It’s hard to avoid social media if you want to navigate life in the modern world. I have a huge cactus, succulent, and exotic flower obsession and I purchase many of my plants from independent growers that are located throughout the country and many places overseas. Although I make a lot of purchases on Ebay, I prefer buying directly from a grower if they have a web store established. It’s frustrating that a large number of them congregate on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter without consistently updating their stock on their actual websites. So in other words, unless you’re following them on social media, you’ll never be notified when there are new plants available for purchase. This might seem like an isolated issue, but my parents run into the same problem when they purchase art from prominent painters and photographers. You either join these social media websites or you’re left in the dark. I caved and finally made social media accounts so I could get updates from all of the retailers I purchase from. I learned that you can also find a lot of reviews for local businesses in groups and pages devoted to the city that I live in. When I needed to find a good HVAC contractor for an air conditioner installation, I was amazed at the pages of testimonials written by community members about all of the various heating and cooling companies in the area. At the outset I thought I would never find a good HVAC company that I could trust, but after some minimal social media research I had a list of five to call for separate quotes.