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Why Social Media?

When people ask me why I blog, use Twitter and Facebook, I explain that they are sites that support my hobby but have created in invaluable social interactions that serve in all aspects of my life. As a librarian, I am always seeking and collecting information for myself and others. Everyone has information I am interested in, whether now or at a future time, but first I hope I am offering up information others can use in the form of sharing my first hobbies of crafting, cooking and photography.

With Facebook, I am in touch with my family in a way that I was not before. I can read that a cousin is going on vacation, speaking for his job, renovating his house, etc. I love knowing this because the next time I see them in person, I can ask about this. Our pages (shelvers) at work are high school and college age, one left me a message on Facebook, rather than calling his supervisor, about work and I was able to relay that information on. Facebook allows me to connect with a younger generation and communicate in a way they prefer. Next time we have to plan a high school reunion, it should be far easier to track down people through Facebook than it was last go-round when we had to rely on Classmates.

My coworker’s husband is actively looking for work. Impressed by the offices of Bridge Worldwide (it’s not a library so I’m probably easily impressed) for the last Cincinnati Women Bloggers meeting, I asked if they were hiring and @marty_b threw out the URL for the career page (and I just saw @BWWRecruiter on Twitter). If not for social media, I would not be able to pass this information on to him or to my college classmate who is looking to relocate to Ohio from Boston.

This past week when the news floated around the blogosphere and Twitter that the 17-month old daughter of Heather Spohr (@mamaspohr), died unexpectedly on Tuesday people sprang into action donating to March of Dimes in Maddie’s name. I updated my Facebook status message Wednesday evening to say in the matter of a workday $10,000 had been raised. Within two days, $20,000 had been raised and teams have been organized to walk in cities through out the country [read more in the LA Times article: Death of blogger mom’s daughter prompts outpouring of Internet Community]

There isn’t just one reason why one may write a blog or use Twitter and Facebook to connect and we use each of these tools in different ways. The important thing is not to thumb your nose at it because you never know when you will be reaching out or participating in such efforts!

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1 Comment

  1. Gayle
    April 13, 2009 at 7:28 am

    Great post, Andi!

    Gayle’s last blog post..Monday Memories: The Sixth!

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