So here is what is on my mind this morning. Overlap of information on my social channels. I am still blown away by the amount of information that is available to us, i’m not sure I will ever get over that. Recently I have been thinking about how we manage that information. There are a variety of topics that many people are interested, and would like to read up on. However the question is how do we get the information most interesting and relevant to us effectively and efficiently in our brains. Last week I had a discussion with some of the people at SMCpros, we all agreed that it seems like everyone has either a fashion, cooking, or running blog. Popular topics online indeed but how do you pick the best, most useful, and most interesting. In many ways its like a great band. You may catch wind of one from a friend, a reblog, or a twitter link; check it out and become loyal to its content. For the interest of yourself and the ability to sleep at night you have to be choosy on what you pay attention to, and include in your feed. I think this is where the overlap piece comes in. Personally I am a fan or social media, technology, business, music, and fashion content. I can take or leave exercise (though I am an avid endorphin chaser), cooking, or Perez Hilton-esq blogs. That is what I personally care about and like to be constantly updated on. In my own social personality I tend to use Twitter, Net News Wire, Blogroll, and occasionally Digg to stay informed. Here is the problem, overlap. Everyone is increasingly busy and needs to maximize their time. So the need to compartmentalize the flow of information through your laptop, iPad, phone, etc… For example I tend to check twitter very frequently, and I check my Net News Wire maybe once or twice a day. So I am wasting my time by paying attention to tweets from Mashable about articles I am going to read later. The same is true for my blog reader. I am not going to put blogs that I only give me quick updates, I am just going to get the quick news from twitter. Digg helps with this a bit, highlighting popular posts, however at the same time there are articles that apply to me that are not always popular. Mastering your social networks is an underestimated skill that will set you apart from other professionals.
