Social Networking, blogging: An exercise in narcissism? Or an invitation to collaborate?

As this journal evolves, I think you'll hear me asking more questions than telling stories.

A few weeks ago, my facebook entry had no photo and only my first initial. When a good friend encouraged me to show my picture and post my real name, I couldn't resist -- she had asked so nicely :0) . Little by little I'm accepting the idea of shedding the veil of anonymity.

My daughter and I mused yesterday on this effort to reach out and share what I know, what I wonder, where I wander. She offered that her love-hate relationship with facebook stems, in no small part, from the narcissistic approach she sees among her college-age peers.

It would be too tempting to use a blog as a sort of monument to yourself. I sure hope it doesn't seem that way in the case of *this* blog.

The article "The Unsociable, Radically-Individualist Soul of Social Media" by Venkatesh Rao, seems to have hit the nail on the head. He writes:

"...the word 'social' in the term 'social media' represents the ultimate in misleading advertising, and is responsible for many failures and a lot of disenchantment, especially within the enterprise."

Does "unsociable" or "misleading" mean I think it's not useful? On the contrary. Social media helps me vastly to get my job done. It changed the way I think. It changed the way I do things.

Little by little, I'll tell you how... not as a monument to my thinking or ways of doing, but so that it can spur you to make your own efforts more rewarding.

-E