So, I’ve been pretty immersed in Social Media, mainly Twitter, since this summer. At first I didn’t get it…no, not at all. It was too much – too much information, too many people, too much time. But after I learned how to control the flow of information, I got it. I’m addicted!

So, why am I writing a blog post about this? This weekend my husband and I met up with a new set of friends. He met Michelle on Flickr (here is her flickr site), and they had a lot in common, so the three of us met up in real-life. We hit it off and then over the weekend, we met up with her and her husband and had one of the most enjoyable afternoons I can remember having mainly because I already knew her through Twitter and Facebook and Flickr. Here is Michelle and her dog:

It appears I’m now more comfortable conducting my friendships over the computer rather than in real-life.  Why is that and when did it happen? I’m not too sure, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it allows me to maintain close friendships with a geographically diverse group of people. On the other hand, I’m never sure what my friends look like, unless they post a picture. Does anyone other than me find that odd? I like to physically place my friends when I’m talking with them on the phone – what room they’re in, what they’re wearing, are the contacts in/out, that type of thing. It makes me feel more like I’m there. I don’t get to do that now, and I haven’t really played around with Skype.

 My parents aren’t on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or IM — just email — and I find it difficult to keep up. I’m constantly having to email conversations and photos and news to them. And when a friend tells me that they’re not on any of those sites, my first thought is “Well, heck. How do you expect me to keep in touch? Phone calls? With what time?” Maybe that’s why I like these so much – I can communicate with others on my terms and in my time. I don’t have to try to schedule a time when we’re both available and free from distractions. I can just put stuff out there, and my friends can respond if they choose to…or not. It feels empowering to me.

I’m still trying to get comfortable with the fact that I’m comfortable with this new technology. I guess that I’d thought that changing the entire way I communicate with people would be the result of a huge internal shift and debate. But instead, there was no debate, just a realization this morning that this is the way I prefer to talk. Will this last? Who knows.

By the way, here is a pic Michelle aka Loonachic took of me and hubby this weekend.