Dec
1
My New Year’s Resolution a month early
I’m kind of a Luddite when it comes to social media networking sites. In general I’ve got a bit of a contrary nature, so whenever I see everyone rushing one way, my instinct is to go in the opposite direction. You zig, I zag.
Reading various news accounts of employers using social media to investigate prospective employees, ex-lovers cyberstalking one another or the news media itself harvesting juicy nuggets and racy photos to publicly embarrass someone just reinforced all the doubts and misgivings I have about online social networking sites in general, Facebook in particular. To me, Facebook seems like high school all over again. And, for the record, I hated high school.
Twitter, a microblogging service which limits the number of characters you can post in a single entry (140 characters max), feels like a more natural fit for me because it values brevity. I’m also on Stumble Upon, a social media web site recommendation site.
But being contrary just for the sake of it isn’t always wise. While my instincts might be right some of the time, I may also be missing out on some great opportunities to connect with people who are like-minded and share my interests in the Spanish language, Spain and Spanish culture. So, one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2009 is to give social media a serious try. That’s where Facebook and Twitter come in. If you’re active on Facebook, look for me there, write on my wall, add me to your list, etc., if you feel so inclined. I’ve also created Facebook pages for my two blogs that you can check out here and here.
If you’re on Twitter, you can find me @ http://twitter.com/voicesenespanol. I will be posting more frequently over there than I post here with a mix of random and not-so-random things related (and sometimes unrelated) to learning Spanish.
Open question to all the Facebook and Twitterers reading this post: Which groups on Facebook or bloggers on Twitter related to the Spanish language or language learning do you follow or participate in? Post below in the comments. Thanks!
December 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
I don’t really participate much in groups, I use Facebook to connect to old friends only, as I lived in various places and have dear friends scattered all over the world.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:35 am
I *love* StumUpon, it served me over 30,000 hits the last month. Twitter is also cool, but it’s hard for me to keep up with things.
By the way; I didn’t know you have a Dutch name? Interesting…
December 1st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
@Costarossa, I’m not big on groups either so I can relate to what you’re saying.
@Ramses, Wow!!! That’s some seriously impressive traffic you’re getting from SU. What’s the secret? Te rindo culto.
Regarding my last name, yeah, I’ve been told before that it’s Dutch but my family history is a bit of a mystery. One day I’ll have to quit this blogging stuff and research my family tree. Es una asignatura pendiente para mí.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Hehe, so we share the same roots
.
Unfortunately, I don’t know what’s the secret. I added a post (about joder) to SU myself, and then it got picked up. Later I got another boost in traffic when microsiervos.com picked it up from SU. You just have to be lucky enough to get a thumbs up from a ‘whale’, so that more people start voting you up because more people are seeing the post. It all begins with controversial and quality content.
Pretty funny, that a post that cost me 15 minutes to produce gave me such an increase in traffic and ad earnings.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Hi Eleena: Great stuff – you’re really busy out there exploring the capabilities of the web, and you’re an inspiration in this respect! I’m amazed that anybody makes any money at all at anything like this. Just a little note – on your FaceBook site, it says you’ve been there since Nov. 2007, but surely it’s 2008. Totally minor, but maybe you’re a perfectionist who won’t be able to sleep until you’ve changed it…
December 7th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Oops – I’m wrong – just rechecked, and FOUNDED Nov. 2007 is different – sorry for wasting your time with that, and pls delete my comments if you wish!
December 8th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hi Freddy,
I’m still in “labor of love” territory here. Hopefully 2009 will begin to bear fruit.
Who said anything about making money?
Yeah, that Facebook page template asks you to put the year of the company or group’s creation, but I’m afraid that many people are going to have the reaction you had…that I’ve been on Facebook for more than a year and only have 5 fans.
Maybe I should change the founding date to 1907. That would really llamar la atención. (jeje)
December 9th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hi Eleena:
Sorry about inadvertently opening up a vein of insecurity. Sometimes I think that’s the downside of the Internet. Anyway, I think it’s great that you’re exploring different ways of getting the ViE word out and maybe Spanish NewsBites will follow suit soon. I think my “making money” comment was probably aimed at Ramses, who actually seems to have some ad earnings.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
[...] I’ve been microblogging like crazy. In less than three weeks I’ve gone from Twitter skeptic to Twitter addict. So much for my resolve.
I think it’s because I wasn’t really [...]