Back when I was in Grade School (4th or 5th grade, I think..), the teachers would try to encourage our practice of handwriting skills by offering us the chance to make "pen pals" with students from other schools, occasionally with students from other countries. I can't speak for others, as I've heard of cases where lasting friendships had developed by this practice, but I was a rotten letter writer. At that age, I didn't know what was interesting about me, or how to express my interests properly to others.
Things have changed, indeed...
Today, on my Facebook page, I can access people I hardly know, from around the world. And they can seek me out. I communicate regularly with people in the Phillipines, from California, Nevada, Texas, Ireland and France. Though conversations are insignificant in subject, my network is vast. Due to Google +, I have access to the ears of many famous names, and many experts in a multitude of fields. Even before all this, due to group message boards, I found myself in the intellectual company of a diverse lot, with common interests.
In High School, socializing was compartmentalized. There were the stereotypical cliques of "cool kids", "freaks" & "geeks" often dictated by the structure of a single institution that segregated students based upon projected learning performance. "A.P" or advanced placement, the "standard" kids, and the underachievers. From this, if you had common classes and extra-curricular activities, you'd form bonds with students you shared personality traits or common interests. The band kids, the chorus, the computer club, the chess club, school newspaper, A.V. (audio visual or sometimes just photography), school sport teams, even church ... But the number of friends who all shared all your interests was usually pretty small, and your conversation subjects often were limited to the context of which group you participated in at the moment. If you were reading Tolkien, you talked about it with the appropriate crowd, and usually didn't announce your interest to anyone you'd think didn't cared to listen. It was only polite...
Today, with a social network page, it's not uncommon to represent yourself in full, and allow the "friends" to decide if something interests them. A "friend" posts a picture of their children, or posts their thoughts about a recent activity, you may decide to check it to keep up to date on their personal matters. Or you may scroll past because they aren't that kind of "friend' that you concern yourself with. It's only polite to not be too nosy, after all...
What if you decide that you aren't all that interesting? You can post and share that which interests you, make the conversations about those subjects. Post links to videos, share news articles, post images, tell jokes... You're telling your story from a first person perspective, by reporting that which engages you. You take your "followers" along for part of your ride, and they learn about you from the experience. And the "followers" accept or reject which parts of the ride they choose. They interact with the narrative, and get an image of you based upon their own preferences. The persona they perceive is the one of their choosing, not always the whole.
Social networking media has democratized the roles of DJ, producer, reporter, editor, publisher. We are each a multi-media corporation.
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