Photo courtesy of Ravenelle Zugzwang.
Razrcut Brooks recently left a thoughtful comment on my blog which immediately caught my eye. Preceded by a well-articulated line of curiosity — see it to get the full context — he asks:
Please enlighten me on the value of being connected to many social websites?
The value for me comes in communicating with people around the world. And why use different websites? Because preferences vary wildly, and some folks love Twitter and hate MySpace, and vice-versa is true too.
But, amidst all this, I must admit to having similar questions:
However, please explain why you (and others) feel this strong desire to explore EVERY possible internet networking website available? Why are you driven to advertise your life, appearance,your knowledge, your skills, and your creations to the world?
I don't desire to explore "EVERY", but I have been through a great deal to learn more about myself. It's an adventure in self-discovery! The most useful tools will stay with me, and the rest will fade out. You may remember me saying this before in #7 of "13 tips to maintain & boost your creative inspiration". I'm not going stick with something if it holds little value for me and is superficial gloss… and there've been numerous sites I just passed by because I "blinked" and they didn't appeal to me.
But I do believe it's important to share what I've created through all sorts of multimedia. Especially if it's useful to someone else! Making those sorts of connections makes me + others happy.
Sites like MySpace attract people who self-absorbed . People think that they are interesting and are positive the world wants to know it.
There are so many websites that I bet you feel pressured to "keep up" . Pressure to be "in the know" and among the crowd. Why? It must be exhausting to have to log into so many accounts and to keep up-to-date.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of self-absorbed folk on MySpace, but there's a lot of interest in many of them (like popular musicians & comedians). As these sites become more common, like phone numbers or even email addresses, they'll casually be regarded as preferred means of contact across great distances. And if there's no or little interest, they'll be forgotten (like someone who has a phone that hardly rings). I'm totally in solidarity with those who don't want to do something "just because all your friends are doing it". That's conformist crap. However, if your friends are into something and you personally derive value, then go forth!
I don't feel a pressure to keep up. I used to, but then I was crushed by information overload! In the spirit of Tim Ferris, I'm eliminating waste. And also, visiting these sites is a hobby for me. Whenever I can, I use news aggregators like popurls to shave time. Always, I focus on what I really want/need to know, not just because "it's there", but because the info is beneficial to my life.
When I am elderly, I doubt that I will reflect back and wish I had spent MORE time on a computer. I will wish that I had spent more time eating a cool crisp watermelon on a hot summer day among friends at a lake…rather than trying to replicate this event virtually.
Mmmm… watermelon. 
Good choice! As time goes by, I hope computing becomes more ubiquitous and less physically intrusive. Then, we'll marvel at how bulky and how indoors-dependent computing used to be. Consider the rise of mobile devices. Which is not to say one must always be wired. I take pleasure in simple things, love to cut out interruptions, and I just came back from a nature walk with my wife. One can enjoy both virtual and physical contact, and I suppose it does depend on an individual's preferences. Some folks don't like to be hugged but they get so excited about chat rooms.
Thanks for your thoughts, Razrcut, and for watching my vidtuts! And for you reading this, what do you think? I'll be replying to more blog comments tomorrow, so if you made one (or more), thanx for your time and look out!
You raise many excellent points and I appreciate your explanation. I suppose what it all boils down to is motivation. I truly believe, (at least now I do) that your motivations are not self-serving and I apologize if my comments seemed to imply that. It is all too easy to lump every internet blogger into one category .
Many faiths teach that our purposes in life should focus on helping,edifying,serving,feeding, and encouraging others. Your use of the internet clearly accomplishes that!
SIDENOTE:An example of 2 slices of "watermelon" you have "fed" me recently were 'Crayon Physics' and 'Art Rage' . I think you mentioned the first one in an Office Hour and the second on this site. Both free downloads have been very enjoyable for me and my daughter. You encourage people to develop their own creative nature which is something I have been lacking so thanks!
Social networks are communication tool as any other. They give just as much as we put into them. If one is using MySpace for self-absortion, then MySpace will give just that, is MySpace is used to stay in touch with friends then one will get just that. Same goes for self-promotion and reputation building or any other aim. If one is feeding Twitter with notes about going to lunch, bed or toilet, then they will read about other people's food, sleep and s*it. Or one can meet some great interesting people. It is up to each of us what we will get from the tools we use.
And yes, there are so many different services around. We try many of them, we stick to some, other are thrown on the pile of forgotten accounts. It depends on us, usability of the particular service and the people we find (or call) there. Personally, I find Pownce much better than Twitter. But, for unknown reasons, I never got in tune with the former.