Dilbert continues to nail it with great comics these days. This is the daily for today July 19, 2011.
How many Twitter followers do I have? The short answer is too many. There are times I don’t feel as engaged as I would like to be with some of the people and organizations I follow. But on the flip side of that, amongst my many followers/ those I follow I do have some very valuable relationships that have been built over time. The key to that last statement is that many relationships have been build with time and proactive effort.
I’ve often said that Twitter is like a river: you have to step in and out of it when you have the time. You can’t stay there all day trying to drink in every last tweet. If you do, you’ll likely drown or at least find yourself out of a job pretty quick!
With a lot of these social media tools, it’s quality vs. quantity. This may seem a little hypocritical coming from someone who has thousands of connections on various social media platforms, yet I do truly believe in the importance of quality.
My LinkedIn account has a much more professional look and feel. I prefer to connect with people I have met in real life and have possibly worked with them or we have interacted on a professional level. If I don’t know you, I’m hesitant to have us connect. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t drop me a line. Perhaps we can do coffee and find our commonalities where we can connect futher?
I’m starting to build up a network on Google+, but I’m trying to organize it a little more so that I have some clearly defined lines between my personal and professional lives. Because I have almost 450 friends on Facebook, the idea of setting up special lists is a tad overwhelming. Maybe I’ll take a Sunday to really work through it, but it seems more likely I’ll ramp up my Google+.
I often feel like I have third life and that’s my online presence. Online, I’m a mix of my personal and professional self. You can’t escape having an online brand, so I try to portray an honest view of who I am.
Have you struggled with your online interactions? Maintaining more than one profile isn’t always easy. It can be time consuming and it’s hard to find value if you’re not getting what you want from the experience. What tricks have you come up with to help sort through all the noise?