Are you a Twit?

The Social Network Pick-Up
Setting: present day bar

Him: Hey, babe – what’s your SN?
Her: I’m a Facebook gal, so if you’re on MySpace, don’t even talk to me.
Him: It’s cool, I’m more a Twit, myself.
Her: Oooh…Twits are fun – buy me a drink?


Twitter anyone? How about Facebook? MySpace? IMVU? What’s your social networking choice?

For better or worse, online networking is here to stay. And it doesn’t matter what age group you fall into, either. Baby boomers have embraced the technology, perhaps more slowly than their younger counterparts, but they are making it all their own. Want to meet up with other people your age? Talk about grandkids and swap pictures? Check out the Grandparent’s Network based in Australia. Social networking isn’t just a young person’s game anymore, it’s a way of life.

There is a limit, however, as to how many sites one can actually keep up with. I keep a MySpace page, that, admittedly, I don’t do much with. Most of the networking there seems to be focused on the blog and, as many of you already know, I’m not much of a blogger. I prefer commenting on other’s blogs over writing a post of my own. So my MySpace page sort of just…sits. While I accept friendship with nearly everyone who asks, I rarely go out and search for others.

I like to Twit now and again – sound bites are easy to write. But then I have to ask – who cares if I just did the laundry? Isn’t there such a thing as too much information? Don’t I run the risk of becoming…mundane? And so I try to post everyday so people know I’m alive but not so often that people grow tired of my little bon mots.

Facebook is cool – I have an account there under my real name (sorry to disillusion you, but I’m afraid “Diana Hunter” is a nom de plume) and I do like all the applications one can get. My daughter and I are currently embroiled in a snowball fight (she’s winning), we talk like pirates just because its fun and I’ve caught up with people I haven’t seen in years. I’ve been thinking Diana needs an account there. Of course, then I’d run into the danger of spending time playing on Facebook instead of writing books!

IMVU is a new place I’ve just recently tried. A reader sent me an invite and I checked it out yesterday. It’s as if they took IM technologies, borrowed the social networking concept and then made it look like Second Life. You create an avatar that you can customize, but mostly all you do is visit people and have chats. I talked with a 20-year old yesterday who told me I shouldn’t lie about my age on my profile. I told her I hadn’t lied, I really am 51 years old. She told me I didn’t talk like any 51-year-old she knew and that old people don’t really get into this like I do. I took it as a compliment.

Web 2.0 will morph into something else in another five years and several of the sites I mentioned will either die or evolve. What will be fun to watch is how each one is used and whether everything blends together to become one huge social network. I’m of mixed feelings about having just one over having many, I have to admit. While there are too many now to keep up with, I’m also not sure I’d like a monopoly. Nor would I like networks divided into age or interest groups. Right now it’s sort of a wild west atmosphere out here in Social Network Land – and I for one, enjoy it.

After all, we don’t want our poor hero to have to develop a new pick-up line!