Something Different

Remember the days when hashtags ( # ) were referred to as just a number sign or pound? Without getting into technical jargon or how it came about being a symbol to indicate a key word or phrase, if you want to understand how to search and find subjects that interest you on most social media platforms you're going to have to concede to the hashtag phenomena sooner or later. If you've resisted thus far...you're NOT alone. I resisted for a very long time.

I did embrace the days of My Space however, which seems like a lifetime ago. I hoped to connect with interest groups for music and fitness choreography at the time. I liked how a user could add music selections to their page and graphics found online that would reflect their personality and hobbies. It was fun meeting new people that would just randomly leave a comment to say hi or like the way you created your page for visitors to get a quick glance into your world and in turn, their world too. When Facebook began leaving My Space in the dust,

I might have been one of the few stragglers that didn't necessarily want to transition into using something different and another platform of communication that seemed just a little more personal to me than what I was ready to share.

Change is not the easiest even when it comes to seemingly trivial subjects such as jumping into the Facebook world. Re-connecting with high school classmates and people that you have lost touch with is by no means trivial to me so, when creating a profile that started out to be a form of networking opened the door of melding the two worlds ( professional and personal ) into one, it can be off putting to some that might have gone through some difficult times with bullying at different points in their life. Can you separate those worlds? The answer for me is

yes...although, depending on what your career choices are your real friends can be a great support to you and provide comfort and encouragement. So, I ended up blending both worlds and just being a little extra careful as to new people's intentions.

Jumping ahead full throttle I found it most mind boggling that because an algorithm that was set up by website developers to somehow connect people together according to their profile input has taken the online community by storm. Now, so many of us primarily rely on our mobile devices to access email, run a business and stay connected and nearly glued to an array of social media platforms such as instagram, twitter, snapchat, youtube, pinterest just to name a few of the most commonly utilized and the ones I have found myself diving into. The irony is my iphone and my other Apple devices are in constant fight mode with me which slows my production of everything and forces me to find work arounds but, I'll just save that topic for another post.

Seeing how so much of the world we live in today is being pulled into hashtagging and branding,

I learned the hard way that I had to come to terms with the changes. I had to embrace something different and abandon the ways of doing things that so many of us were so accustomed to.

( At least my generation. ) SOMETHING DIFFERENT is continuously a revolving door and we as spectators are forced to spin our wheels to create more of SOMETHING DIFFERENT just to keep up and be in the know.

What is SOMETHING DIFFERENT you have had to concede to and or embrace? Feel free to leave your take in the comment section below and subscribe to my blog to be notified of any and

all updates. :)