Can We Talk about Social Networks for a Minute?

**Please note - this has been a lousy cloudy, gray and moody day. On top of 2 weeks of flu and other ailments in this house. I'm crabby, cranky and in need of a serious day off or several drinks. Move on if you aren't in the mood to read about me whining.**

How many are you part of? Can you count them all? Do you remember all your passwords to all of them? When was the last time you logged into each one?

I have to confess that I am a part of the social network nightmare. Facebook, MySpace (which I haven't accessed in ages), CafeMom, Twitter, MomDot, Launchpad, and probably some that I can't even remember. And I make the rounds daily (except for the forementioned MySpace). On top of that you have the whole blogging thing where I'm posting and reading and commenting.

Ask me why I'm part of all these things. To gain traffic for my blog. And why do I blog? Because someday I would love to find my writing in a newspaper article like my hero Erma Bombeck. Or in a magazine. I would love to be paid to do what I love - write.

Somewhere along the way someone sold me the idea that if I network with all these other tech savvy people and I put my name out there and I share my links everywhere I can and I comment and post, I would grow my traffic and therefore gain "a presence" on the web and have a better chance at making my dream a reality.

Ask me if any of it has worked. Not so much. Even among the networks centered around blogging, so many people are working on their own publicity and writing that they don't have time to comment and visit and share driving traffic. So what is the point?

And if the whole lack of effect wasn't enough lets get to the issue of how small of a ripple I actually make in the social network world. Facebook friends - 6 from college and 2 sisters in law. Friends from high school? 0. Bloggy buddies? 0.

I wasn't cut out for this whole online life.

I Wonder about Priorities.

I tried very hard to stay out of the Twitter/Motrin firestorm this weekend. Ok, so maybe "tried very hard" is a bad choice of words. I tried to ignore the Twitter/Motrin firestorm.


In case you missed it, Motrin had an ad in the que that offended mom's who use slings and other baby carriers to keep their children close. **I refuse to use the phrase baby wearing or any version thereof because children are not clothes. You wear the sling and carry the child in it. You do not wear a baby.** They referenced to this parenting style as a fad and insinuated that mothers who do it are trying to prove something - that they are "official moms" because they practice this form of bonding.


What does this have to do with priorities? Everywhere I turned this weekend this was on the front burner causing all kinds of outrage and back and forth. Not all of it was handled with grace (very little actually in my opinion!) and even more comments looked just a touch hysterical. Women were outraged! They actually managed to crash Motrin's website expressing their displeasure. The ad, by the way, is being pulled from everywhere they can catch it so your "approach" worked.


Congratulations for being outspoken on a cause you felt worthy. But really? An ad for a pain reliever? That's what you are willing to get outraged about? As Trish over at MomDot said, where is the outrage over land mines? World hunger? Children in our own country who don't have health care or even food and clothing? Where are the advocates for the crack babies that are screaming in hospital nurseries?


I understand that you feel like society as a whole looks at you cross eyed when they see you with your child in the sling. Let 'em! You made your choice. Stick to it and go about your business. Who cares what they think? I think your socks are ugly! Does this mean you rush to your sock drawer and change socks? Am I going to get a UPS fleet pulling into my driveway dropping off boxes of "protest socks?" Get a grip! Do your parenting your way and let society stick it in their ear.


You are willing to rail at the wind and scream offense because someone posted a 60 second ad about your parenting practices. Are you willing to take the 2, 3 or however many hours you spent on this this weekend and donate them to delivering flowers to nursing homes? Or serve in a soup kitchen? Or take canned goods to a food pantry? You do realize of course that long after that ad campaign would have been completed there still will be hungry children and people in general who need just a little love and human compassion. Why in the world would anyone put so much energy into something so trivial when there are so many other worthy and in my opinion more important matters to address?


The next time something causes you outrage could you do me a favor? Really stop for a minute and ask if it's really THAT important. Is this something that will pass? Can you put your outraged energies into helping someone else?


I promise. You can carry your child in your sling while you do it.