Poll

Which, if any, social media platforms do you use?

Facebook
71 (39.4%)
Twitter
27 (15%)
LinkedIn
41 (22.8%)
Google Plus
16 (8.9%)
None
25 (13.9%)

Total Members Voted: 103

Author Topic: Do you use social media?  (Read 11595 times)

Zikoris

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Do you use social media?
« on: February 10, 2014, 05:08:21 PM »
A lot of people in the Vancouver meetup thread mentioned not using Facebook when we were setting up a meet last summer. I was curious if this was the new norm, and what sort of social media, if any, mustachians are using?

I personally use Facebook (friends and family) and LinkedIn (professional).

Eric

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2014, 05:16:22 PM »
"Use" is a strong verb for me.  But like you, I have a Facebook and Linked In account.  I check them occasionally.

Russ

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2014, 05:20:35 PM »
I use Facebook. I would probably quit if it weren't for so many events being planned through it. I had a friend back in Columbus who didn't use Facebook and that made it easy for people to forget to invite him to things. Not that the hosts were bad people, or weren't good friends with him, it was just a rare honest mistake. Despite not liking a system that sets up that kind of situation, I still don't want to be on the losing end of it.

I'm also technically signed up for LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+, but my LinkedIn profile is an absolute joke, I don't tweet (although I do follow some musicians to keep on top of tours & new music), and G+ is a barren wasteland of a "network"

My friends in Madison use email and texts more than anything (maybe because they're older?), and I like that.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2014, 06:21:19 PM »
I use Facebook and Twitter multiple times a day.

Facebook is primarily for keeping up with college friends out of state.

Twitter is for writers/bloggers/gamer friends of mine that I enjoy chatting with but (with only a couple exceptions) have never met in real life. I do follow some people because they're interesting, but if all of my Twitter peeps lived in the same area I'd be a happy man. The few I've managed to meetup with in real life have all been awesome.

I like Google+ better than Facebook from a design perspective but hardly anyone I know migrated over so it's kind of pointless.

jba302

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2014, 06:33:03 PM »
"Use" is a strong verb for me.

This made me giggle.

I'm on facebook and linkedin, and then google+ because my android syncs up photos to the account. I check facebook a couple times a day and have taken my friend list from 500 to around 140. Getting rid of all the nonsense connections helped make fb more usable.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2014, 07:00:33 PM »
Getting rid of all the nonsense connections helped make fb more usable.

I have 81 FB friends. I follow/interact with maybe 10 of them. The 71 others I keep as a friend in case I want to contact them, but I hide them from my news feed. I'm surprised by how few people know about that feature, and it's been there for quite a few years.

Zikoris

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2014, 07:39:51 PM »
I'm fully in favor of limiting facebook friends. I have 57 right now, down from a high of around 180.

For me to keep someone as a facebook friend, they have to fit into one of the following categories:

1. Family
2. Friends I have a current relationship with and see somewhat regularly in real life
3. Friends who I don't have much to do with but post interesting things
4. Trainwrecks who entertain me with barely coherent posts about "baby daddy", being a broke-ass, getting wasted, etc.
5. People who don't fit into one of the above, but have let me know they really enjoy my posts and travel photos. If someone wants to see me riding a chicken bus around Guatemala or sitting on top of a fortress somewhere in Europe, I'm not going to deprive them of that.

arebelspy

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2014, 07:56:33 PM »
I have a Facebook.  I never remember to go on there.  I probably go on every 3-4 weeks, and spend less than 5 minutes when I do, scrolling and reading a few status updates, then closing it.

I have a LinkedIn.  I only log in when I get a notification someone wants to be colleagues, or whatever it's called.  Every 4 months maybe.

I have a twitter that I signed up for so I could participate in some contests that blogs were having.  Don't follow anyone and haven't tweeted except related to those (so have logged in to it maybe 2-3 times ever).

Overall time on Social Media is less than 10 minutes per month, often times 0 minutes per month.

I do spend a lot of time on this site though.  I count forums as fairly close to social media, just with people that share similar interests to me, rather than a similar background and few interests (e.g. "went to the same high school").
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coconutpop

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2014, 07:58:57 PM »
No, none of them.

 I don't even have a computer actually.

Anytime you see me posting, I am at someone else house.

Khan

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2014, 09:15:36 PM »
I deleted my FB, I wasn't getting anything out of it. I maintain a Linked In account but I'm having trouble finding people to connect to on it from the Navy to make it more useful. Otherwise I use forums like this(and only a handful of those).

I don't like real-name internet.

ketchup

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2014, 09:29:28 PM »
I have a Facebook account.  It doesn't see much action.  I log on maybe once or twice a month and don't do much of anything.  It just doesn't interest me.

Jappe

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #11 on: February 11, 2014, 04:40:24 AM »
As a lot of people here I have an account but hardly use it.
Facebook -> I use it to follow a few friends across the oceans. Also used as chat program with some people even though I find the client pretty rubbish. I Made 3 posts in the past 2 years, two were about the purchase of my house.
Twitter -> I follow some companies and friends on twitter. Online gaming servers status in case of problems is the quickest to find out that way. No "famous" people obviously. I think I have one tweet that was a test.
Google+ -> have it for gmail + android, and to follow some nice science conversations/developments. But also rarely :)

matchewed

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #12 on: February 11, 2014, 06:56:42 AM »
Similar story to others here. FB account that never gets used except as an occasional invite or once every couple month check in on people. G+ because it came with their other software bundle. I plan on joining LinkedIn before I quit this spring to gather some contacts but I foresee it being much like how I treat my FB account, probably even less so since I won't be in the professional workforce for a few years.

uppy

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #13 on: February 11, 2014, 07:27:29 AM »
I had a Facebook for a few years, but ended up deleting it in college because it was wasting too much time. Since then I have been so much happier with my time spent on the internet. I do miss some of the folks I was "friends" with that I never see, but then again, interacting with people on Fbook is not really interacting at all (unless you're inviting to a "real" event). Then again I haven't used it in years so I don't know.

I have a linked-in but rarely use it. Set it up for networking, has yet to do anything for me. Possible time/energy waste unless you have a lot of useful connections or you can be of use to others.

Seems "the internet" is the new social media -- esp. with sites like this one, which I love, but which I find myself spending WAY too much time on! :) I have learned a ton from MMM and various other websites, but for me, the trade-off in pure free time may lead me to cease internet service altogether in the near future. When I need it I can just go to the library or coffee shop 2-3 times per week.


JoshuaSpodek

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #14 on: February 11, 2014, 07:38:06 AM »
I'm a fairly social person and I found Facebook made me less social. I dropped my account and my life improved. It also stopped me from doing business with one of the creepiest companies I was interacting with.

Leaving Facebook is easy and fun -- http://joshuaspodek.com/leaving-facebook-easy-and-fun. It improved my life.

Somebody wrote "I had a friend back in Columbus who didn't use Facebook and that made it easy for people to forget to invite him to things." The uninvited person didn't just sit at home staring at a wall. He probably hung out with the people he spent time in-person with while the Facebook people were interacting through screens, thinking how social they were with so many friends they rarely saw in person.

Random Hangers

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2014, 07:40:12 AM »
Not on Facebook. Primarily use LinkedIn as an easy way to update my resume and link to people professionally.

I use Twitter regularly, but I mostly just follow comedians and breaking news folks and don't post anything myself very often. When I was trying to grow my blog a few years ago, I was much more active, trying to gain followers, but I realized that following all these other food bloggers was making me oddly sad/jealous that they were doing cool stuff and I wasn't. Which is weird, because I'm usually perfectly happy to just stay home with my husband and do our own thing, but for some reason seeing them out at all the trendy restaurants (spending WAY more money than I'd be comfortable with) made me weird, so I stopped following them and dialed it back.

I'm sure there are people out there who have the same problem with Facebook (envying and/or trying to one-up their friends' lifestyles) and don't realize it...

RootofGood

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2014, 07:45:06 AM »
I do spend a lot of time on this site though.  I count forums as fairly close to social media, just with people that share similar interests to me, rather than a similar background and few interests (e.g. "went to the same high school").

+1 I think of forums like these as "social media" since we are in fact interacting in a social manner.  And we happen to share a stronger interest than the random "friends" (to use the facebook term) we accumulate over the years (as you mention).

I use facebook almost daily.  It's neat to keep in touch with old friends that I care about.  Pics, chat, seeing what they are up to.  Congratulating them on new kids, marriage, doing awesome things.  It's a good way to get relevant news.  I'll often block people that I don't really care to hear about (I don't delete because I may want to see what they are up to later).  It's a useful tool.  One of many.

I only use twitter for my blog's social media presence. 




rocksinmyhead

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2014, 07:52:28 AM »
Somebody wrote "I had a friend back in Columbus who didn't use Facebook and that made it easy for people to forget to invite him to things." The uninvited person didn't just sit at home staring at a wall. He probably hung out with the people he spent time in-person with while the Facebook people were interacting through screens, thinking how social they were with so many friends they rarely saw in person.

dude, you keep saying stuff like this (not in this thread obviously, but the one about open-source software). I don't think the events they forgot to invite him to were like online meetups or gaming sessions... I think they were REAL LIFE EVENTS where they interacted with each other FACE TO FACE, IN REAL LIFE. is it so hard to believe that some people use Facebook for this purpose?! (though I agree he probably didn't sit at home and stare at a wall, most people don't)

anyway, if you can't tell, I do use Facebook and maybe I get a little defensive when people imply it means I only interact with people over screens ;) I have Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, but I pretty much never check Twitter and I only check LinkedIn when they send me an email.

uppy

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2014, 08:40:39 AM »
Also, I love how the "none" category even outweighs Google+. Shows how useful that service is.

SweetLife

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2014, 11:33:53 AM »
My husband and I have Facebook accounts ... with most of his family in Portugal or the UK it is a very good way (besides free video calls) for us and them to keep up with each other, and it has made his move to Canada  a little easier :)


Rural

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #20 on: February 11, 2014, 01:38:35 PM »
I have a fake Facebook account in an assumed name only so I can read a local news service which has gone to facebook from the open web.

I have LinkedIn in my real name and use it hardly at all (log in every couple of months when I get a request), and twitter, where I've reserved my real name in case i decide to use it professionally, but have never tweeted. That's where my husband's school sends closure notices for snow, so it's useful for that reason. It may become professionally useful one of these days, though.

ZiziPB

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #21 on: February 11, 2014, 01:39:13 PM »
I clicked Facebook because technically I do have a Facebook account.  However, I am seriously considering closing my account - I check it maybe once a week or so and I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it.  And the advertising is annoying.

teen persuasion

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #22 on: February 12, 2014, 07:23:54 PM »
I have a FB account, but never login anymore, and don't have any of the others. It's funny, because I'm the one who maintains the work FB account, and pinterest, too.  Does pinterest count as social media?

I think of forums like this as social media, definitely.

Russ

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #23 on: February 15, 2014, 10:40:14 AM »
Somebody wrote "I had a friend back in Columbus who didn't use Facebook and that made it easy for people to forget to invite him to things." The uninvited person didn't just sit at home staring at a wall. He probably hung out with the people he spent time in-person with

Yes, of course he was doing something with his time, and he made the best choice of how to use that time given what he knew. Moving forward, however, I think it is plausible that, in learning of the existence of the party, he may have decided that he'd rather have been at the party instead of whatever else he was doing.

Quote
while the Facebook people were interacting through screens, thinking how social they were with so many friends they rarely saw in person.

misrepresentation much? I agree that doing friend stuff IRL usually builds stronger relationships than doing friend stuff over the 'tubes, but I thought we were talking about the use of Facebook as an event planning tool. For meeting in person. Given that, I don't see the difference between inviting people to an event via Facebook, email, texting, or a phone call, in terms of one being any more "real" than the others.

Many people think Facebook is more convenient than the others, and so choose that as their tool. I have little to no control over how someone else plans their stuff, so, knowing that I may want to go to whatever they're planning, the most productive thing for me to do IMO is to make myself available via whatever medium the event planner may choose. If that requires spending two minutes a week on Facebook, I think that's worth my time.

Of course I welcome your thoughts as to why I should still quit, given the above. I'm going to guess it has something to do with quitting Facebook leading to finding new friends who more closely share my values, but I also like surprises.

netskyblue

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #24 on: February 15, 2014, 01:33:21 PM »
Facebook, but very rarely.  I only signed up when I was planning our 10-year class reunion, and needed to get classmates' addresses.  It was also useful for getting addresses for wedding invitations this past month. 

I don't really post anything, though.

spider1204

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #25 on: February 15, 2014, 02:06:44 PM »
Facebook for keeping track of fellow nomads and their travels.  Also to live vicariously through all my climbing friends when I'm sitting here injured.  It's also the best climbing partner finding software on the market.  There have also been countless times that just seeing the right post at the right time has lead me to some fun nights even from the friends I least suspected.

LinkedIn because it replaces my resume, and even brings in some interesting job opportunities even though most of them are crap.

Quote
I do spend a lot of time on this site though.  I count forums as fairly close to social media, just with people that share similar interests to me, rather than a similar background and few interests (e.g. "went to the same high school").

I think it's probably about 50/50 between friends on my Facebook that just share a similar background (college, high school, family) vs those that share similar interests (climbing, software, FI)

AccidentalMiser

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #26 on: February 15, 2014, 03:17:57 PM »
I only use LinkedIn.  I work in a very small industry spread across the US.  LinkedIn make it very convenient for me to keep track of all the contacts I've met over the years. 

I also moderate a LinkedIn group for my company and post links to useful news items I don't want to lose track of.

Frankly, the rest of the people I care enough about to want to keep up with live with me or don't have computers. 

Social networks aren't really the milieu of misanthropes (or so I've heard.)

Nudelkopf

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #27 on: February 15, 2014, 07:58:47 PM »
I very much use facebook. To the amusement of my 14 year old students who can't believe that a teacher would have facebook (but hey, they don't realise that I'm only 22).

Tacosrocket

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #28 on: February 15, 2014, 11:05:59 PM »
I use facebook, but only so friends have an easy way to contact me and vise versa. I only use it on my phone so I stay away from all the pointless nonsense (if you look at it on a smart phone it doesn't show you the news feed unless you want it to, unlike logging in on a computer).

davisgang90

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Re: Do you use social media?
« Reply #29 on: February 16, 2014, 04:56:06 AM »
I use facebook a great deal.  I've reconnected with lots of old friends and it is a good way to keep up with what the family is doing.

I'm on LinkedIn for when I grow up and get a real job (if I get a real job.)

I'm on Twitter as well, although I don't check it that often.