Conquering Our Fear of Social Media

Up until a little over 3 years ago, I had a huge fear of Social Media. I guess you could say that I was a little old fashioned.

Now old fashioned isn’t bad, but I guess it depends on just how far back in time you want to go. At some point we are put into a position to choose whether we want to launch into the future with the rest of the world or stay stuck in a wonderful memory of things gone by.

I didn’t understand this silly need to post every little thing one was doing at home, on the road..in the bathroom…well you get the picture!

When I started blogging I didn’t realize that one of the ways that people would want to connect with me was via Social Media. I didn’t even realize that people would really want to know me or that they would be the least bit interested in my life. Who knew!?

But, I was afraid…

Afraid that someone might find out I’m not perfect, afraid that some bad guy would stalk me and steal my identity. Or maybe that someone could find out where I live and come hurt my family.

As a blogger my job is to connect with YOU! So I decided to launch out and check out this Social Media thing…to see just what kind of people lurked around out there.

This is what I found out…

There is a whole wide world of super-duper sweet people out there! People just like you and me! People that long for relationship. Moms that are at home with babies, Moms that work all different shifts and have a hard time connecting because of work schedules and family life. Women that have disabilities and love to have fellowship, but for physical reasons cannot get out frequently. Women that have been hurt, Women that want to share their love and heart with others!

I have found that Social Media opens a whole new avenue to friendships and a new way to reach out to those that otherwise might be very lonely.

It’s fun!! Now I don’t share every little thing on Social Media, but I’m learning that one of the ways people connect is by seeing things that they have in common with you! I live a very nutty life, so I’m sure it’s quite entertaining too.

In over 3 years, I’ve never had any trouble. Each Social Media avenue has its own set of safety guards, so you can feel pretty safe.

I personally didn’t want my children to leave me behind in the horse and buggy ages. With Social Media being the wave of the future, I wanted to be able to connect with my Grandchildren and my Great Grandchildren.

Yes, I want to be the expert, the one with wisdom and show them that Grammy knows her stuff and direct them in Godly ways to use Social Media for good.

If you are interested in giving Social Media a go but don’t know where to start, here is a little bit about each platform.

Facebook – Lots of communicating with others. You can share updates about yourself all day and expect to have great interaction. You can privately message friends too! Privacy Settings..yes!

Twitter – This is a super-fast moving Social Media platform. You “tweet” out to your readers just a short little tidbit of information. I mean short! It has to be 140 characters or less. Privacy Settings..yes!

Pinterest – You may have heard about the new Social Media on the block. Yes Pinterest is a type of Social Media, although many use it for gathering ideas and recipes and DIY stuff etc., you can communicate with others on it. It’s a fun one, so be careful…it’s so visually appealing that you can lose track of time. Not sure about privacy on this one, but there is no personal info given on a profile for Pinterest unless you want to.

Google + – G+ is also fairly new. It is the baby of the great and mighty Google. I love it because it has a little bit of all three of the above. Privacy Settings..yes!

Instagram – This is a platform where you can take pictures on your phone and upload to your “Instagram” for others to see. It’s a fun community of friends and followers that get to see you in your everyday life. It is part of the Twitter family. You can also upload to your Facebook. Privacy Settings..yes!