Right now, the hot topic and social networking tool is Twitter. Early last year it was MySpace, followed (and overtaken) by Facebook. Second Life was in there somewhere as well. Digg, FriendFinder, Delicious, LinkedIn…yada, yada. The list of social networking must-be-on technologies gets longer every day.
"…there are so many networks and tools…how am I supposed to keep up?"
The short answer is “you can’t”. Even the professionals have trouble keeping up. So let yourself off the hook. Keeping up is about following someone else’s agenda. According to consultant
Alexandra Samuel “…the minute you stop trying to keep up, you open a far more exciting possibility: focusing on what matters to you, your team, and your business.”
She details some examples in this linked
article. The bottom line is that you should concentrate on YOUR objectives, and find the right combination of tools to fulfill that need; not find the tool and figure out how to apply it. There is a big difference between the two approaches. Whether its research, communication, or customer service, there is no doubt a social networking tool available to help you. Usually a FREE one. Waiting.
To illustrate, she relates a shopping trip to Ikea a few years ago: “…I was consumed by the organizing department. As I pored over the assortment of boxes and bins, my friend finally grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me square in the eye: ‘You know,’ she told me gently, ‘there's no combination of boxes that's going to turn you into an organized person.’"
Touché. There is no technology that holds the key to achieving your company's mission, your quarterly targets, or even your personal development goals. What is available is choice: choice among social networks, choice among software programs, and choice among hardware options.
But most important of all, is the choice to stop keeping up with all the “should” and must-haves, and to find the tools that address your goals and objectives.
Read…absorb…ask advice…to discover the possibilities. But don’t let someone else set your agenda. Do it yourself.
“The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers."
--Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist