I remember the moment when I was about to
hit the ‘share publicly’ button for the first time in my life. I felt butterflies
in my stomach. I felt terrified. I thought: Now
everybody’s going to see my post. What if I’ve made some mistakes in it? What
it if someone finds it awkward and irritating? Well, I finally hit the button and
waited. Nothing really huge happened but something did happen. I stepped out of
my comfort zone.
What I love about social media is the fact
that when there’s something on your mind you just say it and people have the
choice to listen or ignore you. I also like the fact that social media make
you think twice before you 'utter' the words because you never know who’s listening or
reading, and it's difficult to take your words back. I’m an impatient and a quick-tempered person so this is a good
exercise for me. I'm also self-conscious and I care about what people think. But being too self-conscious is not good because it can sometimes prevent you from doing good things. Social media help me gradually become aware of the fact that I CAN achieve good things and share them with others.
I feel that participating in social media is like having
your second identity and as this second identity grows more and more confident, the
first identity starts to believe in itself as well. I know...it’s dangerous to
become overconfident but mind you, people on Twitter or Facebook won’t let
you boast or patronize because they have the choice to ignore you.
What I love about blogging is the
fact that while you go public you stay partially anonymous; you can concentrate on
what you are writing and you don’t have to focus on what you are wearing
at the moment or what facial expressions you are
making. Of course, if you want to take a step further you can record your
voice and make a short video of you speaking, which is a BIG step for somebody
who’s just stepped out of their comfort zone. I believe this takes a lot of courage; so my admiration for those who have already gone through that stage! :-)
And one more point to conclude with; some say that social media are rather
superficial. But is it really a bad thing that somebody reads your post just
because they are trying to be nice to you? Is it really bad if they try to
support you with a few positive comments because they know what it feels like
to be a newcomer? Is it bad that they read your posts because they want you to
read theirs? Yes, it is ..... provided that politeness, support and communication are bad things too....