June 5, 2012

So I am curious as to how people prefer to “follow” other people on the Internet these days. Do you prefer to follow Twitter? Facebook? Google+? Individual blogs (like this one)? Are you more inclined to use the more adult sites and apps like bear411?

Personally, I think the best way to reach out to another person is still to meet them in person and talk to them face to face. But with the ability to make friends far away where meeting face-to-face isn’t a readily available opportunity, we rely on electronic means to communicate. Twitter is my go to for “snappy” blurts of information and it’s also the source for much of my news these days (which, of course, I follow up with fact checking after reading something on Twitter). It’s also the favorite of my social networking sites because it feels the least intrusive. Facebook creeps me out with it’s advertising. I occasionally see an ad that pops up in the sidebar on Facebook that is very much tailored to my lifestyle but in theory, Facebook shouldn’t know about my interest in product X because I’ve never discussed anything remotely like that on Facebook. Unless Facebook was tracking me around the internet, they’d never know that I was searching for a weather radio, for instance, because I don’t believe I’m a member of any storm chasing groups on Facebook.

I favor Google+ over Facebook simply because I like the interface better. The walls ring hollow since there’s a lot of people over there that aren’t saying much, though. My relatives and friends are on Facebook, so that’s why I use that. I wish more people were on Google+.

As far as the “adult apps” go, I have a few of them on my phone but I rarely use them. If Earl and I are traveling I might fire them up and see who lives nearby, asking Earl if Man X is cute in the process, but other than voyeurism I don’t really have an invested interest in those apps.

So, I’d like to know what apps and social networking sites my gentle readers use. Let me know what the cool kids are using these days.