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How Social Media Crept into My Life

toni_rodriguez's picture
Submitted by toni_rodriguez on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 9:34pm
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I still remember how reluctant how I was to sign up for a Delicious account.  I laugh now because it's been five years since I first imported my Safari bookmarks into Delicious and I can't imagine browsing without it!  All of my browsers (Firefox, FF Portable, Safari, Chrome) have the Delicious toolbar.  I met with a friend recently and talked about my Delicous bookmarks and she responded that she uses Diigo.  I had heard about it, but never explored it in depth.  Of course I had to try it, so now I have a Diigo account with some saved bookmarks.  Diigo also comes with its own toolbar, which means more add-ons to my browser(s).  I often feel like there are too many choices out there and I must try them all just to say I tried them.

Way back when--maybe 2003--I signed up on MySpace for the sole purpose of discovering new indie bands, but that did not last long.  I knew I was too old for MySpace even then.  It took me awhile to sign up on Facebook because I thought it was geared toward "Gen-Y".  I think I signed up in late 2008 or early 2009. Although it took a little bit of time to get used to it and post "stuff", I'm now fully acclimated.  Now that many websites now have Like or Share buttons, it makes sharing quick and easy.  Also, because I have a smartphone with a camera I can post photos immediately and share them via FB, Twitter, IM or email.  There was a time (pre-internet) when I had to wait to discuss the latest movie, magazine article, or t.v. show with friends, either by telephone or in person.  I never thought I was the type of person to "share" so much about myself, even on a superfical level.

I read somewhere that all this instant communication has had the reverse effect.  It creates a false sense of community.  There's no urgency to see friends face-to-face, we can just check their status or follow their tweets, satisfied that we know what's going on with them.

I often ponder the “false

CristinaM's picture
Submitted by CristinaM on Mon, 08/30/2010 - 9:34pm.

I often ponder the “false sense of community” that you refer to, Toni. I actually feel the closest sense of community with my Facebook friends that I have offline relationships with and whom I regularly prioritize seeing in person and who use Facebook to send me invites to events that occur locally. I have yet to form completely online relationships with people based on common interests, but I would like to. This may be around LIS such as teen librarianship, information literacy or services to Spanish-speakers or personal interests like jewelry design. I'd be interested in hearing from classmates who have found social software to faciliate completely online connections, aside from those for school.

I've also heard much about

TanyaK's picture
Submitted by TanyaK on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 10:12am.

I've also heard much about the "false sense of community argument." I'm not so sure there is ample evidence to make that claim. One thing the Internet did, especially in the early days of email, was allow people to cheaply keep in touch. No more huge phone bills, and no more spending hours writing letters in long hand. It made it easier to keep up with your friends and to maintain those friendships in an otherwise busy world. It's not like you were emailing total strangers, anymore than you were calling total strangers before email. Social networking, I think, just took that idea and made it more efficient. And it also made it easier to make new friends that way, if one is so inclined. I know quite a few people who have met their mates online....how is that false community-building?

Toni, I'm impressed that

Sarah E's picture
Submitted by Sarah E on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 6:36pm.

Toni, I'm impressed that you've been using social bookmarking for five years!  I'm completely new to delicious as well as any other social bookmarking websites (I had not even heard of social bookmarking before this first week of class).  I look forward to learning more about this new type of social tool in this class and discovering how I may actually apply this type of website outside of class to my own personal bookmarking.  From reading your blog post, am I correct in understanding that you no longer bookmark any websites on your Internet browser(s); all of your bookmarks are now contained on a social bookmarking site on the web?  This is fascinating!

Once in a while I'll bookmark

toni_rodriguez's picture
Submitted by toni_rodriguez on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 7:38pm.

Once in a while I'll bookmark something in the browser, but all of my bookmarks are in Delicious. Although many of my old bookmarks were imported, I still keep a lot of the older ones in my browser just because.

Once you install the Delicious tools in your browser, it's so easy!  There's also a Delicous app for smartphones (I have a G1).

I have to admit, now that I opened a second account specifically for this class, I have to keep track which bookmarks I save into which account.  I can see some confusion happening during the semester.

I still save SLIS-related sites into my browser's toolbar for quick access.

 

Thanks for elaborating,

Sarah E's picture
Submitted by Sarah E on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 5:39pm.

Thanks for elaborating, Toni!  I imagine that having one's bookmarks stored on an account on the web would be really convenient when traveling and accessing the web on something other than one's own personal computer.  I will definitely try bookmarking my personal bookmarks on delicious (beyond the assigned bookmarking for this class) and see how I like it.  :)

 

As new technology trends

marissaj7's picture
Submitted by marissaj7 on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 9:31pm.

As new technology trends emerge there is some pressure to learn about them, but like you sometimes I feel reluctant to join some of the many social networks/mediums available. It is not until we try them that we learn and decide which are appropriate and useful in our daily lives.

I recently opened a Facebook account and have to say that I really like the fact that I am able to learn so much about friends and family that I would not otherwise. I maintain closer contact through the message feature with multiple people, similar to email, but it feels different, it feels like a one stop shop for social life.  Like you say there is not urgency to see friends face-to-face, especially when people are active users.

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