Welcome to
Social Media Week!
Hi all! I'm Lisa Kisch, and I'm so excited to be hosting this week on the topic that has truly changed the way I keep memories-- Social Media. Have you found a shift in your scrapping since Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram have taken over the planet? I know that I document more and scrap faster because these tools are instantly at hand in my day to day life. (My camera would probably not agree that this is a good thing. She's been rather neglected since Instagram came to town!)
Today I'm going to show you some of the ways I use these tools in my scrapping-- and then over the next few days I will feature some of your favourite social media sites, and how we are scrapping with them. Not only that, how we are scrapping ABOUT them! Social media has become such a part of our lives that they themselves have become the topic of many layouts and minis in galleries all over the web. (Don't forget about our Thursday giveaway! I won't ruin the surprise, but suffice to say that there will be a whole lotta scrap inspiration up for grabs!)
First There Was Facebook
For me, it all began with Facebook. I don't twitter...tweet...whatever...but I do update my status all the time! I quickly began to think of this as a form of "slice of life" journaling. Whereas we often get caught up in scrapping the big events in our lives, Facebook statuses allowed me to quickly journal the minutiae of the day to day. What is important to me right this second? That's what I write on my status. Collect all of these together, and you have an amazing overview of your week, or month, or year. The first time I collected all of my status updates on one page was 2008:
(Remember to click on any of these to make them a bit bigger and clearer!)
A favourite photo from every month, paired with all of my status updates:
What makes me laugh here is that all of my status updates fit on one page! The next year, 2009, It took two pages, plus the back of the layout to fit them all:
Although it took some time to go back and assemble all of my status updates-- it really was worth it! There are even some Facebook apps that will do it for you.
Last summer, you may remember that I did a summer version of this as a mini book for our "Summertime Dailies." I paired favourite photos with my June/July/August status updates:
...and then this past winter I put a similar book together on-line at blurb.com, this time featuring status updates that were specifically kid related. I printed off 5 of these and -- voila-- Christmas presents done!
You may notice in this last example that the photos are square, slightly fuzzy with an ever-so-cool texture-- which brings me to my next topic...
Then Came Instagram...
When Instagram came along, I was able to document the teeny little moments visually-- just like status updates did it in written form. I always have my phone on me, and it's (almost) always charged. Although the quality isn't spectacular, there is an immediacy that is so intoxicating. I'm not saying this is a good thing-- but probably more than half of my layouts these days are using Instagram photos. There is less pressure on being a good photographer. They are bonus photos! I say use 'em!
Here are a few examples:
Print them big or small, in groups or alone, those little squares of goodness are a pleasure to scrap!
I think that's a good start for today! There are so many more ways to use social media in memory keeping, though. Come back tomorrow for more some pinning/tweeting/updating fun!
