Thoughts on social networking

Well, like about a thousand other people yesterday (I'll bet), I started a blog. Who knows what it will amount to? So far my experiences with social networking have been mixed.

I started a Facebook account because Dave, one of my fellow cohorts from the Peace Corps, encouraged me to do so, so we could keep in touch better. But I only made a few entries there. It seems like Facebook is geared toward people who already know each other personally and just want to let one other know what they're doing. Since I don't have that many friends (or want to know a lot of trivia about their lives), do I really have a need for that? I could just exchange emails with Dave instead, I guess.

Next, I started a Twitter account (mdnutter), which I found I like doing much better. You can meet a lot of interesting people there. It seems like it's geared more toward people sharing ideas with one another, who don't necessarily know each other but would like to be in some kind of virtual, like-minded community. So far I've met, and become "fellow-travelers" with, an anarchist from Nova Scotia and a radical professor of anthropology at a college in Montreal (whose blog [zeroanthropology] supplied the quote from W.B. Yeats that I adapted for the title of my blog). How could I so easily come into contact with such people, except over the internet!

I also want to start sharing blogs, if possible, with another blogger whose blog I came across awhile ago. He's a guy who lives without money in a cave in Utah, Daniel Suelo (who is also an ex-Peace Corps guy). It doesn't seem like he's blogged much lately, but I can add him as someone I "follow," so when he does blog next I'll know. Neat, eh?