TWITTER AND SOCIAL MEDIA

     This week I have been studying social media and the effects it has on my life. Below are just a few thoughts I have on the subject. Everyone has their own opinions and uses for social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and I would love to hear how social media plays a role in your life, so please feel free to comment!

     To start, I would like to say that I've had a Facebook account for about ten years now. However, I am new to twitter. Most of the experiences and opinions I express, therefore, mostly come from Facebook.

     I use my Facebook account as a resource for finding new areas to explore. For this reason, I would have to say my top 3 people/organizations that I follow would have to be: 1.) Girls Who Hike Oregon, 2.) Hiking In The Pacific Northwest, and 3.) Oregon Hikers. Yes, they are all hiking pages! Don't worry, I'm also apart of some Colorado and Utah groups as well. I just utilize the Oregon pages more frequently for funding reasons!

     I see a lot of  Facebook status's that I find interesting and/or funny. Those are great for entertainment purposes when I'm bored, but the status's that I enjoy reading and find very useful to apply to my life are those that I find on my hiking pages and groups. The best status update I've seen lately is a video posted about the 15 best one night backpacking trips in Oregon. This post stood out to me because I find it very useful. I do a lot of hiking and backpacking but don't always have a few days to go on trips. It's nice to find information and reviews on places I can go on an adventure with a limited amount of time.

     If you've read the above paragraph instead of skipping through this blog post, you might get the idea that I use social media to enhance my life outside of electronics. My main purpose of having any type of social media account is to be able to get information on places I'm interested in visiting. I feel that social media has enhanced my ability to experience these amazing adventures that I otherwise might not know about. I would definitely have to say that's about the only way social media of any kind has enhanced my participation in anything, including democracy and government. The only reason why I participate in social media is to broaden my horizons on places to explore. That, and I'm a business/marketing major, so obviously social media activity definitely is a must!

     I'm very interested in knowing what others use social media and networking for in their lives! Please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks!