What's In My Head These Days?

I haven't blogged in ages. In fact, I was under the impression that blogging had fallen out of fashion, in the same way that Myspace has. Apparently I was wrong.

Back in the day I wrote extensively about politics. Okay, I wrote exclusively about politics. (The archive of which can be found at my home page). Over the last few years I've lost interest in politics, and doubt I can muster the energy to write more than a few paragraphs on the subject. And not having access to cable television anymore, I cannot watch Fox News as a source of inspiration for material. Even if I did have cable, I'm not so sure I'd be writing about politics.

What does fascinate me now, in the year 2010, is social networking, which started with the ill-fated Myspace, was bypassed by Facebook, and is now dominated by both Facebook and Twitter.

I've been using Facebook for some time now, mainly as a place to catch up with friends. I hadn't thought much of Twitter, although several months ago I had created an account. I just never used it.

I cannot remember when exactly -- I think it was in December of 2009 -- I decided to give Twitter another try. And like millions of others, I became hooked. I'm fascinated by the format: 140 characters used to communicate an idea, thought, or emotion. It doesn't seem like it would be a formula for success. If you're limited in how you can communicate with others, isn't that a bad thing?

I'd say: no. Brevity inspires creativity. I have exactly 140 characters to use, and if I'm really clever I will say what I have to say with characters left over.

What has been really unexpected, though, is connection with people from all over the world. I have virtual friends -- my Twitter "followers" -- and we chat about our lives and our world. I've met folks from the UK, Europe, Mexico and everywhere else in between. And despite language differences at times, we still are able to communicate to each other. In fact, I do more communicating with people on Twitter than I do on Facebook. Which isn't to say I shouldn't interact more in real life. However, having an introverted personality, online interactions are obviously appealing to me.

In fact, it was one of my "virtual" Twitter friends who inspired me to write this entry, and being inspired creatively is a good thing. I'm hoping to delve into the more deeper waters of my life in future postings here.