Are you experiencing web socializing overload?

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Comment by Maryn McKenna on January 31, 2008 at 10:57am

Oh God, two friends are pushing me to join Twitter but I am seriously scared of the email/phone overload. I had to turn off half the notifications for this site, and I only joined this week!

Comment by Mary Ann Chick Whiteside on January 31, 2008 at 12:12am

Sometimes, we just have to walk away.

Scariest thing - and most romantic, my husband tells me - I did recently is stopping web activity for 48 hours.

OK, I did show him how to use an Iphone for maps, web sites, Twitter and replying to blog posts about concerts we were at as part of celebrating 25 years of being together. (Now he wants Iphone)

The world did not end. It was all there when I got back. The delete key still worked.

Bonus: I came up with a solution to a mind-boggling web page challenge on Monday.

Comment by maria p. gonzalez on January 30, 2008 at 4:29pm

I would probably be okay without checking some stuff every day, but a week might be the limit. I'm bad about updating my personal blog but am trying to at least post a new entry each week. A lot of times I'm just waiting for the inspiration. I'm also not as connected as others. I'm trying to ease into everything slowly and doing a good job with what I have signed up for. I'm getting some pressure to join Twitter and that might be my next step!
I don't really get Facebook yet, but it's fun and I've done some good networking on it. Thanks for the topic!

Comment by Shawn Smith on January 30, 2008 at 2:53pm

I tried writing a blog post today about how journalists can better manage their time on social networking, but it instead turned into how we can increase overall productivity. See that, all this web socializing gets me off topic even when I'm trying to focus on that very topic itself.

Nice suggestions Maria, I have largely made my myspace page into a marketing tool for my facebook, blog and company. I don't do much updating and may log in a couple times a month to check messages from friends who refuse to move to facebook. lame!

Do you think your social web world would implode if you left it for a week? I wonder about that.

Comment by Maryn McKenna on January 30, 2008 at 1:42pm

I try to limit checking all my sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, this one) to an hour in the morning before I start interviews and phone calls, and maybe again at the end of the day, or if I'm on hold... It's less immediate interaction, but I have to get some work done! And since I'm not a tech journo who can say this is 100% my beat...

Comment by maria p. gonzalez on January 30, 2008 at 1:27pm

I'd maybe suggest a schedule? If you know MySpace doesn't do it for you anymore, just dedicate one afternoon a week to updating it or checking our locals on the site, if that would help your job. I don't think you should feel obligated to commit to every single site you sign up for. I got rid of my MySpace and Friendster (remember that?) accounts a year ago, but started MySpace again because there's a ton of youth in our town on it and that relates to my beat.
I'd also apply the same kinds of rules you might assign to watching too much TV or over-eating. If you're online 24/7, maybe you should give yourself some "quiet time" during the day to chill and not stare at the screen/PDA/etc.

Comment by Kim Winnegge on January 30, 2008 at 10:44am

i'm so glad i'm not alone in feeling this way. my experience with "web socializing overload" parallels vera's experience-- i, too, have been trying to figure out how to keep up to date on social networks without losing too much of my productivity. sometimes at the end of the day it feels like i haven't done anything but comment and blog, comment and blog.

i wonder what people's tips are on how to maintain a decent web presence without losing your work day. any ideas?

Comment by Tish Grier on January 30, 2008 at 10:23am

Sometimes I'm burnt-out before I even start my day....between three very different positions, plus my own blog (now a little stalled) plus some local consulting, keeping up with everything online gets to be way too much some days. Not to mention that some folks I know aren't even online! Right now, things are so "hyper"/ADD-inducing because *everything* is the hot new app, everyone's competing for our attention to make their success, and we're doing all of it to see what shakes out as the best.

But we just can't be all things to all people all the time--like the hypesters would like us to be. Yet choosing makes us feel like we're somehow deficient.

So, maybe it's not us that's deficient, but that the tools are too many and too diffuse. Not to mention that we are having to compete harder than before to not just keep up but to appear relevant and cutting edge to our next anxiety-riddled employer/contractor.

Talk about your "age of anxiety!"

Comment by Shawn Smith on January 30, 2008 at 6:03am

If only there was a way to get paid for it all, ha, then maybe it wouldnt be so bad. Too bad we can't make it our full time jobs to participate in the social web

Comment by Maryn McKenna on January 29, 2008 at 7:37pm

Agreed. It's a huge time-sink. I have not seen anybody offer a solution for this, other than "Suck it up." Which, while accurate, is hardly comforting.

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