Last night I was staring blankly at my various Twitter streams on Hootsuite, wondering where to get a conversation started and feeling guilty that I wasn't following up on all of the fabulous, pertinent, relevant, useful bits of information and cool websites that Über Teachers were spitting out.
I flipped over to Facebook, liked a few remarks so I liked them, but wasn't really sure what to do there.
The social media evening had started out with grand expectations; I had been planning on "settling into some quality online time." You can even see the proof of that intention here.
But I quickly became listless and hopelessly unproductive. Let's face it: I'm suddenly feeling tired of hanging out with the same old social networks. You can even see proof of that sentiment here.
So I decided to take a trip back in time to the blogosphere of my past. Google Reader had been a scary place for me for the past few months, a guilt-inducing reminder of all the blogs I'm not reading and, especially, that I'm not writing.
But my visit there wasn't so daunting. I noticed that a lot of my best blogging buddies were slowing down their blogging pace too. They may have even been staring blankly at Hootsuite as I stared blankly at Google Reader.
I didn't stare blankly for very long. I left some comments, even though I almost felt like an intruder doing so. I signed up for comment subscriptions, something I had previously written off as a waste of time.
The hour got late, but by the end of the evening I felt like I had actually "engaged" again in a way I don't do on Facebook or Twitter.
I miss blogging, and I think I will have to do something about that.
13 comments:
I'm glad you stopped by. I've actually starting blogging more, lately. Facebook is fun, but I don't do any real writing there.
I agree with you. I took a month-long hiatus from my blog but now I'm having fun again.
I can't get into Twitter and on Facebook all I do is play Farmville.
Hi, Betty,
I think you're right: blogging can be fun - and you get to write down your thoughts and chat about how life's going.
I am not a fan of FB (I find it a little bossy) but I do like Twitter.
Then again, with most of the world's journalists on Twitter it can be a bit intimidating.
I miss blogging, and I think I will have to do something about that.
Yes, ma/am - I rather think you should!
Hope all is well with you.
All the best
Keith
Just saying hi. :)
blogging is a contact sport, and I have to put more time in reading. I'm glad I signed up for NaBloPoMo this month; even the desultory posts are better than nothing.
Speaking of FB, Lucy has shut down her site or whatever it's called, as have many of her dorm mates. They have found that it wastes so many hours. And some Univ. Tennessee students were overheard saying the same thing.
Let's get back to blogging, I say!
time (for blogging or twittering) certainly is the rate limiter.
Together with the fact that unless you regularly leave messages on other people's blogs they don't tend to regularly leave messages on yours. I have not yet mastered the art of 'feeds' - although that was almost a lesson from Betty there in her post.
Twitter scores on time because it's only 140 chars. FB scores on chat.
FB isn't too weighty in terms of topic; tweets can be altogether too weighty.
Right, I have set up an 'Inconsequential Chat' list on Twitter. Anyone is welcome.
Right, lunchtime calls. ;D
Thank you so much for all of the comments. I guess that's what I miss about blogging -- the sense of creating something, even modest, and the personal feedback.
Sally, I will check out you "Inconsequential Chat" list on Twitter.
Blog on, all!
Glad to see you again.
All the social media stuff aside, I value your comments on life in France. FB and Twitter, meh.
Come back to the Dark Side.
Nice to see you again my friend!
@loulou -- I'm thinking of trying to at least post once a week. I would hate to see La France Profonde die. All of these comments have been a great encouragement!
Nice to see you in my reader again (yes, it can be a daunting place) The social networks are fun, but I have too many words to get out to quit blogging - at least, at the moment.... Welcom back!
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