Network for support!

   This week the topic is~ Support:  Social Networking Websites

     So, unfortunately when I was going through infertility, I wasn’t aware of these fabulous websites out there where women (just like me at the time) could connect with each other, vent pretty much instantaneously and get support on a totally different level than with message boards.

   Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have millions of people with the very intent of networking with each other. There are hundreds of sites out there, but these two by far are the most popular and are getting more popular by the day!

   They are different from message boards because for one, you can directly contact  your friends  privately or publicly by sending them messages or writing them a note on their “walls.”  You can find each other by groups or lists and meet up online or elsewhere. You can also share pictures or videos on both.

   One of the most distinct features is that you can reveal as much (or as little) information as you would like about yourself. Here’s where the 2 main sites differ:

   On Facebook: Most people sign up with their real names, first and last and usually enter their high school and college info to be able to “connect” with others. There are a host of apps that allow you to do all kinds of virtual things like kidnap others, send chocolates or gnomes, start pillow fights and even poke one another. And, of course there are also the games where (among other things) you can nurture a pet, maim others with your mafia family and cultivate a farm. I’m not sure what the hype is, but they are quite addicting, or so I’ve heard. At the very least, it can keep your mind off of other infertility related thoughts! ;-)

   An other great feature of Facebook are the pages and groups you can create that people can join or become fans of. A group is created under your profile so, it will link back to that. A page however is something that has quite a bit more annonimity and you can link this to your blog for example and get more exposure and connected readers.

     To search for an infertility group simply type it into the search window. I just did and found a list of 876 results! Of course, if you don’t want your sister’s boyfriend’s high school buddies to know you joined the “Infertility Awareness” group, either lurk only, make sure your group settings aren’t visible, or mark them ”Friends Only.” You can change a whole bunch of settings to be more private about your profile, including whether or not certain people can search for you.

   I am still learning the ins and outs of Twitter but here, you can pretty much be who you want to be, no holds bard. You can create more than 1 profile (with whatever creative username you want provided it’s not already taken) and share only the info you want to share. What I love is that you can link to a website or blog. This is a prominent feature in your stats and one of the primary reasons most people use Twitter as it seems to be the main subject for their tweets (with shortened urls of course). While Facebook doesn’t give you a limit in your “What’s on Your Mind” window, Twitter limits your musings to 140 characters which is sometimes hard to maintain.

    One way to network with others in the infertility department is to start following people from their Twitter links on their blogs. (Many of the ladies here have some set up!) From there, look at their Follower lists and take a look at who’s following them. Read their bios, check out their blogs/websites and see if it’s someone you want to follow to network with. Also, check out Twellow. You can search for people with certain keywords like “TTC” or “infertility” in their bio rather then simply searching through tweets.

   I am a fan of both networking sites and I like that they both offer different things that can help you to be stress free! Check them out!

Have you joined Facebook or Twitter? Has it helped you through your infertility? Please comment!