A Question About Social Media
Hey Kristen,
I wondered if you would maybe do a post on the various social medias and the benefits of each for those of us who are a little challenged in that area. I don't have the time nor the inclination to stay on social media all day, so wondered the benefits of the various outlets. And you always do such a good job of explaining things. 🙂
Addy
Sure thing! I'm not an expert, but I can certainly give you my take and share my favorites.
Every social media platform is less time-consuming if you are careful about how many people you follow, so that's my number one piece of advice: Limit the number of people you follow.
To minimize the time I spend on social media, I am super duper picky about how many people I follow. I routinely unfollow/hide people if I feel like what they're posting isn't helpful/relevant/interesting.
As soon as my feeds start getting overwhelming/time-consuming, I give my list a once-over to clear it out.
And my other piece of advice is: be social on social media.
It is so, so easy to fall into a pattern of merely producing posts/content without showing love to other people as well. Don't just click a like button...leave a comment for at least one person every day! It only takes a minute, and boy, a comment brightens people's days way more than likes do.
Facebook (me on Facebook)
This is not my most favorite platform, largely because it's cluttered and noisy and Facebook shows me SO MUCH STUFF that I don't want to see.
(No, I don't care that a friend of a friend liked someone's post.)
Also, Facebook tends to be more political and drama-filled than some other forms of social media.
So, I don't have Facebook on my phone, and I usually just give my feed a quick scroll through on my computer once in the morning and once at night.
Except for sharing blog posts on my blog's Facebook page, and commenting on other people's posts, I'm a Facebook lurker.
Instagram (me on Instagram)
Instagram is my favorite social media platform by far.
I love that every post has a picture, that it's less cluttered than Facebook, and that it tends to be a pretty positive place. Sometimes people are mean on Instagram, but there's a lot less ranting/complaining/politicky stuff on Instagram.
I'm pretty active on Instagram, so if you want more peeks into my daily life than you get here on the blog, Instagram is the place to follow me!
Twitter (me on Twitter)
Twitter posts are a bit like Facebook posts, except way shorter (140 characters!). Twitter used to be my favorite, before I tried Instagram. Twitter is simpler and less complicated than Facebook, which is great.
But since it has fewer pictures, I just cannot love it as much as I love Instagram.
I use Twitter a lot less now that I have Instagram. 😉
Pinterest (me on Pinterest)
Pinterest isn't a very social form of social media, but it usually gets lumped in with the rest. I use Pinterest to save things like recipes, craft ideas, hairstyles, and decorating ideas, but I don't spend tons of time on it.
I am ever so grateful to those of you who pin my posts on Pinterest, though. Thank you so much!
Periscope
Periscope is really new, and it's a live video-streaming social media platform that only works on mobile devices (as far as I know).
I did sign up and I did a few periscopes, but you guys, I kind of have stage fright about it. I am so so so much more comfy writing than speaking, which means Periscope is hard for me.
For now, I've let that one fall to the wayside, and I spend barely any time watching other people's Periscopes.
Video isn't my favorite medium for producing OR consuming! I like to write my own stuff and I like to read other people's stuff. Watching isn't my jam.
I've thought about maybe doing some live Q&A periscope sessions because that would be slightly less scary than having to talk for a while all by myself. 😉
________
There are other social media platforms (Google+, for example) but here I've just covered the ones that I personally use.
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I also prefer Instagram most of all, and I pretty much limit myself to that form of social media most of all. I feel that reading favorite blogs and following their instagrams is plenty, and provides a sufficient view into someone's life. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize that more isn't always better. I prefer small quick glimpses so I can stay more present in my daily routine.
I agree. Less is more. At least more time for me to devote to my family. My kids need me to be looking at them, talking to them. I have a blog (that is not a well-kept one), but I'm "on" nothing else online--- and I've noticed that the more people I know are "on" Facebook, the less they communicate out there in not FB world. I'm not sure if it's like that with other social media because not a lot of my loved ones do anything else.
Pinterest is by far my favorite form of social media, although I admit I don't really socialize on Pinterest. I just think of Pinterest as a giant bookmark to mark all my favorite recipes and ideas I would love to do. I also have secret boards so I can plan my meals each week and vacations. I feel like it helps me save money. Although, it is so easy to get lost and spend way more time than I planned.
I don't have a device that I can create an Instagram account on, so I feel left out on that one! I'd love to have an Instagram account, it seems like fun! 🙂 I wish I could at least have an account to follow people on but Instagram won't let me do that. So every once in a while I look at people's pretty Instagram accounts. 😀
Periscope seems like a huge time-sucker for both the people doing it and the people watching. Maybe I'm wrong? But I've watched a few periscopes (via my computer) and they have always been so long and rambly and annoying and I realize that the people whose words I enjoy reading are not people I enjoy watching talk, and "um", and "you guys!" so much. 😉 Then there's the whole factor that it is live and you can only see it for 24 hours before it vanishes...unless you save it of course...it just seems pointless. But then, A LOT of social media is pretty pointless so there you go. 😉 Just my opinion.
That's what is hard for me about periscope, I think. I can scroll through a feed quickly, or skim a post to see if it's something I want to read, but there's not a handy way to do that with video. I feel like it takes WAY TOO LONG. 😉
Instagram is super fun. I fell in love with it right away, and that has not been the case with Periscope for me.
I'm totally confused about what Instagram is. Is it just for phones?
You have to have a "smart" something which also leaves me out.
You nailed it! Periscope feels very inefficient (time-wise) for me and I actually don't get the big deal
Tammy, I'm sure you can log onto Instagram on the web - not to post but to look at people's feeds and comment 🙂
Not a social media person at all but linked over to your Instagram and just had to say LOVE Sonia's knitting -- so adorable! Also enjoyed all your pictures! Your explanation of the platforms was excellent and comprehensible to this Luddite, even though I'll probably stick with website mostly. Lastly, so appreciate the lack of political and other drama at FG so it's always a pleasure to visit.
I love Instagram!!! I got rid of my Facebook over a year ago and don't miss it at all.... in fact, it is very feeing!!!
It's very freeing... maybe one day I'll start reading my post before I hit send
I'd LOVE to quit Facebook...BUT I run a home-based business and Facebook is one of my main ways of advertising and engaging 🙁 I do unfollow and "hide" most people though, so that helps 😉
Thank you for the explanations. I use them all but your info is enlightening
After being on and off Facebook, I finally got off entirely. Too much drama! Instead, I try to email updates at birthdays or Christmas directly to those who enjoyed seeing our news and pictures when I had been on Facebook.
Pinterest.... Awesome!
Instagram, don't have it.
Google plus is great if you have family on there, and it is very easy to control who you share with (you can have your followers listed as friends, acquaintances, family, CO workers, church people, Packer fans, whatever) My many siblings and many sibs-in-law all use it moderately, so it is the perfect platform to share frequent videos and pictures of my boys with their our of town aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins.
I have very mixed feelings about social media in general. On the one hand it's great to have an easy way to keep in touch with people, but it's also... I dunno... there's something voyeuristic about it all that kinda creeps me out. Plus, if one were to simply accept the default settings for everything... well, I think that would make me crazy! Seriously, how can anybody think with all of that stuff beeping at them constantly and demanding attention? I got a Twitter & Pinterest account just to learn about how they work, but I don't post anything or follow anybody. And I do have a Facebook account because I need to for work purposes - but the only way I can tolerate it is to keep all notifications and chat turned off. I don't understand why people want to be available to the world 24/7. Perhaps my hermit tendencies are showing... 🙂
I've been following a couple of bloggers I like on Periscope, but there's a lot of inappropriate stuff on there with no filters. This weekend I was hit by a Periscope spam bot that resulted in 15 followers that were really porn. I had to delete each one manually. I wrote a note to Periscope and said that I will not stay on Periscope if they don't add some user privacy controls. I have it on my mobile device, by it's off limits to my kids, because many Periscopes are inappropriate and it would be an easy portal for a sexual predator to have real time access to unsupervised kids. Beware!
I agree! I like to watch some bloggers that I follow and the comments popping up are so distracting, and you're right...many are inappropriate. So the blogger stops speaking, takes time to block that commenter, and it's just annoying 🙂
I generally hide the comments by swiping left (on an iPhone) and selecting hide chat. It's distracting and often rude. Some of the periscopes are cooking and the comments can cover the screen. One of my favorite bloggers was involving her kids in the Periscopes and they (boys!) were reading the inappropriate comments on Periscope chat aloud and laughing, which just encouraged more.
Facebook is the site where my friends and family hang out. I find it hard to not spend too much time there, however. In fact, I even gave it up for Lent. But when I realized I'd missed the news about my niece's broken arm and somebody else who passed away, I reneged and took it back. However, I severely pruned my Friend list and un-liked most pages I'd been following. I have also started to assess myself a 25 cent "Facebook User Fee" each time I log on. This helps me to be aware of how much time I'm spending there, and tends to keep me from checking in several times a day out of boredom. I'll put the money in my church's benevolence offering.
I love the user fee idea! That's genius!! 🙂
Isn't it interesting how much more gentle Instagram is? I very rarely see the hate filled comments I find on FB, although I follow more news on FB. One thing I like is that it keeps me up to date on happenings in my hometown.
I'm like you! Periscope is not my thing. I really don't care for watching most videos. I could read text and look at pictures all the live long day!
Unlike you, Facebook is my favorite social media platform.
I'm not into social media platforms. I used to have a Facebook account, but with all the drama I found myself getting depressed after using it, so I closed my account about a year ago. Feel much better since! And I've never used Twitter. I like Instagram but I follow only like 10 people! (you included!). And I use Pinterest to find recipes. But I don't have an account.
Thanks for your post Kristen! That and the comments have all been very helpful.
Do you think that social media is pretty much necessary for you because of your blog and ebooks? Like, do you consider it to be part of your job to be on there? I'd like to do some blogging and ebook writing, but I don't really like social media, for a plethora of reasons (although I do enjoy Pinterest). When I used social media every day it really affected my productivity and it would affect my relationship with my kids...it really took away from the things that are truly important to me. Now it's nearly non-existent in my life and I'm much happier.
To some degree I think it's necessary for me, yeah. I enjoy social media too, but I think about using it strategically, and most of my accounts are blog accounts, not personal accounts.