Day 61: A Seesmic Shift... or a Social Networking Speedball?

What's an addict to do? It has been 61 days since I started the "program" and while I have experienced fleeting moments of social networking sobriety (mostly when asleep, or confined to an aircraft cruising at 30,000 feet) I still find myself lured back into the dark world of Twitter. As I wander the streets, Treo in hand, it seems there is an @somebody on every corner, teasing and taunting me to just give them 140 characters for a fix...

A Seesmic Shift

Now there's a new drug of choice (isn't there always!) If tapping a vein with Text is not enough to get you off anymore, you can feed the demon with VIDEO using Seesmic. Why think and type when you can make funny faces and talk right into your webcam??? Better yet, my Seesmic Videos go directly into my Twitter feed. What a rush! Who needs Heroin and Cocaine to get high... Seesmic and Twitter is my Social Networking Speedball!

Thanks to my new "dealer", Loic Le Meur, I am feeling a bit trapped, and will have to extend my stay at INVITATIONS...



Video by @sass. "Shift" Photo Credit: charles taylor - Fotolia.com

Day 43: Top 10 Reasons YOU Need Social Networking Rehab

(This post was inspired by Laura Fitton (@pistachio) and Lorri Randle (@mediajoltz) while we were Tweeting things up together in Ontario at the PNME. If you can say "YES" to four or more of the items below, then YOU should seriously consider joining me for an extended stay at INVITATIONS, the Nation's Premiere Social Networking Recovery Facility.)

Top 10 Reasons YOU Need Social Networking Rehab:

10. You have tried to email or IM someone by typing "@theirname".

9. You had to Friend your Physician on Facebook in order to make a Doctor's appointment.

8. You know who Robert Scoble is.

7. Without counting, you can instinctively form cohesive sentences of 140 characters or less.

6. You know who Dave Winer is and don't think RSS is a Cruise Line.

5. You have Twittered someone while they were physically less than 10 feet away from you.

4. You don't think Steve Rubel was one of the founders of STUDIO 54.

3. You left your baby in a car seat on the roof of your minivan because you were responding to an @Yourname Tweet on your Blackberry.

2. You are stressed out trying to figure out how to fit all your Facebook friends at the table for Thanksgiving.

And the number 1 reason YOU need Social Networking Rehab...

1. You are reading this post (and you linked to it from a Twitter message!)


Photo Credit: hazel proudlove - Fotolia.com

Day 42: Breakfast of Champions???

When my therapist here at the INVITATIONS Social Networking Recovery facility granted me a short leave to go have breakfast with Jeff Pulver at Mo's Bagel & Deli, I had no idea it would lead to a stiff reprimand and a complete re-evaluation of the state of my recovery and the seriousness of my addiction. Unfortunately, chronic blogger that he is, Jeff P. had his camera along with his toast, and thanks to his little video, my recovery is toast too! Jeff documented my admission of what I was really doing during my recent trip to Ontario California, which was like a visit to a Twitter revival meeting. Really, the New Media Expo was like a Crackhouse for Twitter users.

Thanks to Jeff posting his video of me on YouTube, I was found out by the staff here at INVITATIONS. They now have me on a 24/7 Twitter-watch.

Thanks alot Jeff! You have single handedly PULVER-ized my chances of ever getting out of here again!

Day 40: PNME - Convention or Crackhouse?

It's Day 40 of Social Networking Rehab and I am a twittering mess -- literally and figuratively. I feel like I have taken 12 steps forward... and 40 steps backward! What happened to my will power? My discipline? My text messaging bill???

WHO EVER HEARD OF ONTARIO CALIFORNIA? OBVIOUSLY TWITTER USERS!

I met very few Canadians in Ontario, but there were Twittizens everywhere. It was inescapable. People were not asking for business cards or phone numbers, they were clinking their Blackberries and iPhones together and asking "Who are you on Twitter?" If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say "@" I'd be rich enough to buy the Twitter team some servers that actually work! As I said in this recent Twittergram, attending the the Podcast and New Media Expo was like being in a Crackhouse for Twitter users. It was insane! People strolled aimlessly through the halls of the convention center, thumbing away on their portable device of choice as if it was a divining rod leading them to their next destination. And it WAS! If you followed the popular Twitter streams you knew EXACTLY where everyone was, and what they were doing... what they were eating, drinking, who they were talking to, what they were wearing, who they were stalking, who was stalking them, where they were going to be in five minutes, in ten minutes, a week from Tuesday. The information flowing through the Twitter stream at PNME was flooding the banks of my sanity!

WHAT'S AN ADDICT TO DO???

Seeking refuge I ducked into one of the conference sessions. The Steve Garfield, Vlogger extraordinaire, was standing at the podium, about to give a dissertation on creating, editing, and posting your own Video Blog. Perfect. I could relax, free of all the bad influences of the Twitter enablers. I let out a well deserved sigh of relief, forgot about Twitter, and sat back in my chair to listen and watch a master display his craft.

NOT SO MUCH!

What does Steve do? He uses TWITTER as his subject! Yes kids, to demonstrate making your own video, the venerable @stevegarfield decided to create "TWITTER: THE MOVIE!" live, from the PNME vlogging session. And better yet, like lightning striking twice, Steve glances out into the crowd and picks ME to be one of the "actors" in his Twitter production. Alanis Morissette, are you listening? THIS is IRONIC! A recovering Social Networking Addict, who's drug of choice is Twitter, is randomly chosen to star in "TWITTER: THE MOVIE!"

No wonder my 28 days are now up to 40!!!





Photo Credit: Dima - Fotolia.com