Cutline Speaks

My (Still) Conflicted Life Online

posted by Erin on April 2, 2010

I can't actually remember when I decided that it was a good idea to be so connected to so many people yet, on some level, so absent from the real world. Was it the proliferation of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter? Or was it my job? Perhaps it was a double whammy. Being in the PR biz, it's critical that we know what's going on... and when the rest of the world (or at least one part of the world) shifted to living out their lives online, the PR world tagged along for the ride. Clients want to know we're connected, and loads of reporters and bloggers are swimming in this completely tangled yet discombobulated ocean of apps and social networking sites. And we all know that PR is all about relationships.

A couple of years ago I wrote a post (My Conflicted Life Online) after reading a story in New York Times Magazine about social networking. I thought I was connected back then? Well, that was then... and, as they say, this is now. And the reality of now is that I can no longer keep up. Where do we draw the line? Is there no longer a value associated with good old-fashioned face time? Do we even know or remember what face time is? How the heck do you stay on top of it all?!

Some of my friends joke around with me that I need to be more in touch with the real world. I joke back that the real world is Twitter. On some level, I do think that's true, particularly in places like Silicon Valley. I've been mulling this over lately but really only because I've recently signed up for - gasp! - accounts on Hunch  (can't figure it out), Blippy (haven't broadcast any purchases...yet), DailyBooth  (no idea what it's for), and Quora (love it!). During my mulling, I got to thinking: How many of these, shall we say communities, do I really need to be part of? No idea. Some I can't live without. And how many am I already connected to? Ah-ha! No idea. So earlier this week I set out to discover just how conflicted my life online has become since I last wrote about it in June of 2008.

Like relationships, networking is key in PR, so three sites I can't live without are LinkedIn  (a proud member since January 2004!), Facebook (though I will admit to having broken up with Facebook a few times), and Twitter  (which my cat and agency also use). But now the challenge is: Which Twitter aggregator do I use? I tried Twitterific and didn't love it. I had Twidroid on my Droid but then got hooked on Seesmic so started using that on my phone and desktop. And then along came Brizzly. Who can resist that cute lil bear?

Before my love affair with those sites, I was obsessed with sharing the mundane details of my life on my blog. I used Blogger (and even started a blog for my cat), then shifted to WordPress, and finally made it over to Posterous (my favorite, though I haven't blogged in for-ev-ah). I tried Tumblr once, too, just for kicks. To make it even more interesting, at Cutline we currently use Expression Engine.

As if words aren't enough, I became obsessed with pictures. And I took them anywhere and everywhere. Self-portraits. Close-ups. You name it. And the world needed to see, right? I'm a huge Picasa fan but I also quite like Flickr. Sadly, I've stopped taking pics. Partially because my kick-a** camera was stolen in Vegas but also because I just sort of got sick of being the paparazzi. And let's not forget the value of the oh-so-mighty video. I mean, let's be real for a second here, everyone goes to YouTube to see outdated videos of my cat, right? But I guess that beats analyzing my crappy tastes in music over at Pandora.

If you find me entertaining and want to meet up in the real world, you can track my every move on FourSquare or Gowalla. Both are cool. But, honestly, I don't always want to broadcast my whereabouts. Which is exactly why I don't use Google Latitude, even though - you guessed it! - I signed up for it. Short of that you can just read about my adventures through the eyes of Yelp! But, as of now, you might think that I only have an interest in tattoos.

But wait! There's more!

Back in the day I signed up for Plaxo but rarely log in and don't really keep it updated. I do, however, find the birthday email reminders quite dandy. Tracked came along not that long ago, and I signed up for it as soon as I heard about it but, well, I'm only connected to one person. Need I say more? One thing I'd like to love but never use is Clicker. Gist  is another one that I need to spend more time with but haven't had a chance to do so... ahem... see previous 14 paragraphs. But make no mistake -- I definitely want to know more about who I know.

And there's really nothing out there that aggregates all of this information. I thought that would be FriendFeed. Hello Facebook acquisition. Now what? There's Google Profiles, which will show you where to find me if that's really how you want to spend your time. But, seriously, with all the talent out there will someone please build something (anything!) that brings all this stuff together? Pretty please? I'll even nominate the Cutline Crew to do the PR... for free (or at least for beer!).

I'm sure I've missed a few. But writing this blog post has worn me out. Right now I'm just thankful I'm not single and no longer have to maintain my profiles on PerfectMatch.com, TooManyFish.com, Match.com, Chemistry and Yahoo! Personals.

And there you have it. Conflicted. My life online is one big, fat, conflicted, tangled mess. I look forward to the day when I can manage it better, but for now I'm going back to the real world.

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