Get Buzzed

I love social media.

I’ve loved it since I made my first “connection” on Friendster, formed my “Top 8” on MySpace. I love it even more as I sit back and watch my “network” grow on Facebook and Twitter. I’m obsessed, addicted. I get excited thinking about what’s awaiting me in the news each morning. And by “news” I mean, my news feed. Yes, Facebook has become my morning coffee and newspaper. Sad, I know.

What I don’t love is how easy it is to go for an eternity without actually talking to your dearest friends and family. Remember talking? I mean REAL talking with your voice, a.k.a picking up the phone to use said voice to mouth actual words. Not texting. Not pinging. Not posting. And not tweeting. But actually generating words… that I’m sure add up to more than 140 characters.

Technology has made it so easy to skip human connection altogether, hasn’t it? Yes, I know all of the benefits of our tweeting, global online village filled with links, photos and updates. And some of this is good and even thrilling to be a part of the Digital Media Revolution. It’s just that I’m often reminded of the lovely sound —that fantastic squeal, I guess –coming from the other end of the phone when a friend yells “Hey, it’s so good to HEAR from you! What’s new?!?!”

Then there’s the lost traditional art of face time – a.k.a “f2f”And I’m not talking Skype chats or even Elfing Yourself. In person is as real as it gets.

So, even though I love social media –um, like truly, madly, deeply --this here Facebook addict is vowing to give some love to face time. Yes, I, Shannon Keller, hereby pledge to: 1) call old friends, frenenemies, Aunt Sue, eighth grade locker-mate, old teammates, buddies, the guy I dated a year ago, anybody who deserves to actually hear a person connect vowels and consonants; 2) have face to face — that is, IN PERSON meetings for personal and business reasons (not Meet Ups or Tweet Ups or any mash-up of this concept).

Of course, I will continue to social media to the max, blog, update my status with random insights that hit me mid-day, etc. My pledge is not meant to be either/or, real vs. virtual. Rather, it’s a promise to remain Little Miss Uber-social, while continuing to remember how important and amazing it is to have personal interaction. You know, seeing and hearing my friends in the real world.

2 Comments | Filed under: Consumer Division Social Media