Horay! I went back on Twitter yesterday, after my self imposed month off social media that actually just ended up being a month off Twitter and Facebook.. Yeah, I know, pretty useless really - but it did open my eyes to a few points:
I also gave up drinking in January - and no, contrary to how that sounds (and what I expected) it wasn't actually a boring month! I am hoping to cut back on my drinking to next to nothing over this year. I have had a couple of drinks in the last week but really missed feeling as clear headed as I did when I was long term sober, so I'm going back to not drinking from today, for at least another month.
All in all I'd say the experiment was a really useful exercise; if nothing else it's shown me how completely ingrained social media has become in today's internet, and how much more information you can gain automatically from being wired into the communities and embracing social web trends.
Right, I best get off and invite all those people I culled from my Facebook. If they'll have me back...!
- Avoiding social media is nigh on impossible these days - you'd have to leave the internet as we know it to make sure you didn't see any social media in action
- I don't have to keep using Twitter or spam myself out there to get business, in fact, I got more since shutting down my lifestreaming - although this could be down to actually being free to be approached for business for the first time.
- It's easier to "hear" what other people are saying when you shut up yourself (I might have to implement this to my offline personality too!)
- Twitter is brilliant, and I missed it a lot
- Facebook is really "over" for me, although I am going to keep my profile afterall, as a bucket for all my connections, and it's very useful for the groups - in fact that's the one aspect of it I'd say no other social network site does as well at all
- Plaxo Pulse is my new interest, but nothing on a par with how Facebook first caught me
- I met my long term friends more often
- I had to write a hell of a lot more email to keep in touch with people
I also gave up drinking in January - and no, contrary to how that sounds (and what I expected) it wasn't actually a boring month! I am hoping to cut back on my drinking to next to nothing over this year. I have had a couple of drinks in the last week but really missed feeling as clear headed as I did when I was long term sober, so I'm going back to not drinking from today, for at least another month.All in all I'd say the experiment was a really useful exercise; if nothing else it's shown me how completely ingrained social media has become in today's internet, and how much more information you can gain automatically from being wired into the communities and embracing social web trends.
Right, I best get off and invite all those people I culled from my Facebook. If they'll have me back...!
Venturebeat seems to think so..
.. and my what a statement he makes whilst doing it. He's posted an article on the Guardian website today about how he despises Facebook.
Some of it I whole heartedly agree with (lack of privacy, dubious future uses, possibilities for data use), and some of it, I'm not so sure (people can connect with all their friends without Facebook).
It's a long article, but well worth the read. The politics behind the board members (of which there are only 3) are some what worrying.
A couple of snippets to whet your appetite:
"... by his own admission, Thiel is trying to destroy the real world, which he also calls "nature", and install a virtual world in its place, and it is in this context that we must view the rise of Facebook. Facebook is a deliberate experiment in global manipulation, and Thiel is a bright young thing in the neoconservative pantheon, with a penchant for far-out techno-utopian fantasies. Not someone I want to help get any richer."
and
"Facebook's most recent round of funding was led by a company called Greylock Venture Capital, who put in the sum of $27.5m. One of Greylock's senior partners is called Howard Cox, another former chairman of the NVCA, who is also on the board of In-Q-Tel. What's In-Q-Tel? Well, believe it or not (and check out their website), this is the venture-capital wing of the CIA. After 9/11, the US intelligence community became so excited by the possibilities of new technology and the innovations being made in the private sector, that in 1999 they set up their own venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, which "identifies and partners with companies developing cutting-edge technologies to help deliver these solutions to the Central Intelligence Agency and the broader US Intelligence Community (IC) to further their missions"."
Some of it I whole heartedly agree with (lack of privacy, dubious future uses, possibilities for data use), and some of it, I'm not so sure (people can connect with all their friends without Facebook).
It's a long article, but well worth the read. The politics behind the board members (of which there are only 3) are some what worrying.
A couple of snippets to whet your appetite:
"... by his own admission, Thiel is trying to destroy the real world, which he also calls "nature", and install a virtual world in its place, and it is in this context that we must view the rise of Facebook. Facebook is a deliberate experiment in global manipulation, and Thiel is a bright young thing in the neoconservative pantheon, with a penchant for far-out techno-utopian fantasies. Not someone I want to help get any richer."
and
"Facebook's most recent round of funding was led by a company called Greylock Venture Capital, who put in the sum of $27.5m. One of Greylock's senior partners is called Howard Cox, another former chairman of the NVCA, who is also on the board of In-Q-Tel. What's In-Q-Tel? Well, believe it or not (and check out their website), this is the venture-capital wing of the CIA. After 9/11, the US intelligence community became so excited by the possibilities of new technology and the innovations being made in the private sector, that in 1999 they set up their own venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, which "identifies and partners with companies developing cutting-edge technologies to help deliver these solutions to the Central Intelligence Agency and the broader US Intelligence Community (IC) to further their missions"."
So you'll notice the title of this post is "chopping back" rather than "abstinence". This is because I've reaslied that actually social media is so integrated with my life that I'm pretty much always using it. To give it up I'd have to realistically stay offline for a month, and that's just too far for me, and would cost me too much in lost earnings.
Whether it's trying to avoid: a comment on my Flickr, comments on other blogs, reading blogs, writing blogs, watching my music play through my instant message program telling others what I'm listening to, watching theirs, watching YouTubes sent round the office, reading user generated recipes, playing games with social media added, using upcoming, it's impossible for me to spend any time online and not come face to face with how integrated social media has become in my life.
The real cut back for me has been on what I'll term "egotistical" social media. In fact social media is probably not the correct term at all, but culling my life streams. That's much more appropriate.
The only thing I miss is Twitter, and in particular interacting with my friends on there in a way that can only really happen on Twitter. It's the small details of life, or the split second feeling you've got. Blog posting is great, but it's way more conceived and editable. Tweets are pings of the moment, and I miss their look into my friends lives. I've also found that Twitter has actually been the source of quite a few new friends for me. You get to know people a lot quicker on Twitter I think, than any other medium I've ever had the fun of fiddling with. It's the way you have a window into someone talking to themselves, you can receive a text from someone who'd never normally text you about something they'd probably never normally mention - but it all builds up a profile of who that person is. Without the pub face on, or the business face. It's ace.
Oh someone bring back my Twitter!
The other thing I'm a bit nervous and twitchy about with Twitter currently out of my life is watching people adding me to watch, and knowing that I'm not adding anything. Argh! It's killing me. I want to Tweet the exciting things I'm up to, and certainly some of the bits in my head, just to get feedback or quiet acknowledgement from my friends and peers. I've taken to emailing more and sharing music with friends as an outlet.
The one thing I don't miss at all is Facebook. So much so, that I am thinking I might kill my account before January is up. It was fun, but then so is anything new. Now it's just a time sucker. I can't remember the last time I went on and enjoyed the experience. Facebook is over for me.
My only reason I can think of to not delete the account is for keeping up with future developments with it. So maybe I'll keep it for that. We'll see. I've been lucky though, as Facebook implemented sending the body of the message you've received into the email it pings you before I went on my hiatus, so I've not missed any important meet up messages as they've come through as normal emails. Phew.
Well, I suppose I best get back to pining for my Twitter. Sigh.
Whether it's trying to avoid: a comment on my Flickr, comments on other blogs, reading blogs, writing blogs, watching my music play through my instant message program telling others what I'm listening to, watching theirs, watching YouTubes sent round the office, reading user generated recipes, playing games with social media added, using upcoming, it's impossible for me to spend any time online and not come face to face with how integrated social media has become in my life.
The real cut back for me has been on what I'll term "egotistical" social media. In fact social media is probably not the correct term at all, but culling my life streams. That's much more appropriate.
The only thing I miss is Twitter, and in particular interacting with my friends on there in a way that can only really happen on Twitter. It's the small details of life, or the split second feeling you've got. Blog posting is great, but it's way more conceived and editable. Tweets are pings of the moment, and I miss their look into my friends lives. I've also found that Twitter has actually been the source of quite a few new friends for me. You get to know people a lot quicker on Twitter I think, than any other medium I've ever had the fun of fiddling with. It's the way you have a window into someone talking to themselves, you can receive a text from someone who'd never normally text you about something they'd probably never normally mention - but it all builds up a profile of who that person is. Without the pub face on, or the business face. It's ace.
Oh someone bring back my Twitter!
The other thing I'm a bit nervous and twitchy about with Twitter currently out of my life is watching people adding me to watch, and knowing that I'm not adding anything. Argh! It's killing me. I want to Tweet the exciting things I'm up to, and certainly some of the bits in my head, just to get feedback or quiet acknowledgement from my friends and peers. I've taken to emailing more and sharing music with friends as an outlet.
The one thing I don't miss at all is Facebook. So much so, that I am thinking I might kill my account before January is up. It was fun, but then so is anything new. Now it's just a time sucker. I can't remember the last time I went on and enjoyed the experience. Facebook is over for me.
My only reason I can think of to not delete the account is for keeping up with future developments with it. So maybe I'll keep it for that. We'll see. I've been lucky though, as Facebook implemented sending the body of the message you've received into the email it pings you before I went on my hiatus, so I've not missed any important meet up messages as they've come through as normal emails. Phew.
Well, I suppose I best get back to pining for my Twitter. Sigh.
- :Angelina
It seems I'm not the only person working out there's more to life than live blogging your every living moment. Since starting my experiment just before Christmas, I've noticed a few other key people mentioning and picking up on the quietening down trend.
Lloyd Davis' recent post "Why I'm not in Seesmic at the moment" sums up a lot of my discontent with Seesmic, although I'll save my proper rant about it for another day when I'm more angsty.
Jamie Riddell from Cheeze summed up the Scoble vs Facebook fight rather well.
And now this morning I see a Tweet (yes, I still have a sneaky peak now and then) from Alan Patrick saying, "Am amazed at the no. of twitternuts saying they are giving up Facebook....I sense a trend!". He's also blogged about it here: Are the mavens deserting Facebook?
I've also noticed the way certain people use Twitter is starting to grate me more and more. When I have popped by for a quck peak (which I've done probably twice in the last few weeks) there's been a few people using it as an instant message style product. It really really isn't. The clue is in the "What are you doing?" question that you're supposed to answer. Not, "Please discuss something with one person that the other 10-500 people following you will have to "listen" to".
If your discussion goes over one reply - get on the text, IM, MSN, Yahoo!Chat, email whatever the hell you like but don't think that anyone else is interested in your conversation with someone about anything. Because honestly: we're not. This is now an instant cull from anyone I follow. I love hearing what people are up to, but I really hate hearing people jabber on with each other about something I care nothing about. Also, it shows you have no concept of what medium to use for your communications. End of rant.
Other than noticing that in sharp detail, not a lot else has really changed in my social media life. The world carries on regardless, I haven't lost all my friends overnight, and I'm still getting offers for work. More so, in fact. And I've more real time to do real things. Where before I sat spending a good 2 hours a day updating my various social networks, now I spend that 2 hours reading well written news and blogs and making up my own mind about what's going on.
That's not to say I don't miss it. Twitter mostly, but interestingly only a few people on there. I think when I come back I will be culling more and listening more, as opposed to listening to the noise too worried to weed out the boring and spammy Tweeters. I'm just going to make it work for me, and that means only interesting Tweeters only.
Lloyd Davis' recent post "Why I'm not in Seesmic at the moment" sums up a lot of my discontent with Seesmic, although I'll save my proper rant about it for another day when I'm more angsty.
Jamie Riddell from Cheeze summed up the Scoble vs Facebook fight rather well.
And now this morning I see a Tweet (yes, I still have a sneaky peak now and then) from Alan Patrick saying, "Am amazed at the no. of twitternuts saying they are giving up Facebook....I sense a trend!". He's also blogged about it here: Are the mavens deserting Facebook?
I've also noticed the way certain people use Twitter is starting to grate me more and more. When I have popped by for a quck peak (which I've done probably twice in the last few weeks) there's been a few people using it as an instant message style product. It really really isn't. The clue is in the "What are you doing?" question that you're supposed to answer. Not, "Please discuss something with one person that the other 10-500 people following you will have to "listen" to".
If your discussion goes over one reply - get on the text, IM, MSN, Yahoo!Chat, email whatever the hell you like but don't think that anyone else is interested in your conversation with someone about anything. Because honestly: we're not. This is now an instant cull from anyone I follow. I love hearing what people are up to, but I really hate hearing people jabber on with each other about something I care nothing about. Also, it shows you have no concept of what medium to use for your communications. End of rant.
Other than noticing that in sharp detail, not a lot else has really changed in my social media life. The world carries on regardless, I haven't lost all my friends overnight, and I'm still getting offers for work. More so, in fact. And I've more real time to do real things. Where before I sat spending a good 2 hours a day updating my various social networks, now I spend that 2 hours reading well written news and blogs and making up my own mind about what's going on.
That's not to say I don't miss it. Twitter mostly, but interestingly only a few people on there. I think when I come back I will be culling more and listening more, as opposed to listening to the noise too worried to weed out the boring and spammy Tweeters. I'm just going to make it work for me, and that means only interesting Tweeters only.
Since last writing on Boxing Day, I've wound down all my social media activities. I've chopped my networks back in size, ready for the winter of quiet, helping me maintain as little noise attempting to pull me back as possible. I'm toying with the idea of even temporarily closing down my Facebook account on 31st December, just to make sure I'm not going to cheat. That's the biggest pull of all really - just because you don't visit the site anymore, doesn't mean the site forgets about you. Oh no. The Tweets kept coming to my mobile as I'd forgotten to shut off mobile alerts. And Facebook will email me regardless of whether I'm actually looking or interested.
Flickr will be tough too, as it's one of the few social media services that I feel really has enriched my life, but it's only a month for God's sake. I can do it.
The thing I am most interested to find out is what, if any impact this experiment will have on my professional life. I've been frustrated by the intrusion of my working life into my private life for quite some time now; yet I'm the instigator of it. I've been holding the belief that I have to be a big noise, that I have to shout about what I'm doing, with whom, and when. A beacon for my own public relations and selling myself all over the place. Did I make this up, to allow an addiction to come through unchallenged? Or is it acually true, will I find myself with less work and less contact from a month out of the "scene".
I'm not missing any of it yet, if anything the more time I spend away the more I want to delete, cancel, quit and remove. We'll see :)
Flickr will be tough too, as it's one of the few social media services that I feel really has enriched my life, but it's only a month for God's sake. I can do it.
The thing I am most interested to find out is what, if any impact this experiment will have on my professional life. I've been frustrated by the intrusion of my working life into my private life for quite some time now; yet I'm the instigator of it. I've been holding the belief that I have to be a big noise, that I have to shout about what I'm doing, with whom, and when. A beacon for my own public relations and selling myself all over the place. Did I make this up, to allow an addiction to come through unchallenged? Or is it acually true, will I find myself with less work and less contact from a month out of the "scene".
I'm not missing any of it yet, if anything the more time I spend away the more I want to delete, cancel, quit and remove. We'll see :)
Woo first post. Always so much to write and no idea where to start. Well, there will be plenty more to come.
Today's post is just to let you all know I'm starting this blog with the energy of what I would normally spread all over the web in little places, except hopefully hone my personal writing style, find out more about my own train of thought, and stop giving content to third party sites when I could be creating my own.
I'm starting with a month off all my other social media. Most affected will be Twitter and Facebook. Flickr I will still use as a tool, but not the social aspects. I'm allowing myself that one as I have a growing photography habit that I really enjoy.
I'll post more on my thoughts on why I'm doing this, and what it feels like as I break into the New Year in a big bunch of silence. I'm so used to Tweeting, Facebooking, or scouring peoples' photos to comment. Infact, I've been genuinely addicted to it for the last few months in particular. And it's that addiction that has made me want to go cold turkey.
You don't have to be an alcoholic to appreciate the finer points of rum or wine. Also I'm a person, not a Pokemon - I don't wanna collect them all anymore. Holding these two thoughts as my shining light back to not-recording-what-I'm-doing-seeing-bein
Oh, and of course; actually see how many other things I can accomplish from not constantly checking my network out for details that have no bearing on my life. It'll be hard - I'm a natural born nosey arse. But I think it'll be really insightful and useful to objectify my views on social media.
Today's post is just to let you all know I'm starting this blog with the energy of what I would normally spread all over the web in little places, except hopefully hone my personal writing style, find out more about my own train of thought, and stop giving content to third party sites when I could be creating my own.
I'm starting with a month off all my other social media. Most affected will be Twitter and Facebook. Flickr I will still use as a tool, but not the social aspects. I'm allowing myself that one as I have a growing photography habit that I really enjoy.
I'll post more on my thoughts on why I'm doing this, and what it feels like as I break into the New Year in a big bunch of silence. I'm so used to Tweeting, Facebooking, or scouring peoples' photos to comment. Infact, I've been genuinely addicted to it for the last few months in particular. And it's that addiction that has made me want to go cold turkey.
You don't have to be an alcoholic to appreciate the finer points of rum or wine. Also I'm a person, not a Pokemon - I don't wanna collect them all anymore. Holding these two thoughts as my shining light back to not-recording-what-I'm-doing-seeing-bein
Oh, and of course; actually see how many other things I can accomplish from not constantly checking my network out for details that have no bearing on my life. It'll be hard - I'm a natural born nosey arse. But I think it'll be really insightful and useful to objectify my views on social media.
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