Nuke the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.

The arrival of Google+ has prompted me to rethink my use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter for publishing information and status updates. Already, some friends have moved away from Twitter and it has made me realise that the networks are gatekeepers to my friendships.

Something I read about social networks a while ago stuck in my mind… that ourselves and our relationships are being commoditised – we are the product.

Without question, social networks make it easier than ever for us to stay connected and make new connections – but I fear our voices are getting diluted across the ever growing social media landscape.

It occurs to me that as the number of social networks I participate on increases that my presence on each diminishes and my friends become more distributed. Furthermore, the energy required to maintain a cohesive mental model of who belongs where is becoming too great.

For many years I maintained a blog, but moved into Twitter and Facebook as the barrier to sharing tidbits of news and occasional photos was substantially lower than publishing a new post on my blog. As my friends were all users in the same spaces it made little difference – but now my friends are fragmented all over the place.

This post symbolises a change of strategy. I don’t think the solution is some kind of aggregator, but is to relocate.

I think I’m going to hangout here for a while.

And to see how easy it is to publish with modern tools, here’s a photo of my dog Millie.

Namaste.