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?
I never expected blogging to take so much time, but I never expected to enjoy all the other thigns that come aroudn blogging either. I love visiting other blogs and commenting and while it may take some time out of reading, I always hope that i get something back from it. And with discussion type posts at least you don't have to read in order to generate content, although writing a discusion post still takes a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteI like social media, but just like you I feel like I could do better. I do share the links to my post, but I am not really engaging with my followers there. I mostly focus on my blog and interactign with reader there instead of on social media. Sometimes it can be a bit overhwleming all those social media sites and while I usually share my links every day on facebook, twitter, tsu, google + and Pinterest I do most of my other social activity in burst. Like I sit down for an hour and schedule some tweets in advance for Lola's Blog Tours or spend a lot of time on Pinterest one day and then a week nothing at all.
I certainly don't sign-up for every social media sites, but if I list them all I do realize I already do a lot, but it still feels like there's more I should do. I would like to be active on social media, but I prioritize blog visiting and commenting before that, so I usually don't get around to actually beign more social. Great Post!
I do get overwhelmed with social media. I'm not very good at it. I've been using Twitter for several years, before I started blogging. When I started my blog I started separate social media accounts just for it. I didn't want to spam my nonbookish friends with all these blog links and book chat. Well, I ended up dumping the original account for my blog one. I added a few friends from the old days to keep in touch them, but I left most of them on the old account. I can always go back...if I want. I don't engage on Twitter too much. I'd like to but no one replies to my tweets or my replies to their tweet, or there's a back and forth exchange that lasts a couple of tweets and then nothing. Or else I open the tab and go to another tab and forget about it entirely! (That's what happens the most.)
ReplyDeleteI'm behind at cross-posting my reviews, but my intention is to post first to my blog and Edelweiss/Netgalley/author/publisher if needed, then to Goodreads and Amazon. Plus I link up reviews on Tumblr and Pinterest. I've been getting into Pinterest a little more lately, mostly pinning things that don't relate to my blog. I play games on Facebook but don't use it otherwise, and it's not connected to either my real name or my blog. I did sign up for Tsu last month when it was the big thing to do that, but I can't really see myself getting into it. I'll probably keep it to keep my blog name in reserve just in case though.
The pressure to be more social is there, but there's only so much time to spend online. I don't have a cell phone, so I'm 100% disconnected when I'm not at home, unlike most people who have their phone on them all the time and can, at the very least, check it during lunch at work. I can't do everything and for me, social media is a lower priority than other things.
I agree with you Lola. A lot of the side things that go along with blogging are mostly things that I never expected to enjoy. You're right also that the time you spend on other things besides read usually come back to you in some way.
ReplyDeleteI know I could do social media better, but I almost don't even want to. Does that make sense? It's just not where my focus is right now. I like the idea about grabbing your name/blog title on these different sites, but sheesh....it can be exhausting. But it sounds like you've got a good schedule of when you allow yourself to focus on one thing at a time though.
Thanks for commenting Lola!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I always feel like I should create a Twitter account just for the blog--right now I use my personal account. But the truth is, I don't have Twitter for anything other than the blog. So I've just kept what I've got going on now. I don't mean to be inactive on there, but it just isn't my focus right now.
ReplyDeleteI always post my links to the other sites that day. Google+ gets a little behind sometimes, but never more than a couple of days. I'm with you though, I mostly use Pinterest for things not related to my blog also. I like the idea of reserving your name/blog title on the different site though.
I try not to let outside forces pressure me. If I feel like I need to be more social then I try to focus on that, but mostly that's not where my focus is right now. I can imagine not having a cell phone definitely hurts being able to stay up to date on the social media sites some. Thanks for stopping by and commenting Jenna.