#BEDM: Favourite Social Media Channel

Today's Blog Every Day in May topic is my favourite social media channel.

I'm on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, FourSquare, and Goodreads.  I think that's it.  I don't do Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine or any others.

If I was only allowed to have one form of social media, I'd stick with Facebook.  I find Facebook is a great tool to keep in touch with all of my friends from around the world, and it's really helped in keeping up friendships from my high school/university days.  I'm a member of some secret groups, and I love that I have a place to safely vent feelings among close groups of friends.

I also enjoy some of the various pages you can like on Facebook too.  My absolute favourite is "I fucking love science" which is a great page to find out new cool science news, and to find hilariously nerdy jokes.  It's a great tool for a science teacher, although I can never directly show students the page since I can't say the name in class.

Facebook definitely has drawbacks: people who over-share (but you can hide them), annoying ads, a crappy mobile app, game updates, ever-changing privacy settings, and the creepiness factor.  (Once I changed my relationship status on Facebook and the next day I was getting ads for engagement rings I kid you not.)

However, since it's the form of social media that the vast majority of my friends use, and it's has helped me keep up with friendships, I'll say it's my favourite.

Twitter's fun, and I love following bands on Twitter, but fewer of my friends use it.   Twitter is great for keeping up with breaking news and TTC delays.  However, I wonder if communicating in 140 characters or less is affecting our ability to think in depth.

Instagram is fun.  More of my friends are using Instagram these days.  I don't really have a desire to see tonnes of strangers' photos though.  What's the point?  I just mainly follow people I know and a few bands.

I like getting points for checking into places on Foursquare.  It's pointless but fun.  It turns life into a bit of a video game.

Lastly, Goodreads is fun to connect with other book lovers and to track reading.

I do enjoy social media, but I have to say I am looking forward to getting away from it when I go to Kenya this summer.  Three weeks with no social media will be a great challenge.