Managing Social Media: Digital "Chores"

Social media. I love it, but I also realize it’s created numerous additional digital “chores” that did not previously exist. I spent part of my evening clearing my inbox, followed by going through my google reader. I’m not completely content with google reader but it’s what I’m using for now. I’d be happy to take suggestions of other good blog readers. More than happy.

More than the housekeeping nature of social media, though, I’ve been thinking about why I use various social media. I’ve thought about splitting my twitter account, for instance. I seem to want to use it for two very different things, and while I applaud those who can easily use theirs for multiple reasons, it’s not me, and frankly, I find it (as I currently use it) overwhelming. So I haven’t been using it, because I both want to follow homeschooling people and other friends, and I want to use it to follow various celebrities. It’s not working for me.

I’ve also concluded that even though I don’t get a paycheck for any work I do, I might want a LinkedIn account after all. To be honest, I don’t really want to use facebook for networking and connecting per se. I find networking to be important, but I view facebook more as a personal playground than a professional one. There are also people whom I know from past endeavours with whom I’d like to remain connected without necessarily giving them access to photographs and other things on facebook. And yes, I know about lists and so forth, and no, I’m not interested in pursuing that option on facebook. I think LinkedIn actually will do exactly what I want it to do–freeing me to use facebook I would like to use it. Win-win.

I’ve decided to a variation on NaBloPoMo in March. I often think about sharing random finds on youtube and the like, but I rarely do. So, for March, I’m going to post one per day. I’ll still be posting other things, but I think it’ll be sort of fun. Most of them will be light-hearted, but I’m sure I’ll slip in something thought-provoking at some point, if I can. :) I find this particularly amusing since the official theme for NaBloPoMo March is “In A Word,” and here I am, doing it without, well, words. At least not the typed form.