I Have Fat Thumbs, But They Have Big Hats

My husband and his friends wore major-western wear to the Senior Swing Dance when he was in High School - in the days when "text" and "friend" didn't have a verb-form. But, back to the thumbs, it's true. The more I attempt all things social media, the more I realize how fat my thumbs are.

I Text Clumsy. 

I undulate between trying 2 b brief with shrthnd wrds + #'s, to full-on sentences complete with layers of punctuation. But, woo-hoo, I'm trying. This and other social media mediums engage me from my desktop 2 my iphone. I might LOL, but I try not 2 text-swear, even with letters-only. It's way too permanent (and email-able.) Unlike most current High School-age kids, who text like they are breathing air, I am SO uncool in my attempts- but, I'm seriously OK with that.

Facebook a.k.a. Socially Acceptable Voyerism

Yep, that pretty much sums up FB. In someways its a fantastic way to reconnect with folks we knew in High School and College, and for me, to also to keep in touch with my seventeen nieces and nephews, plus my mom, sister, in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles and SA, San Marcos and Dallas friends. We can all look at each others' vacation and cute-kids photos, wish each other happy birthday, bemoan Mondays and celebrate Fridays. Lately, it been fun watching my husband's HS friends reminisce over old photos (such as the one above) as they gear-up for a big reunion.

Linkedin - When You Need to Look Like You Are Working

Linkedin is more useful than that subhead, but it does have some truth to it. I have several clients that use it to announce something lengthier than the character count on Twitter allows. Or they go update their Linkedin profile when they are having FB withdrawal at work, since some companies don't allow FB access on work computers. Yes, we're on to you...

Twitter -  A Forum 4 Short, Excited, Random Thoughts

Still trying to find a real use for me with Twitter. Seems like people taking turns standing at the top of a mountain yelling a random thought and hoping that someone will hear (read) it and find it compelling in someway. Here's the former meaning of the word "twitter" for me, (in context): "She went all a twitter with excitement, when she noticed the sale price of the shoes!" as said, most likely, by some elderly relative of mine out in West Texas. (p.s. did you notice how I slipped that "4" in to my subhead? I'm such such dork! (There, Twitter that.))

Blog Therapy - Hey, that's what we're doing right now.

And I thank you for listening, oh, I mean reading! I am new to blogging and obviously have a ton to learn (and edit.) I started as a way to do something with all the beautiful images that my husband shoots as we're doing family stuff. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad wrote travel articles in the summer (he was a Journalism professor during the rest of the year.) We even slightly paralleled one of his stories with our recent trip to to the SA Missions, though dad's version wasn't by bicycle! As for live-stream blogging, I'd rather blog post-event instead. I want to enjoy the "doings" and the interaction with my family, including breaking up sibling arguments - which I need to write more of those down. It's funny stuff, after the fact, of course. "Because I said so." I have a feeling that blogging regularly is going to be a lot like dental floss for me. Honestly, I'll do it with great vigor - when I remember to, that is. [Side note: I did recently turn OFF the Adsense set-up from Blogger, since there were some ads showing up that just didn't sit well with me or my brand (!)]

Some of The Others:

I love YouTube, until I don't. Snapfish, Picaso and Shutterfly are super useful in the "friends and family" image-swap realm. Flicker doesn't do that much for me. Delicious and StumbleUpon are interesting, but can become time-vacuums. iChat is really useful on projects where we are all over the country, but it does require that I brush my hair and at least put on lipstick. Chatroulette, on the other hand, is not even worth the time to set-it up to try it - it also falls into a"seriously creepy" category.

I've Got Blisters on My Fingers! (Which Beatle yells that?)

It's been really good to get in there and see what some of my clients are up against as they try out social media and the allure of using it for PR/Marketing. For now, I'm happy wandering through the current battery of social media stuff and I welcome whatever is next. Here are my current resolutions: I will continue to practice safe text. I will try not to be obsessive on FB and Linkedin. I will try to find something useful about Twitter (thank you, Brett for your excellent, ongoing newsletter to that effect.) I will try to blog with some consistency. I will be open to whatever's next, unless it's creepy. I do reserve the right to be a curiously, stumbling dork. I particularly like my blog entry where I forgot to turn off the grammar/spell check mode. Things like that, I consider to be in-line with the Amish quilters who leave something imperfect in every quilt, because, really, only God is perfect. And goodness knows that anything termed "Social Media" could never be perfect.