Confessing my addiction

Welcome to my adventures in networking. As your typical introverted freelance writer (yes, sad but true, I am generalizing) who prefers to remain safely behind my computer screen, socializing on any level is a struggle!



My name is Alysia Shivers and I am a social media-aholic.
There. I’ve said it. Whew!
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs … I can’t get enough! I am literally sucking in so much information about these sites every day that my head feels like it will explode as it hits the pillow each night.
Do I need help? Probably. Will I accept it? Not unless your advice includes ways in which I can use social networking better and more efficiently, because frankly I do not want to stop.
Right now, as my TweetDeck keeps notifying me of updates, I can’t help but peek up at it to see what people are talking about. In the evening, my husband gets on the computer to check his email and play around on YouTube and all the while my mind is screaming, “I’m missing out on vital communications?!”
In the midst of tweeting and gathering followers, checking LinkedIn answers to see if I may be of assistance, updating my status on Facebook, and deciding whether or not to create a Fan Page, I’m absorbing every tidbit I can about how to use these systems most effectively.
A big help is attending Social Media Success Summit 2009. I’m learning a great deal from these social media experts about what to do today to grow my business and my social network and what the social media future may hold. I’ll fill you in as I go through these informative sessions over the next few weeks.
The good thing about social media is I get to communicate with others all over the globe via the computer, relieving me of my face-to-face networking fears. Of course, I still believe face-to-face is truly the best way to obtain new business, a belief me and my shy self are still coming to terms with.