I’m Becoming More Social

July 10, 2008 in My Journey | What's On My Mind · Written by Tara Joyce · Follow Me on Twitter

I dislike FaceBook

Being someone who works in online marketing and whose job is to stay on top of internet trends, you’d think that I would love social media and all that it has to offer. In reality, I have less of an interest in using it than the average person my age (I am the ripe old age of 26). Now that I think of it, it isn’t all social media that I snicker at, it is social networking sites. FaceBook is my prime enemy.

I love some social media

I see the value in writing a blog (both for your own personal development and that of your business), using eBay to purchase items on the cheap, storing your bookmarks on Delicious and uploading your pictures to Flickr (though I don’t have an account). My issue is socializing for socializing’s sake. Even in high school, when you are at your greatest capabilities for idle chatter, I shied away from it. Granted, I am now realizing that I am a bit of an anomaly. I am much less social, in the traditional sense, than most people. I am a classic introvert. I’d rather be in my head or speaking with one other person than participate in anything group related.

The Big Plung

But with the creation of Elastic Mind and this blog, I am wondering if there is value in me becoming more social. It isn’t my natural inclination by any means but it could be good for business. For once, I’m not going to do what I want, I’m going to do what is expected. I’ve signed myself up for Digg, StumbleUpon and updated my LinkedIn profile. I’m drawing the line at FaceBook and MySpace.

I’m going to write an overview of the major social networking sites and the value (or lack thereof) that I see in them. It should be interesting.

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  • http://taiyojohnson.wordpress.com taiyo

    Hi there.
    Found your blog today and really am enjoying it. It is surprising how much we have in common (but if you are like me you're probably not thrilled about online strangers with things in common :) )
    web developer / small business owner. 26. Introvert.
    Facebook-hater.
    My hatred of facebook is complicated though. It is partially out of jealousy. In 2005 I tried to launch a friendster-clone targeted at university students in Japan (where I was in uni at the time). It went nowhere (poor execution/promotion) whilst Zuckerberg is worth billions.
    But I also don't particularly like socialising for socialising's sake. Which is why I don't have a facebook or myspace account and don't plan to have one.
    It is nice to know there are others like me out here on the net

  • http://www.elasticmind.ca/innerpreneur Tara Joyce

    Hi Taiyo,

    It is nice to meet you and hear that you have similar interests and dislikes. While I am sorry to hear that your Friendster-type site did not take off, you should be very proud of yourself for taking the plunge to develop the project. I am sure you learned much from the undertaking.

    It is also always a pleasure to meet someone who does not think FaceBook is the best thing since sliced bread;)

    Thanks for reading and sharing your similarities,

    Tara