Social Networking

I'm still new at the whole social networking thing. I only joined Plaxo at someone's advice as a simple way to transfer contacts from one program to another. Then Linkedin, which I'm still not really using to any real benefit. Just the other day I joined up with Facebook, and I was pleasantly surprised - a lot of my old friends are already on, and while I'm not exactly having big conversations with them, it is nice to hear from them from time to time. Even the trivial data about what they're doing is a pleasant buzz of familiarity.

It made me think about what I'm trying to accomplish here. Most of these entries are far too long to be palatable. If this were a regular blog, trying to attract readers, I'd have to be much more brief and update much more often. When I look at my "wall" in Facebook, it reminds me of the things I've heard about Twitter - short missives during the day, with occasional links so people can follow them. It's an entirely different experience, and I find I like it. When I first heard about it I assumed it would be a constant distraction, much like the proliferation of RSS feeds I compulsively follow now. But in many ways, it is less distracting, and more immediate, because these are people that I already have some connection with.

Now keep in mind that I am essentially a self-centered person. I can tune out the world pretty thoroughly. This was a real handicap in running a business, but not when I'm working for myself. As long as I can keep off the web, I can get a lot done. The big downside is that I rarely think to reach out to people, even people I like. Very out-of-sight, out-of-mind. It also means that the thoughts percolating in my head are very self-referential, and I let them perc till they are fairly bursting. This results in few but long-winded blog posts, rather like this one. So I'm wondering if the social outlet of Facebook will let me 'bleed off' my ideas, and mix them more with those of my peers.

Coffee anologies aside, I am, tentatively, a convert to this new media. Whether that will result in more or fewer posts here has yet to be shown.