There are two types of creatives in my experience. The typical extrovert, who we all know and love. They are the rock stars, the life of the party that we all hope to, by osmosis, absorb our own creative side from. Clients flock to these creative guru’s as if they were doctors who could heal their creative crisis with their own personal style of enigmatic flare. They may be prima donna’s but they get the job done no matter how much attention they may require. On the other side of creative expression is the introvert, more closely related to the studio artist who does his greatest work from the private confines of his own studio. Society at large does not quite know what to do with this type. They tend to need space to work out their creativity and may not inspire the same pizzaz, but are cool cats nonetheless.
In society in general extroverts tend to outweigh the introvert population by 3 – 1 putting “innie’s” at a disadvantage. Trying to get noticed and bring attention to yourself as an introvert is difficult in a sea of extroverts who have made the loud and vibrant persona the standard. When it comes to social media, perhaps the introvert finally has a shot. The misconception about introverts is that they are antisocial and prefer to be left alone, which is not typically the case. Introverts need to challenge themselves with social interaction or else they can end up in isolation.
Social media may be a beam of hope for introverts for it has created celebrity out of mediocrity worldwide. Everything we do is posted for all to see no matter who we are. For those of us who tend to not embellish on everything we do and live seemingly non-eventful life’s, it would appear that this was just another chance to be out-shined. It has been said of introverts that they access their information from long term memory storage, while extroverts have info on demand in short term memory. This explains why introverts don’t do well in social situations. However social media is perfectly suited for heavy thinkers who don’t always have a quick reply, but take more time to think and analyze their response. On Social Media platforms you write about things that are real, and reflect on them in a somewhat quick tempoed way. It’s quick snippets of reality that can can be thought out and filtered. On Facebook and Twitter one can reply with every bit of cleverness as the next quick-witted extrovert, from the confines of their own comfortable world.
Since my interaction with a growing community I have found that my career as a graphic designer, who rarely sees the light of day, has changed significantly. People in my community who never had a chance to get to know me, now know the deepest insights of my day-to-day life. The transparency that I reveal in my postings becomes subject matter for conversation or just a recognized “hello” from someone who before wouldn’t be so sure to say “hi” given what might come across as an intimidating or, as a percieved antisocial exterior. With Facebook my avatar is always smiling and open for comment, and my posts are typically upbeat. I can’t say how much I enjoy corresponding with my local and extended communities and sharing a since of connection by simply posting what I had for lunch, what the weather’s like or the funny thing my kid said. Opponents to social media will criticize the lunch comments or the simplicity of 140 characters and how nothing can be truly gained. However aren’t these the fundamentals of everyday conversation. “Hey Bob what about that game last night.” “So Jill have you been to that new restaurant.” Or, “guess what movie I saw last night.” This is how extroverts do it right? They start small and lead up to in-depth conversations, thus the blog or the link to the site and the eventual friend status. For this I thank the masterminds behind these applications and the new world communication they have allowed for.
Some related blogs in research of this subject:
Creative innie By Mary McCauley-Stiff
Introvert and social media by Ladunkin
Don’t Reduce Your Designers And Developers To Stereotypes by Rob Borley
Mikerdzign's Blog 