Timesuck 2.0

It seems like not that long ago there we were all drowning in email.  There were stories about declaring email bankruptcy and lots of suggestions for how to deal with the massive onslaught of messages.  I don't hear anyone boasting about how their inbox volume has disappeared so going out on a limb that email volumes haven't decreased.  Apparently the deluge of email wasn't enough, now we have this whole "Social Media" thing to find time for. 

To be honest, I find myself a little schizo when it comes to social media.  Me The Curmudgeon says its a giant waste of time, adding to the cognitive noise and time management stresses of each day.  Don't even get me started on Twitter.  Me The Social Media Evangelist believes in the power of connections, communities of interest, "micro-marketing" and the richness of the information and interactive fabric that is called social media.  I like to think I'm not alone in my conflicting attitudes, I sense a lot of marketers are underground with their doubts for fear they'll be characterized as old school (Marketing 1.0).

Curmudgeon or evangelist, social media "value" is based on how it improves our use of time.  Does it allow you to interact with a community around a specific topic faster than other alternatives?  Does it allow you to gather market, product or other insights more quickly?  Do you have the time to contribute to the collective in a meaningful way?  To benefit from much of what social media has to offer requires an intellectual contribution to the whole.   

"Begin with the end in mind" is one of my favorite expressions, not sure if its attributed to Yoda, Confucius or an old Franklin Covey Seminar, but good counsel in any case.  Your company has a blog, great.  Now what?  You've taken the plunge and started using a feed reader, great.  Is it doing a better job of gathering up more information you'll never read?  You're on facebook, what to do with all those new friends?  Before you jump into any social media effort, have very clearly defined objectives.

What we are talking about with social media is a set of engagement tools.  Used wisely, these tools represent an incredibly effective means of learning, sharing and collaborating with audiences large and small.  Used without setting clear goals or with unrealistic expectations on the need to contribute, they can do substantial damage and become a giant resource drain.   Be focused, be purposeful, contribute content of value and remember its all about time.

Comments

[Landon Ray]

Funny that you'd write about this just now..

I wrote a post with similar thoughts last week (basically, "who's got the time?" and "is it worth it?").

Interestingly, I got quite a strong response from the evangelists out there.. several comments, plus about 30 RSS subscribers and 10 or 15 twitter followers.

I was surprised by the response. And intrigued, because if it's really possible to create a conversation that engages a lot of people so quickly.. well, it starts to look like social media might not be such a waste after all.

I think a lot of folks, particularly business folk like you and I, are pretty wary of another Timesuck.

We're also wary of putting the time in and getting nothing back but the sound of crickets.

At the same time, though, the message that 'this is the new thing' has been coming at us so hard and so long now that I think many of us are going to have to take the plunge... at least for a test.

I'm thinking of organizing something for biz folks on the edge.. to take the plunge as a group, with input from the leaders in the industry and step-by-step instructions (to try to minimize the research time and screwups).

Would love your participation, if you're interested.

[chris]

Thanks for the comment Landon, I think anything that can be done to focus on efficient use of social media would be great. Sign me up for anything you'd like to try.