2014 Social Media Update

15 Apr 2014

The last time I thought about my social media set up for long enough to bother writing about it was in 2012. I'm still using the same services, although the way in which I use them has changed a bit.

Facebook is still Facebook. It's 100% personal for me. I don't really do anything business related on Facebook. I'm pretty sure that I have less FB friends now than I did in 2012. I've thinned the herd a bit. I don't use FB for photo storage at all. Other than mobile shots when I'm out and about I generally don't post many photos on Facebook. I'm not happy the corporate America and the NSA are mining my Facebook content for who knows what, but since everything I post there is stuff I consider public, I don't stress over it too much. I have all push notifications turned off. If you need to get in touch and time matters text or call me. My mobile number is on my profile page.

Online photo sharing is a constant source of agony for me. I've bounced back and forth between various self-hosted options, Google+, and most recently I've gravitated back to using Flickr. However, I post on average a couple of pictures a week, if that. I'm not life streaming so it probably doesn't really matter that much.

I was sick of Twitter back in 2012. I'm sort of back on the Twitter bandwagon. I use it mainly for amusement, it's sort of short form blog for me where I share interesting stuff, and snark among friends. I feel no obligation to follow anyone back on Twitter. If you follow me I'll peek at your profile. If anything grabs my interest I'll follow back. I'm constantly amused at the people with tens of thousands of followers that follow me, then unfollow a week later when I don't follow back. Twitter is not a numbers game, it is a communication tool. If you want me to consume your content you have to say something interesting. However, I'm not thrilled that it seems to more and more like Facebook with every update.

I've given up on Google+. I'm allegedly in 800 circles, yet most updates that I post there get no interaction, not even a plus one. It's not like I need to be adding to the Google dossier on me anyway.

LinkedIn is annoying, but kind of required for professional purposes. I have made some friends in two groups that I participate in, so there is that.

I've never even set up an account with Snapchat, or Pinterest, Instagram, or anything that came after Google+. A new social network is going to have to be damn compelling to get my interest.

And then of course there is this website which as been online since 1995. It's my original, and still favorite social network.