This post has nothing whatsoever to do with plastics or environmentalism.   This is actually a post about social media.    You may recall that I created Mr. Everything and Ms. Efficiency in order to share my real feelings about some real people whom I know and deal with in social media.    While I suppose it could be argued that fictionalizing them and trying to write only about my own feelings may be less honorable than engaging them and attempting to resolve our real differences,  I frankly believe that at the very least,  the fictional characters route was the best course for me.

But I was very struck by something that Saul Fleishman posted in a group I belong to for connect.me  Trust Anchors.    Saul wrote:

So, anyone with enough charm and interest in exhibiting prominence on yet another network, needs only connive three of us for a T.A. vouch, and then, the spammiest, most unworthy of the social media “be everywhere” clan become one of us? I see it already.

To which I immediately replied:

yep. they’re already here

What followed was an interesting discussion,  which made clear to me that the folks behind connect.me  do understand the problem with what I have taken to calling  ”social media rock stars”.   But it brought home to me the inadequacy of my ‘turn them into fictional characters and only write about my own feelings’ approach.    Mr. Everything,  it turns out,  invited a friend of mine to stand in for me at his social media conference that is coming up real soon now.     That he did not discuss this with me before asking someone else to speak for me troubles me,  but frankly doesn’t surprise me.   (That my friend thought to notify me right away and discuss with me how I’d prefer she handle the situation,  speaks a great deal to the integrity of my friend;  that Mr. Everything still hasn’t mentioned a thing about it to me speaks volumes about him as well.)

I definitely don’t claim to be an expert in social media.   But I am more convinced than ever that no one can be everywhere online.   And that choosing your friends and taking care whom you trust is about the most important thing you do.