Stream of Consciousness Sunday: The neat thing about Periscope

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I went a little over today because I was having fun writing. That probably makes sense since I was writing about how the fun sometimes gets taken out of what we do online and specifically on social media. With a shiny, new platform that’s not too corrupt yet, I gave an example of why Periscope gets me a little excited every time I use it.

Here’s my 5 minute brain dump…

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While many people I know complain about social media – they think it’s overwhelming, it divides people, we ignore our children, etc. – I still think it’s pretty cool. If I didn’t, I would be such a big user of it. Not a day goes by that I don’t at least read and check something.

Late at night, I scroll through Twitter. Or early in the morning, I look at Instagram and see how others start their day. And I spend way too much time browsing on Facebook. That one can be a bit overwhelming.

But lately it seems like if you have any sort of career that depends on a public audience (for example, blogger; but also author, musician, artist), you have to follow certain rules about your social profiles. Build your following. Maintain the right ratio. Team follow back. Check your stats. Add the right hashtags.

And now that Periscope it here to stay, I can see people clamoring to emerge victorious on that platform. It’s a fun platform. I don’t mind followers and I certainly love hearts. But the neat thing about Periscope, for me, is the instant global connection I make with others.

Yesterday, I went to the Howard County Fair which, I imagine, is a lot like small fairs in your neck of the woods. Plenty of rides too scary for me to go near. Fried food of every kind. And lots of animals.

My sister dragged me to the pig races for the first time and suddenly I felt like it was something other people needed to see, data plan be damned. Within minutes, I had my viewers rooting for the pigs running around the track, making plentiful jokes about bacon, and commenting on the incredulity of the event – the likes of which they’ve never seen.

So I asked people where they were from – New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, Manchester UK, Scotland, Indonesia. That’s the really neat part. Here I was taking some tiny little American event and making it part of someone’s day halfway around the world. And it got even better and someone told me in their country they have a pig throwing contest (totally a joke) to which somebody responded you shouldn’t talk about your women that way.

One thing is for sure. Humor is universal.