First, off, Happy New Year! I know, it’s been a while since I have written new content here. The past few months have been extremely busy for me with building new custom WordPress sites for clients, speaking engagements, holidays, and moving.
While I haven’t had that much time for generating new content, I have however spent a ton of time interacting with others and observing things from a distance across the social networks. One thing I started to notice over the past few weeks is the way some people share on social networks versus in real life. As I continued watch updates from people I know in both realms, I started to categorize them into different types of groups:
The Martha Stewart- We all know at least one of these. You know, the person who updates their Facebook status every five minutes with new recipes, soaps, & every DIY remedy possible from Pinterest. If you are lucky like me, you are friends with several of these types of people to where you can’t look at Facebook for more than three minutes without feeling hunger pains or end up with a laundry list of items to pick up at Hobby Lobby for the next project you are going to tackle. If only these projects turned out like the pictures.
The Oversharer- Some people just feel everyone needs to know every single thought they have. When something pops into their head they run to the social network of their choice and post a status update. They are sharing sometimes 30-40 things in a day. Things like: just got a coffee, the mail is here, my car is dirty, I just sniffled, I’m cold, I’m hot. Is everything you say really that interesting or important to say?
It’s All About Me- In 2013 the word selfie became one of the biggest buzz words. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are being filled with random self portraits daily. In fact, this craze has became so popular it now has it’s own selfie olympics that started today. Do your friends need a new profile photo of you every day? What I’ve found is that whenever I change my avatar, it takes my connections weeks to recognize the new one since they get used to seeing your 180 pixel face one way. If it is constantly changing, I can only imagine the confusion it causes your connections.
The Gamer- We all at times need something fun to do to blow off some steam. Some like to go for a hike, others prefer hobbies like golf, but then there are those who love to play some of the many games connected to Facebook. Now, don’t get me wrong, at times I enjoy playing a few levels of Candy Crush to relax and chill out. But, do my friends care that I just completed level 18? My guess is that they could care less. Even more, those who are not into video games become even more annoyed by the constant requests to play games they do not understand just so you get another life in Farmville for your sick chicken.
The Crusader- Everyday there is a new crusade to conquer or someone to save. One day might be saving penguins, the next is global warming, or gluten in food, but everyday there is a new crisis in this world to overcome. I’m a strong believer in standing up for things you believe in, but does it really change every 24 hours?
The Complainer- They just got cut off in traffic, it’s too hot outside, now it’s too cold out, the $1.99 iced coffee was too sweet today after being too bitter yesterday, the neighbors dog just peed on the front lawn. We all experience these types of traumas every day in life. But do we need to experience your pain all day every day? I have a few connections where when I examined their feed almost 85% of their updates done in a day were negative or a complaint of some nature.
While these are some of the most common types of status updates happening in social media, I don’t believe they always do the best job of representing people in real life. Most of my connections on social media are with people whom at some point in life I have had some sort of face to face interaction with outside an online network. The time spent with these people in person is a much different experience than what their online personas represent.
So, before you submit your next status update (which will hopefully be to share this post or comment below, hint, hint) take a moment to analyze what you are about to say and make sure it is a good representation of the true person you are and not something that could represent you in a wrong manner.