Cheltenham Social Media Café

A glass of wine could change my mind! Kathryn Wright

A few days ago as I gazed idly at my ten twitter feeds on TweetDeck it occurred to me that I had encountered a new phenomenon. I was tweeted out. I was fed up with constantly scanning for news, updating my status, reading blog posts in Google Reader and friends’ Farmville updates on Facebook. I hardly use LinkedIn. I scan YouTube for client videos most days – just in case. I have been reading about Ning and Buzz.

My Yahoo mail has been asking me “What am I doing right now?” I am virtually socialising using a variety of applications all day – that is what I’m doing. Occasionally I also squeeze a bit of work in too. 

Avoid a headache

Don’t get me wrong – I love Twitter and Facebook and I recognise the usefulness of some other social media applications too. What bothers me is the sheer number of social media applications and the way they seem to multiply every week. This has become especially irksome since I started using social media for work.

I conduct research; locate pictures and video resources; read informative blog posts and network through a variety of platforms. It would be unwise of me to close my accounts in a fit of despair but they can cause the occasional headache, or as I call them, the “Aaagh!” moments.

If this sounds familiar to you then you might have tried to use a single platform to provide a variety of social media functions. Perhaps you use Friend Feed to provide access to Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, pictures and video links. Or you might be a Buzz advocate using your Gmail account for a kitchen sink load of applications.

As more and more social media platforms become available I can see the appeal of using a resource that is designed to cope with multiple functions and integrate existing accounts.

My current concern is that with so many accounts already in use, can I summon the energy to apply for a new account to combine my existing platforms? Are they any good? Will they really take away my “Aaagh” moments or simply create new ones?

HD vs Blu-Ray, VHS vs Betamax

With so many social media networks available and so many new ones in development it’s tempting to wait and see what happens if and when the boom settles down.

This is a lesson I learnt from watching my husband run out to buy an HD DVD player.  Soon afterwards Blu-Ray won the battle and HD DVDs halted mid-production. This was a costly error and it’s something many people still mock him for. My parents briefly made the same error with Betamax.

With social media there is no direct spending involved but to get the most out of your networks you do need to invest time.

When you’re using the networks for business as well as socialising it becomes even more important that you don’t waste time adopting a platform that simply isn’t useful or popular enough.

Playing it safe

My experiences with social media have taught me to act with caution. I am unlikely to adopt any new platforms because the ones I have fit a specific purpose and have a place in my work and social life that I am happy with.

I can put up with the occasional headache if it means I have access to the people and resources I need when I actually need them but I think I’ve probably reached my saturation point.

I may feel differently of course, knocking back a glass of wine at a Social Media Cafe event talking to Russell about the delights of Buzz, but who knows? For now at least I am content with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Reader and Flickr. Oh, and Friends Reunited and LinkedIn. I’m pretty sure that’s it.

Surely there can be no other opinion?

If you disagree with anything I’ve said I may find your opinion refreshing and you should definitely tell me by using the comments section to rant or preach!