When I meet someone, one of the first things I do when I get back to my room is add them on Facbeook.
From there, I can find out a lot about their lives; our common interests, likes, their birthday, what they regularly do, and really get to see if this is a quality person that I could see myself being friends with. It may sound creepy or superficial, but that is the culture we live in.
However, the other day, I met a guy and we started talking. Soon I asked him if he had a Facebook. He said yes, but told me to follow his blog.
Follow his blog? These are things I do for well known writers, not new friends. What was I supposed to do? Can I comment on it? Will there be pictures? As much as I liked this new friend and wanted to get to know him, I really don’t care to read pages and pages about someone’s adventures unless they are a good friend.
Boy, was I in for a surprise. This guy’s blog was filled with pictures of his recent adventures, things he liked, people he had met. There were comments from other people, music playing in the background, and lo and behold, the boy had “followers.”
It was like MySpace on steroids. So, is blogging the new Facebook?
I did not think that blogging had really caught on until I started thinking about how many of my friends have their own blogs, and they’re all different. One friend is blogging about Lent. Another about general life as a student at Louisiana State University. One is all about fashion.
And my new friend’s blog was about anything and everything he wanted to put up.
We’re beginning to open ourselves up and share more about ourselves online than ever before, and quite frankly, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with it.
I don’t know if I really want people to see everything about my life, and I don’t need another place for people to message me. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GoogleProfile they all seem to be enough! Do I really need to pick a topic, and begin updating a page at least once a week?
My strategic communications professor would say yes. He thinks that blogging is important to hone your writing skills, and become an unofficial expert on a particular topic. “Mommy Blogs” are some of the most influential marketing tools in the nation, and they are run by some pretty average people, not trained journalists.
My friend, however, would argue no. We were chatting about this (ironically on Twitter) and in response to my question if blogging was becoming the new Facbeook she replied, “I hope not, writing is an art most cannot master.”
I think I have to agree with both. I like the idea, to some extent, of being considered an “unofficial expert” on something, but at the same time, I don’t want to have to browse through 100 pages of mindless posting when I meet a new friend that wants me to follow them.
But, we could very well hear “follow me” a lot more than “add me” in the near future.
Get your sheep on. Social media could be taking a major shift. And it wants you to follow.
Michael Graves is a first year religious studies and communications studies double major. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
