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Even More on Social Media and Human Behavior

Do you casually put up anything that comes to mind on Facebook/Twitter, Twitter being designed for this, or do you put some thought into provocative, humorous or controversial statements, hoping for comments or re-Tweets?

I prefer Facebook because a) more of my friends are on it, and b) because it invites lengthier and more diverse conversation, sometimes between friends who don’t otherwise know each other from different parts of one’s life, between high school friends, college friends and Boston friends for example. I prefer the conversation. And find myself irrationally unhappy when I don’t get it.

Do you also worry about when to stop commenting? If you have the last word have you been selfish, or so dull that you are conversation ending? If you do not leave the last comment, then have you been rude and abrupt?

If no one comments then are you unpopular, dull or simply lost in the rush. Which leads to my own low-self esteem general question, “Do my friends really like me?”

I find it humorous that posts that where I expect many comments get none, and toss away, random posts especially if concerned with the domestic get multiple responses. I suppose it is commonality. Not having children I tend to refrain from commenting on those posts, and I find it limits my engagement somewhat, to my regret. A friend in blogging once commented that parents have infinite sources for blog posts, while we childless have somewhat less. I could post Guinness’ antics and Mephisto’s foibles, I suppose, but they are rather repetitive.

Do other people worry about such things, or is it just me?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lol....I have thought about this subject as well and it is funny to see you put into words many of the things that have popped into my head at times. Why do I post some of the inane everyday things I do? Will people think I am boring, too domestic, or just plain goofy? Then I decide that I don't care because I am being me.
But I must admit when I post a comment and think "oh yes I will get some replies" and no one even clicks the like button I am somewhat dismayed. However there are times when I have reconnected with old friends, new friends, and honestly even people I don't really know by posting something that I thought was trivial. And thus the pull, the desire to be on facebook.... Just to get a couple laughs or engage in conversation with someone I might not normally talk to. Keeping the connections alive with people , the social aspect of it, that is the great draw for me.
Unknown said…
Oh, absolutely. Sometimes I compare myself with someone who writes about getting up at the break of dawn and doing all their lawn work and feel like such a loser that I swear that I'm never going back to Facebook, but then I have connected both with poeple I knew well and many that I didn't know well and with whom I have had great conversations.

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