Given my previous post and my prized Luddite status, it should come as a bit of a surprise that I am responsible for drafting a social media policy for my employer. I can tell you I wasn’t chosen because of my know-how or regular use of any kind of social media; in fact, I am probably the person in my office who is least likely to be found on Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or any of the others I don’t even know about. I was chosen simply because it’s part of my ever-evolving job description.
Luckily writing policy is more an academic endeavour, and I’m good at that. I have a committee and co-workers who tell me how they like to use all the various social media and I have access to other similar organizations’ policies, so it’s simply a matter of listening, reading, adapting and – voila – a made-to-order social media policy.
In some ways, doing all this research has made me think about getting more involved in at least one of the two social media platforms that I already (reluctantly) participate in – LinkedIn and Facebook. The former I like because it’s business-oriented, and the people I hear from are there for business purposes. I am part of two industry-related groups, and the one I find more interesting is a group of my peers, and I get some great ideas from them. I do try to participate where I can, as I believe that I should give ideas and information as well as receive.
Facebook is harder for me to understand. I know it’s the preeminent social networking site (at least for the next few seconds until something new comes along) and millions can’t get through the day without logging on to Facebook at least once. Some people have hundreds of “friends” (many of whom they have never met) and enjoy posting photos and family events and whatever else they wish to share. And that is precisely what makes Facebook, to my mind, UN-social. Just because someone shares their photos, events and ideas doesn’t mean they are social; it means they can’t take the time to get in touch with their real friends and have a conversation or send a personal email.
That, I realize, is a grouchy-old-lady kind of statement. I have wondered if I’m taking this all too seriously and should just enjoy getting in touch with people, catching up on their lives and being open to new connections. But I keep coming back to the idea that if I really wanted to be friends with someone from my past, or with someone who’s a “friend” of a friend, I’d just give them a call and see if they want to go out for a drink.
You really have an amazing gift for writing. I can't begin to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading your blog. I'm finding myself very much in sympathy with almost all of what you have said here. Like you, I was born in the fifties. Unlike you, I haven't grown up in -my- fifties. I don't even know what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe it will happen in my seventies.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I am mostly a Luddite. I do have a flat screen monitor for my computer, but that's because the old monitor died. We have a flat screen TV, too - mostly because we don't have a cabinet to hide the other kind in, and flat screens take up less space in an already small family room. I won't allow a televison set of any description to desecrate the livingroom.
I had to work out what a 'slap chop' is from context. I still chop onions the old fashioned way, with a knife. And I make cakes and cookies entirely by hand. And making bread doesn't involve a 'machine'.