I was one of those people who joined MySpace when it was first launched. Ten years ago, I actively wrote handwritten letters to a bunch of pen pals that I had collected over the years. Those people were some of my best friends throughout high school and I remain in touch with a handful of them today. But for the most part, our correspondence has moved on to the Internet. It was one of those people who first introduced me to MySpace and I signed up as a way to stay in touch with her. I was active on the site for a few weeks and then my interest in it tapered off. I just wasn’t interested in what it had to offer and I promptly proceeded to remain inactive on the site for a couple of years.
Then, when I made the move from Arizona to San Francisco a few years back, I discovered that everyone here had a MySpace profile. And not only that, but it seemed to be the easiest way to get to know new people. We’d meet online or through friends but we’d really get to know each other through the comments and conversations we shared on MySpace. So, I dusted off the old profile and began to use the site almost daily. It wasn’t long before I began to realize that MySpace could help me make professional contacts in the area as well. So I adjusted my profile and set to work using it in that capacity.
And then, the floodgates were opened. The more work that I began doing online, the more I found that people wanted to connect with me through some social networking site or another. I began to get requests to join people on sites like LinkedIn. And the world of social bookmarking began to become increasingly important as I was asked to support the work of friends and associates with my votes on sites like Digg. I became an avid fan for a few short months and then, once again, my use of the sites tapered off. I found that it was difficult to actually make use of the sites on a regular basis and still have time for my other work.
Now, I use a few of the sites. And I’m trying to streamline my use to just those few because I feel that gives me the best chance to actually get to know people on the sites. If I’m going to bother being connected to people there, I want to be able to get to know them and to share the new news that’s going on. Otherwise, it seems like a waste of my time and theirs to say that we are “friends” there. But this doesn’t discount the important power of these sites. I still think that they’re a great place for making new friends, staying in touch with people and letting others who might be interested know what you’re up to. I just think that for my own use, it requires that I limit the sites I’m on to really be able to develop the connections that I’m making there.
The sites that currently interest me the most for social networking are MySpace (although I only use my work profile now, not my old personal profile), LinkedIn (which I’ve been on for awhile and am just starting to develop use of) and Bitchy Betty (a new site that allows people to support each other’s non-profit and good cause efforts). I use more bookmarking sites than I do networking sites (Digg, Del.icio.us, Stumble, Sk-rt, Hugg, Propeller … to name a few) although I’m working on curtailing my use of those, as well (with the first three on my list there being my preferred sites). So, I suppose that I haven’t quite decided if I love social networking or not. I do think it’s important and I think it can be fun. That said, you can feel free to contact me through those sites if you’d like; links are available on my contact page.
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