Returning from a social media cleanse
If you pay attention to my blog and social networks (cause I know so many of you do), you’ve likely noticed I have been on a bit of a social media hiatus. My last blog post was from April 12 for goodness sake. It has gotten to the point that so much time has passed and I feel like I need an interim post explaining my absence to my online friends. The problem is, I can’t really explain what has been keeping me from writing, which really only aids in prolonging my return.
I finally feel like I want to get back into it though. I miss the Twitter chatter and the feeling I get when I hit publish and share my thoughts with the world. So, I am going to attempt to determine why I was in need of a social media cleanse.
Even though I wasn’t updating regularly, I didn’t completely checkout of the online world. I obviously spent a lot of time there on clients’ behalf, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to update my own profiles. I still thought about it, came up with content ideas and sat at my computer in an attempt to write a draft. But, I could never get past the first few sentences. In evaluating my reasons for blogging and what I want the focus of my online presence to be, I came up with the following.
- Simplicity is key – It is easy to get caught up in the flashy, glamorous world of widgets and plug-ins, but before you know it your site looks like the place where buttons and icons came to die. Ultimately the content needs to speak for itself, so I have switched to a simple look that doesn’t include too many frills.
- Doing less well is greater than doing more mediocre – When you work in social media it is easy to get overwhelmed and feel like if you’re not the best at everything you’re not doing it right. But, unless you’re unemployed, don’t sleep or are Wonder Woman, being the best at it all is just not possible. I can’t have the best Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Posterous, Last.fm, miscellaneous account. It is better to focus on a couple areas I can really succeed in and slowly add to the list.
- Go easy on yourself – Every post doesn’t need to be earth shattering. Every word doesn’t need to be calculated. It’s okay if the idea I blog about is not completely original.
So, my goal is to continue to blog for the enjoyment of it. To not get overwhelmed. And to do the best that I can, because that is all any of us can do in this world anyways.
