Melissa Cynova I have a confession to make. When I was young(er) and unfamiliar with the internet, I started a tarot facebook page. I got all excited and added a bunch of people that sounded really interesting and into the same stuff I was. People named RiverFlower NightRaven and whatnot. It sounded cool. I was interested in seeing what they had to say about tarot and life. After a while, I started getting friend requests from other cool people. I assumed that they liked my writing and wanted to know more about what I had to say about life and tarot.
Recently, I was looking at one profile. I literally had nothing in common with this person except that we are both pagans. That’s it. We had 150 friends in common. Of those people, not one had ever reached out to me. Never gotten a reading. Never had one connection on FB, other than becoming ‘friends’.
So, I decided that I was using the tool of facebook incorrectly for my goals. My goals are to talk to other people about tarot. To learn. To be engaged and stimulated and surprised by people. To that end, I reduced my friend’s list from about 2500 to 700.
I can’t say whether the reduction of people will change a whole lot, but it has changed how I see the internet in business.
Each website that I’m on – tumblr, facebook, twitter and myspace. 😀 Each one, is a way for me to reach out and talk to people. I don’t want to collect followers who never interact with me. I want to learn and to teach. I want to engage and enjoy. I want to spend less time online and more time with my head up. (and yes, pedants, I understand that I’m writing this online. Thank you.)
Each website that I’m on also diffuses my energy and my name a little further. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes, not so much.
So, here’s to pulling my energy together. Here’s to focusing myself, my business and my time. Here’s to more real connections, and less frittering away of self. Names have power. Energy has a path. I think I might be onto something here. 🙂
xo- LFT
Yes!
I’ve been going through similar revelations/declutterings myself. Although I completely make use of it in many areas of my life, on one big level I really reject this idea that a connection that comes in the form of a like/follow/fave is truly a connection. Social media and The Internet are training us to believe that they are, but the sensation is so fleeting.
"I don’t want to collect followers who never interact with me. I want to learn and to teach. I want to engage and enjoy. "
– this. Social media has it’s moments and I really don’t diss the amazingness of online networking we can do now. I’ve come across some awesome people via Twitter, for example (hey you!)…but now I want to follow those up by going to their websites, reading their longer-form thoughts on life/tarot/everything, sending an email to connect, a phone call, a meeting, even.
Thanks for writing this xxxx
Thanks for reading this. 🙂