The time it takes to network socially…
In a time where tools like Facebook, Twitter and others seem only to benefit content creators such as myself, every once in a while I wonder if maintaining these channels of connecting with the community is a lot more work, and therefore time, than I?d like to admit.
Certainly we are all much more connected through something like Twitter than we would have been otherwise. It?s quick, painless, and easily lets me direct people to stuff they might be interested in, which they can get to on browsers, applications, phones, etc. Easy, right? Maybe.
I have found that in the last couple of months, I was Twittering things to the point that other things, which I could twitter about later, were not getting done as fast. Add to that all the checking for PM?s, replies, and the posts of those I follow, I started to notice net accumulations of time being burned away slowly enough that the effect was always obvious to me.
What did I do about it? Well, I twitter less…as many of you have noticed. Not a LOT less, but a bit less…enough for me to feel a little more balanced with it all. Funny enough, I now seem to have time to get a Facebook update in here or there, or to update this blog with some uninteresting tripe. Or a million other micro-web things that I usually find I am out of time for.
Thoughts on all this? Bound to be some good opinions out there regarding social networking overload.
Category: Journal 12 comments »
March 16th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
It is way to easy to sink all our time into Social Networking. The important thing I’ve found is to remember to do all things in moderation.
The social aspect of your project should never overshadow the project itself.
March 16th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I like Twitter best. You can get out info that keeps people interested in what you are doing, and clicking links, and spending $. All the rest are stupid IMHO.
@copytodevnull
March 16th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I think theres nothing wrong with twittering a little less. I’ve just jumped into the social media ring myself a few months ago and have definitely noticed the exact same thing on a smaller scale considering the way my job works.
But I can say that as the social media life of a newer podcaster/content maker like myself has picked up tremendously time does seem to disappear as we take the time to keep the channels of communication up between each and everyone we are in communication with.
As for you Scott, you seem to handle things really well considering how busy you are. You also seem to have a great handle on your family time and values which is super important. I know personally as I’ve picked up multiple podcasts, computer training classes, website projects and other social networkingtastic adventures I started noticing I was letting things slip like jogging every day…. speaking of which, I got to do tonight!
But all and all it feels like quality of life is moving forward with all this, at least for me, and hopefully for other content contributers/creators. I’m happy that you made it to where you’ve dreamed of being for years, to be your own boss. I’m hoping to join you in that boss-less world someday
Hope to speak with ya soon, have a good one!
March 16th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Well, I’m not one of the special few who don’t have everything set up to mobile uploading/twittering/facebooking because I just don’t have anything that cool. So I do everything via my desktop computer. If I’m out and about, I don’t have online access. I notice that people who tweet/FB the most are usually doing it from their iphone/blackberry/etc. Things are just way too convenient. So for me, I think it’s best I don’t ever get one of those cool “Doodads” because I would never get anything done!
March 16th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
To me, Twitter and Facebook are another Skinner box (reference to a previous Instance episode). You randomly find yourself finding awesome gems, and keep coming back in hopes that the next one might show up. If you don’t keep yourself in check, you’ll end up dumping all of your time into it. At times I’ve checked Twitter upwards of 30 times a day, and updated Twitter about 15-20 times. It can really get out of control. I, like you Scott, have tried to hold back.
March 16th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
TweetDeck makes life easy for the tweet lover.
March 16th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
I have a couple of suggestions … culled from how I manage my social networking.
I’d like to say upfront that my social networking circle & volume of activity is probably 1% of what Scott has to … er, put up with, but hopefully my suggestions can scale well
1. I use a Mac, and I have Echofon & Facebook Notifier running at all times. Combine that with Growl, and you’ll see updates popping up in a little window on screen, and then fading away. If there’s something that grabs your attention, you can click on it, and do whatever you have to do. Else, let it all fade away!
2. I have an internal sliding scale of what I consider “response worthy”. On a slow day, a video of a dog on a surfboard might cross that bar. On a busy day, I’d say to myself “OK this is what I need to accomplish. This is what will pull me away from that”. It seems to work for me!
March 16th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I wholeheartedly agree with this post, thank you for this.
About a month ago I was still a heavy Twitter user (do they have help groups for this)?! I would check it everyday during work, when I got home, right before bed; it just became a part of my daily routine.
Since then I’ve had to deal with some heavy personal things that have pulled me away from Twitter and subsequently the Internet for a few weeks. Now that I’ve begun getting back into the swing of work, both professional and freelance, I’ve stopped checking Twitter as much and, who guessed it, getting more done. I’ve gotten to the point lately where I forgot to check it, but don’t get upset at the mountain of scrolling anymore.
I see the benefit, as you mention well in this post, but I see the distraction as well. I’m down to just a few posts a day, if that, and I’ve found much more interesting things around the ‘net/news. Sure I’ll catch something here and there on Twitter, but for productivities’ sake, I’ve sort of lost touch with it.
Best,
Jake
March 16th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Nothing wrong with taking more time for yourself and what you need to do and time for your family. On the flip side I’m not sure how much of the social aspect is responsible for your business since you’ve gone out on your own! So there may need to be that medium and maybe this is that rebalance!
March 17th, 2010 at 12:24 am
[...] Scott Johnson’s blog today got me thinking about this topic, and if I myself have become overstimulated. I have so many cool things going on in my life that I want to do and be involved in that I don’t know if I can do them all. There just aren’t enough hours in a day. If I could do it, I would be going to school full time, studying enough to get straight A’s, drawing a daily (or weekly at the very least) comic, writing a killer video game blog, hosting a podcast or three, playing some video games in the downtime, starting up my own research project about mental illness and how the brain works around all that, and doing all sorts of crazy fun stuff with my family and friends. [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Like a few others have posted, compared to you Scott, my social network is considerably smaller. However, I’ve found that the time I spend using Twitter has dramatically increased since I launched my comic, both in following people and topics that interest me, and surprisingly, in people following me who are interested in what I’m doing. Twitter feels more like a community to me now than it ever did. I’m excited about it and am guilty of putting more time than I probably should into it. Still, I try to keep my Twitter breaks to a somewhat loose schedule when I have a lot on my plate. Morning, around the time people are having their coffee, lunch time, and later in the evening for me since I’m on the east coast.
Facebook on the other hand I use out of necessity. In a lot of ways I dislike it and do whatever I can to avoid it. A great Facebook app called Selective Twitter Status allows me to post to Facebook, both personal and fan page accounts, right from Twitter. It has cut down immensely on my Facebook time. Most of my traffic actually originates from Facebook, so maintaining things there with as little time input from me is essential.
Despite doing my best to just skim Twitter when I’ve been away for a bit, I still find I have that internal “need” to not miss anything. I really only follow people that I’m interested in hearing from. So, I don’t want to miss out on something cool or interesting they’ve had to say. I’ve tried TweetDeck and don’t really find it as useful as others do. Tweetie is great but Echofon seems to be the best of both worlds and has helped with my Twitter time efficiency.
I can justify my time in Twitter by saying that I will eventually get out of it what I put into it, if not more. That it is a free venue to market myself and my artwork to those who are actually interested. Though, I really have no idea how busy people like those in say the tech news industry keep up on everything. Sure, I’m an entrepreneur and self employed artist. I’m busy, but I work from home and write my own schedule and I don’t have a wife or a family to balance.
That said, does anyone have a patent on the 28 hour day yet?
May 19th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I’ve recently made a lifestyle change to be less social, more media. It’s much more fulfilling (to me) to create more content than I consume — which I think will also allow me to lose weight, but I digress.
I was an early adopter of Twitter (joined in mid-2007) and Facebook, and I’ve seen how they have helped and hindered my professional, personal and creative process. Moderation is key, but I know myself. That’s why I deactivated my Facebook and restrict my Twitter blurbs to a few per day in between work tasks.