SocialMedia

[DariusOpperman]

Hi all,

How do you deal with social things e.g. blackberry chat, facebook, twitter etc. at times that you should actually be working on all your next actions?

 

[TesTeq]

No Blackberry, no Facebook...

How do you deal with social things e.g. blackberry chat, facebook, twitter etc. at times that you should actually be working on all your next actions?

I have no Blackberry, no Facebook account and I am not logged in to Twitter (@TesTeq) all the time.

 

[Cpu_Modern]

I think this thing goes deeper. My contract with my social environment is explicitly that I am not always on and that I am not always reachable. These things do not have to do with facebook or whatever but with how you relate to the other people in your life. I had many bad bosses who where unable to think in logical ways and therefore know it is not that easy like just deciding what you want and doing it with a little help from your friends.

 

[mcogilvie]

Hi all,

How do you deal with social things e.g. blackberry chat, facebook, twitter etc. at times that you should actually be working on all your next actions?

There's a good chance your lists are repelling you rather than attracting you. Ask yourself why you are goofing off, and be honest with yourself.

 

[DariusOpperman]

Goofing Off

I agree, there must be something else that makes you goof off and not take your action lists head on. Working efficiently I believe excludes all these social media sites etc. I know a couple of people who has no accounts at any social media site at all. They are very successful! I think it beats the objective of GTD, with social media it will be like water, but it will be like running water, forever running to these little things that breaks your focus.

Mcogilvie, interesting thought you have there regarding what attracts you to your Next Actions. Do you have a personal example of how you personally attract yourself to your Next Action? Have you found yourself goofing off in the past?

 

[kelstarrising]

Social Media is so attractive and addictive because it provides random reinforcement. Just like checking for new email.

 

[DariusOpperman]

Social Media is so attractive and addictive because it provides random reinforcement. Just like checking for new email.

Don't you think there is a way not to do those things! Have you had any experience yourself or with a friend that made you say this. I am asking because the social media stuff are the easiest and closest things to do when you are not in the mood to do your items on your calender or on your action list. Which really points out to being a person that is either lazy or procrastinates...

 

[TesTeq]

Read a book or to listen to a podcast.

I am asking because the social media stuff are the easiest and closest things to do when you are not in the mood to do your items on your calender or on your action list.

For me the easiest and closest things to do when I'm not in the mood to do my items on my calendar or on my action list is to read a book or to listen to a podcast.

 

[bishblaize]

Dont forget that for some people social media is part of their jobs. A key part of my job is getting people to use our charity as the core of their daily lives, which includes promoting conversation via twitter and keeping our facebook sufficiently up to date , so there is new content there for people to discuss when they check it. I have to go on both of them several times a day. Its very hard to say whether this is work or not - me asking a follower about their plans for the weekend may seem like chatting, but actually that kind of accessiblity is at the heart of why social media is so powerful.

That said I have no notifications telling me a new message has come in. I just check it like I do my email, a few times a day when I want to process them, then close the programme.

 

[kelstarrising]

You might find value in DA's podcast about social media. Go to this page http://www.davidco.com/individuals/podcasts and scroll down to find this podcast:

Attached files

 

[jennytg3]

Hi BishBlaze - I, too, use social media as an integral part of my work but am struggling with keeping up with it while not letting it distract me from my other tasks. Not only do I post on social media channels for my clients but have to keep up w/key topics, etc and stay abreast of new developments in social media in case I need to recommend them to my clients. In addition, my client uses an internal system that's like Facebook for business to communicate amongst all employees, so little notifications keep popping up on my screen every 10 minutes. My problem is I'll see a post on Facebook or their internal system or on google and it will remind me of something else, and I'll do a search for that, which will bring up another screen, and so on, and 2 hours later I've learned a lot but accomplished nothing. Times that by 4 and poof, the day's over.

Any suggestions? The only one I've thought of, but haven't implemented, is setting strict times to view and respond to social media - i.e. from 12:00 to 1:00 and 4:00 to 5:00?

This is part of my job but I'm also not getting other, important (and more boring) work done like writing reports.

 

[yoboy]

I'm using a tool that helps me manage my time even visiting social networking site. Hoosuite can manage multiple social networking sites in one window this way it is easy to check my inbox in different sites.

 

[bishblaize]

Hi BishBlaze - I, too, use social media as an integral part of my work but am struggling with keeping up with it while not letting it distract me from my other tasks. Not only do I post on social media channels for my clients but have to keep up w/key topics, etc and stay abreast of new developments in social media in case I need to recommend them to my clients. In addition, my client uses an internal system that's like Facebook for business to communicate amongst all employees, so little notifications keep popping up on my screen every 10 minutes. My problem is I'll see a post on Facebook or their internal system or on google and it will remind me of something else, and I'll do a search for that, which will bring up another screen, and so on, and 2 hours later I've learned a lot but accomplished nothing. Times that by 4 and poof, the day's over.

Any suggestions? The only one I've thought of, but haven't implemented, is setting strict times to view and respond to social media - i.e. from 12:00 to 1:00 and 4:00 to 5:00?

This is part of my job but I'm also not getting other, important (and more boring) work done like writing reports.

I dont suppose there's a magic solution. I try and keep it time-windowed, like checking my email. I can only suggest trying different things out, see what sticks. Perhaps try just doing an hour at the end of the day when its unlikely to run away with all your time (unless you dont want to go home, that is). Or maybe stick a timer on and race thru as many as you can in 10 miuntes then quit and come back an hour later.

I use a windows program (Tweetdeck) to look after the social media, which I can just close and avoid any notifications, rather than going to the site. That seems to help me avoid getting sucked in to the internet.

With internal systems you have, I guess theyre just like phone calls, you either answer them or not - and the more you do the greater the expectation you will in the future. In most programmes you can turn off notifications, so I would do that asap. Other than that, I guess its just the mental toughtness to ignore the noise and focus on the important stuff.