Social Media and Its Effect On Me

First of all, hello out there! I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to keep up with blogging and revamping this blog. They have me doing blog posts at work so I figured it would be helpful if I kept up with my own blogging as well...you know, besides managing my Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and LinkedIn accounts (did I get them all? lol). 


So the infographic to my left (to take a bigger look at it click here: Infographic link). There are definitely some surprising statistics. I try not to take infographics too seriously but this one definitely spooked me a little considering my job title includes the words, SOCIAL MEDIA. I can believe when it says that attention spans are now 5 seconds. Even for me, I need to have my TweetDeck set to the right hand side of my screen, updating me on all news pertinent to advertising, digital, media, etc. I've often told people that I now live my life in real-time, which truth be told is actually kind of scary and robotic of me. I love knowing things as soon as they break and being one of the first to retweet about it. Come to think of it, social media has made me more competitive than ever.


A lot of people have told me that they use Facebook to reconnect with old friends and catch up, and though part of what I do on the site pertains to that, my function on Facebook is that of an information gateway. I try to find interesting articles that friends of mine will be interested in and will receive likes and comments. Very rarely do I actually update about myself on Facebook anymore unless the news is epic. Probably because the saying of 'No one actually cares how you're doing' thing got to me. 


One thing I have noticed though is that as much as social media is connecting us to the people we care about and want to get to know, it is also making us isolated islands of information. Another side effect of this might make us more introverted than extroverted. Your online life can be a whole other life if you want it to be. I even feel like that's had an effect on me. I'm very naturally outgoing etc. But sometimes I get more satisfaction in getting replied to, retweeted, and having my Twitter count go up. It almost feels like a contest for attention via social media. Which is insane. Every so often I have to remind myself that although I want to continue raising my Klout score, there are other more important aspects in my life as well...you know, like me, the actual human being behind the body typing away at my computer. It's a hard thing to come to terms with and recognize but I think as long as I keep that mindset of knowing limits with social media and its usage that I can continue to grow as an online presence while also working on myself as a person.


This might have been the only thing in the infographic that gave me some kind of solace:

So maybe it is doing some good besides giving me a crash course in interacting with consumers and marketing myself better to employers.


Here's to more innovations within social media and getting my attention span to 2 seconds!


Cheers!