Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Days ago, (weeks ago should be the right now that I am posting this article almost after a week I actually wrote it) I read an article written by Damyanti on 'who do you follow'. Honestly, that was an interesting question, but I am not going to talk about that here. I am here to talk about the complexity about being in the social networking sphere or not. It is certainly a tough choice to make, especially if you are harnessing the power of internet to promote your talent and creativity. There are many others that can certainly switch on and switch off to social networking sites because they are exploring that just out of curiosity. On the other side, there are individuals like me that put down our thoughts and feelings on blogs and sites and we crave for some amount of readership, both on personal and professional level.

Individuals like me are caught in the net because we want some amount of sensible and like-minded people that can share their viewpoints and information, but instead we see this huge list of people that are just there to feed us with spam. The problem is quite impossible to solve because if you follow certain people and ignore the rest you might not get the kind of response that you want. If you keep following more and more people chances are that you may find people that might be interested in quality communication, but then you also have to handle the garbage that comes with it. The answer lies somewhere in finding the right balance. You have to sort out the good ones from the bulk and use them appropriately and be useful to them in return.

I am certainly not the guy meant for social networking. Not that I have not used the potential of these sites. These sites have helped me make new friends globally (I am glad about the small close knit group I am part of), but making hundreds of friends and followers is not the thing I aim for. I would certainly go for quality of friends and contacts, but I have my own problem. I am a writer and I would like to communicate to millions out there. This is paradoxical in some way because I don't want tons of people in my profile, but I need them to read my content. This is probably what many others feel and they often feel like doing away with social networking sites, but they cannot. Why? Because the world is out there. On Facebook, Twitter and many other social networking sites. Its like the current under your feet, you got to flow along with it, or disappear forever. If you're not on Facebook or Twitter  no one is listening to you. Even the giant corporate firms that have the financial power to hire the most popular celebs feel the need to harness the potential of social networking. If you don't you are left out.

I am not here to dissect social networking into good or bad. It may be bad to some and probably to some it may be the best thing in the world that also depends on our individual experiences. It all comes down to what we choose and how we sort out the garbage in the right way. Probably, at times you might just feel that you are stuck between the devil (other social networking sites) and the deep blue sea (Facebook).