I have all kinds of ways to keep in touch with family and friends online. I have MSN Messenger, Yahoo, Google Talk, Myspace, Facebook and of course Blogger. There are other ways to keep in touch over common interests, like imeem and Last.fm, which are music sites, Flickr for photos, and Linked.in which is a networking site mostly used for business. Strangely enough, most of my contacts are on one service only, so it's not like I can have just.one.service. Sure, there are some programs that bring two or more services into one contact list, but I've not found a viable one, yet, that will bring them all into one place to fit my needs.
While I mostly use Google features (mail and chat) as well as Myspace, there are others on each of the other chat clients or social networking sites I really want to make time to stay in touch with. It gets to be time consuming, and I'm wondering if all this convenience is really convenient?! Of course there's one very BIG question: do these services make us socially lazy or truly more in touch? Before all this technology we had to... gasp... pick up a telephone or send a letter, which is much more personal, even if it was less frequent, wouldn't you agree? Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the technology, it is what I do! But I miss the meaning behind a letter or hearing someone's voice at times. On the other hand, we are able to reach people very far away we might not ever get the chance to meet - which I've had the pleasure of doing right here!
Do you use multiple social networking services and/or chat programs? Do you have one you use most or favor? How do you think it's affected your social life, overall?
While I mostly use Google features (mail and chat) as well as Myspace, there are others on each of the other chat clients or social networking sites I really want to make time to stay in touch with. It gets to be time consuming, and I'm wondering if all this convenience is really convenient?! Of course there's one very BIG question: do these services make us socially lazy or truly more in touch? Before all this technology we had to... gasp... pick up a telephone or send a letter, which is much more personal, even if it was less frequent, wouldn't you agree? Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the technology, it is what I do! But I miss the meaning behind a letter or hearing someone's voice at times. On the other hand, we are able to reach people very far away we might not ever get the chance to meet - which I've had the pleasure of doing right here!
Do you use multiple social networking services and/or chat programs? Do you have one you use most or favor? How do you think it's affected your social life, overall?
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5 comments:
I use Blogger. When I was on my GMail account a few months ago, a chat window popped up and scared the heck out of me. It was a friend of mine...and I signed off a few minutes later. I'm not a real-time chat kind of person.
The downside of social network services? With all the time that some of us spend sending messages back and forth (including text messages), it's obvious to me that one conversation could easily take care of most of what's on our mind. Some people prefer texting and typing instead of talking. Not good.
Also, the obvious issues of child predators and cyber-bullies are major issues.
The upside? The global village continues to become more local, as evidenced by the fact that I'm typing my thoughts to a person I know but have never met.
In the end, the more people talk and exchange ideas, the better off society will be. I think it's had a positive effect on my life.
Honestly, the phone is still my main mode of communication. I do use chat to talk to my friend in Australia and I have my blog, of course. I also have accounts on Myspace and Facebook, but very rarely use either one. I'm still old-school when it comes to keepin in touch, I guess.
I am on a couple of IM services, mostly because of my job two jobs ago. Different clients and internal contacts used different services, so I signed up for each. I now consolidate everything through Meebo.com as I don't have install anything on my work computer.
In terms of social networking, I have a MySpace page, but rarely check it. I am more active on LinkedIn, though.
I use myspace and facebook primarily. I've found it to be a great way to connect with old friends. I used to use yahoo and msn messenger, but really don't any longer.
I use Googler Reader for my blogging, Facebook to keep in touch with friends and Linkedn for work contacts. And I think using these sites have made me better about keeping in contact with people because I am horrible about returning phone calls (just ask Amy) I never have enough time to devote to the phone and always feel like I could be doing something else.
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