With the breaching of all Yahoo accounts, the sales of election advertising to Russia on both Facebook and Twitter and the general distaste for all things social media these days, I thought I’d post some of the positive uses for me of social media.

Community, Marketing, Communicating, Information Gathering and Expression

Currently I use the following social media sites on a relatively frequent basis:
Blogger
Facebook
Ravelry
Twitter
Pinterest
Yelp
Instagram
Google+

With all the time I spend on social media, there have been many times I\’ve considered dumping it all.

When I consider the impact of dumping all my social media, I consider those things that I rely on with each application.

Blogger
I publish this blog using Blogger.  It stores all of my archived blog entries including all photos and videos, gives me simple platform to write two or three times per week with snazzy graphics and photos I upload.  I use my blog primarily to express myself (emotionally and artistically).  I also have established an extended community of readers and I use blogger for various marketing as well.

I have deemed blogger to be:  Indispensable

Facebook
I find myself constantly on Facebook.  I chat with friends (real and virtual) and family, I post photos of personal activities, I organize and participate in groups (knitting, retreats, community, etc.), I market my blog, my craft shows and various other events I consider important enough to let my friends/family know about and I definitely express myself.  I also use Facebook as a news source, although it is not the definitive source for me when it comes to news.

I have deemed Facebook to be:  Indispensable

Ravelry
I used to use Ravelry a lot for any knitting/fiber-related areas of communicating, community, and marketing.  I also use the information/database aspects of Ravelry for yarn information, publications, patterns, and events.

The communicating and community aspects have become less useful as the forums have been replaced mostly with Facebook groups, but I still rely heavily on Facebook for information gathering.

I have deemed Ravelry to be:  Indispensable

Twitter
Most of my Twitter use is cross-posting of Facebook entries so that I can reach friends and family who use Twitter as their primary social media activity.  In essence, it\’s Facebook-light for me and I use it for all of the same things.

I have deemed Twitter to be:  Minimally Useful

Pinterest
Primarily, I use Pinterest to organize and save information for various areas of my life…recipes, knitting patterns/ideas, gifts, etc.  I also use it to communicate a little and to market things like patterns I\’ve published.

I don\’t spend very much time on Pinterest and I gain quite a bit of use from it at the same time.

I have deemed Pinterest to be:  Useful

Yelp
While I check-in at various establishments using Yelp and post photos and reviews, I don\’t find Yelp to be a very satisfying way of expressing myself.  Mostly, I rely on Yelp to help me find decent restaurants or other businesses.

I have deemed Yelp to be:  Useful

Instagram
While I have stored photos and videos on Instagram, I

I have deemed Instagram to be:  Minimally Useful

YouTube and Google+
Mostly, I use YouTube to publish videos that I want to embed in my blog entries.  Some have become popular enough

I have deemed YouTube and Google+ to be:  Minimally Useful

Current Knitting

I finished the Full Fibonacci Scarf this past weekend.

The scarf is plush, a bit heavy and quite warm!  I should probably have expected that bulky rib would be all of those things, and still yet I was caught unaware.

I also did some more work on the second HowlCat.

This isn\’t the most interesting design to make (lots of 1×1 rib and stockinette in the round), but I love the resulting garment.