What Am I Doing with Social Media?

This is going to be one of those honest posts.  Don't worry it's not going to be as shockingly honest as that last honest post.

I have a lot of friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter and now Google Plusers (still not sure if I like that term).  Sometimes people will be friended or circled by someone like me with a lot of connections and want to steer clear because they think I am up to some nefarious endeavor. Hence this post.

So what am I really doing with social media? What is my goal?  You'll be surprised and you might not believe me.  Some of you won't trust me and still think I'm up to something mischievous.  The rest of you will know it's just my honest, goofy self.

At heart I am a teacher.  For years now I have been a genealogical instructor and speaker.  I like to help people expand their knowledge so that they can better track down their family history.  Years ago before I was into genealogy, I was a volunteer as an English as a Second Language instructor for adults.  The idea of learning and education has been in my core right from the start.

I am also a connector.  I like to meet people.  I also like to connect people who don't know each other.  When two people who have common interests and would benefit from making a connection, I like to help make that happen. 

I like to grow things and have fun.  When I was in high school I belonged to a club called AFS (American Field Service) which sponsored exchanges with foreign students.  When I joined the club as a freshman it was small and dwindling.  By the time I graduated it was a large thriving club.  What did the club do? We had fun! And we got to know students from other countries which is another thing I really loved.  There was no purpose to it except to build a fun club with people of like interests who we wanted to spend time with.

So back to social media.  Wrap all that stuff up together and add a little internet and social media and there you have me now.  My sinister goal is to find people on the fringe/working solo who are interested in genealogy and bring them into a greater community so that they can learn more, become better genealogists and find companionship with people who have similar interests. 

Am I selling something? No, not yet. Though some day I would like to write some books and hopefully someone will buy those. But don't hold your breath because I've been saying that for a long time.  No wait, I am selling something! You can buy my last webinar on CD from Legacy Family Tree! I forgot about that.  Feel free to buy lots of copies and give them to all your family members! :)

Am I being secretly sponsored or paid to promote content? Yeah, I wish!  Thank you for thinking that I am a big fish in a small pond but corporate sponsors don't agree that I am.  Besides, I've determined that nothing is going to alter my voice or opinion.  I want to write or say whatever comes into my head and having total autonomy over that works best for me.

So there you have it. That's what I'm all about with social media.  So let's connect, learn, have great discussions, have fun and get on with it!

Photo Credit: Photo by isforinsects and used under the creative commons license.