Confessions of an Ad Man

I remember when AOL first came out. I was fortunate enough to have a high-ranking friend at a big-time agency plug me into one of AOL's first free beta accounts. AOL didn't wise up to me for the better part of three years. And, while other people were picking up CDs at gas stations with 1000 free minutes of AOL, I was living the free life, combing chat rooms, posting comments and "getting mail" at all hours of the day (and night).
Then, AOL caught on and pulled the plug. I joined the paying ranks and continued my bad habits. Until somewhere along the way, I dropped out and allowed the next wave to wash in unattended.
Social media has come a long way since then. And since then, I admit, I have been oh-so-very reluctant to rejoin the ranks. I guess it was when my sons started IM-ing their friends and texting incessantly at the dinner table. I suddenly pegged social media as some teeny-bopper sinkhole, not worth mine or my client's time.
Peers created pressure, however, and now I have a Facebook page. And a LinkedIn account. I tweet. I blog. I attend social media seminars. I sit in client meetings fielding questions about social media to which I often cannot provide any reasonable answers. I must confess. I am behind the curve.
Yet, I am trying. Thanks to websites such as mashable, comscore and quantcast, I am catching on. Little by little. Bit by bit. I learn a little more each day. And, with every new revelation, I must be progressing (or digressing, as the case may be.) Look for me on wefollow.com. I'm in there. Somewhere.