social resource. I'm fully aware of the wonderful things that Twitter can do, having studied them in more than one class, but I can't seem to make this beyond brilliant social platform work for me. At first I thought Twitter was the ultimate stalker's fantasy, but knowing that I can post as little as I want in any given month has liberated my social experience. I started following reputable news sources along with the cast of Jersey Shore, and the stream of consciousness has turned into a stream of life that is incredibly full of interesting ideas. I've recently acquired a smart phone and now desperately want to be a part of the Twitter feed, but my Tweets feel as insignificant as the onomatopoeia implies. I think the biggest trouble is that most of my followers are people I don't know, and without an audience to write to I'm lost. I'm not sure why Twitter is taking so much longer to catch on with the college-aged demographic than Facebook, but it's definitely defeating what would otherwise be the perfect social network for me.

Roxy Dyer
@roxyredstar