Am I Vain for Wanting to Connect?

Before I went to PodCamp Hawaii, I had just under 240 friends on Facebook, just over 30 contacts on LinkedIn, and perhaps 20 followers on Twitter.  As I write this, my Facebook friends number 290, my LinkedIn contacts 63, and my Twitter followers 67.  Of course, this is what happens when you put a bunch of people who all use the same social media together, we connect.

When I first joined Facebook, I had 40 friends within the first 48 hours – and these were all close, real life friends.  I’ll be honest, I have actually set a goal of 300 on Facebook and 75 on LinkedIn by the end of this year.  But I don’t want to add them just for the sake of it.  Instead, I connect to people I know in real life and then add them to my social network.  Having these numbers go up just means I’m confirming my relationships with these people, right?  I think this is an extension of the simple human desire to engage with others and be communal.  I’m sure there is academic information out there, but I am rushing to get this post up.

Facebook has allowed me to connect with some people that I’ve known since before Kindergarten, but haven’t seen or spoken to in several years.  LinkedIn has allowed me to confirm and grow my current professional network – a good thing for a young professional.  And you can really connect!  You can go beyond just names and phone numbers to see what someone is up to, how they feel, and any random thoughts they share.  There is a lot to be said of the value of stitching together vignettes of someone’s life via mundane notes like what they ate for dinner.  I even know what’s going on in my sister’s life in New York, 5,000 miles away from me, without having to talk to her.  I still call her, but with our busy schedules and the six hour time difference (5 hours after tomorrow), Facebook makes it easy to connect without having to do creative scheduling.  In some ways, I feel I know some people even better now.  Of course, someone can use all this information to stalk others, but that’s a whole different discussion.

My fiancee says it’s my addictive personality.  Just look at how often and much I blog or go on Facebook.  And don’t even get me started on the Knighthood app on Facebook.  But I counter by pointing out that my vices (like my OCD tendencies) are productivity- or professional-related.  So, can they really be called vices?  I don’t think so.  Maybe it’s because she teaches in a classroom full of energetic Kindergarteners all day while I sit at a computer all day at work and then most of the night when I get home.

So, what do you think?  Am I wrong to want to connect via social networks?  Or vain?  Or weird?  And have you connected with me online on: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter?  And if you aren’t on one of these, you should be.

Mahalo!

Tagged as: facebook, knighthood, linkedin, PodCamp, Twitter