Spending vast quantities of time staring at a screen can easily lead to fatigue, or even temporary burnout – and I’m probably about as susceptible as anyone when it comes to various strains of techno-weariness. Not only did I grow tired of tools like Facebook and Twitter; I almost entirely quit using these increasingly ubiquitous social networking implements in early 2010.
Given the ever-increasing importance of social media in contemporary marketing, I realize it’s high time to push through any connectivity-related weariness and become an active Facebook user and Tweeter once again. This time, however, I’ll engage in a quest for smarter, more effective, and more efficient use of social networking apps.
In a search for practical advice about writing and getting published, I recently met with a semi-retired writer who specifically stressed the importance of using Twitter “religiously.” My lukewarm attitude regarding that suggestion in no way lessens the reality of it; she’s probably right.
I’m definitely not alone in my social media burnout; a quick Googling revealed blog posts aplenty on this very subject. (Nowadays, one might be hard pressed to find a subject not covered.) Most of the suggestions are intuitive and right in line with everyday common sense. Here are a few of the more helpful tips:
1. Take weekends off.
2. Take frequent breaks from connectedness throughout the day.
3. Do not eat meals at your computer.
4. Sign off at a reasonable hour.
5. Eliminate some of the relatively trivial updates (trim some of the BS).
6. Increase your selectivity threshold for adding friends, following others, etc.
7. Respond and update less often; comment only on the more important, significant, or noteworthy posts.
8. Start new accounts or profiles and be more discriminating when adding or following others.
Resources: Social Media Burnout
Non-Profit Tech 2.0 on Social Media Burnout (PDF)
Online PR on Social Media Burnout
How to Avoid Social Network Burnout
BitRebels on Social Media Burnout
Engaging Enthrallments 