So I’ve been using the internet to socialize since, well, let’s just say, since before most of the target audience of my preferred category was born and leave it there. This means that I have friends I’ve never met in person for coming up close on twenty years. And by friends, I mean still as much friends as any of my high school friends. There’s some who I have met in person that I still babysit for periodically. So text relationships are nothing new for me.
That’s why I’ve been so intrigued by my evolution of understanding from Twitter. It’s very similar to my old MUSH days where you start out just making noises by yourself and wondering if anyone hears you. Eventually you find a couple of people who get you involved in a couple of things until the point that you’re actually interacting and enjoying yourself.
I realize that a lot of people approach the “Social Media” more for their perceived notions of media and mass communication. They’re seeking to spread their message far and wide and get more people to listen to what they have to say.
I’ve discovered I’d rather use the definition of Media as plural of Mediums. That means the plural of a means of doing something. Twitter, Tumblr and even Facebook are a means for me to socialize. And that’s what I’ve started really doing.
Twitter is my new favorite place to interact with my fellow authors who are going through the same things I am. I love following their adventures, sharing their successes, and commiserating in our defeats. I have very little interest in ‘building a following’ and a lot of interest in finding more awesome people to interact with.
Tumblr is a great place to throw thoughts into the void and receive other people’s thoughts from the void. The magic of Tumblr is that there are a LOT of thoughts out there. Some clever, some interesting, some sad, some just plain weird. And I love them all.
Facebook… well, we all have social obligations, we all come from somewhere. There are awesome people I’ve acquired in my many adventures, and that’s where I keep them, and they’re an amazing source of encouragement and support when they’re not busy being the precise weirdos I befriended in the first place.
So, there we go, a follow-up on my adventures in Socializing the Media. If you’d like to socialize you can find all my links on the left I’ll be there sending my thoughts into the void.