What's YOUR Social Media?

I've been around on the internet for a long time. My first foray was onto hotmail, and I had an aol chat account, and got inducted into the land of "forums" back in 2005. Some of you will be going *gasp* "she's ancient!" and others will shake their heads and go "young whippersnapper."

Anyhow, the point is, I've seen a lot of social media come and go. I never got into MySpace because it just didn't appeal to me. However, I was in college when Facebook was just beginning and I was in love with it immediately. I liked how streamlined it was, how easy it was to find friends, how you could share pictures and updates and keep in touch with people across the country without sending everyone long detailed e-mails every week. Or, even, you know, short e-mails. There's a lot of people to keep in touch with! And photos still don't e-mail well.

I remember coming home from school and telling my friends "You guys. Facebook is awesome. It's going to be the next big thing. You've GOT to get it." Some of them were really funny and resisted and didn't get it until everyone and their grandmother had it... actually my grandmother got it before most other people's grandmothers got it. I guess being technologically ahead of the curve could be genetic for me... One time one of my cousins was in class and the prof asked "whose parents have facebook?" and everyone but my cousin raised their hand. Then the prof asked "whose grandparents have facebook?" and everyone's hand went down but my cousin's went up!

Facebook might tick us off with it's periodic changes and the every shifting privacy settings, but let's be honest. It's kind of been a brilliant thing. And if something works... why would I feel the need to go somewhere else? Which is why I never got into Google+. I do think Google+ has some features (like their hangouts) that are worthwhile, but I haven't needed them enough to add something else to my internet presence.

I did try twitter. I really did. But honestly hashtags weird me out. To this day I still can't figure out who is saying what and who is replying and to whom in a twitter post. I try, but usually I have to read it three times. And if it takes three tries to read 144 characters and understand who is speaking to whom... well it's not for me.

On the other hand, I absolutely adore tumblr. Okay the social justice warriors and the potty mouths get old, but it's one big happy fandom most of the time and it's been a really fun way to share and discuss and discover everything I love, from Doctor Who to Downton Abbey. The format was crazy to try and understand until I actually got an account and discovered... THE DASHBOARD. Which is like the best thing ever. Just saying.

I resisted Pinterest. I really did. But I finally caved and while I don't get over there every day as I do tumblr and facebook, It's fun to poke around and get inspiration on.

And then there is this blog. Guys, I love Blogger. I know some people love Wordpress, and that's cool, but I love having it tied into all of my Google stuff already. Because I sort of have a love affair with Google that dates back to my first gmail address in 2005, back when you still had to get invites for it.

I haven't gotten into Instagram. I don't really have a phone that's compatible with it yet, and I prefer to do my own photo editing anyhow.

Social Media is tied into everything we view nowadays, and I've deliberately disconnected it from my yahoo browsing because honestly Facebook doesn't need to know every article I decide to read. (I link to all the good ones myself). Yes, that's my dark secret. I'm one of those people keeping Yahoo alive. I don't use it to search, or even for e-mail nowadays... but it's somehow, weirdly, become my world news homepage. Shhh! Don't tell anyone!

So anyhow. That's me, as defined by social media choices. What does your picture look like?