Social media keeps us connected, informed and competitive

  Do you ever feel overwhelmed with social media?

  Do you Facebook, Tweet, blog, connect with LinkedIn and maintain a website?

 Are people left behind if they don’t do most of these things? Is being hyper connected really necessary? I pondered these questions this week when I finally broke down and started a website.

  Most everyone I know is connected through some sort of social media, mostly on Facebook. If I drew a pyramid for social media populations, Facebook would be the base. For nine years Facebook has been connecting billions of people to each other. It’s so eclectic that it appeals to nearly every person on the planet. If you’re really private, you can limit your contact to just 10 close friends or relatives. Or you can have more than 1,000 ‘friends’ and counting, like my mom.

    "Privacy is dead, and social media holds the smoking gun." - Pete Cashmore, Mashable

   There is no doubt Facebook has its problems, like invasion of privacy and copyright issues. But that’s another story.

  Next would be Twitter, the 140-character micro-blogging service.  This is geared more for the professional, as it LinkedIn. Twitter and LinkedIn both have about 200 million active subscribers.

    I check my Twitter account several times a day because I like the articles and tutorials posted by educators and photographers I choose to follow. Twitter allows me to stay informed with people and industries I wouldn’t normally be privy to, primarily educators and the media. I retweet way more than I post because it’s all about sharing information.

    Then there’s blogging, a free and easy way of publishing stories, photos, videos and even novels on the web. I maintain two blogs through Blogger: the one you're reading now, which is more personal, and the Intro to Photojournalism course blog. Both allow me to express myself beyond 140 characters. I share each blog post on Facebook and Twitter, giving my Facebook friends and Twitter followers the choice whether they want to read what I have to say, or not.

    Finally, the website. Finding a suitable website host was not easy. There are dozens of companies that offer websites. I started by Googling websites for photographers, and narrowed them down to affordability and simplicity. I ultimately chose Squarespace, which allows me to control the content without needing to know how to code.

The homepage for my new website,  which includes a photo gallery and a CV.

  Websites are a great way to showcase a photographer’s work because they have a variety of templates that include photo and video galleries. Websites are a must if you own a business, are job hunting, or simply want to share your work. 

  I chose to create a website because many students have them now, and I want to understand the process of searching, choosing and maintaining a website so I can better relate to them. Having a website allows me to appear more professional, and that’s the image I want to portray.

  So, am I overwhelmed with social media? Not at all. Being social media savvy keeps me connected, informed and competitive. My family, on the other hand, thinks I'm too connected; but that's another story, as well.

"When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place." - Mark Zuckerberg, CEO & Founder of Facebook