A Few Thoughts
It was an excellent 4th of July weekend…lots of bike riding, sleeping, reading, and most importantly, hanging out with good friends with good food. From steamed mussels on Friday night to grilled sausages on Saturday, along with curbside “safe and sane” fireworks, it was the kind of weekend that we all should have – living in community, being active in our community, and being present with real people.
Since the end of my 40 day online social media fast, I’ve become more aware of the time I spend blogging, on Twitter, and on Facebook. The time I now spend reading tweets is down…the time I spend reading Facebook updates is down slightly as well. Blogging…well, the beauty of blogging is that unlike Facebook status updates or Twitter, I’m forced to really think about what I want to say or share. It isn’t a 140 character update. It is, for me, an outlet for writing, and if there’s someone who actually finds my writing engaging, that’s just simply a bonus.
So where am I going with this?
Quite simply, as I’ve observed interactions on Facebook and blogging in particular, I’ve noticed a couple of things:
1) We’ve created a sense of community in the blogosphere. Whether it’s Will, or Randall, or AJ, or Dan, or Cindy, or Marcel, or Roy, or Donny – with the exception of Will (in my case), I’ve met you all online and know about you because of what you have written over these past few years. In the case of Roy and Dan, blogging has led to real-life meetings. In Donny’s case, we’ve spoken over the phone a few times. With others, it’s been a mix of Facebook messages and emails – yet I feel like I’ve gotten to know all of you in some way because you share a lot of who you are through your writing.
2) With Facebook, I’m finding that as I have connected with old friends, whether elementary, high school or college, or even prior workplace associates, the sense of community that has formed is based on previous existing relationships. Facebook has become a tool to enhance a previous offline relationship (ASIDE: isn’t it weird that we now must distinguish our relationships as “online” or “offline”?). Facebook allows us to peer into the lives of all our friends, and I am finding that it jump starts many a conversation with our friends as we discuss a prior FB status update.
Is it “real” community? I’m not convinced that FB is “real” community, but I do believe that it is a valuable tool to enhance existing relationships and to renew old relationships. I’m convinced that FB is an efficient tool to connect us today.
So what’s this all mean for me and you?
Online social media will continue to become an important part of how we interact with each other. As with any tool, it can be misused, and can become a replacement for real community if one isn’t careful. But used correctly, it will serve to enhance the friendships and relationships we already have.
Get online. Be social.
I sooo love my online communities! They’ve been my sanity over the course of the last 10 years. Seeing as we only had one car, and hubby often took that to work, I was left at home, in a town where there wasn’t much to walk to, with two young children. So, my online book groups became my “adult” conversation throughout days when I didn’t have anyone to call on the phone, and it has really become my lifeline, in a way.
Sad, yes. But, I’m grateful to have it there.
I also love FB for how many people it’s reconnected me with, and for the fact that I can keep up-to-date on what my friends are up to, when distance prevents us from otherwise communicating without spending a ton of money. It’s been great to see pictures of my friends’ little ones, something I probably wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy otherwise. And, there are some “friends” I’ve found on there that I thought I’d never hear from again (past schoolmates, or people I met when on school trips).
So, I’m all for online communities… but I do realize the importance of making sure that those don’t overrun/take the place of face-to-face (f2f) relationships.
~MizB