So you have decided to join the modern world and you are on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Flickr, Delicious and you have your own blog. But have you thought about what being a member of these sites means about you? Each website has its own ethos and people view you in slightly different ways according to the site they are using. So this blog is here to explain what your social networking site has to say about you.
Facebook – Dan is … keeping you updated.
The whole point of Facebook is finding out how your friends are feeling, what they are doing and seeing photos of what they have done. Hence the strange way people talk about themselves in the third person: Dan is explaining something.
If you are on Facebook, you want the world or at least your friends to know what you are doing each day. Facebook exists to let the world know what you are doing.
Twitter – I think therefore I am
People are not on Twitter to show the world what they are doing but what they are thinking. Twitter is all about sending your random thoughts out into the world and seeing if people agree with you. The famous thing about Twitter is its limit of 140 characters. This is actually shorter than a text message which has an amazingly generous 160 characters. You can’t inform people, you can’t explain whole ideas; you can only send out a suggestion of what you are thinking and wait for the world to comment.
Linked In – It’s not just what you do, it’s also who you know
Linked In is a bit of an odd member of this group. It is definitely a networking site but is it really social networking? After all, the reason you join Linked In is to improve your contact list. It is the modern equivalent of joining a gentleman’s club. Before you would have arrived at your club and talked to all the members letting them know what work you have been doing and seeing if there is anyone there who might be able to influence your business. Linked In is exactly the same but without the smoking jacket and brandy. Mind you, there’s nothing stopping you logging on and having a quick brandy over your keyboard!
Flickr – Compose yourself and your photos!
If you have a Flickr account, it is because you fancy yourself as a photographer and you think the world would benefit from seeing your photos . And we’re not just talking about the rubbish snapshots that you can get on Facebook – oh no! Flickr is for people who know about photography; people who care about the image; people who hardly ever put their finger in front of the lens. People put photos on there to show how good they can be and to get other experts to comment on them. If you are on Flickr, you know that a DSLR does not run past Canary Wharf.
Delicious – Show me the way to go to the homepages, I’m tired and I want …
Finding things on the internet can be a tiring process. Google is great (and Bing too apparently) but it still can’t tell you what is worth looking at and what would be best left alone. That’s why Delicious exists. People who log into Delicious know the web inside and out and can hold your hand and guide you to the best bits. Delicious people are web rangers who know exactly what to find and where to find it.
Blogging – If you are all sitting comfortably, I’ll begin…
All bloggers are natural born teachers. They want the worl d to know about something and they will spend a lot of time typing up blogs and fiddling with the settings until the world knows what they do. The irony that I am writing this on a blog has not escaped me! I am a teacher (at heart if not in the classroom) and I want to educate the world. I cannot just tell someone something ; I have to explain it. A blog is the natural place for me to make my web presence felt.
What about you? Where do you naturally fit in on the web?
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Loading ...