Am I Not Social?

I really do not like most social media.  Facebook drives me crazy with the way they control what I see by showing me what facebook thinks I want to see.  If that is confusing, that is how I feel about it.  I was told way back when by the social media gurus that I would sell lots of art on facebook.  In my case that is just not true.  To use facebook in a "sell" mode, I think you need to post art, photos of your art, on a regular basis and really push it via e-mail, newsletters, etc.  I haven't done that and do not plan on it.  I visit almost daily to see "family" stuff which mostly now is reposts of food and jokes.  I won't even look at political rants.  When I get fed up,  I just don't look for a week or more.

When I do post art on my art page on facebook it is automatically posted to Twitter.  I tweet about the Texas Longhorn baseball and music shows we go to.  I check in there maybe weekly. Not often enough to carry on tweet conversations.  By the time I tweet, the conversation is a week old.  Again not a favorite spot to linger.

I also joined LinkedIn.  I haven't looked at that in months.  It seemed like a good business idea, but I don't know how or care how to take advantage.

Also I'm on Instagram and Pinterest.  I just don't use them often enough for anyone to get to know me.

All these things are very time consuming and I end up feeling frustrated and like I'm wasting time.

That brings me to the Blog world.  This I like.  I control what I send out when I want to send it.  I have my blog to look the way I want it to.  I have links and fun with it.  I have not set my blogs to go to Google+ automatically, but share when I post my art.

Private Property, from the archives

Pastel on mounted Canson paper

16 x 20 inches

In private collection

I could never keep a journal and this has been a great way for me to document my art and ideas.  I didn't believe that I would keep up when I started in 2006.  But here I am!

This is not the most popular social medium, now.  But for me it is the one I like.  I don't have thousands of followers but I connect with people I enjoy.  I have met several bloggers in person and have made some great friendships.  wetcanvas.com ties in with my blogging world through my sketching and painting and I have made great friends there, too.

I follow roughly 200 blogs.  That is not as many posts to read as it seems because few people blog daily and of course I can't read that many every day anyway.  There is no time to visit the blogs individually so I use a reader.

I use NetNewsWire as my reader because I have more control over it.  I can just open it when I am ready to read blogs.  It lists the blogs and new posts down the sidebar.  I know right away who has posted new posts since I last read them.  It doesn't throw ads and suggestions of who to follow in my face.

I can read blogs in the app without actually visiting the blog, well, most of them.  A few artists do not allow the whole blog to be posted in a reader and then you have to visit their blog.  They want that for their "page count".  I don't click over on those unless I really want to see their post.  So my reading of their blogs doesn't count for them unless I click over.

In the reader I can click to the blogs and comment and be on their pages for interaction without having to use a separate browser.  All in one place.  Convenient.

My blog reflects my art and my life.  I haven't been painting much, am I retiring by default? So you are stuck with sketching and Jo's Thoughts......  Hmmmm.