Scrutinizing Social Media Sites

Recently I have become rather disenchanted with the various social media sites I frequent. Maybe it’s just boredom with them. Maybe it's just me burning the candles at both ends - trying to stay involved in more than I actually have the time for.

(Before I get into my thoughts on this, I would hope this is not perceived as an attack on anyone who loves to utilize Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, etc etc. Cause it's not. It's about my interactions with these sites)



More than a year ago I said, “I know you’re never supposed to say never but……….I will never get a Twitter account.” Famous last words.

I started a Twitter account. Collected some friends. Wrote short insipid observations about my lunch or sent blog postings to share. Sharing things with a good number of strangers who, more than likely, didn’t read or care for my blathering.

So why did I do that? Anyways…. that twitter account of mine is deactivated.

This would be a good time to interject that yes, I have made some friends through blogging/facebook/etc whom I genuinely like. People with whom I feel a connection and we write and stay in contact as real friends do.

In spite of that, I am still on a downward spiral with all these sites I joined.

Facebook. This has certainly changed so many lives. I would wager it has become a force even bigger than Zuckerburg could have imagined.

I recently read that as of May 2012, Facebook has over 900 million active users and over half were utilizing the Facebook on mobile devices such as phones and tablets.

How many of us started by sending and accepting friend requests from people whom you’d never, ever exchange your information with in the normal course of socialization at work or playtime? I started an account for the dog as an experiment. He sent out two friend requests, one to me and one to my husband. The goal? Would he actually get friend requests and if so, would the larger number be from bikers or cooks and bakers?

What’s your guess? Drumroll please……..



Bikers. He had some foodie friends but holy cow – I think he ended up with 182 friends and all but two of those “friends” contacted him. Some didn’t even speak his language. …(wait, I was thinking English but he is Japanese…never mind)

If only they’d known he was but a 22 pound shiba inu who couldn’t ride and couldn’t bake worth a damn. That experiment ended and we have deleted his account quite awhile back.

Well that went spectacularly off topic………..

Pinterest- there’s another one I never thought I’d join. Did you know that Pinterest is the third largest social media site in popularity? I joined, then started a few boards there. One for shiba inu photos, food photos, one devoted to chocolate, another with amusing witty signs or remarks.

Yesterday I deleted all those boards.

I started with one blog several years ago. I ended up with two active blogs, being a contributor to another blog, a Twitter account, Facebook, Stumble Upon, Pinterest....

All I know is, something has to give for me here……….

Do you ever feel like just dumping all of those social media accounts? Staying in contact with the friends you made but distancing yourself from the daily minutia of all those combined forces?

I welcome any thoughts regarding your involvement with the various social connection sites.

If you stuck it out this far, thank you for listening.