I grew up in southern California in a suburb 30 miles north of Los Angeles and was having trouble meeting anyone like myself where I lived. I first started using social media at around age 20. In 1998 I used a singles site called Yahoo Personals. I used the site because as a closeted gay man I felt I wasn't able to meet people any other way. It was a good way for a young gay man to meet other guys without going to a gay bar. I had my first date with a guy because of this site. After dating for a year I eventually met the guy I have been with for almost 12 years. Even though Yahoo Personals is now one of just many dating sites, I will always think of theirs with fondness. Yahoo Personals was a tool that allowed me to break out of my shell and to meet the truly wonderful guy I'm with now.
Currently the social site I use the most is Facebook. I use it to keep in touch with friends and family even when I am too busy or too far away to meet up in person. Another great use for Facebook is for organizing social activities. I can quickly and easily send out a time and date to my friends about a party or a group bicycle ride around the city. One of my favorite things to do is to organize a group of our friends to ride our bikes over to the Speakeasy brewery. Every Friday they have an open house where you can view their brewing facilities and sample some of their latest creations. About once a month I send out the word on Facebook that we will be getting together to ride over there. There's usually about 10 - 15 of our friends who show up for the ride.
Second Entry:
The social site I choose was Twitter. For some time I have resisted signing up for this site because of all the jokes that surround it. It's commonly known as a place where people post their random and mundane thoughts on the web for anyone who cares to see. "Tweets", as these small posts are known as, are limited to 140 characters in length. I signed up under the name Warren Piece and my first Tweet read, "I just signed up for Twitter. Does that make me a Twit?"
In order to receive tweets from other people, I had become what is called a "follower." I clicked to follow Rachel Maddow, Arianna Huffington, Anderson Cooper, Barack Obama, Conan O'Brien, and some actual real people who don't appear on TV. I found the tweets to be more of a stream of consciousness than a conversation. People kind of just say what ever is on the top of their heads. I guess you could say the goal, if there is one, is to get as many followers as you can. Because the more followers you have, the more people are basically saying, "Hey, I find you interesting enough to pay attention to your psycho-babble."
Third Entry:
What does the future of social networking look like? The future is going to be the broad use of video conferencing software as a means to communicate over short and long distances. It will be even more "iphone" like cellphones, that allow you to be plugged in to a network, chating with people who are in close proximity of the cafe you're at sipping your chai iced tea, and seeing if they'd like to join you. It will be in the virtual realm of your choosing, chatting with a pirate, hobbit, or a knight in shinning armor and discovering within the game environment that you both share a passion for trips to the wine country. The future of social networks will have many different faces to suit whatever your current mood and/or interest.
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