The Katie Series: Thoughts on Social Media.

My friend Katie is probably my most devout blog follower. It's probably because things at her job are a bit slow and she doesn't have anything else better to do to fill her work day (ha, right, Katie?) But we'll say that maybe, just maybe, it's because she likes what I have to say and how I say it. She told me I needed to blog more and I told her that I needed some ideas to blog about... So she gave me a few... And I've decided to write about them. We are calling it... The Katie Series. (Really original name, I know. It was my idea... not hers.) So it begins...

The Katie Series: My Thoughts on Social Media.

1. Facebook: I joined it the summer before my freshman year of college. That was a pretty normal time to join back then. I don't do much on it these days. But I suppose it's a good place to announce that you are engaged or pregnant or what not so you can get a lot of likes. In my case, I'm neither engaged... nor pregnant. So things on Facebook are pretty quiet these days.

2. Twitter: I like Twitter. It's my social media outlet of choice. I like that it's quick. Most of the time it's funny. I like that people post pictures on there. I just like it. It's simple. And again, I was relatively early getting on board, so my hipster-self is ok with it.

3. Vine: Nope. Not doing it. 9 out of 10 videos are people trying to be funny that are not. I'm too cool for Vine.

4. Xanga: Flashback to 2003! Yep. I had a Xanga page. Did you?

5. Pinterest. Ok, you know I love Pinterest.

6. Foursquare. Never got into it. Wasn't really sure what the point of it was. "Heeeeyyy, I'm here. I'm now the mayor of McDonald's. Take that, suckas!" ... ?

7. Google+: I think I created a Google+ account a few years ago... still not really sure what that means though. Google, you have done a lot of things right... I'm just not sure Google+ was one of them. But who am I to say...

8. LinkedIn: Whoever you are that keeps on inviting me to join... it's not going to happen. It's not a good idea to mix social media and the business world. It's just not.

9. Instagram: I love me some Instagram. Artsy pictures? Yes please.

10. Snapchat: Sending pictures to people so they can see them for a few seconds and then they "disappear." This is creepy and strange. No thank you.

This is just a short list of social media (check out this long list on Wikipedia. Holy. cow.) My thoughts: pick a few that you like (for me: Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and maybe an occasional Facebook stalking session) and leave the rest be. Don't overwhelm yourself trying to keep up on all of that. It's not worth it. And don't trick yourself into believing that social media can replace real community with people. It's ok to tide you over until your next hang out... but face to face interaction takes the cake every time.