So what’s all this Social media hype about?
Digg, Mixx, Stumble Upon, Twitter, Tumblr…phew the list just goes on.
Social Media is happening guys! In fact, it’s quite likely that, while I’m writing this, an outsourced development team in India or Romania is sketching up a new social media product. Such is the buzz.
Have you wondered, you don’t get time to manage one single blog, but then how do you manage all these social media sites? Agreed, it’s micro blogging and you can do it from your IM or mobile, if you could find time for it, you could even do the same on your blog isn’t it?
Sometimes, it makes no sense you see. The time required to manage five micro blogging sites is equal or even more than the time required to post an article.
So lazy guys out there, quit micro blogging and social media and get back to blogging. Remember, you were complaining last time that you don’t have time to blog.
But it’s all this hype about social media that keep you pulling back you know. I’ve tried it myself and lost at it. I used to be ..well actually I am a social media enthusiast and try to keep myself updated with new stuff. But the problem is there is a new product every single day and it takes a lot of time to manage it all.
I discussed this with some of my friends and you know what, they all were doing something similar. They’d register up for a product, probably because a friend referred to it, and then leave it at it. They’d never use the product,but only when they see someone else doing good at it.
Twitter for example. Out of 11 odd guys I talked to 7 of them have heard about twitter or have registered to it long time ago, but never used it. They are prompted to use it only once they see that someone else has benefited from using it.
So what is your take on all these social media hype? Do you end up using these tools or do you try it and throw them away?
Mark Knowles | February 13th, 2008 at 5:35 am #
Good post - My take is that they are over-hyped, there are too many of them, and they suck up waaaaaay too much time to be worth the effort.
RandomThinker | February 13th, 2008 at 5:35 am #
I’m glad there are others out there that do this! As a newbie I’m eager to find ways to generate traffic so I sign up for everything, so much that my bookmarks list is running out of room. I’ve signed up for tons of stuff and only tend to return to a few sites. StumbleUpon is by far the one I use most and think has the most potential for a blogger. I also use Entrecard (if you can call it a social media network; It sort of is…) Really, I’m not sure what it is but I love it.
I’ve reserved Facebook for my personal life and haven’t mixed it with my blogging efforts yet, however I might in the future. I have signed up for 3 or 4 more and after returning once or twice and not seeing any potential in them, I have just abandoned them. Between writing, learning from other bloggers and life, I’m not sure when people find the time to be active on more than a few social media networks.
James Mann | February 13th, 2008 at 7:14 am #
I personally prefer to go to other blogs and forums, ones that are related to my topics, where I can leave comments and start discussions that are helpful to others.
I believe I get more visitors and new subscribers easier this way because I try to keep on topic when commenting.
I still do a bit of social bookmarking and media but the more blogs I start the harder it is to keep that up so I do feel commenting on other blogs and forums develop longer lasting relationships.
Yuwanda Black | February 13th, 2008 at 12:21 pm #
Mani thanks for bringing this up.
I think that we have gone social media mad on the web. If one tried to keep up with every new trend that came along, we wouldn’t have time to get any real work done (at least I wouldn’t).
I’m usually a late comer to technology. Eg, I got a cellphone a full two years after most of my friends had one — and then it was a gift, not something I went out and bought for myself.
As for social media, I use Digg regularly. I’m still kicking my own butt for this one, but hey, it’s a button I put up so I’m gonna use it darn it!
In the last couple of months, I’ve started to use StumbleUpon and Propeller. A few days ago, I signed up with Delicious. But, you know what — I’m stopping there.
I used to put up a blog post and that was it. Now between stumbling it, digging it and propellering it, a simple 20-minute blog post now takes 30-45 minutes.
Oh yea, I also use Technorati and have a Squidoo lens.
While I do believe everyone should incorporate social media into their marketing, it should be a conscious plan, eg, choose a few that work well for you and move on. Don’t spend time jumping on every new bandwagon that comes out.
Otherwise, you’ll never have time for real paid work.
Yuwanda
swiftmed | February 13th, 2008 at 6:49 pm #
For me, i do use social media as im a new blog, and all the extra attention and traffic that social media drives my way is a huge help. I did on the other hand, sign up for twitter because someone else was doing well at it (Darren at ProBlogger), didnt have a clue how to use it, and gave up. It looks like it has no point, and really annoyed me, so the main ones i use are Stumble, Digg, Delicious & Reddit.
The rest i leave.
Mani Karthik (Post Author) | February 14th, 2008 at 6:51 am #
Yuwanda, I have to agree with you an all those points. Though I have to admit that I’m a bandwagon enthusiast. I make it a point to hop in and lay my hands on a new product, and decide later whether to ditch it or keep.
Random thinker, the facebook thing is an interesting concpet - whether to use it for personal networking or social uses. Hmm…next post may be?
mark, you deserve an applause for speaking your mind out. Many don;t you know.
Swiftmed, you’re somewhat like me
Alex | February 24th, 2008 at 2:19 pm #
Hey Mani,
First of all, great post. It is really ridiculous how many social media websites are today. Too many and most of them are crap or just not popular to worth the effort.
But nobody wants to miss out any potential readers, so many are doing this, and sometimes it takes more time to submit a post to all social media websites than actually write a post.
For people who are still addicted to submit to everything should try out http://shareaholic.com/ or for more services http://www.socialmarker.com/?link=about%3Ablank&title=&text= which are great time saver.