Wherefore Art Thou Social Media?

Wherefore Art Thou Social Media?

Social Media is constantly evolving, I mean in the 6 years I've had Facebook I feel like I've gone through at least 300 different 'new looks', and with this constant evolution comes a pretty amazing rate of growth (consider books, they've been around for how many years and  there are only so many different ways you can present a book.)  New platforms for the social media savvy student seem to pop up overnight. It can get pretty overwhelming! What platform should I use, how should I use it, and what should I use it for?  All of these questions ran through my mind when I started blogging, and here are some of the platforms I considered...

 

Facebook

I think this one is better left for personal uses.  I like Facebook, but I don't like using it for work.  Advertising with Facebook is kind of like advertising with posters: posters are nice to have in your room as tokens of things you like, but when you see a hallway at school plastered with posters you end up ignoring most of them.  I'd rather use Facebook to creep your profile.

Twitter

I loooove twitter! I spend waaaay too much time going through tweets. Sometimes I live tweet my favourite shows (if you need running commentary on Grey's Anatomy every 5 minutes let me know.) I think Twitter is less for the personal and more for the public, which makes it a great tool for doing what I do.  I didn't like it at first, because you can only say so much per post but now it's almost a game, like how much can I say in this one little post?

Tumblr

I'm still exploring Tumblr, but for now I'm going to keep it as a side interest.  I've got a Tumblr page, What I'm Reading, and I use it to post books I'm reading or have read along with fun facts, short reviews, random commentary, whatever (because I'm a total nerd like that.)  I don't think I'll use this for professional purposes simply because it's more geared towards sharing what's already on the internet as opposed to putting up your own content.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a prime example of how social media sites can pop up over night!  It feels as though I went to sleep one night never having heard of it and the next day EVERYONE was telling me I needed to check it out.  I won't lie, I'm not a fan.  I have an account (one of my friends at work said I HAD to have one.) I think it's similar to Tumblr but with even less functionality.  Like really all I can do is pin pictures I see online? Maybe I'll get into it (maybe I can pin things I want people to buy me for my birthday and stuff) but for now, it's not for me.

Formspring

Soooo when I started working on my knowledge of social media my boss had me look into this one.  In theory, Formspring sounds like it could be cool: basically an open and (if you so choose) anonymous forum for you to ask questions.  Perfect for people running an organization designed to keep students informed.  In practice, I don't like it.  I don't find it very visually appealing and I don't find it very user friendly.  My boss was not a fan either. 

These are just my thoughts on a few platforms that I've looked into; if you disagree with anything I've said, let me know! If you can recommend any strategies or tools that I haven't considered, let me know! If you want to tell me about other platforms, please, let me know!

P.S I've linked my profiles in the description, but the headers are just generic links to the sites!