Friday Five:Social Media

Kathrynzj says: "I had the joy of spending time with Songbird last weekend, someone I would have never met had it not been for the blogosphere. Now we keep in touch using a large variety of methods: blog (hers a lot, mine not so much lately), facebook, twitter, text messaging, chat and email. So far there has been no skype.It got me to thinking of the pros and cons of these relatively new means of communication and interconnecting and so I ask you the following:"
1) What have been the benefits for you of social networking (blog, twitter, facebook, etc...) Meeting a whole host of really great " lady pastor peeps" as my friend L calls my RevGal friends through blogging. Whether being able to enhance the connections IRL at the BEs, or the FoH, or simply connecting virtually these are sustaining relationships for me and have been through one of the most transformational, chaotic and liminal times of my life.

2) Which medium do you use the most? Or if you use them all, for what do you use each of them? My blog by far. I'm signed on to Twitter but I have yet to tweet. I post to and read entries on Facebook, but mostly it's where I go to play a couple games to clear my brain. Although I will say that I have "found" a couple people there with whom I had lost touch and reestablished some contact with them, which is a bonus. My Soul Sisters and I have been trying different forms of audio visual on-line communication like Skype and Googletalk as well as IMing since A moved down south for our weekly get togethers with various levels of success. But the blog is the connecting point still for me in many ways.

3) If you could invent a networking site (with no limits on your imagination), what would it provide? What would it not provide? I can't imagine what more there could be unless we get to the point of trnasporters that could bring my friends to me IRL anytime. Of course there would have to be some serious filters on that site to keep out unwanted guests!

4) Who have you met that you would not have met if it were not for the 'miracle' of social networking? Oh my goodness! If one includes the blog.....I have only to look at my sidebar and a whole host of faces come to mind. BE's 1 and 2 offered the chance to meet IRL a wonderful group of women who had been "virtual" before that.

5) Who do you secretly pray does not one day try to 'friend/follow' you? Well, it's always a little ooky when a client's name pops up wanting do that. I "ignore" but then we have to have the talk the next time I see them about the boundaries. There is also a local pastor who is waaaaaayyyy out there who keeps trying to friend the rest of us who are more moderate and mainstream. We keep ignoring him and he keeps trying. But I really don't want him to "be my friend."

BONUS: What was the most random/weird/unsettling/wonderful connection you made that would not have happened if it were not for the ease of which we can find each other in the computer realm? Well, technically I suppose we could have met another way, but when R's friend suggested he get in touch with me, she only had my e-mail, so that was our first contact. He e-mailed me asking if I'd be interested in getting together and giving me his number. I'd say that was a pretty wonderful connection!