Why do you have more than one social media and/or email identity?
Today I was tidying up my Google+ page and found two other Google+ me’s. I have five gmail accounts that I use regularly – four are connected with social media accounts that serve the public, and one is personal. I have five Twitter and six Facebook pages. Again, all serving a specific purpose.
Every time I come up with a new idea I get tempted to create another social media account. However, I can barely keep up with the ones I have now. I have a relatively good following on one brand name (3.5K between Twitter and FB). I use Hootsuite to manage everything.
This is what I have. The question, though, is why do I have more than one? For me, it’s my creative outlet. I like to write. I like to be heard. I like to be useful. I don’t think it’s vanity, but the amount of “I” statements listed here do not make me innocent of being vain.
Sometimes I wonder if my use of social media consumes too much of my energy. If I were to close all of the above mentioned accounts, then I feel I would be forced to find another way to express my creativity.
The biggest factor influencing my interaction on the Internet is the amount of time I have on my hands. I am on permanent disability, unable to work full-time as I would prefer. Social media connects me with people and alleviates the loneliness I feel from being housebound 24/7 (with the exception of medical appointments).
This is my why. What’s your why?
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9 Answers
”Sometimes I wonder if my use of social media consumes too much of my energy.”
Yes! Pull the plug. You don’t need that many accounts.
Me? I have four eMail accounts: work, personal, professional, and spam. I have this here Fluther account. And… that’s it.
No Twitter, no Facebook, no Instagram, Pintrest, Google+, Tumblr, etc.
At the moment, I have no need for any of them.
Disability or not, if it got to that phase in my life I’d consider making changes. The internet can be an empty lonely fruitless place to be. I’d rather set up visits with people (if I was physically disabled) that I could attend.
I am currently on disability for mental illness, which is highly debilitating. However, I use my time in various ways, including study, cooking, going for walks (which is super tough) and trying to join support groups. Nothing can replace real human contact and nothing should. The internet in this respect should be second best, if it weren’t I’d make sure it was. I have one email account and that is it. (No other profiles).
I can barely keep up with my primary identity. Fiddling with the passwords I have for my one email account is almost my undoing. Extra accounts seem unrelated to creativity, however.
Can you not write, be heard, and be useful using only one identity?
I have three email accounts. One I actually use. The other two I don’t. I created one by force because I wanted to be able to comment on stories posted on AOL and they make you have an AOL email. I never use it or check it.
The other I created as a junk email. Anytime I am prompted for an email to interact I use that one. I also never use or check that one.
I do not use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and so on. I get irritated when I can’t access something because you have to sign up using your Facebook. I will not be forced into it, dammit!
I have Hearkat for most of my social internet accounts, as I created this handle for online interactions which were primarily with strangers back in the day. I later created FB accounts in my given name when the general population started joining – one for friends and family, and another for work-related interactions, as this was before FB allowed you to group your friends and select who could see a particular post.
I don’t. I have multiple email accounts, but my Yahoo is for personal stuff, my Outlook is for work, and my Gmail is so I can log into YouTube and not much else. One Facebook, one unused Twitter, one unused Pinterest, one hardly used Instagram, and one account each on any forum/site I frequent like Fluther and MyFitnessPal. Never more than one account on the same website, though.
I have a gmail account using my given name, a yahoo mail account I’ve had for about 12 years for more anonymous situations, like craigslist responses. Of course I have a work related email address, but that’s strictly for work.
And, I have a couple of very similar screen names. I adopted zenvelo because the other one was more specific about where I live.
But I only have one FB, one twitter, one tumblr, one linkedin. Anything more gets too damn confusing and too damn intensive
No, I only use one fb, one email, one me for everything personal.
When I notice someone using multiples, not gonna lie, my BS meter goes off.
@gailcalled – I could use one account to make my voice heard, the account I began with and has the most fans / followers.
I need to use two other accounts (brand name for both Twitter and Facebook) because I started a business (an actual s-corp). So, those are used for marketing purposes.
There’s one brand name (Twitter & FB) I use for my personal handmade stuff that I want to sell on Etsy.
Plus, I started a website for people who are LGBT and alumni / friends of a Christian college that I graduated from years ago. So, there’s a Twitter / FB account for that website.
Finally, I have my personal email, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn accounts. Those serve for socializing and networking.
I cannot promote my biz on my personal accounts because it would drive my friends away. Who wants to read self-promoting stuff on their FB wall?
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