I have approximately two million projects all due right now. I'm behind. I'm busy. But I also need a break. So I thought I'd share my thoughts on some of the social media stuff that's just so in right now.
Facebook. I loved it for about five minutes. Not so much anymore. But everyone is on it! What gives? OK, I do love that I reconnected with people I wouldn't have otherwise. But other than that, I think it's just a big time suck. I complain about it often to Dave (who refuses to join...for now), and he thinks it's just a way for adults to act like kids again. So true! I would have absolutely loved it when I was in high school and college! But I've found all the customizations that make it so less annoying. Did you know that you can choose to see less of someone? My home page is now set up so that I only see the people I want to actively follow. Did you know that you can choose not to have your every action published? Some people may like it, but aside from privacy issues, I think all that crap just clutters the page. I haven't figured out how to make it so that my last status update is not visible for weeks after it's relevant. If you know how to do that, please share.
Twitter. Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! I'm following more than 60 people and more than 70 people are following me. I know absolutely none of them. Some of them don't even speak English. I'm doing it for work, so I searched for some of my keywords and followed anyone who ever used those keywords. And then I followed some social media people. I guess whenever you follow someone, everyone who is following that person will follow you. It's just so random. Some people have more than 10,000 followers...how could you possibly read all of their updates? I posted a few half-hearted things about work but I dread just logging in. If you don't have to join Twitter for work, don't do it!
LinkedIn. This is my favorite networking site. The interface is clean and uncluttered, and it's very valuable for connecting with others in your field for work. I've set up my own group for the conference I work on (and have almost 300 members so far!) and am able to post news items or updates to the members, and the members are able to start their own discussions. I've also joined a writer's group, whose members give a lot of good tips on freelance work. And the best part: You're able to post a question to the entire community on a certain topic. So, I can post a question about what project management tool people use, for example, and can get good feedback and advice from others. This is definitely the most valuable site for work.
That's my report from the field. I'm looking forward to seeing the girls tonight and tomorrow night. I so need a break because I will be crazy busy for the next few weeks right up until our truck leaves for San Jose in early March. OK, this is starting to sound like a Facebook status update, so that's all for now.
5 years ago
