Discussions Only We Know
Social Media Overload
Oh my goodness you guys. Have you ever stopped to think about all of the social media websites these days? The obvious ones: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, Google+…but there’s also Myspace (still), BookLikes, Tumblr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogster, Buzznet, CaringBridge, Classmates.com, Flickr, Foursquare, Instagram, LibraryThing, MyHeritage, MyLife, Jango, Shelfari, SoundCloud, Spotify, Team Beachbody, Wattpad, Yammer, Tsu….This is by all means not an exhaustive list. These are only a list of the social media sites I’ve HEARD of. Despite not being exhaustive, does this list not exhaust you?
Is there any wonder that we’re overwhelmed?
Whenever I post a review to my blog, I also post it to Goodreads and Amazon and post links to the review on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. And of course if it’s a book that I received from a publisher/author, I also have to add it to NetGalley/Edelweiss or email the author/publisher who requested me to read it. There are times when I get overwhelmed with blogging in general. The actual act of blogging, writing reviews, and generally maintain my blog (visiting other blogs and the other things that go along with blogging) has taken so much more time than I ever imagined it would. I can spend hours prepping blog posts and formatting them. (I usually prep in bulk.) It can easily take hours visiting other blogs, commenting, and following others. Not to mention time spent marketing my own blog. I had no idea when I started Somewhere Only We Know that I would spend as much time blogging as I do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m just saying that I wasn’t expecting to spend this much time. And all the time I spend blogging is time away from reading—which is necessary in order to generate content for the blog. It’s a vicious cycle, and I only have a set amount of free time when I have no responsibilities and that time is split between reading and blogging.
Do you ever feel like you spend more time blogging than you do reading? Or maybe your blogging time has cut into actual reading time so much that you miss the time when you just read? Do you get overwhelmed with social media? Marketing your blog? Do you ever feel like the time you spend on social media actually takes away from both actual reading time but also your own blogging time? We all only get 24 hours in a day. Do you wonder if you’re on the right social media sites? Or do you just want to throw your hands up at social media altogether?
I’m not very active on social media. Like I said above, any time I post on the blog, I add links to my post on the "main" social media sites, but I don’t actively engage on any of those sites. As a matter of fact, my personal Facebook page is even rarely updated. I browse my news feed and like others’ status updates and such, but I rarely generate content on there. Sometimes I feel like I’m missing out, but then I realize that I didn’t start a social media site. I started a blog. While I do want to engage with my readers—I want to do that on my blog. My idea of using social media as it relates to Somewhere Only We Know is to drive traffic back to my blog. Now guys, I am by no means offering advice or telling you how you should market your own blog or how much time you should spend on social media sites. I am NOT an expert. But I’ve learned to be content with my own desires. When I hear other bloggers talking about how they couldn’t live without twitter, I’m tempted to think “man, I should really tweet more often.” Or “I’ve GOT to learn how to better utilize twitter.” But if I’m being honest, that’s just not my drive or my passion. I like blogging the way I do now. When that changes, I’ll change with it.
Will Somewhere Only We Know ever be considered one of the biggest sources for all things book and book blogging related? No…probably not. Does that mean that I don’t always want to grow my readership and grow my active and engaged readers? Of course not. I definitely want my blog to continue growing. And I love commenting back and forth with my readers and visitors. But I’m okay with that. If I ever decide that what I’m doing now isn’t enough then I’ll make those changes. But I’m not going to go out and create a social media page for every site out there “just in case” that one takes off…or “because there’s a possibility of making money with X site”…or “because everyone else is doing it.” I’m going to read. And I’m going to blog (here @ Somewhere Only We Know). And I’m going to visit other blogs. And comment on other blogs. And reply to my commenters.
How do you guys feel about social media? Do you get overwhelmed with the different sites? Do you feel like social media takes away from your reading and/or blogging time? Do you love social media and would sign up for any and every site possible? Are you happy with the amount of time you spend networking, blogging, reading? Or would you like to make some changes? I’m curious. What do you think? Let me know!
Apparently, I'm not the only one feeling the effects of social media overload. That article was extremely interesting to me and came at just the right time. How many followers, likes, friends, shares, etc are enough? And should be all aspire to be Alex from Target?
