More and more we are living our lives online. I went to lunch the other day and at least 75% of the people in the restaurant were sitting with people, but looking at their mobile devices. Sites like Twitter, Bebo and Facebook offer real time status of “what we are doing right now” to the masses and to be honest, I never thought it would take off. But boy did it ever and I am totally guilty of the restaurant thing too!
The funny thing is, the microblogging platforms seem to be more popular with the 30 and over crowd teenagers could care less about Twitter but they LOVE texting and Facebook. I don’t know one person over the age of 30 that hasn’t either signed up for twitter and not used it or is tweeting happily away at this very moment. The problem with all of this technology is, as much as I enjoy being online 100% of the time, I also miss human contact! I got invited to a birthday BBQ later in the month and I RSVPed almost immediately because it will be great to hang with some friends. Same with my business travel, when I got out of town for a conference or an event, it’s nice to network with actual people!
The best way to manage your online life is to try and integrate actual human contact into your world. Being a social media junkie can be quite isolating if you let it. Here are some tips to keep it more human.
- Start Hosting Tweetups – interact with the local people that follow you every couple of months. I have done this in the past and made some new friends as well as networking contacts.
- Attend Conferences – Now, I know conferences can be expensive BUT 9/10 there will be something nearby where you live that you can get to and purchase an exhibits only pass which is usually around $40. You can meet new people and discover new things at the same time.
- Use Your Social Network For More Than Just “What Am I Doing” Updates - I have been saying this for years now and people are finally starting to get it, your information that you put out there has to be RELEVANT and INTERESTING. Nobody want’s to hear about you going to the bathroom BUT people like to see a twitpic of a really interesting drink or dish….or even of you just having fun.
Lianne Farbes is the Head of the US Edition of HelloCotton an online social platform for discovering and sharing women’s blog content. She also writes for several online publications, she is a Beauty Expert, Social Media enthusiast, Project Manager, Web 2.0 cheerleader and she is always online in one form or another. Follow her on Twitter @LianneFarbes, @Hellocotton and friend her through any of her social profiles here and here
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Tags: mobile technology, Social Media, technology
