A Social Media Warning

Be warned once again I've started to dabble in the waters of social media. I tried Facebook a couple of years ago and was completely overwhelmed with the nonstop interaction. You have to understand that on most days I wouldn't want to "friend" myself so I was shocked by the number of people who wanted to do that and tell me about their every waking moment. Then my family started to send me cybergifts. I never quite understood if I had to pay to send them flowers (or send their flowers back). Too scary for me and then there was that whole thing about whether to friend or not friend someone. There are lots of former students who I'd like to catch up with, but would they think I'm cyberstalking them? Anyway it was way too much for me.

Enter Google+. This is Google's second attempt at creating a social media site, and it's been in beta testing for several months. As soon as I took the tour, I thought this might be a simple place to create  "circles" for different purposes like town business, NRT business, family, and friends. Of course, I wasn't cybercool enough to get an early invite to try the site even after I asked really nicely. So when I finally got the word that Google had decided I was about the 10 millionth most interesting person in the world and could finally join, I did what every celebrity would do-snubbed them for two weeks. I finally joined up last night. My students tell me that Facebook and Google+ are passé and I should really get on Twitter. This apparently requires more knowledge of my old style cell phone (it really won't cause brain tumors, right?) than I'm likely to possess. So it looks like Google+ is going to be the height of my socializing. This is just a warning to everyone I know that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. You should be honored. I didn't warn the Dalai Lama, Maria Bartiromo, or Serge Brin all of whom I've added to one of my circles. Hope the Dalai Lama doesn't mind being invited to play Mafia Wars 2, the Pope doesn't appear to be on Google+.