Every time there’s a new fun service online, there seems to be an elite group of users to get to play with it first. Either they got an invitation to register long before others or maybe the service was just that obscure in the beginning, so that it only got noticed by those looking for something new.

I have been among the early adopters of a few services. It doesn’t always seem exclusive, because there’s usually a group there before me – the hardcore elite. They have already figured out how things work and made tutorials by the time the rest of us almost-pioneers get there. Still, if I can’t be on the cutting edge, I can be on um… whatever’s next to the cutting edge.

In 2005, when I mentioned I was writing a blog, people said it was dumb to write on trees and also told me I should go to a speech therapist. After explaining that a blog is not something a made by sawing wood, but rather, it was a short name for a web log, and that I put photos and information about Benton on there, the response changed to, “Why the heck would you want to do that?”

They said nobody would care to look at it, and there wasn’t enough in Benton to keep it going for more than a week. It lasted nearly two years and I wasn’t done.

In February 2006, I got the following message after signing up for a new and different service, “Welcome to MySpace, the best place to connect with friends on the Net!” Well, in 2006, MySpace.com was the best place for that. I met a lot of people there before joining up with a similar service called Facebook. I didn’t like Facebook so much at first because it was disorganized. I couldn’t find things. But as I read my techie blogs, I noticed that day after day there seemed to be more stories about something happening with Facebook. I tried it again and it had changed enough that I kept coming back to see what was going on. At a certain point, I was finally able to say “Facebook” to just about anyone, and they knew what it was and usually had an account. My parents had joined, which was kind of okay with me, since they have been into computers and the Internet for a long time. Then my husband’s parents joined. That was freaky. His folks didn’t even get cell phones until Bush #43 was in office. The second term!

Just as I thought the Internet could get no cooler, I discovered a platform that would allow me to have my own social network. Like a miniature MySpace or Facebook targeted to whatever theme I wanted. I wanted Saline County. I didn’t want any political office that would end after only a term or a few. I wanted to do something that would last as long as I could make it last. I didn’t want the power that a king or queen has. I wanted the power that a friend has. You can “make friends” on global networks and maybe never meet them. On a social network based solely on one county in central Arkansas, there was the opportunity to make friends and make a difference in people’s lives, as well my own.

That was it. I would love it and pet it and call it MySaline.com. (I feel like I’ve told you this story before.) It was July 2007 and the new members trickled in slowly from my Benton blog and from emails that I had sent to pretty much everyone I knew in these parts. I also got on MySpace and Facebook to send messages about MySaline to people I didn’t know. Yes! It’s a no-brainer to use a social network to get your message out. People were on there killing time, so why not give them a practical way to kill it – by pushing my visitor numbers up! Okay, so there is some ego involved in having all sorts of people come to my house to play. But let’s remember Spiderman’s lesson: with great power comes great responsibility. I’ve been careful not to use this force for evil. It’s bound to happen anyway, that with a group the size of MySaline – it’s over 1,200 members – there will be someone with a need. Word gets out and before long, the need is filled. I’m proud of the way people come together to help others, but it’s particularly enlightening to see how a pile of metal and plastic on your desk can be transformed into an instrument of mercy.

In 2008, I signed up for another new Internet experience. Twitter.com was yet another social network, but this time it was less like a hangout, and more like a conglomeration of everyone’s sticky notes to read. You can only get so much info on a sticky note and the same is true with Twitter status updates, so my policy is to write something worth reading. Other people share that policy, and still others appear to have no policy whatsoever regarding what should be written. Don’t get me started again on people who do nothing but tell what they have eaten or that they are going to bed. Please tell me they know that no one cares, and they are simply performing a social experiment.

What did I discover in 2009? Well, something pretty cool just recently. At first glance, Google Wave appears to be just email. Then you realize that it’s real-time conversations. People can see you typing as they type. They can see you fixing typos, replacing a lame word with a clever one, erasing something you decided not to keep. It’s meant to be a tool for planning in a group. So far, there aren’t enough folks in my groups that are members, so I’m just messing around until they show up.

This column originally published in the Benton Courier on November 22, 2009. See more of Shelli's columns.