My Twitterification and Social Media Evolution

I began on Facebook at the behest of my husband, if you can?believe?it. ?I was at first resistant. ?I protested that I didn’t want to sit in front of the computer. ?It was all I could do to type my writing on one when I would totally rather be writing with pen in hand. ?What the heck did I need with Facebook?

Turns out, Facebook was like my gateway drug.

Yep. ?It started fairly slow and harmless enough. ?I connected to a few people I knew who were already on it, and that was cool. ?I could send cute messages and see what was what with people almost every day whereas before I might only find out in a call once in a blue moon. ?Old friends became new again, and closer. ?I mean, that’s why we were friending each other, right?

Then came the games.

Suddenly I needed people for my clan, mob, team, group, whatever. ?I was friending people I had never heard of, met, or probably ever would–just being honest. ?I started chatting with some of these random people, and formed some friendships. ?Others stayed click-buddies–those are the ones who never do anything except post game updates and you click to help them out, but there’s never any conversation. ?I won’t lie (or go into any detail), but some of those conversations got me into trouble. ?On that I will say only this: tone is lost in translation, and mood is a very transient, unpredictable thing when you aren’t face to face with people.

After one particularly hurtful incident I sulked about for a bit, not sure what to do. ?I knew something had to change, but I was only really upset with myself so therein lay my focus. ?I had to change my behavior because obviously I was entering unhealthy waters if I was hurting people I cared about and some I didn’t even really know. ?I’m a personal responsibility kind of person if that hasn’t become evident through my writing before.

I couldn’t just close down my account because I realized that if I was going to change and maintain the friendships I had formed that I valued then I had to handle it like I did everything else in my life, I had to work through it. ?I also realized that I needed to expand my horizons. ?I had become too locked into a mode of thinking, focusing so much on others that I wasn’t really thinking about myself. ?I had a family, a husband and kids. ?I had interests that required me to get up and get out of the house. ?There was a world for me to live in.

Well, somewhere in all that I had also started blogging and utilizing other social media, namely Twitter and LinkedIn. ?Again, all this at the encouragement of my husband. ?I’d be a happy little troglodyte scribbling on paper with a pen if it weren’t for him. ?He pushes me kicking and screaming into the future. ?Part of that is just because I am a true introvert, though I have learned to be social. ?To add to the irony of my protests I actually have proven fairly savvy with the technology, and my husband constantly brags about my blogs–because I went from one to three and contribute to others–and how much I utilize social media.

Then the Divine Force of the Universe tweeted me.

OK, so it wasn’t like I got an actual tweet from God. ?She isn’t like that. ?Or He if you prefer.

I had been somewhat active on Twitter, but hadn’t really made a connection with it. ?By that I mean, I didn’t see that it added anything to my social media experience or life. ?This was because I still wasn’t really connected. ?Then a friend, a real one that has become a real good one, introduced me to the #coffeeclub.

There’s a Coffee Club?! ?I love coffee!

As it turned out, however, #coffeeclub was more than a bunch of people who really loved coffee. ?They are a majorly faith based bunch, and I am totally the poser as I am not Christian. ?Feel free to do a double take on that one, it’s true. ?I am not a Christian. ?I do have a great deal of faith in what I believe the Divine has created us to be, and believe with as much certainty as a seeker can that I am here to experience and learn.

For those of the #coffeeclub reading this that did not know, I apologize for the shock.

As I said I am here to experience and learn. ?I am curious by the relationship people form with the Divine, call it what you will. ?I have never been in any real doubt about the?existence?of God. ?What I do question, doubt, and seek to understand is the religious doctrine that so many base their faith upon. ?I read, I listen, I discuss. ?I want to understand. ?And let me tell you, these wonderful people share the best of what they believe, and who they are.

(I so hope they don’t give me the boot.)