Can We Manage Web 2.0 Mass Content?
Social Media. Web 2.0. Whatever you call it, when we immerse ourselves in some of the cool new tools of the web we can essentially face information overload. In the past 12 months, I have been diving deeply into the Web 2.0 world so that I can wrap my head around it all and determine the business case for these tools for my clients. There is Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Blogs, Twitter, Podcasts, Flickr, FriendFeed, Plurk, RSS, and so many more applications and sub-apps to explore and integrate.
The Web 2.0 Journey
Last fall I started reading a dozen marketing blogs written by thought leaders within the marketing community and in the Marketing 2.0 space. At the time, it was very easy to just bookmark these blogs and read their articles every few days. Then I began preparing to write my own blog so I thought I would broaden my scope so I could see more writing styles and approaches to blogging. I implemented Google Reader as my RSS feed so that I could manage the growing number of blogs I followed and organize the knowledge. The number I subscribed to continued to grow and swept past 100 and then to 150 as I found more and more interesting folks who were writing great content. Then it became a little overwhelming especially if I got really busy due to travel and I missed a few days of checking my RSS feed. Then I would log-in to find 500+ unread articles and it was impossible to get caught up or even find the best of the bunch in that backlog.
In the spring I took the Twitter challenge. The same patterns began to emerge. At first I had only a few people I followed so it was easy to keep up with their tweets. The longer I was on Twitter, the more interesting people I connected with and wanted to follow. Then the number passed 100 and now is closing in on 150 and if I go offline for a few hours I fall behind on the conversation streams and it is impossible to get caught up. At about the same time I started downloading dozens of podcasts. All with great content but then the realization…when do I have the time to listen to them all?
Mass Content
Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation wrote an article called Mass Media or Mass Content – What’s Worse? In this article toward the end he laments about his similar content management woes. No wonder, he follows over 400 people on Twitter, and many others I have come across on Twitter follow hundreds more than that. Mitch concludes his thoughts with this:
But, I don’t comment and share as much as I would like to. I skim, graze and peruse everything. Because there is so much Mass Content, I’m beginning to feel like I’m not even able to give the truly great stuff the time it well deserves.
And, all of this got me thinking: what’s worse: Mass Media or Mass Content?
I love that the social media tools give us Mass Content. Mass Content is preferable over Mass Media because the consumer is the one who chooses what content they consume, when, and where. The challenge through all these web 2.0 platforms is for us to not become obsessed with keeping up with all this content. We are bombarded with so much good information that we just have to realize when the busyness of life consumes us, we cannot allow the backlog to cause us to become stressed out by wanting to read, hear, and watch it all. We just can not process or keep up with that much information.
Sanity: Content Management
What I have begun to do of late is to pare things down. With the blogs I follow I have dropped a number of them (and sometimes it has been hard to choose), so that I am back to around 75 blog subscriptions. I find I can manage those fairly well. If I get busy and my reader backlogs to the point where I have over 200 unread posts…I delete them and start fresh the next day with the newest ones only. I have stopped checking Facebook every day and pop in for a quick peak every couple of days (mostly for the personal messages). I am contemplating cutting out a few of those I follow in Twitter…or at least not going back to read past tweets beyond an hour back if I have been offline for a few hours. I have chosen 5 or 6 of the best podcasts to regularly listen to and left the rest untouched. This refined selection is bringing back the sanity to my content management dilemma.
I heard a few years ago that people can only meaningfully manage a friendship or contact network of 50-75 people. If that is the case should it be any different with social media? I am not sure what the scientific research on that statistic is but it certainly seems to make sense to me given my experience over the past year. How big can our network get and still be meaningful? I think that the 50-75 rule seems manageable.
Never Turn Back
It all comes down to learning to manage the content and not letting the content manage me. Manage the relationships don’t let the relationships manage me. These great tools have brought me to the leading edge of what is happening in technology and at the forefront of Web 2.0 marketing. I would not want to go back. I love the Mass Content and the new connections I have made with intelligent people in my field. I just have to keep it all in perspective. We are only going to see more tools and apps in the future as Mass Content distribution continues to evolve. We need to become good personal content managers or we will risk burning ourselves out and that would make us useless to ourselves, our families, and to our clients.
If you are not embracing many of these Web 2.0 tools I would encourage you to experiment to find ones that help you connect on the leading edge of your area of interest and expertise. It is an awesome experience. I hope perhaps a little of what I have written here will help you manage things a little more smoothly than I have done in my recent past. I know some people shy away from social media because they fear becoming overwhelmed. Please don’t let that scare you off. You will miss out on such a vauable experience. For those of you reading this who are deep into social media, I welcome you to share your content management journey as well as any tricks and tips that have helped you to keep wading though it all. I believe by sharing our ideas we will all become better Mass Content managers and as a result we will attain even greater benefits, insights, knowldge, and relationships by using them!
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http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image
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http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image
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http://www.verticalinsight.net Lisa
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http://www.verticalinsight.net Lisa
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http://www.MarketingIntegrity.ca David
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http://www.MarketingIntegrity.ca David
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oldskoolmark
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http://autumncreated.blogspot.com Matt Hames
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http://autumncreated.blogspot.com Matt Hames
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