Social is as Social does

I was pondering my life and the ways that I am able to capture, comment and share about it with my family, friends and associates. We have so many tools at our disposal from e-mail, family web site and blogging to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. These tools have all been a part of my communication for quite some time. Starting with my first American Online e-mail account back in 1992 to my starting to use Facebook just 1 year ago. As I pondered, I realized that the tools I've been using the most, Facebook and Twitter are both super convenient and also very limiting. I mean, I'm not what I call a chatterbox, but 140 characters can cause me to be more brief that I sometimes would like to be. These tools also don't really encourage me to work at all on my writing style. I'm not what I would call a good writer, but I think that I can be and effective writer. Certainly not in the class of my middle son Alex who is truly gifted in this area.

So, what I realize is that my Blog is the one place were I can truly have the flexibility of form and function. If I have a lot to say or want to share it with pictures I have the latitude to do that here. I've noticed that the more I tweet and post, the less I have been blogging. I'm not saying that is bad, just that it has left a kind of hole in my creative world. So, I'm committing to try and be more diligent about blogging. I've also over time linked some of my other sites to my blog so that it can be a kind of hub to what I'm writing about, photographing and following.

One of my favorite Podcast is This Week in Google, a cloud computing show hosted by Leo Laporte with Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis. Mr. Jarvis is a Journalism professor is NY and one of his comments really stuck with me. He said that he too had found himself to be blogging less and this concerned him because his blog is a place where he not only documents his life, but also the links and information that are important to him at any given point. When he blogs less, less of his own personal history gets recorded. Twitter and Facebook are both great at near real time conversation, but I really not great at preserving the broader more in depth snapshot of who we are and what we are doing. I thank Jeff for helping me to realize that this was happening in my life as well.

So, in conclusion I am setting a goal to blog at least once per week. It will not always be a long rich entry, but I will do my best. I also need to find a better way of sharing my blog, while still keeping it private for the protection of my family. I don't have the answer to that one yet, but I'll find it along the way.