Social Media Doofusosity

There’s so much out there beyond Facebook and Twitter. I joined both with the idea that I’d use 'em to market my artwork and blog. Yes, they’ve both worked in this respect but I’ve (BONUS!) made a lot of friends on Facebook. I wouldn’t have ever met Jenny, Michal, Jeff, Cindy, Mark, Kathy and countless others without it.

Having said that, it’s been annoying as all fucking hell and hurtful too. I've posted links to fact based articles and reality based rants. I've asked the occasional innocent question (e.g., why do women wear make up) only to find I've triggered tsunamis of indignation, condescension and ignorant rage.

Friends of friends, distant acquaintances and random fuckheads who’d never, live and in person, be so callously corrosive, feel it’s AOK to fly their desperately uncivilized, assholian freak flags on line.

Ya know...we can disagree but don’t be a childish, boorish dick about it. I’ve put the block feature to serious good use. I can only imagine what John Scalzi, Jim Wright and Tom Boggioni deal with daily.

In any case, things have calmed down on Fb in part due to my free hand with that block feature and because there are precious few out there who see the mentally ill Mango Id and his crew of incompetent shitheels as anything other than criminally, rapaciously inept. Even the Unicorn Brigades seem quiet unless of course that’s because I’ve blocked them all.

On Twitter I follow mostly artists, writers, fellow Nf2ers and political writer types. I post my blog, link to shit I’m reading and the put up the occasional, odd pic. Hardly any discussion there and that’s fine by me.

LinkedIn is the Careerville networking site. Yep, I’ve got a profile there too but I hardly ever visit the joint. Why not? I’ve got a good gig and, right now anyway, have no interest in expanding/changing. I know, I know, it’s mega smart to stay tuned in because you never know. Also, I just took a little whirl around the place and found some cool shit, like this show of art created by Goddard House Olmsted residents in the program, Opening Minds through Art (OMA). OMA is an art program that is grounded in person centered ethics and founded on the facet that people living with dementia are able to express their creativity. Looks VERY interesting. The opening reception is this afternoon and the show’s up through the end of the month. I'm def gonna visit. There’s also an opening for a graphic designer down at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Man oh man that’d be AWESOME! Except, except, I just could NOT do that commute – an hour and a half each way and that’s best case scenario. Nopereeno.

And then there are the sites which are primarily about pics/not talk.

I’m on Pinterest (The world's catalog of ideas!) though I hardly ever log on to see what everyone’s posting. I joined Instagram too. Twice actually. I mistakenly ignited a second account with the same name. DOH! I joined these thinking they’d be good for blog marketeering. Eh, no.

While in Berlin, Della introduced me to a very cool image based app – Snapchat. According to Wikipedia:

Snapchat is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown,  former students at Stanford University...

This is the first social media thingie I’ve joined purely because it looks like SO much damn fun. So far I LOVE it though, unsurprisingly, I’m an utter spaz. Della and her daughter Maya send me these fabola shots, sometimes with messages attached. I want to respond but have no idea if that’s possible.

Clearly I need to return to Berlin for another lesson from Della!