Comments on: Social Networking Overload

By: Chess Openings Guru

Chess Openings Guru — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 05:50:03 +0000

I think a good way to moderate your time is to take breaks, or “fasts,” if you will. I’ve taken 3-month, 6-month, even year-long fasts from blogging or Facebooking or Myspacing or Youtubing and sometimes combinations of those. They are very fun, but just like anything, too much of it is bad for you.

It’s kind of like going on a very strict diet and then gradually bringing fatty foods back into your life, but at a much lower level than before.

Still, maybe it would be better to delete all these accounts and just take someone out for coffee once in a while!

By: ray

ray — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:44:55 +0000

@digitalnomad: I agree that for most people, blogging will never be a full time job. There is definitely money to be made by blogging, but it seems to me that the big money is made in other ways.

@Learn Affiliate Marketing: Yes, there are certainly some ways to make the best use of your time on social networking sites. I’m working on further utilizing some of the sites that I’ve been neglecting and we’ll see if that helps out some. Thanks for the link; it looks like some valuable information there.

Thanks for your comments!

By: Learn Affiliate Marketing

Learn Affiliate Marketing — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:42:09 +0000

What a powerful point! The truth is they offer a good medium for any online marketer.Right its a timesucker. But there are ways around it.

Automate the system with free and paid tools,or outsource it

There are tips and tricks on using web 2.0 to power up your affiliate marketing and Clickbank commissions at http://www.squidoo.com/cbpro

By: digitalnomad

digitalnomad — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:00:31 +0000

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. I am coming to believe these are big time wasters. And I had high hope for SMM and SMO.

I now am thinking article writing and posting less, but better content is the key. I am preparing to write some “articles”, not posts on this.

I also believe that blogging can never be a serious home biz opportunity for the masses. Too many mommy bloggers, make money blogs, and self improvement blogs.

Yes, the blogoshere is starting to look a lot like its big brother, the World Wide Web.

I think there are probably better online income models. Blogs will probably survive as the journals they started life as, but the monetization models are getting weaker by the week.

By: ray

ray — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:50:34 +0000

Hi Essie. Welcome to FreshBlogger! I feel your pain about the social networking and launching new blogs, etc. It’s a lot of work and very time-consuming. As far as the networks go, I still think it’s useful to maintain a presence on at least the major ones, like stumbleupon and mybloglog. I still get significant traffic from both and have made some great connections there.

Don’t bother apologizing for the long comment, either. I (and my other readers) appreciate your input. Thanks for commenting!

By: Essie

Essie — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:02:58 +0000

I’m so pleased and chagrined, both, to find an article on this. Your writing and the comments really develop the the conflicting elements in the question of spending time in social networks.

What I can take away from this of benefit is the diminishing returns principle and *try* to apply it. That is much better than being stuck in an all-or-nothing sort of conflict.

I am new, the blog I listed below my email is my personal sandbox or playpen what I am busiest doing is setting up what I hope will be a largish network of sites. Launching the first few sites is extremely time consuming, as you all know. And without funds to invest in promotion, promotion is going to take much personal time as well. It feels like a zero sum game, for sure.

The other question is *which* social sites to spend the limited time in, if one is not going to ban that kind of time. (I have, in the recent business phase.) I was an early adopter of Stumble Upon, though not very social, so I think returning there will be productive. I was about to launch into My Blog Log but it looks like it’s heading South. I see now that the question of which one or ones is not so important if the principle is used to limit time for any.

I appreciate this article pushing this issue to the front for me as it’s bothered me every time I read some blogger lauding the importance of social network time.
Sorry for such a l-o-n-g comment — maybe I need to get out more! ;D Essie

By: ray

ray — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:01:53 +0000

I joined a ton of social network sites over the first year of blogging, but I don’t think I would join another one now. I did spend a lot of time with some of them, like MyBlogLog, and in a lot of ways it did pay off with increased traffic and exposure. I just don’t have the time to keep doing that, though. Thanks for all of the comments!

By: SEO

SEO — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 07:22:45 +0000

Now, I’m also belong to some 11 social media sites that contributed a much more traffic but it also took some of my important time. Social media sites can be a blessing and a curse. In terms of networking and social marketing, it is absolutely a blessing but when it takes your privacy and more of your time for your real life and family, as you said it is scary as hell, nonetheless.

By: Steve Mills

Steve Mills — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:29:29 +0000

After being online for many years I now limit my time for these time draining activities to pre-set block.

I do about 30 minutes of facebook a week, if that and I still seem to be able to keep up with of my friends, messages and annoying widgets that people throw in my direction.

As always with blogs, quality is key, and networking follows.

By: Matt Keegan

Matt Keegan — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:44:29 +0000

Ray, I belong to some 12 social media sites, but I must admit that StumbleUpon is outshines them all.

Regarding MyBlogLog, I did join my MBL and Yahoo accounts together today after all. There was some contact information I needed from MBL and the only way to get it was to register and log in. I won’t be using MBL all that much, instead BlogCatalog will take priority.

Like Caroline, I limit my time on the social networks otherwise they take the most important time of the day away from me: the time I need to spend with my family.