Social Media ~ Blog-Savvy Accreditation

When my blog-savvy friend, Suzanna Stinnett, approached me with the opportunity to be a part of the blog addressing Emergence of The Self In Social Media and asked me the question, “How is your “SELF” emerging in Social Media?” I immediately thought of my most recent baby steps into this new, unfamiliar world of blogging: Facebook. The emergence of my “SELF” was uncomfortable. My culture code forbade me to bring attention to who I am, what I did, my desires and opinions, and for goodness sake, “don’t brag about yourself” was something I grew up with. So, it is not surprising to admit that after attending a Social Media Mappers Workshop in Marin, it still took me a month and four hours to break through my fears and get my own Facebook profile launched. I remember, I was sitting at a local café that had free WIFI in two-hour intervals, but in order to get on, you had to ask the barista for a passcode. I was fast becoming someone who frequented coffee shops not only with a blank journal but with their WIFI ready computer as well. Even though it was free, I felt obligated to buy a machiatto every two hours to be able to stay online to work on my Facebook profile. Peet's was fast becoming my new office space and home away from home.

I approached my new worldwide web playground with much caution and excitement intermingled with threads of fear. I’m sure the turning feeling in my stomach was caused by my freefall into the unknown and the effects of caffeine overdose. I found myself inserting and deleting information and pictures about myself. My inner dialogue was completely present and ready to warn and criticize my entries: you can’t put that down, don’t say where you live, you’re going to insert that picture! The main thing that got me through all my internal interruptions was peer pressure. Yes, it doesn’t stop at high school. My peers were now the “big boy bloggers” like Suzanna and even my own children, and their friends, freely romping the internet and connecting with other bloggers all around the world. I had been a mere speck in the population and a rare consumer of internet products, who cringed every time I typed my credit card number into the payment template that boasted a secure site. Nevertheless, a credit card transaction was one thing, but my personal life on the worldwide web for everyone to see was a whole new paradigm to envision and learn to embrace.

Six espresso shots later, I was finally satisfied with my first attempt at creating my profile and clicked on the button that made it official. I knew life as I had known it was about to change in a drastic way, and I would never be the same. In fact, it was an opportunity to find out who I was in our global community. I was creating my Universal Identity, my voice, and the writer in me and desire to attain blogger-savvy accreditation overrode my fear.