spreading jam

I’m a digital native; I swing from platform to platform like a monkey on vines, and I ‘like’ and I comment and I upload images, of my digital-native-life, as I go. I was there at the birth of mass social media, and I grabbed that bull by the horns. But what if you’re not a digital native and you weren’t there at the birth of social media – with so many platforms to choose from, where are you supposed to start?

When I chose to became part of this ‘social media’, I got a MySpace; it was either that or Bebo, at the time, and Bebo was a ‘northern thing’. It was an easy decision for me, and it was where my friends were. When Facebook arrived, I made the transition, and it, too, was an easy decision. It was back in the days when platforms – and communities – were few and far between, and choice was limited – a concept which, juxtaposed to nowadays, seems dreamy and utopian.

Now, social media newbies are faced with such an overwhelming choice of social networks, it begs the question – how many are too many? Whether you’re looking for a place to share your appreciation, your art, your music, connect with your friends or to keep in touch with distant family members – there’s a platform for that! You’ll just have to dig around and find it.

You’ll then have to factor in mobile operating systems, and whether your chosen networks have apps or are mobile-web accessible, if you’re planning on taking your network on the road. Of course, once you’ve made these decisions, the real battle is then trying to manage and maintain each individual social media presence – as there’s yet to be a platform that truly encompasses every user’s core needs, and with global diversity, there’s unlikely to ever be one.

It’s not an easy decision finding your ideal network anymore, and from the vast amounts of barren profiles across the Internet, it appears to be a process of elimination. After trying to maintain various different social networking endeavors myself, through aggregation services, optimization, connectivity and ambidexterity – I’ve reduced my efforts, to focus on my favourite networks. I’m now a Facebooker that tweets, and occasionally Instagrams lunch. What are you?