Friday we wrapped up the group blog project for the book Trust Agents. The book is all about using social media to build trust and influence. It’s got a ton of good ideas and action steps. I’ve been in the process of implementing a lot of them.
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into, but I wanted to test the waters.
Essentially I went from wading along the edge of the river to diving head first into the stream.
- I made it a priority to keep up with 100+ blogs I subscribe to.
- I made it a priority to tweet good posts written by other people.
- I made it a priority to comment on several blog posts a day.
- I implemented a new Twitter strategy (which I’ll go into more in another post)
- I set the goal of making 5 posts a week to this blog (I also have the goal of posting 3 times a week to my personal blog).
- I made it a priority to keep in touch with about 50 people in.
And now I am drowning in the stream…
I’m doing a fairly good job at meeting my social networking goals and I’m having a ball interacting with people, but there are a bunch of other things that just aren’t getting done. Important things.
So, one of my highest priorities over the next week is to read about social networking time management strategies and then to put together a new plan.
How are you doing with managing your time and social networking activities? What’s your strategy?
Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com
Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.
An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.
Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.
10 Comments
Those are some lofty goals.
But you are right, you have to dive into the stream.
One thing I would suggest and you have probably heard this before or know this for yourself, but take your time and work into something.
I read about 100-150 blogs myself daily. I comment on 50 of those blogs. But it took me a little while to build up to that.
Maybe you might feel a little overwhelmed by the fact that you have 100 blogs to read on your google reader? But I think it starts slowly and then it becomes a way of doing things.
Now a days it is a daily occurrence that I read all those blogs, comment, post a couple of blogs, and stay involved in a 300 people tweet stream. But I thin that takes a little while and by no means am I there yet or am claiming to do a great job at doing all of this.
But keep it up, because it will change for you shortly and you will start to really develop a strategy.
Thanks Kyle, I appreciate the suggestion.
Paul – as you know I am very much in this position too.
And the fact that I'm only now commenting on your post about it – after having already made an attempt myself – shows that I'm drowning also.
But, I do think that my drowning is not so much in keeping up (I tend to do a splurge on keep up) but more because I'm finding that all of this isn't fulfilling my wants for it. I only follow approx a quarter the number you do and struggle with that so can't imagine your trials.
I do like your strategy though and perhaps this is something I ought to do – set myself a strategy or a goal to read x blogs a day irrespective. However, I think my keeping up issue has a lot to do with trying to be honourable with all my real life commitments – my family, etc and as much as I want to dive in deeper and build more and better relationships I also need to take stock of what's around me.
Let me thank you for your sharing and your commitment – I for one appreciate it.
FWIW, I don't mind being overwhelmed when jumping into something new. I'm trying some new things – some software, some rules/systems for managing things. Learning more about what's important and what's not as I go along. Continuing to tweak. I'm considering a series of blog posts on social media and time management in January, since that's when a lot of people set goals and resolutions to improve in the new year.
Thanks Paul! Great thoughts! I have been there and done that, written daily posts, read 100+ blog posts / day etc. I am trying to get back to that but not quite so much, would be happy with 1-2 posts written per day. Reading posts always helped me to be a better writer.
Thanks for your comment, Jim. I hear you. Yesterday I was catching up on my blog reading and ended up with about a dozen posts I wanted to blog about. For most I just commented and retweeted. I'll only blog about 1 or 2.
I hear that.
I and my children are being overwhelmed with our new undertaking – Tang Soo Do. In 2mths we've gone from never having heard of it to already having done (and passed) our first grading. And I'm pain free for the first time in 25yrs.
Thanks for your comment Jim. Yeah, I hear you. Yesterday I was catching up on my blog reading and ended up with about a dozen posts I wanted to blog about. Most of them I just end up posting a short comment on and retweeting. Only 1 or 2 I'll actually blog about.
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