On Status Updates

I've been wrestling with how best to use Facebook and Twitter (and all other social network type applications for that matter) for some time. I see the validity in connecting with people using these tools, but I still somehow get lost in their functionality.

I think I've narrowed it down to the nature of a status update. The early days of Twitter and Facebook and the whole "what are you doing?" type of question these applications were asking encouraging you to share has always been odd to me. I never totally got on board with that and to be quite honest I've thought it somewhat presumptuous for people to think that I actually care that they just ate a great tuna sandwich (or whatever). In that same mindset I always feel strange posting anything like that because I don't want to spam all of my "friends" with some largely pointless statement.

I know that there are a lot of people that find those little snippets great. They allow others a small peak into your life. The point where I see relevance or usefulness here is when dealing with close friends and family. There are situations where it's cool to have that small window into a loved one's life and vice versa. I'm moving to a new city very soon and I know that my folks would (or at least my mom) enjoy that type of information.

For me, controlling those that I share with and that share with me is probably the most important aspect. I typically only follow people on Twitter that I think add some value to me life. This doesn't have to be anything profound and a lot of people are certainly hit and miss, but this could be anything from a link to a good article or a joke or a beautiful photo. These are all at different points on the value scale, but I do see some value in sharing those types of things and I'll unfollow anyone who I think turns up on the low end of the scale too often. Facebook has added more and more features that allow me to better manage the noise. To be frank, I have a lot of "friends" that are long lost acquaintances at best. Granted, every once in a great while I may need to send a message to one of these people, but I really don't want that window into their lives. It bothers me more often that not actually.

I find more focused applications like Path kind of interesting because these restrictions are built in from the start. It's designed to be a more closed sharing community. This has more appeal to me and I think to those interested in what I'm doing as well. I'm more apt to share things I may see as pointless, but my mom may find useful in that type of environment.

Oddly enough, I'll probably end up sharing this post on Twitter and I suppose that's an indicator that I feel like it does contribute some (although probably pretty minimal) value to the community. This is a wandering, experimental exploration for me still and I may venture one direction or another on the value scale as I go along. I certainly don't think I'm right or wrong, I'm merely trying to figure out how the noise that are status updates fit into my world.