What is Social Media to you?

Social Media – just what is it? According to my dictionary, ‘social’ is considered an attribute. It is ‘of or relating to rank and status in society.’ It is also ‘relating to or designed for activities in which people meet each other for pleasure.’ ‘Media’ is actually the plural form of ‘medium’ – I didn’t know that – it’s increasingly more familiar usage is in reference to television, radio, newspapers and the internet – generally regarded collectively. So, taken together, social media could be people getting together via the internet either for pleasure or to attain rank and status.

Now that we have analyzed the definition of ‘social media’, what exactly does it mean? I’m on Facebook and as of today I have 789 friends. Granted a goodly number of them are friends because I play a couple games and having Facebook friends make some aspects easier. Regardless of why they are friends I always welcome new friends into my corner of the world. It is my hope that they will take a look at my profile, and then maybe they will dig a little deeper and take a look at my fan page.

Now, I do things every day in an effort to keep some aspect of my writing visible (hopefully I’m not spamming everybody’s wall – if I am, no one has told me so), but that’s not all I do. I try very hard to be sociable. I scroll down my main wall in an effort to keep up with everyone. I am also a member of several blogging groups and I browse through them too, all at least once a day and sometimes twice.

I am also on Twitter. I confess, though I go to Twitter every day, it’s only to advertise, though I do keep track of any mentions and answer any messages, if I get any. If any of my tweets get re-tweeted, I make sure to say thanks. I mean, good manners, especially on line, are very important. I spend a little more time there during the winter. There’s #FollowFriday and #WriterWednesday, and I really should participate. It’s part of being social.

I also have three blogs, this one, my blog novel, and one about my personal life, where I hungrily await any comments.

I also belong to a few other writing groups. Throughout all of this, it is my greatest hope to make real friends, or at least as real as the internet will allow. I like to think I live by the Golden Rule. I do to, and for, others as I would like to be done to, or for, me. Oh sure, I'd like to 'improve my rank and status' in our society, but I see that as a byproduct of making friends.

I love to write, and I’ve combed the internet in an effort to become a better writer. I know the struggle to get a story onto the ‘paper’ on your computer. I’m more than willing to share what I’ve learned, or my interpretation of it all. I’ll happily direct you to a source upon asking, but I’ve a list here to the right, and on my website, I happily give credit to whoever for whatever tip I’ve listed.

Something I like to say all the time is ‘There’s no such thing as a dumb question.’ Never be afraid to ask me anything. I’ll tell you what I know and I’ll also tell you if I don’t know, then I’ll try to find the answer. After all, if you don’t ask questions, how are you going to learn?

This is how I define and use ‘social media’. What do you do?