Help! I Am Drowning In The Social Media Seas

Have you taken a look recently at all the social media options that you use?

I spent a little time the other day doing just that. I listed all the social media places I inhabit together with those I have been invited to join in the last 12 months and I was surprised at the result, suffice to say I lost interest in looking when the total reached thirty.

Bearing in mind that I don’t play games online and don’t have a ‘smart phone’ where I might have even more options I would guess that the average number out there may be even higher, and growing!

This analysis of my social media activities has led me to look at whether I could get more out the applications and platforms that I use. Am I using too many or too few, am I using the right ones, am I using them in the right way? Should I join in with the new ‘flavour of the month’?

Or am I just thrashing around like a man drowning in these choppy social media waters?

I know that a bloggers strategy will differ depending on the reason for the blog – someone who is ‘selling’ will have a different approach to a personal blogger – but for the average blogger, like me, who is enjoying meeting new people and the blogging experience while they see where it leads, the waves of social media options can be bewildering.

I still want to have a life, I don’t want to be staring at the monitor 24/7 so there has to be a line drawn somewhere, I can’t be everywhere all the time.

So here’s a list of all the places I go to steer a social media course in the order of time spent on each of them and with the reasons I like, or dislike using them. (Just click on the headings to connect with me there if they are places you frequent)

Twitter

This is the first place I found myself able to reach out to and connect with people and despite a brief dalliance with Google+ when Twitter was ignored I still find it’s my first port of call.

Relaxed, friendly and supportive and a good place to meet a wide variety of people and forge great friendships. A means of sharing others content and an efficient way of seeing my own content shared. A quick fire environment and for me still a fun and comfortable place to be.

The character restriction can occasionally by annoying but there are of course many other places to say more if you need to. TweetDeck is my favoured way to play with Twitter, have tried Hootsuite but didn’t find it as easy to use.

Google+

I really like Google+ and spent loads of time there to the detriment of Twitter when it first appeared. I find it to be different in nature to Twitter, more considered and content shared on there seems to attract fuller and more interesting comment than Twitter. I tend to use it to look at what others are sharing and to comment but not to recycle content that is already there.

I actually prefer to introduce new content which is now much easier with the introduction of sharing from the+1 button. I really don’t like all the visual stuff that’s circulated, cartoons, Gifs etc, when you’ve seen them once that’s enough!

Empire Avenue

I like the concept, enjoy being there but haven’t been able to get as involved as I see many others are. I think it’s maybe my lack of the competitive edge, I couldn’t even tell you what my share price or dividend yield might be!

It’s still a good place to connect with new people though, I tend to dip in every few days to return investments and thank people but I couldn’t say I am very proactive. Come on all you Empire Avenue people, let me know what I am missing by not getting deeply involved!

Facebook

Just never been a fan, I am there to connect and to share my content and I do have a page for the blog for the same reasons. I do though see people using it for so much more and sometimes envy the way they do. Maybe it’s the privacy concerns or maybe as a fairly recent social media convert I feel it’s more a place for friends and family to connect – what do you think?

LinkedIn

I am really just warming to LinkedIn as a good place not just to network but to spread content too. I intend to be more active and aim to get more involved in using the groups and maybe even find a job!

Triberr

I was reluctant to get involved in Triberr at first as I am generally against automating any of my social media activity. I have though now joined since the manual option was added and finding it to be a positive experience. It’s not just all about sharing content but is a thriving community and a great place to connect and meet new people.

Care needs to be taken who you are connecting with and I don’t find it to be a time saver as I often visit to see what is due to go out in my Twitter stream however I am finding it a great way to connect and engage with some really interesting people and as a source of consistently good quality content to share. Still in Beta and constantly evolving but definitely worth a look.

StumbleUpon

I use StumbleUpon to share my content but little else, I suspect I need to be more involved in finding and sharing other peoples content to get the best from it.

Twylah

I like the look of the Twylah page as it shows visitors more of my content but haven’t yet used it to share much content. Maybe it’s the fact that it puts an extra step between my content link and my blog. Have you found it to be good for you?

Quora

Tried to get involved but didn’t find it a very compelling place to be, I need to take another look to find what the appeal is, what am I missing out on Quora users?

Klout

Not really sure what it’s all about but it’s a nice way to thank people for support by giving some credit to them there.

Blip.fm

Flirted with Blip.fm for a while, keep meaning to go back, looks good fun and a good way to connect and find new music. Might grow on me.

Pinterest

Joined and dabbled but forget to add images. Still get people following me so may be some potential there if I remember to add stuff and visit to see what others are up to.

FriendFeed

Never saw the point in this one, what does it add that I can’t get from Twitter and Tweetdeck? Please do let me know.

Branch Out

Seems to fulfill the same function as LinkedIn – am I missing something?

Flickr

I use Flickr to find Creative Commons images for the blog but have never added anything.

Stop Press – I have just added another one – Commonred – Am I mad? Quick, throw me a lifeline!

I feel as if I have learned something from this exercise as it’s brought home to me that, as with most things in life, the amount you gain from something is directly related to how much you put into it yourself.

I would be really interested to hear how you deal with this issue. Are these the places you go and if so do you think I am missing a trick in not getting more involved in the least used ones?

There are so many others I don’t use, are there other places I should be that I have dismissed or maybe even don’t even know about yet? How do you keep your head above the water and still have a life outside social media?

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*Image Credits

Salvagente – Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Stock Exchange Graph – worradmu / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Links – Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net