I admit, I’m a social-media addict. I find myself as I wake up, instead of a traditional self-evaluation of how I am, I think in terms of status updates. Answers to the question on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter – “What are you doing?”  

I think in terms of 140 characters or less so I can tweet it, and I update several times per day. Even though my family lives near me, they’ve learned if they really want to know what’s going on with me, don’t call – and e-mail works, but it is just as easy to check to check Twitter.

My father finds this fascinating. “Don’t you think you may not want to….” he pauses, seeking the words, “air your laundry so much online?”  And in some cases, I understand what he’s saying. I do air a lot of personal stuff online. In short, 140 character bits, people can see inside what’s happening with me. “It makes me more authentic,” I tell my dad, “as long as it’s within reason, this is how it’s done.” He remains unconvinced. But, on the other hand, when I’m feeling low, he finds out online and calls me.

What’s different about me than most social media mavens is that I am only airing “my laundry” and also plenty of professional observations as well, in short status updates. I have not blogged, even though many of my colleagues and clients have asked me to. Ironically, as an early adopter of social media and its power in our industry and others, I pushed and prodded my colleagues at AIMGroup.com to start blogging. I stressed passionately how it would reinforce our expertise, how it could help our clients (and prospects), how it could expand our marketplace. And, I showed how I have used Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to gain clients and information. I e-mailed articles consistently showing how others in the industry were utilizing social media and blogging to grow their business in a “come on guys, everyone else is doing it!” way.

Our company launched our Web site several months ago and my astute colleagues have fully embraced it – with blog posts, short updates and articles, Web-first content, and more. They are practicing what we preach, and it has increased our value many times over. I am so proud. But I, the “gal on the street,” the one most passionately using social media on a daily basis, has yet to post. Why?

I have no good answer for it, other than procrastination. My colleagues have certainly been a lot more patient with me than I would expect, and have not pushed.  In the past several months I have had the pleasure of meeting many of my peers, prospects, and clients at six different conferences and speaking engagements, and been knee deep in some really exciting client work. Oh, and I’ve been slowed down a bit from my normal 150 mph pace by being in advanced stages of pregnancy. But yet, none of this is a good reason. I find time to tweet several times a day, so now, I have resolved, to get my blog rolling. I’ll be using this forum to address a lot of questions I get from many of you when I am out at conferences or via e-mail, to share with you ways to use some of these fascinating tools to grow your business, and some interesting case studies and trends I’m seeing out in the industry. Feel free to drop me a line with any comments, questions, or ideas you have anytime!

Oh, and if you want to find out how I handle labor in a couple weeks when the little one comes, you can bet I’ll be updating my status on Facebook and Twitter! The real question is, will my father find out online before I call him?