About a month ago, someone in my Steamfeed community posed a very simple question to the rest of the authors…
Which social network is your favorite?
After giving the question some thought, the answer I came up with genuinely surprised me.
Because it was Pinterest.
You see, the question wasn’t “Which network is the most valuable for you, professionally?”
That would be Twitter.
It wasn’t, “In which network do you spend the most time?”
That would be Facebook.
It wasn’t “In which network do you get the biggest return on your engagement?”
That would be Google Plus.
No, the word that threw me for a loop in this question was, “favorite” — mostly because so rarely anymore do I visit any social network merely for the pleasure of it.
But when I do, more often than not, it’s Pinterest.
Perhaps this is because…
- Sometimes Pinterest is like a library, where I lose myself in words and ideas birthed by minds far greater than mine and given new life online by some proactive soul with access to stock photography and Photoshop.
- Sometimes Pinterest is like a museum, full of galleries of art I both love and loathe — all of which makes me deeply feel. And I’m drawn to sit, to sort, to contemplate and to share.
- Sometimes Pinterest is like sifting through someone’s most cherished photo albums, getting a tour of their home or peering into the corners of their daydreams. For me at least, I find that it paints perhaps the truest picture of a person that I’ve seen in a social network.
In short, what draws me to Pinterest is both its content and its silence — and the fact that the later makes the former so much more striking, relevant and memorable.
And that’s important to me, because everything else in my social networks is encased in a wall of noise, marketing buzz, and grandstanding.
In order for me to wake up jazzed enough to dive into another day, I need to find something about social media that I still love.
And I guess, when it boils down to it, that thing is Pinterest and its endless network of libraries, museums and daydreams.
So, now I turn the question over to you, “Which social network is your favorite and why?”
I love Pinterest as well. It’s the one thing I had to “give up” to prioritize my schoolwork into my schedule. I get so distracted by shiny things and Pinterest is full of them. I would say that Facebook is my current favorite. It allows me to stay connected to friends, family,and old co-workers I don’t have the opportunity to see or talk to as often. And hopefully by consistently actually responding/commenting on their post they will hopefully get a tiny sense that I still care enough, am interested enough in them and their lives even though I don’t have the time right now to necessarily meet up on Saturday for coffee or have them over for a dinner party. I know it’s not a direct substitute, but I guess I am sort of utilizing it that way now that I put it out there.
Ooo. That’s a hard thing to give up. I’m impressed, lady.
I think people do get a sense that someone cares from their social interaction. And if you’re busy, you gotta do what ya gotta do. With my spinal fusions, I had to accept that, for many people, social was all they were going to get from me because I couldn’t be having coffee with everyone, etc. People seemed to go along with that gameplan. So don’t worry. We know you still like us. 🙂
Hope all is well with school and life.