Tell Me Your Deepest Thoughts in 25 Characters or Less

There is really no excuse for this great cessation of writing. All of my friends who met on Y360 know how prolific we were and how it suddenly stopped when they pulled the plug. There are some exceptions, but we don’t write they way we used to just a few years ago.

We regrouped on Facebook, happy to come together again… but we didn’t write. No poignant stories of friends and family, no poetry, no classic rants, no travel adventures, no humorous stories… just status updates about the most mundane aspects of day to day living. It’s not because Facebook doesn’t provide vehicles for writing. Networked Blogs will link and post to Facebook. The Notes section allows you to write, include pictures, and allow for comments, just like 360. But still, there is very little of that.

We all have reasons for not writing anymore but have all our lives really changed all that much in the past few years? Perhaps… but I suspect another reason. Y360 was centered on the blog. It was a writer’s forum that grew to allow picture galleries, status updates, and other things that would look familiar to the casual Facebook user... but it was always about the writing. Facebook, on the other hand, is not. It is becoming more of a business network tool than a place for meaningful social discourse. It encourages sound bites rather than stories, mundane rather than meaningful. Tell me your deepest thoughts in 25 characters or less but remember, your boss is watching. So are your relatives, coworkers, business contacts, prospective employers… and the people of Facebook.

I used to write frequently before 360. My writing exploded when I gathered friends there who were (and are) likeminded. I can still write and I can post to Facebook… but it has to be guarded, edited. I cannot do that.

Any suggestions? Remember before you answer, the eyes of the world are watching.

Community

“I personally think that each person has gifts to offer community. I gravitate to communities where people can bring themselves, their talents, their rich life experiences to community without being branded as "conceited," "remedial," or "outcast." What's one gift that you enjoy giving to community? What intangible gift did someone give to you that changed your life?”

I enjoy it when friends on Facebook ask interesting questions... but this is one question (actually two) that gave me pause. I don’t think that the soundbite nature of FB would allow for a proper answer. I know that I could probably come up with a few clever words that world fit in the little comment box, but this hit home in a way that a few words would not do justice. It touches upon something that has troubled me since so much changed nearly five years ago.

Sharon, who asked the question, was part of one community that was important to my life during a period when many communities formed and I had the great joy of finding a sense of belonging... and acceptance. It was as if someone was throwing pebbles into a pond and several circles formed. Each was expanding and grew to the point of overlapping. While these communities were composed of different people and for different reasons, there were common threads. We were more than individuals coming together; we were different people but like-minded in our pursuit and desire to seek something greater. There was great respect and even love in what we were able to share. This was multiplied by the sheer number of people I connected with in a short period of time. I doubt this will ever occur again, to this degree... it had its time and it served its purpose. Still... there remains an emptiness where there was once an abundance of fulfillment.

The pebbles sank, the ripples dispersed, and nothing since has taken its place. This phenomenon occurred when I needed it most. Almost as soon as the need changed, the communities faded and I moved on. Sadly, I do not feel much a part of anything these days. It seems that this is a time to sit back and reflect on what has been and what needs to be. The gifts from this time are the great lessons I learned from each individual and each community. I carry them with me and incorporate them into my daily life. You are all still with me when I reach out to others.

So, to answer your question Sharon, there are several gifts that I enjoy bringing to community. All are a part of what of what is unique to me, but not necessarily unique in itself... my sense of humor, the joy of listening in silence, providing half of what can become a connection, and most important of all, my heart. The latter comes with great risk, but has proven, again and again, to bring the greatest reward. Those very same intangible, yet palpable gifts from others are the ones that have changed my life.

Why I miss Y!360 and hate Facebook

OK, I don’t hate FB, I just find it a poor substitute for the way I want to communicate in the virtual world. What started out as a fun diversion, a way to keep in touch with the people I had lost from Y!360, and finding people from my past, has turned into a monster. As time goes by, my presence is becoming more diminished and I am receding into the invisible walls and dark recesses of a place that shines a light too brightly for my taste. The addition of coworkers and being an administrator for a Cause (at work) has turned my private life public. That is why this will not appear on FB Networked Blogs. I need my little corner of the virtual world where I can say whatever I like without having unwanted eyes on my world.

I hate to dwell on the past, but Y!360 had it all. It was centered around the blog. I found that to be the perfect way for me to connect with people. You could assess someone’s writing skills (i.e. intelligence), their interests (interesting vs. nut job), integrity (genuine vs. sleaze ball), and potential as a friend (or stalker, psychopath, sociopath, etc). It was not perfect; some of the loonies got through, but there was always the remove button and when necessary, the block option. You could also send private messages and IM (something I have burned out on and have no patience for). Facebook has these as well, but unless you already know the person, there is little substance from which to make any assessment. I can think of only one “new” person on FB who I have engaged in meaningful discourse and he was on Y!360 – we just did not connect in time before it shut down.

I know that I will continue to use Facebook, but I will keep it light and behave… damn, I hate to behave! But since it has become as much of a social marketing tool as LinkedIn and the like, I have to keep it semi-professional – the “semi” being as much of a concession as I am willing to make. I suppose that I could create another profile, but I really don’t feel like managing two pages.

So, for now, I will post this blog (and other like it) here. If nobody sees it, so be it. I want to write without having my hands tied. I wrote before Y!360 and I will continue to write. It was nice having that audience and getting the feedback, but that option is gone – until something better comes along.

Facebook ate my Blog

Most of my facebook contacts and all of my Blogger contacts are great people from our Y360 days - and they are also great writers. These days, a blog will trickle in once in a while… a precious rarity in what was a wealth of prolific creativity. Journals, poems, rants, humor, everyday occurrences from the absurd to the sublime; from the profound to the profane… it was wonderful. I am just as guilty. Even during the busiest of times, I would post at least once a week. Now I go for weeks with nothing to say (well, nothing I am willing to commit to posting). What happened? I have a theory.

Email killed letter writing. Texting killed grammar, vocabulary, and spelling skills. Now facebook has killed blogging. It is an easy distraction from real writing. What used to be a crafted piece of work has been reduced to “Thom is…” then fill in the blank. Quick comments (except for Rob : )), silly quizzes, planting gardens, poking, super poking, sucking lollipops… etc, etc, etc. I am not saying that I don’t enjoy it. I certainly participate in it. But the time I spend doing this would be better spent writing again. Again, I have a theory about why we do this.

Many of us started out on a social networking site (Y360) that, at the center, was the blog. Said social networking site went belly up. We scattered to the four cyber winds. Some continued writing on other sites, like Multiply, Blogger, My(wasted)Space, created independent blogs, or are stubbornly holding out hope that Y360 will rise from the ashes like a virtual phoenix (don’t hold your breath). But we were never able to recreate what we had on Y360. Recently, one by one, we rediscovered each other on facebook – and I am very happy about that. Many of us also pulled in people from our past who we thought were lost to time. Wonderful! I have very happily reconnected with people I never thought I would encounter again. It is obvious that we are social creatures and we love the contact, we love to see what is happening in each other’s lives, or just have something as basic as a gauge on a friend’s mood – we were jonesing and we found our social networking fix.

But what of the real writing? We text, we Twitter, and we allow facebook to eat our blogging time. Facebook is like cocaine – you do a line, you feel good, then you do another and another and another and before you know it you are up half the night thinking something really cool has happened. I used to compose and record music this way… the next day, I would listen to what I did and it was usually pure crap.

I am glad that we have all reconnected. I thoroughly enjoy the interaction, the jokes, the flirtation, and yes, even the lollipop sucking.

But I really miss reading your wonderful blogs.