Social Media: Participating, Lurking, Yawning, Condemning?

I’ve been noticing my friends’ reaction to social media.  Seems to form a continuum, going from regular involvement on one end to disdainful rejection on the other end!  Where do you fit?

Participator

Actively engages on more than one social media platform.  Uses social networking to functionally communicate with friends and meet new people.  Doesn’t just post (status updates, tweets, blogs), but engages (commenting, following, friending) with others.  This two-way stream is a key characteristic of the full participator.

I’m reading this post on a feed aggregator while scheduling some link-candy tweets on HootSuite just before I sit down for my after-dinner Delicious organizing session – wait, got hit up on Google chat, be right back …

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Lurker

You know who you are!  You check in on others using your wife’s Facebook.  You read friends’ blogs but wouldn’t dream of putting your own out there.  The thought of signing up for things makes you ill.

The last thing I need is one more password to remember!  I won’t let you know I’m out there lurking in the shadows.

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Yawner

Apathetic.  This is probably the smallest group.  Passions tend to run hot or cold for social networking and the use of social media.

I simply don’t care how many people are following Oprah or whose blog is at the top of Technorati.  I simply don’t care – and if you ask me about a mutual friend’s Facebook status …  I. simply. don’t. care.

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Condemner

Like the Yawners, this group doesn’t engage social media; but they have a passionate disinterest!  Just ask the Condemner about Twitter and be prepared for a 10 minute diatribe on how it is useless, inane, and downright harmful to the moral fabric of the country!

Linkedin?  Yeah right – just give me a face-to-face meeting any day!  YouTube … geez, don’t get me started – I get what I need from the local news.

What’s your story?  Do you fit neatly into one of these categories or are you somewhere in between?  Give us a ‘number’ in the comments.

(BTW, if you say you’re a “Yawner” in the comments of this blog post, I’ll probably argue with you!)

Related posts:

1. Social Media: Are You More or Less Human?