So I have been doing more reading and thinking about the new “social media”…especially relevant after my recent arrival on Facebook!. According to a NYT story on the Austin Festival South By SouthWest, folks attending the most successful part of the festival are not musicians…they are people dealing in the new media!!! Says the NYT, however, that the folks creating content seem too busy to have time to consume it! And in any case, I wonder…what does this content really mean? Do I really gain from knowing that my 21 year old nephew is “stoked” about an upcoming weekend of sports? (Which, in my old fashioned mind, might mean simply a weekend of watching too much television!) What about the old friend who thinks Florida is too pretty? What am I gaining here? What is the content?
It feels to me like I am entering a whole new culture. But the question for me is, does the connection pay off or does it simply mean a huge loss of privacy? What do the young people out there think? What does it mean to be truly connected?
Life is Amazing! Live Well.
Anna
Life and Thoughts at Lifeinbalancecoach.com 
It’s a trade off, which is why most social media services have privacy controls. Just as your blog title infers, keeping things in balance is key.
Be sure to make liberal use of each services privacy features, as well as being conscious as to what you’re saying on these services. I think you’ll find that if you’re able to achieve that balance, then the connections are worth it.
Anna, it’s my personal opinion that social media has been hurt by the way it was initially set-up. The Facebook status starts with your name and is meant to tell you what the person is doing right now. Many people treat Twitter the same way because that is how it was originally intended. However, if people are able to look beyond this, there are so many possibilities. That little snippet of information, can be anything – breaking news, a great recommendation, useful website, a poll, etc.
Whenever something big happens in Austin, I hear about it first on Twitter. As a REALTOR, I can see the future of social media as being a place where you can learn about new listings and real estate developments first. It’s the fastest way I’ve seen for information spread, and there’s where I see the value. If people would just stop telling me what they had for lunch and say something interesting. 🙂