SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media-o-rama. Seriously, I can hardly keep up and I consider myself an internet guru of sorts. Google+ is great and all, but aren’t all of the platforms in some capacity? Why add ourselves to another?  To be frank, I’m feeling a bit stretched and Google+ put me over the edge. One too many forums, one too many buttons to learn…what’s more, it’s too much befriending of the SAME people I’m developing connections with on other platforms. So what is the point?

This is what I understand about Google’s decision to build a social media platform:

A.) Google has the most pages viewed on the internet, WORLD-WIDE

B.) Facebook has the second highest number of pages viewed on the internet. If Google develops a social media platform, the monster company takes some of Facebook’s business and WOW, wouldn’t it be fabulous to take both the number one and number two spots?

Does this mean I have to jump on the Google bandwagon?

Probably. I’ve been told to be found everywhere on the net these days, but how exhausting! Keeping up with the latest and greatest social media innovation has become a chore.  We’re spreading ourselves so thin, none of the platforms have any substance, no real essence of our uniqueness, of who we are, which dimishes the entire point of PLATFORM, to use an industry buzz word.

I read a great article about how the industry driving social media platforms attempts to “commodify our identities”. How true this is! To streamline, categorize, and rubber stamp humanity robs us of our individuality and our true platform- our distinction among other writers, whether it appeals to everyone or not. Variety is the spice of life, they say.

The REAL reason behind my use of social platforms is to:

A) connect with those from my present & past private life

B) connect with other writers, editors, agents, & people in the publishing business and

C)  meet interesting people from all over the world.

It is NOT to spend endless hours learning the latest techno-geekified gadget or platform (unlike my hubby, God love him), thus taking away from both my valuable writing time and my time connecting with actual PEOPLE.

The last thing I want to feel like is just another worker bee in the hive, a floating electronic head stripped of substance and value.  So I’ll be spending my precious time and energy on a couple of platforms I enjoy; those I can truly connect with others, be myself, and expand my horizons WITHOUT feeling burdened.