Sharing a little more Online with Status Updates
...because pulling a 'Justin.tv' is out of the question.
Ah, the joys of the internet. With so many options available for people to share their lives online, one must consider exercising a certain amount caution. To be able to pick, choose, and control the amount of information that a person wants to broadcast is definitely important, especially for people who prefer to keep the details of their life to a minimum (or not). As one of my uncles put it when referring to dealing with the loss of my brother, "A Public face, and a Private face." With all these outlets available, the issue is no longer about the method in which we share our lives, but rather the amount of information we choose to put out there.
When considering the exciting events at San Diego Comic-Con fast approaching, I thought I'd offer readers a way to keep track of what I've been up to, which didn't require the labor of posting a lengthy blog summarizing the days events, or the strapping of a camera to my head 24/7, like a justin.tv 'lifecaster'. Without adding more people to my facebook,(which mind you I'm trying to keep down to a healthy number -- under 100), or myspace, Twitter seems like the ideal standalone Status Update tool for those interested in living vicariously through other people,. I had been thinking about getting Twitter for a while now, so I'm pretty late with joining the Twitter trend, but being that it doesn't require the time, attention, or energy of maintaining a whole new blog, I'm cool with just doing short, brief updates to "stay connected".
If there wasn't anything exciting going on, I probably would still update. There's something about updating ones status (updating since early MSN) that's not only a good way to communicate with others, but after a while it becomes required. People expect it. Your family, and friends want to know what you're up to, so with status updates, you're telling them. Telling them to watch a certain movie, or to avoid a certain restaurant, product or service, or simply to tell them that you have a stomachache and you're sitting on the toilet. Some updates can even be serious, like for example I updated my status on facebook to "Albert is dealing with the sudden loss of a family member," because I felt it was important at the time to let people know what was going on in my life, without being too specific. How could you not tell people what you're going through after such a tragic event? And yet, some people on my friends list NEGLECTED to read the status change, and continued to send me party invites, and stupid links. I replied to one 'friend' angrily, saying something like "READ MY DAMN STATUS!"
Other times I've updated my status to, "Albert managed to put custom ringtones on his unlocked iPhone. Super Mario theme FTW!," and "Albert thinks changing a reservation with travelocity Canada (based in India) over the phone is a painfully ridiculous experience. The "on hold" music sucks too...," Though really, how much can you learn about a person from these updates if they are taken out of context, and written like headlines in a newspaper, typed with a limited amount of characters? Which for total strangers who don't really know the individual behind the update, could create a false impression of that person.
For Comic-Con, I plan on keeping the Twitters brief, and on topic! In addition to utilizing Twitter with my Comic-Con coverage, I will be posting updates on my blogs, throughout the day, as stuff happens... (though not minute to minute). Stay tuned!
I give you permission to follow me @ twitter.com/albertart
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