A thought came into my mind while I was watching No Reservations. What would happen when I shut down social media for a couple of days? Would anyone notice it? And can I consider my social media friends as real friends?
So I conducted a Social Media Experiment. The experiment is whether my twitter followers and/or facebook friends would realize that I was gone. Like most experiments, it will only work when you have a supporting facts. I have been using Social Media since the days of Friendster or AIM. Now, I mainly used Twitter and Facebook.
I have been using Facebook since it was made public in 2004 usually to reconnect with my high school and college friends. I do communicate with my Facebook friends either by posting on their walls or through Facebook message. Right now, I have amassed 319 Facebook friends.
As for Twitter, I have been tweeting since the last quarter of 2008. One could say that I am a "tweetaholic." I usually average at least 15 tweets a day which has resulted into a total of 31,000 tweets since 2008. If it was not for a Twitter glitch, I would had 50,000 tweets already. All that tweeting has resulted into 529 followers.
Combining Twitter followers and Facebook friends, I should have a total of 848 social media friends. But of course I don't communicate with all 848 social media friends. So I will assume that I interact with only a third plus subtracting family, relatives and really close friends, I will be down to around 250 social media friends that I interact. Still a high number but lets see what happens.
I started the experiment on during the beginning of the week. The last tweet I sent out was on Monday, March 7 at 10:04 PM and the last post on Facebook was on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:50 AM. And I went silent...
Tuesday pass and nothing. No one noticed that I haven't tweet nor posted something on my wall.
Wednesday came and I got two tweets looking for me. Now those tweets happen to during the span when I usually listen to a radio show online and do track listing. After that, it was all quiet at Twitterland. Same thing at Facebook. That night I theorized that the only time my social media friends will look for me is during the broadcast of two radio show online - Global DJ Broadcast and A State of Trance.
Thursday came and my theory was right. I had one social media friend look for me but was rebutted by another tweet which kinda caught me by surprise. It was basically like a "who cares if his not around" tweet. I had two more who look for me during the latter show which I normally tweet a lot. On the Facebook side, a friend finally posted a message on my wall looking for me after 32 hours of not posting anything. That friend was also the same friend who was the first one who tweeted looking for me.
Friday came and no tweet nor wall post.
I was pretty disappointed with the outcome of this social media experiment. I would have thought that I would have gotten at least 10 messages concerning about my whereabouts. But I didn't fill out one hand!
So now I could answer the three questions I had at the beginning of the experiment.
- What would happen when I shut down social media for a couple of days?
Nothing at all. It did make me realize how invaluable my tweets are or my existence in social media. On the positive side, it allowed me more time to work on other things that don't require tweeting or posting messages online.
- Would anyone notice it?
If you do a percentage on the number of social media friend looking for me versus the total number. It would come to a measly 2% and if you did the total number of social media friends, it doesn't even break the 1% mark (.589%). So theoretically, no one will notice if I stop using social media or even disappear except maybe when I become famous or become an important person.
- And can I consider my social media friends as real friends?
Based on this experiment, I could say that I cannot consider social media friends are real friends. Real friends would have been looking for you if they don't hear from you for awhile. But then again, everyone might be busy with their own lives that I can't expect them to look out for me. I could probably consider only one as a real friend, the only person who was the first one to look for me in Twitter and the only one who posted a message on my Facebook wall. And that person does not even leave in my town, let alone in this country.
So what's next? Well, I continue with my life. I cannot let this experiment deter me from using social media.
I broke my silence this morning....
.....time to tweet away
So I conducted a Social Media Experiment. The experiment is whether my twitter followers and/or facebook friends would realize that I was gone. Like most experiments, it will only work when you have a supporting facts. I have been using Social Media since the days of Friendster or AIM. Now, I mainly used Twitter and Facebook.
I have been using Facebook since it was made public in 2004 usually to reconnect with my high school and college friends. I do communicate with my Facebook friends either by posting on their walls or through Facebook message. Right now, I have amassed 319 Facebook friends.
As for Twitter, I have been tweeting since the last quarter of 2008. One could say that I am a "tweetaholic." I usually average at least 15 tweets a day which has resulted into a total of 31,000 tweets since 2008. If it was not for a Twitter glitch, I would had 50,000 tweets already. All that tweeting has resulted into 529 followers.
Combining Twitter followers and Facebook friends, I should have a total of 848 social media friends. But of course I don't communicate with all 848 social media friends. So I will assume that I interact with only a third plus subtracting family, relatives and really close friends, I will be down to around 250 social media friends that I interact. Still a high number but lets see what happens.
I started the experiment on during the beginning of the week. The last tweet I sent out was on Monday, March 7 at 10:04 PM and the last post on Facebook was on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:50 AM. And I went silent...
Tuesday pass and nothing. No one noticed that I haven't tweet nor posted something on my wall.
Wednesday came and I got two tweets looking for me. Now those tweets happen to during the span when I usually listen to a radio show online and do track listing. After that, it was all quiet at Twitterland. Same thing at Facebook. That night I theorized that the only time my social media friends will look for me is during the broadcast of two radio show online - Global DJ Broadcast and A State of Trance.
Thursday came and my theory was right. I had one social media friend look for me but was rebutted by another tweet which kinda caught me by surprise. It was basically like a "who cares if his not around" tweet. I had two more who look for me during the latter show which I normally tweet a lot. On the Facebook side, a friend finally posted a message on my wall looking for me after 32 hours of not posting anything. That friend was also the same friend who was the first one who tweeted looking for me.
Friday came and no tweet nor wall post.
I was pretty disappointed with the outcome of this social media experiment. I would have thought that I would have gotten at least 10 messages concerning about my whereabouts. But I didn't fill out one hand!
So now I could answer the three questions I had at the beginning of the experiment.
- What would happen when I shut down social media for a couple of days?
Nothing at all. It did make me realize how invaluable my tweets are or my existence in social media. On the positive side, it allowed me more time to work on other things that don't require tweeting or posting messages online.
- Would anyone notice it?
If you do a percentage on the number of social media friend looking for me versus the total number. It would come to a measly 2% and if you did the total number of social media friends, it doesn't even break the 1% mark (.589%). So theoretically, no one will notice if I stop using social media or even disappear except maybe when I become famous or become an important person.
- And can I consider my social media friends as real friends?
Based on this experiment, I could say that I cannot consider social media friends are real friends. Real friends would have been looking for you if they don't hear from you for awhile. But then again, everyone might be busy with their own lives that I can't expect them to look out for me. I could probably consider only one as a real friend, the only person who was the first one to look for me in Twitter and the only one who posted a message on my Facebook wall. And that person does not even leave in my town, let alone in this country.
So what's next? Well, I continue with my life. I cannot let this experiment deter me from using social media.
I broke my silence this morning....
.....time to tweet away
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