Personal & Professional

Social Media Use

“In your first post, answer the following questions:  What social networks of you use most often?  How or why do you use them?  What do you find interesting or important about social media (e.g. why are you taking this class?)”

In terms of social networks, I used to say I used them all but then realized that there are thousands out there that I didn’t know existed and some that I still don’t know exist, i’m sure.  So, to give an exact answer to this question we must start with a list. I love lists, don’t you?

1.     Facebook
2.     Twitter
3.     Tumblr
4.     Facebook Pages (admin for 9 pages – 4 of them aren’t active)
5.     WordPress (as you can see here)
6.     Instagram
7.     Foursquare
8.     Klout
9.     Storify
10.   Snapchat
11.   Google+
12.   YouTube
13.   Hey Tell
14.   Yelp
15.   Urbanspoon
16.   LinkedIn
17.   Academia.edu
18.   Buzznet
19.   CaringBridge
20.   Classmates.com
21.   Couchsurfing.com
22.   delicious
23.   Flickr
24.   Flixster
25.   Myspace
26.   Meetup
27.   LiveJournal
28.   MyLife
29.   Pinterest
30.   ReverbNation.com
31.   SocialVibe
32.   StumbleUpon
33.   Xanga
34.   Circle.com (I think it is now FullCircle.com)
35.   Bump (no longer a site – sold to Google, I think)

So now that we have a list of all the social networking sites that I have used, still use, or have used at some point (at least enough to know what it is and have an account) we will break it down.  Let me start by saying that some of them I didn’t even consider to be a social networking site until I looked it up and found that they were indeed social networking sites and some, I didn’t remember I had used until i read a list of all social networking sites.  It was a pretty interesting list too – check it out by clicking here.

Okay – so the sites I use on a regular basis are:

1.     Facebook
2.     Facebook Pages
3.     Twitter
4.     Tumblr
5.     WordPress
6.     Snapchat
7.     Instagram
8.     Foursquare
9.     Klout
10.   LinkedIn
11.   Pinterest
12.   YouTube
13.   Yelp
14.   Urbanspoon
15.   Meetup
16.   CaringBridge (sucks to add to a “use often” list btw)
17.   Flickr (will be using it a lot more now)
18.   Academia.edu
19.   delicious
20.   HeyTell

Now we’ve learned that I use 20 social networking sites on a regular basis.  Wow – I think I’ve just learned something about myself and where all those extra hours of time i used to have available, have gone.  The missing time felt like the random 1 sock and its missing partner from the load of laundry in the dryer phenomenon until now.  So – no longer a mystery.

So, if we break those down again into the social networking sites I use on a daily basis we have:

1.     Facebook
2.     Facebook Pages
3.     Twitter
4.     Tumblr
5.     WordPress
6.     Snapchat
7.     Instagram
8.     Foursquare
9.     Klout
10.   LinkedIn
11.   Pinterest
12.   YouTube

Hmm… that’s  still a lot of sites, but significantly less when you consider that I’ve linked many of them together so 1 post is distributed among them.

I use them mostly for personal connections and networking.  I know that sounds simple and maybe it is to most but to me – i have to remember what different things to post to which sites because some are personally funny posts, some are professional posts, some are networking posts, some are Liberty and Freedom posts, some are conservative posts, some are liberal posts, some are TN specific, some are posts for the Computer Science department page at the University of Memphis, some are for the Young Americans for Liberty group/page at the University of Memphis, etc etc etc.

If I had to pick the one site that I use most often, it is Facebook to include Facebook pages and groups, followed by Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare.  The others are more of additions and by-products of those.  Pinterest, I used a good amount this past summer because I became obsessed with the DIY information and began to refurnish all the furniture in my house and create those awesome pieces of art that normally cost a lot of money if purchased from Crate and Barrell, Pier 1, and other specialty stores – you know the ones of which I am speaking.  Anyway..now that I’m in grad school – i have several half-finished pieces of furniture to include my coffee table and a craft room full of spray paint, paint, glue, sand paper, and other miscellaneous arts and crafts items I long to use again one day.  Until then…it sits there, looking at me.  A window into the free time I once had.

I’m excited to take this Social Media Class because I hope to pick up a few tips and tricks that I wasn’t aware existed or that I haven’t mastered.  This class will also force me to update my blogs and pages more often and with more consistency, as well as create those blogs that i’ve been meaning to make, in order to enhance my online presence.  Although my online presence is not that bad – i’m ranked pretty high on Klout (obligatory popping of the collar had to be done).  Anyway, I hope to have a professional “portfolio” of sorts at the end of this semester.