thoughts on twitter, blogger, and facebook

I've done it all. I've joined my space, i love school, cyworld (these are Korean popular sites), facebook, twitter, and bogger. Not to mention other sites like flickr, myfamily for photos. But especially with Twitter, I have been amazed by how powerful it has been especially for the last presidential election as well as any kind of events - you will know about it through twitter first.

Twitter and facebook drive certain social behaviors...
Last night, I joined over 100 people meet up technology event and had interesting discussion about cyber identity over $7 Heineken in the city. My friend, xxxx (identity protected) a greenpeace worker first brought up how it is uncomfortable for her that she has hundreds of followers in twitter and facebook that she shares her daily thoughts with, regardless of the audience group. This actually happend to me inside and outside cyberworld. I don't necessarily let my coworkers know how I spent my saturday nights in details but I would with my close friends. I am selective about the kind of information that I share with my parents too. They probably don't want to know that I am traveling to Mexico city all by myself and staying at a drag queen hostel over christmas. (unfortunately they are pretty religious and anti gay. and yes I am a blacksheep) Even among friends, I have groups of people that I don't mix up. Facebook and twiitter naturally removed that categorizing behavior - and I'd water down my comments or avoid certain topics to make sure that I am not offending anybody.

This is a positive aspect of the selective identity.
When it comes to blogging, i had to carefully choose which role I am going to play. I've been writing about my experience being unemployed in the last couple of weeks because I feel that it'd be something I'd want to know if my friend is going through especially in this economy. But how would it affect my job searching journey...? Well I'll find it out soon.

So I chose the "unempoyed me" when my friend chose to blog about going through a surgery and getting stuck in bed for a week. She told me that how her friend she hasn't met for over 20 years wrote her about her own experienc getting stuck in bed over 8 weeks. Another example, I recently read through bunch of ladies' blog who were cheated by their spouses and how they are coping with the pain. The anonimosity allows people to open up and be connected in an unimaginable scale. Before blogging, if you have such event, you cope with it yourself.

Facebook and twitter has been a great tool for me to stay connected with friends and be notified about events, and also get the latest news professionally. BUT.
I realized that when I meet somebody in person and I want to actually get to know the person, I don't give them my email address because it would turn it into a cyber relationship. I give them my phone number. I call them. I've often noticed myself connecting with people on facebook and feeling that I did a homework. Putting them in my friend's list and getting their status updates every now and then means I know them? The relationship often dies there.