Going Social

Whilst spending what seems like an eternity roaming around this vast Series of Tubes, I suddenly had an epiphany: I’m all over the place.

No, not so much in they way that I just described but leaning more towards social networking sites. And being that I haven’t had too much to blog about recently, I thought I’d post links to all of them so that my loyal readers–all 3 of you–can stalk me and mumble nonsensical remarks about Jodie Foster if you so desire. So here they are, complete with clickable icon links to the appropriate profile page. Note that these are also in the new Social page above, which replaces the old Media page, and will be updated should I become a member of yet another social networking site.

I spend way too much time there. Go ahead and ask any of my Friends, most of whom I actually know personally. A rarity these days. But that’s not to say I play all of those (silly) farm, cafe, or mafia games on Facebook. This explains why TweetDeck has now become my favorite new program. Those games and apps are just not for me; I’m just there to throw out some jibberish and make people wonder. At any rate, if you want to see what I’m like over there, click on the image and request to be my Friend. Note that the blog also has a Fan page and a link is always included at the bottom of all posts.

Oh, how I do love me some Flickr. So much, in fact, that it’s the only–and I mean ONLY–web service that I gladly pay for each year if you don’t count domains and redirects for my blogs. While I use it mostly for personal pictures that only family can see, I also upload my share of pictures that the whole world can see. And what’s great about Flickr is that I can send an image from my phone and have it posted immediately to my Photostream and to the blog simultaneously (note that both entries were edited once I got to my PC). And once they are on the blog, they get posted to Facebook. Three birds, one stone–Flickr is just full of win. Click the link to view my public Photostream, Sets and Collections.

I am not a 16-year-old girl, don’t pretend to be a 16-year-old girl online, nor am I a predator looking to lure 16-year-old girls into my Pedobear den. (And those that do are sick fuckers who need to have their winger-dingers cut off and then be shot where they stand.)

Therefore, I have no MySpace account. Hell, I’m not even going to link to it since I despise it so much. Oh, I did have an account at one point but I deleted that thing a long time ago. MySpace is so 2007 and…emo. Besides, does anyone honestly use that site anymore, and will I be saying that about Facebook in a few years? Who knows. And I’m not saying that everybody that has a MySpace account is a lecherous weirdo, I’m…just saying.

Since getting my new iPod Touch, I’ve been using its built-in Nike + app and loving it. The NikeRunning site keeps track of your runs and also offers special challenges throughout the year. So far, I’ve completed the St. Paddy’s Day Lucky Runner Challenge (over one week and includes prizes!), 4000 Calories in 4 Weeks Goal, and I am also in the running for the 210 Miles in 2010 Challenge. Click the icon to see my stats so far.

There’s no real reason in the world why I need Skype but since getting my Microsoft HD webcam, I figured it might be a good idea to make an account should there ever be a time I needed it. And since you know I’m a cheap bastard, you know that I have a basic account without the bells and whistles. My username is if you’re interested.

You know I like my music, and sharing my vast musical taste is something I always wanted to do. And believe it or not, I just happened to stumble across SongShare while looking for some new iPod apps. What it basically does is allow you to share the current song you’re listening to (information only) via tweets and/or Facebook updates and include hashtags such as #nowplaying. You can also create Playlists on-the-fly and tweet them. Tweets also include links to a page with song samples and an iTunes link should you wish to purchase. Cool stuff, but sometimes the songs are the incorrect version or wrong altogether.

An aside: should a 41-year-old dude know (or care) so much about all of this social networking stuff? I guess I’m just that hip…man.

I opened my Stickam account at a time when I thought I would become the Internet’s Next Big Celebrity. Actually, I was just bored out of my skull and heard about it on Leo Laporte’s Tech Guy podcast so I decided to give it a try. I’ve broadcasted just a few times and only got spammy solicitations from bots trying to seduce me to click on their virus-infected, Russian dating site links. I sometimes webcast while writing a new blog entry and also used it when I had that big-ass TV sitting in front of my house. Meh. Either way, click the icon for my profile.

Tweets, twits, twats. Whatever you call them, I’m a part of the Twitter loop, too.

Since I started using TweetDeck, my tweets have pretty much been the same as my Status Updates, save for posting some of my SongShare info. Click the icon to see my latest tweets and Follow Me if you wish.

Finally, I have my YouTube account where I upload personal videos that I wish to post here on the blog. Nothing too spectacular going on here but if you click on the icon, you can view my Subscriptions, Favorites, etc. Note that most of my videos do not have comments enabled so…there you go.

I’ll also sneak this one in although I hardly use it: Yahoo! Meme.

Finally, I mentioned this one a few times already and while it isn’t exactly a social networking site, it certainly makes posting to many of them at once extremely simple.

TweetDeck is perfect for people like me who don’t care about all of the applications (and invitations, for that matter) that Facebook users tend to harass you with on a daily an hourly basis. You download it, create an account, link it your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace (bleech) or LinkedIn accounts and you’re ready to post to all of them with one fell swoop. Complete awesomeness.

Oh, and while I’m the subject of blog updates, you might notice that I’ve also eliminated all those little icons at the bottom of each post in favor of the nifty AddToAny sharing tool you see now. It just makes things that much easier.

Well, I said I hadn’t written anything in a long time so I hope I made up for it with this post. Happy to oblige.