Are we really being social, or anti-social being part of all of these "social-networking" sites.
I understand that the social networking thing is huge. It's a great way to keep in touch with people who you would otherwise not keep in touch with but it's also an amazing time-suck!
The other part is, you have to figure out what your intended audience is. I mean, should I be writing this blog on Twitter, so that all of my friends (none of which are on Twitter that I know of) could see this blog post automatically? Or should I just post a link on Facebook to say "Hey, here's another story about my life... look at me... look at me!"
We now live in an extremely vain society, where 1 1/2 year old children can't even wait to see what their picture looks like, because they say "Lemme see, lemme see" two seconds after you snap a photo. Can you imagine waiting a FULL MINUTE to see a Polaroid "Instant" picture develop before your eyes in today's society? I mean seriously, I think some kids would have a nervous breakdown waiting that long. Or, at least they would have sent a text message to twelve of their friends saying that they were waiting to see a picture develop.
Everything is "instantaneous" and we all love to share. Photos, stories, experiences and whatever else we can think of. It's great for keeping in touch with family, and showing photos of your kids to friends and relatives in other countries who wouldn't otherwise get to share and experience the same things at the same time as people living next door if the technology wasn't there.
However, this past weekend we were at my wife's parent's house looking through old photo albums looking for a baby photo of her for a work related event at her company. While physically browsing page by page through the albums there is a certain kind of heartfelt intimacy and nostalgia to the hard bound photo albums. The time, effort and care that went into putting those albums together over the course of several years provides you with a different kind of feeling and family history.
Now, I post my photos to Kodak Gallery or Flickr to share them with friends and family, or even a "baby blog" website for my daughter, which is great because I can provide the story along with the photos. But, there is just something so much more personal and emotional about flipping through the pages of a photo album that was put together thirty-plus years ago.
Flipping through those pages got me thinking about where these photos and websites are going to be thirty years from now? Will my kids, or my Grandkids be able to click on a website and "thumb" through our photos and stories when they're looking for baby pictures for a company event?
The way things have gone in recent years, or even months, I don't know if those sites, or companies will be here thirty years from now, so I think the "old fashioned" way of keeping photos is going to be the best way to retain these pictures and stories. I may even start creating a soft-bound book and include the blog stories along with the pictures. It's just something to ponder.
As for all of the social networking sites, I think I'll stick to just two for now, and wait for another one to come along in the not so distant future and see what that offers us and where it takes us. I Face' more than I 'Space now, and I have two blogs with another one on the way (since baby #2 is just months away) but I don't Tweet. However, according to the name of this blog, I do chirp!
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