How many pointless Twitter/Facebook updates do you get that say something like, "Had great dinner at Wendy's, now a beer."? I hate those. I am also guilty of writing a few as well.
Above is a little clip from the Colbert Report commenting on online social networking. Is the only reason we play on Facebook, My Space, write blogs, and Twitter is to be known?
"Cognoscor Ergo Sum - I am known, therefore I am."
At what point am I sharing stuff just so people know that I exist? Am I afraid that I am such an insignificant dot that I must wave my hands and publish all this stuff about myself so I have meaning?
The answers are complicated. I write, create art, and do most everything I do for myself. I appreciate comments, praise and criticism, but it is mostly for me. I hope my stuff entertains, pleases, angers, and makes others think. I guess that is the boundary point then. There is a part of me that plays on these social networking sites to draw attention to my existence, but I also do it to hopefully give my audience something of value. I hope my audience gets a nugget to think about, an image to ponder on, or something to chuckle about.
I guess my intent then is both self serving and hopefully of service. That is like most things we do in our existence. We do them because we all get something out of it.
The strangest part for me is yes, I do the social sites to gain exposure and connections, but here in this little slice of the bloggie world I am not even who I really am. So it seems a little stupid to me some days. I am considering closing up shop, believe it or not. We'll see.
ReplyDelete"Am I afraid that I am such an insignificant dot that I must wave my hands and publish all this stuff about myself so I have meaning?"
ReplyDeleteHmmm. If I'm being brutally honest there was definitely something of that in me when I started blogging (about 4 years ago now.) Then I went through a phase of wanting to give something back to folks who were reading....I wanted to stimulate thought, tickle people's fancies, stir the pot a little. Now it's all about our community. I blog/tweet/whatever just to play with my online friends, pure and simple. I think that's the right reason - the only reason - why I am still here.