Sucker to Social Media

Why do social media outlets of communication often seem so personal to me, when, in fact, communicating with someone(s) without visual or audible methods can be quite the opposite?

For example, yesterday I was browsing through my Twitter feed when a post from Lady Gaga caught my attention. I had a very six degrees of separation type of moment. She mentioned that she was going to be surprising Emily-Anne Rigal with an award at the TeenNick HALO Awards. I immediately recalled my communication with Emily-Anne, as I interviewed her as a Woman with Purpose for The Leadership Institute-Women with Purpose. The topic was Mean Girls Revisited: Confidence and Bullying, you can check out the interview here.

Recognizing our connection, I instantly replied to Lady Gaga's tweet and told her how I also had a connection to Emily-Anne. Somehow, I thought that Gaga may have noticed my post amongst her 15,489,564 following little monsters ... think again.

I think it's because of recognition and thinking for a moment that we may actually be a part of "their" world that poor saps like I follow, reply to and wait in anticipation for responses back from our celebrity idols. What do you think?

Don't get me wrong, I think social media is amazing. It allows for lines of communication to be had that would never otherwise be possible. It allows for sharing of information and insight into one another's lives that we may have never otherwise been able to learn. Perhaps, every now and then I just need to give myself a reality check that Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks and Ellen DeGeneres aren't actually my friends, they just allow me to share a piece of their fabulous lives.