Let's get all Freudian/Jungian...

How Does Social Media Make You Feel?

     Are you a seasoned "pro" who flies through status updates and shares posts from across the web at the speed of light? Are you busy exploring posts and keeping your thoughts, comments and opinions to yourself or are you huddled in the corner of your online sphere, endlessly mopping beads of nervous sweat from your brow unsure exactly what to post to your timeline, wall or feed? Does online social engagement feel more like the high-school hallway of heaven of your dreams or the hell of your worst high-school nightmare? Are you now starring in the global social show of the century as the popular über-stud or rejected über-cybernerd? Do Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google+ and other such social platforms excite and inspire your bones or do find them boring, terrifying or brutally annoying? Does Social Web 2.0 signal the righteous emergence of a shifting cultural paradigm for mankind or the-self-serving-narcissistic-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it?

    Are you checking in or are you checking out?

 

     I've made it a personal mission of mine to be a more positive person. It's not that I'm a gloomy bastard or an asshole or anything quite that drastic, it just means that I often find myself incredibly frustrated with the efforts, or the perceived lack thereof, of other people. I also get incredibly annoyed by what I consider to be the continuing proliferation and propagation of old, out-dated, antiquated and unreasonable ways of thinking. You may have noticed this with my last few posts. It's something I've been passionately struggling with since I was 19 years old.

     What can I say? I just believe with every part of my being that something greater than this way of life is possible...for everyone. To quote my friend and mentor Daniel Quinn, “If the world is saved, it will be saved by people with changed minds, people with a new vision." So I promise that although I will be transparent in my feelings and ideas I would like to promise you (and myself!) that negativity and angst is not going to be the overall tone of this blog.

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         With a not-so-subtle tip of the hat to the widely popular Saturday Evening Post of a world gone by, I have elected to create The Sunday Evening Post (and corresponding #SEP "hashtag" for any of you uninitiated Twitter users out there) in an attempt to establish a weekly ritual for sharing an eclectic collection of inspiring stories and insightful links from across the Web. While this unique online presentation is available for everyone to enjoy, it's geared toward local small business owners and supporters who might, like me, struggle to find enough time during the work week to catch up on some of the relevant information being shared across the ever-expanding array of social media platforms.

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