seeking balance in the world of social media

Taking a Twitter/Facebook/social media “time out” between Christmas Eve and the New Year was the best thing I’ve done for myself in ages. I’m not one to wax poetic on sappy end-of-year round ups or make New Year’s resolutions, but stepping away from Tweetdeck helped put my cyber priorities into perspective.

There are so many things I love about social media – all of the new friends I’ve made – many of whom I’ve been fortunate enough to meet in real life (or “IRL” in Twitterspeak), being part of an interactive, international forum of writers, travelers, foodies and creative types (few things in my globetrotting world are as fun as Travelers’ Night In, a.k.a. #TNI), and the fact that I was able to use this tool to fund (and now share) The Global Citizen Project.

Twitter, Facebook, blogging and whatever other social media outlets you partake in are all about the give and take of ideas and information. I think people who post, but don’t participate are really missing out, and my brief hiatus made me think long and hard about how I can strike better balance in my personal life while still maintaining an active and fulfilling online presence.

Reality is I put far more value on real world interactions, and even my closest friends and loved  ones don’t know my every move in 140 characters or less like my followers on Twitter do. Sure, it’s been entirely my choice to put my personal life on cyber parade, but the past week has left me seriously rethinking what and how I’m going to use these tools to share in the future. 

Am I experiencing social media fatigue? Maybe. Or perhaps like anything in life, moderation is the key for successful living, especially now more than ever in our weird and wonderful, online world.

Here’s wishing you the best – and balance – in 2011!

Photo by Murray Barnes

media mention: zipsetgo.com "beyond the hashtag"

Every Thursday (when I'm within sniffing distance of an internet connection), you'll find me on Twitter  participating in (and often co-hosting) Travelers' Night In.  Each week, at 3:30 p.m. ET people from around world get together to chat about travel during this ZipSetGo.com-hosted weekly tweet-up, also known as #TNI. Beyond the Hashtag is a series of interviews with #TNI regulars and friends, and follows a similar format as #TNI – 10 questions and answers.

#TNI is hands down, my fave 90-minutes of the week on social media, so it's a big honor to be featured.  Thank you April and the ZipSetGo gals.

Check out the Beyond The Hashtag article here.  See you on Twitter for the #TNI festivities!

give thanks to twitter

The first 48-hours of my trip to Ecuador were especially kind to me and I must give thanks to Twitter. I cyber hitchhiked a ride to Westlake Center to grab the light rail to Sea-Tac for my red-eye flight to Miami and Domenic (@DEPagliaro) answered the call. Domenic is a fellow Philadelphia sports fan and we’ve bantered back and forth on Twitter for months. I even lured him into Travelers’ Night In and he’s become a faithful participant (except when he's responding to respond to oil spills, hurricane recovery efforts, and other emergency situations for the oil and gas industry).

Shortly after touchdown at one of my top three least fave domestic airports, Miami International Airport, I was picked up by Raquel (@AiresLibre), one of the folks who donated to The Global Citizen Project, who’s also grown to be one of my fave Twitter friends. We headed to Little Havana for a proper Cuban breakfast of empanadas, pastelitos and croqeutas – all washed down with strong Cuban coffee. Afterwards, we cruised along Ocean Drive before stopping at Lincoln Road Mall where we split a pre-flight bottle of Prosecco. Before noon. Raquel is a girl after my heart who knows bubbly has no time and place boundaries. Amen.

Happy and sated, I breezed through TSA and boarded my flight for Quito. Upon arrival, I hopped in a (prearranged) cab and headed to The Secret Garden hostel in the San Blas section of town ($10 cab fare, pre-arranged via the hostel). I dropped off my bags, quickly freshened up, and met up with Alison (@aliadventures7), a travel blogger based in Atlanta, who was in Quito taking a Spanish immersion course. Over Cuba Libres and Pilseners, we dished about Twitter, the travel personalities of Twitter, and globetrotting in general. As Alison poured herself into a cab to head home, I walked up the hill to The Secret Garden with an ear-to-ear smile on my face. In less than 48-hours, I met three really great people my path probably never would have intersected with without the power of Twitter.

adventurous kate recaps this week's travelers' night in | spicy travel

On this week’s round of Travelers’ Night In, the interactive Twitter discussion for avid travelers and travel lovers, the theme was Spicy Travel! Turns out that means anything Latin American, hot and/or exotic! As always, ten questions were asked, people responded while tagging their tweets #TNI, and learned quite a bit about some new destinations. Read the rest of Adventurous Kate's recap here. Or follow her on Twitter.

As always, big besos to Kate for taking the time to pull together the best of the TNI responses and write a lovely recap. After this week's topic, I'm sure she needed a shower when it was all said and done. I'm not naming names, but more than a few participants took some (ahem) liberties with the definition of spicy.

adventurous kate's recap of travelers night in

Every Thursday night, Adventurous Kate takes the time to pull together a well-rounded recap of Travelers' Night In. Today's topic - Nature vs. Human Impact on Travel - was no exception, and yours truly (one of the hosts with the most) made the quoted cut. Check out Kate's recap here. As always, my favorite Bostonian vagabondress brings us a highly entertaining and informative read. Thank you, Kate.

recipes needed for travelers’ night in e-cookbook for charity, Tasty TwEats

It’s no secret how much I love Travelers’ Night In (#TNI on Twitter), the 90-minute, fast-paced, weekly travel Tweet-up. I’ve been lucky to be a semi-regular host of the cyber soiree and now, this avid home chef is a recipe contributor to the first and only cookbook created by travelers and conceived from #TNI, Tasty TwEats. It will take readers on a round-the-world culinary adventure and 100% of all sponsorship or donation dollars to Tasty TwEats goes directly to Planeterra, a global grassroots organization donating to the people and communities around the world.

Do you have a can’t-live-without ingredient from afar? A local dish that instantly reminds you of a favorite destination? Don’t keep all the deliciousness to yourself. The deadline to submit recipes is this Thursday, July 1, 2010. The cookbook will be available Aug.1 for a minimum $10 donation.

Tune in to Travelers’ Night In this Thursday at 3:30 EST. Your truly is co-hostess with the mostest and the topic is Nature vs. Human Impact (like what happens when swine flu, volcanoes and oil spills affect your travel plans). Be sure to follow the #TNI hashtag and if you can’t make the spirited festivities, keep your eyes peeled for Adventurous Kate’s always awesome post play report.

a broad volunteers: say hello to this week's travelers night in host

Guess who is co-hosting Travelers Night In this week? Yours truly on behalf of Wanderlust and Lipstick, and man-o-Manischewitz this mistress of the Tweetdeck, manager of multiple search columns is excited. Read more about this week's topic: Best of YOUR Hometown Travel on 'A Broad Volunteers' on Wanderlust and Lipstick here.

a broad volunteers: travelers night in

There was an interesting Twitter discussion today on Travelers Night In. In case you aren’t yet in-the-loop of this weekly tweet up, here’s how it works: 10 questions are thrown out via the hashtag #TNI pertaining to a particular travel-related theme over the course of 90 minutes (a new question is posted every 10 minutes). Each question sparks a flurry of responses, lively debate and discussion. I’ll admit it. TNI is my new guilty pleasure, and I find myself eagerly awaiting 12:30 p.m. PST each Thursday for the spirited cyber festivities to begin. Read more about this week's TNI discussion on Green Travel at "A Broad Volunteers" on Wanderlust and Lipstick here.

Photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks