You may have noticed I haven’t written a blog post in over a week. I guess I should have warned you that I’d be spending time away. But the truth is I didn’t know till it happened.
After a few days in Winnipeg, I decided to use the rest of the week to enjoy new time share.
I’m talking about Google+.
I call it a time share because, like you, I only have so many hours in my already hectic day and now I’m adding another spot to my social media properties of choice. These include my blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and all the other sites I visit on a regular basis.
And unless Google comes up with a magic algorithm that gives me some extra hours – Gtime+ ???- I need to figure out how to add it into my schedule and not lose out on anything else.
Is that possible? Can we become ‘masters of all our domains’, meet all our work deadlines and keep up with our relationships IRL?
Realistically something’s got to give. What’s important is stepping back and getting a handle on managing our social time. Here are a few suggestions to get started:
- Ask questions: Why are you here? Who are the people you want to connect with? How much time can you spend and not shirk your other responsibilities? Where do you go when you first log on? If you had to give up one or two social media platforms, which would they be?
- Be brutally honest with your answers.
- Prioritize and make choices – based on your answers. This is the hard part because we can’t have everything.
- Become a designated driver – that is, designate when you’re on and drive what you’ll be doing. If we’re smart about it, we can accomplish a lot, learn a few things and have some fun along the way!
There’s much to discover in Google+ and maybe it will take the place of some of our other social networks. I guess… time will tell.
Do you have any other hints for taking charge of your social media time?
By the way, if you’re looking for tips on hw to get started on Google+, here’s a selection of helpful posts I bookmarked. And on Inside PR 2.62, we talk about our experiences with the platform in a hangout.
Thanks for the perspective Troy and Sara.
Troy – I agree that things will change once it’s open to the public and not just the interested early crowd.
Sara, as I’m sure you know, it’s often difficult to be realistic when there are so many places to visit. A bit like planning a vacation when you can’t decide where to go…
From what I am hearing, the main thing G+ needs to do is to present content to new users. Since I use social media all day, I can sift through G+ and find people and subjects that appeal to me.
However, the invites I’ve given to my family have all been “why use G+ over FB, there is nothing on G+!”.
Since it is a private beta, this can be resolved by the time it goes public and it is anecdotal evidence. But, compared to Facebook’s suggested Friends and established user base, it will be a tough battle.
I think we’re inclined to initially believe that we can do it all. It’s not until we try to that we realize that it’s probably not going to happen.
I like your approach at being realistic – something I think a lot of us can benefit from when it comes to working in social media. Setting priorities (and sticking to them) can be such a relief!
Thanks as always for the great perspective, Martin!
It’s all about the strategy, Martin. Where does this fit in what you’re trying to achieve? Right now, it’s too early to tell. But it may either replace an existing tool or serve a completely different purpose.
Thanks Gini. That’s for sure. Google+ has gone way up on my social media charts. The big question is… is there a follow up or will it be a one-hit wonder?