I came to social media kicking and screaming. Already bouncing too many ping pong balls under my paddle, I feared adding another. One more activity threatened to destroy all sense of order in my complicated life. The time commitment alone made me wince.
I attended a conference where a social media instructor said, “Pick three and stick with them. If you try to follow them all, you’ll go crazy.” Thinking about adding one, I was already there.
Following her advice, I joined the fray—Facebook my first attempt. Connecting with colleagues followed simply enough, family and friends next.
When I added Twitter, I remember my confusion about how it worked. I asked my husband if anyone he knew at work understood the process. He looked at me askance and said, “You think I’m going to ask that crew of men if any of them twitter?”
Guess not.
My third connection was Linked In. And while I kept adding professionals to my network, I had no idea how the system worked. But I did it.
Not long after, something wonderful began to happen. I started receiving “friend” requests from high school acquaintances. My chemistry lab partner asked first. Amazed that she would want to connect after suffering through test tubes and Bunsen burners with me so many years ago, I was thrilled. We shared common threads—same faith-based life, political party, and world concerns.
I friended the braniacs soon thereafter—two fellows with whom I had vied for the top scholar in our class all through high school. At graduation the three of us shared the spotlight together—one valedictorian and two salutatorians— the guys reminding me that I was .01 per cent lower in grade point average than them. One became a doctor in psychology and the other a scientist. Who knew?
Other requests followed those initial three and I found myself searching for people I’d forgotten.
In Ecclesiastes 4:9 we are told, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.”
Someone once wrote, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.” So Christy, Ruth, Chuck, and everyone else, be advised. I’m on the hunt.