Happy new year to all you list makers and resolution setters. Here are 7 New Year's resolutions that I'm going to be following and which may help you get more out of social media in January and beyond.
- Try something new: Pinterest is one of the new social networks to try out. Hitwise says it has now broken into the top 10 social networks. I'm liking it aready.
- Batch it up to avoid information overload: tweets, emails, alerts... I find all the information pouring in can create a constant feeling of information overload. Be brave and batch your time on each social network by, gulp, REMOVING ALERTS. In other words, don't let yourself be plugged in all the time. Turn alerts on when you're in, then off when you're not. Even if for no other reason that the removal of buzzing and bleeping around the office and in meetings will be welcomed by others.
- Don't update right away: when Facebook, Twitter and other major social networks update their look and feel online and on their mobile and web apps, they ask you first, do you want to switch over to the new look. Try not doing it right away next time - either have a test account to try it out with, or look at the feedback from others before diving straight in.
- Short and sweet: whether you're trying to blog more, or just use more, new social networks, keep the content short and sweet and you may find writer's block disappear.
- Prune and cull: go through your reading list, followers and apps, and delete a batch now, then do it every month. You'll be surprised, if you don't do this regularly, how much clutter you accumulated.
- Share more: when I run training classes, for newcomers to some of the more open sharing social networks like Instagram, Path, Foursquare and even Twitter, the main concern is over-sharing. I'm going to use them a bit more this year, Instagram and Foursquare in particular, as with all new things, they get used slightly less when they move from innovative to mature technologies.
- Carry less: this one's quite personal to me, but I find that even though more and more can be done on mobiles and tablets, we still carry the laptop everywhere we go. App yourself up with productivity services like ensuring all your inboxes are in one place, Twitter, Skype, Facebook, Office (disclaimer: client), Evernote (client) and whatever else you need, then try stepping away from the big screen more often. I know I will.
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