Look at me, look at me...

I was forwarded this image a while ago by my mother and it has resonated with me ever since. The image is absolutely brilliant- a no excuses, non sugar-coated representation of the core of social networking.

Now when I first saw this Venn diagram I could not help but laugh; these entities are exactly what each of these communities promotes. But sadly, as much as I would like to deny it, I also felt a little personally guilty by this image. I DO use Facebook and Twitter religiously every day. Heck, I even decided to dedicate my blog to these sites as I feel that they have such an effect and presence on my day to day life as a college student. Am I one of the narcissistic, ADHD-plagued stalkers that I like to poke fun of and laugh at?

That is a sobering thought and I am not going be in denial. I am a part of my generation; I use Facebook to post the highlights of my life for all others to see and take the time to view the highlights of others that are broadcast across the site for my viewing pleasure. I check Twitter on my iPhone via Tweetie multiple times a day, just to see what fun things people are doing. I may not Tweet every day myself, but I do check the Tweets of others.

I recently had a conversation with my mother regarding Twitter. I was attempting to explain to her the phenomenon and why people are so intrigued and obsessed with it; more importantly, I want to convince her as to why I thought she should jump on the band wagon. I figured the best way to get her to join Twitter was to tell her about all the awesome, positive things that can come out of a simple Tweet. As I explained to her how famous professors, politicians, research experts and even actors use Twitter for great reasons, i.e. sharing worthwhile news articles, spreading awareness, promoting causes, etc., I realized a sobering fact: my peers and I do not use Twitter in these same great ways.

I thought back to my friends recent Tweets: “At the beach with @soandso and @blahblah. Party On!” and “Wow, work is so boring. Can’t wait to get back home and then go out! Who’s up for hitting up Bar X?” All my friends Tweets were statements regarding what they were doing, what they did, or what they planned to do. Everything circled around them; it is all about me, me, me! I looked at my Tweets: although they were not as blatantly status updates, they more or less did the same thing. Why do we feel that anyone else would even care to have updates of what we were doing every two hours in the day? What makes us as individuals so interesting or important?

Bleh. There really is no way of getting around it: the Tweets by me and my peers are fueled by narcissism. But yet I still like to check my Twitter to see what people are up to even when I know how pathetic it is…what is wrong with me?
There HAS to be more to Twitter…

TO BE CONTINUED