“I think I have multiple personalities.” I confess to my friend Aya.
“What do you mean?” as she sips her cold latté because I had forgotten to give earlier amidst the demands of my precocious toddler.
“I’m on all these different social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. On each one, I’m a different person. Pinterest is actually the one I’m most insecure about. It challenges my genuine attempts of just being me, because almost everything I pin is what I aspire for, not what I actually have, or even find the time to make, less alone succeed in making it resemble what ever was pinned. “I nervously spew out.
“Is there actually something wrong with that?” she asks. “We all are multifaceted people anyway. Why just limit yourself, put yourself in a box? Have fun with it girl. Isn’t the idea of Pinterest a world of make-believe any way? I should actually get on it for some design inspiration for my new apartment.”
I nod and smile in agreement. Aya is gorgeous, smart, witty, down-to-earth, generous and kind. Men (and women) melt at her feet. She knows it and we love her even more because of it. We don’t see each other much but she’s a kindred spirit. I love hearing about her glamorous life, her latest travel adventures and plans and how she’s settling in her new temporary home in Luxembourg.
A quick google search “social media and multiple personalities” confirms my suspicions that I’m not alone in feeling this way. It also intuitively makes sense. All of these social media platforms have different focuses and target groups, facilitating different types of interactions and promoting certain behaviors.
Being on various social media outlets is simply the industry standard for bloggers. It’s something that I just need to be a part of in order to reach my audience. Balancing it all – being present in the virtual world as well as the real-flesh-in-blood kind or world- is an entirely different discussion (blog post).
What I do know is that a healthy dose of all these social media platforms has made my life as the only American stay-at-home in my Dutch village a whole lot less lonely. And because of it, I get to explore different aspects of myself and “meet” people around the world who I may never have met before. And I couldn’t resist sharing with you guys an overview of my different personas.
This is where you can find Finding Dutchland (me) and what kind of personality you can expect:
Facebook
Aside from the blog, my Facebook page is my other “homebase”. Here I’m a storyteller. It’s where I love sharing random tidbits of my life, what interests me and my latest blog posts. In fact, I actually update it more regularly than my own private Facebook account and blog. It’s where my biggest supporters are, my people. I love how it’s evolving into a community where there’s actual discussions and commentary.
Instagram
This is my second favorite social media network. On Instagram, I get to play the role of a photojournalist. It’s a place where I get to capture moments of my everyday family life, snapshots of where I’m writing, and glimpses of our family’s travels. Though I miss the feel of my DSLR in my hands, practicing iPhoneography on a daily basis with my vintage IPhone 5s is fun and convenient. It’s basically a modern day baby book and journal.
Pinterest
Perhaps the best description of Pinterest that I ever come across is that it brings out the “aspirational housewife in all of us“. It’s essentially a grown-up version of make-believe, a fantasy world where we can all exchange ideas and momentarily get away from reality. As someone who is not a crafty DIY person, it was kind of intimidating. When I discovered that 80% of pins on Pinterest were re-pins, it confirmed my suspicions that I was like almost everyone else – just following along to the brilliant and drool worthy ideas of a very select group of content creators. But I’m having lots of fun anyways collecting ideas of what I want, aspire to have and dream to experience. And hopefully since I have my heart on blogging more lifestyle-themed posts, I could also contribute and curate my own content to share.
Twitter
After all this time, I’m still getting the hang of Twitter. Sometimes I still get the feeling like I’m on the floor of the New York stock exchange, you know the kind that you see in the morning news with stock-traders yelling, holding wads of paper and pacing back-and-forth. Initially, everyone seems to be screaming something, all shouting at each other and not really doing much listening. I do appreciate, however, how it’s allowed me to connect with my favorite writers/bloggers and to have them follow me back makes me feel special. Whether or not they may actually know that I’m also an aspiring writer, or simply following me back for courtesy sake, I love being able to just tweet directly at them and perhaps even have a conversation. For the most part though, it’s primarily where I love to share articles that come up on my Feedly right before I head to bed. With a limitation of only 140 characters, it’s also the fastest way to get my attention.
