Are you suffering from chronic status update fatigue?
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s a failure on my part to fully embrace the possibilities of social media, but recently I’ve begun to hit a blank when I think about what to put in my status updates. Not only do I have to maintain a family and a professional career, but now I also have to think about condensing my life into a series of 140 character tweets or updates and sending them out for the world’s consideration. That’s a lot of pressure!
And now there are so many status updates to think about. There’s my LinkedIn profile, my Facebook page, my Twitter account, not to mention my GMail status and Friends Reunited. (What? I hear you say. Are you really still messing about on Friends Reunited? Yes, I’m afraid I am.)
Frankly, I’m in danger of running out of things to say about myself. I’ve prepared plans, created media coaching courses, written strategies, fended off hostile journos…and still the blank status update field looms before me like an intellectual black hole. What can I say to fill the void? What can I write about that will make me look good, yet still seem cool and slightly aloof from this materialistic world?
As a PR consultant, one of my issues is that much of what I do is unbroadcastable. Imagine: just saved Octopus Underwriting from front page scandal involving CEO’s sexual proclivities. Not going to happen is it. Or how about: just told big porkie to journalist to save Billy the Broker from scathing media criticism? That’s a no-no – and before any journos out there ask, no, I don’t tell you big porkies anyway.
So what am I left with? Making the coffee, looking for a new Biro and spilling soup all over my keyboard. Not really the stuff of hard core professional updates.
As if to taunt me, I’m compelled to marvel at the richness and variety of the status updates produced by David Worsfold, Group Editorial Director at Incisive Media. The man is a status update dynamo. One minute he’s sorting out the All Party Group, the next he’s leading a social media course, then reading War and Peace, then linking his Twitter account to his LinkedIn profile, then updating his blog…The list is endless. I cannot keep up with him. How does he do it?
I, in contrast, stare at the blank What-are-you-doing-now? field and my brain crashes like an aging PC.
What am I doing now? Why am I doing it?
Blank.
Written by Adrian Beeby
Tags: David Worsfold, Facebook, fatigue, Linkedin, status update, Twitter
November 12th, 2009 at 9:58 am
How can I let this go without joining in the conversation!
This “How do you find time?” question came up in one of the social media workshops I was helping to run here last week. My main answer is that I have substituted engaging in social media for alot of activities I previously used to include in my daily routine. For instance, in the morning I would previously have spent some time going through several papers, often cutting out and photocopying things I thought were of interest to other people. Now, I read one paper on the train and then use the internet to check what is in the rest, just cutting and pasting a link into Twitter to share anything I think might be interesting.
Then, there is the simple fact that we are so much more aware of what is going on and can find what we need from out desktops so that we do not have to spend time picking up the phone and chasing around for the information we want.
Finally, we are nowadays constantly in touch so what was previously relatively dead time sitting on a station platform and so on can be used more productively.
Knowing how to use all that time effectively is another question entirely: I’m glad you find some of the things I put up of interest but I am learning as I go along.
I would add that there is a real danger that social media can turn into a “time bandit”, especially if you are looking for excuses to be distracted from other tasks. Avoiding this trap does require a degree of self-discipline.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Thanks for that, David. I think part of the problem I have is that while many a lot of those older ‘activities’ were finite in length. Once you’d read the paper, you’d read it. But with social media, the possibilities are virtually infinite. You can go on posting comments and getting involved with discussions for hours on end. So many networks, so little time.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I even put it on Twitter for you so, hopefully, some more people will join in.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
It’s easier if you think of the status update as a place to share resources or information you find of interest rather than a place to share details about your daily tasks. I pretend that prompt on Twitter does not say “What are you doing” but instead says, “what are you finding interesting?” or “what are you learning?” Then I submit posts along those lines.
Another tip is to use applications like http://www.ping.fm and http://www.socialoomph.com. Ping lets you update multiple social media accounts at one time, so no more copying and pasting between Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Just update once and it will go wherever you tell it.
SocialOomph lets you input tweets for automated posting at times of your choosing. It is a fantastic time-saver because you can pick your top dozen links, draft a tweet about each one and then set it up so that you have one content-rich tweet going out a day for the next twelve days. Now the pressue to fill that status update box is greatly reduced.
You can easily supplement your social oomph posts with real-time posts of course, so you won’t become robotic in any way. But you’ll be maintaining a presence and contributing to the conversation even if you get busy on other projects or suddenly head out of town.