Life on Social Media

I like social media. I can't stress that enough. I enjoy going through the daily collection of posts, tweets, and so on. To an extent, it's how I get my news (confirming my sources, of course), and certainly entertains me.

It also allows me to connect with people I've never met, still talk to, and reconnect with others.

I get a kick out of an old friend "liking" a status or a post of some description, and certainly enjoy the dialogue.

But.

As we've all discovered, there's a really bad side. There's also a dark side, and we're not talking about that.

Now, understand that I'm not identifying any one person. As I've become a bit of a student of this, I've discovered all types.

We have bloggers, of course (HI!). We have tweeters (yeah, me also). We have Facebookers (uh huh), Instagram (yessir), Foursquare (sigh) and so on.

I don't do Snapchat, for instance. So there's that.

But you get the point. I like it. I also don't want to be...er..."that guy."

As in, yeah, he's that guy who comments on everything. Always has something to say. Tries to come up with a smug comment, or something snarky. At the same time, he's that guy who is always being hateful, and...

Sigh. It's mind-boggling.

Maybe there are people who do say that about me, and that's fine. Maybe I've been blocked, or people have reduced what they see on my feed. Maybe I post too much about Sean, Bobby Murcer, the Yankees, the Steelers, HAN Radio, Huey Lewis, roads, radio, The Beatles, and so on. Guilty as charged.

In many ways, to be successful in this era, you have to be a part of social media (certainly depending on the industry). Every time I think about walking away or shutting down my Facebook or Twitter accounts (especially Facebook), I realize that, generally speaking, I need it for WGCH and HAN Radio. I promote stuff, so I see the usefulness.

We're not talking big world problems here. Just something I'm thinking about. Because I don't want people sitting around a table talking about my social media behavior. I've seen it happen (not about me, per se).

I find it sad, but I guess it's like anything else. A few apples can spoil it. Such is the balance, and the thought that maybe it's me who needs to back down. Just ignore it.

Or simply deal with it and move on.